The sessions at the 2018 Bid & Proposal Con follow four main tracks: leadership and professional development, managing processes, win the business, and tools/tech. Highlights from a few of the sessions on May 17 are below.
Rich Graphics with an Economy Budget
Design is about telling a story with visuals, says Richard Goring, Director at BrightCarbon. Think about the purpose of the graphic and find the common theme running throughout the text.
The purpose of the graphic was one of the themes from the “Rich Graphics with an Economy Budget” panel. Bruce Farrell, Proposal Manager at Plante Moran, emphasized repeatedly that you need to understand what you’re trying to convey with the graphic before creating it. Similar to this point, when an audience member asked about action captions, Larissa Newman, Capture Manager at CDW Government LLC, said she tends not to include captions (unless they’re required) because the graphics should speak for themselves. It should be clear what content that graphic is tied to, and the graphic itself should help guide the reader through the content.
Each panelist shared specific tools and resources that they use for creating graphics, which included:
- Illustrio (especially for icons)
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Canva
- Snagit
- CreativeReview.co.uk
- Beautiful.ai
- Lead with a Story by Paul Smith
- BrightCarbon’s blog (and Goring pointed out that there are resources from BrightCarbon available on the conference app)
Microsoft doesn’t make it easy to find all its capabilities, but their programs are strong tools.
Shari Lambert, Creative Services Manager of Graphic Design at RTI International, shared that her company has a proposal graphics toolkit that includes resources like PDFs of covers, forms for writers to fill out to guide graphic designers, quick sheets that coach how to tell stories visually, etc. She also stressed the importance of building in quality control, including proofreading all written elements of graphics, like word clouds, photo captions, etc. Both Newman and Farrell talked about having graphics libraries, which don’t need to be too sophisticated. Newman has a folder in the Share drive of text boxes, shapes, etc. that can be customized, but she said you could also simply have a Word document of graphics grouped together by type with descriptions. Farrell has a similar method although he uses PowerPoint – one file of editable graphics that can be used again and another of templates. Goring also suggested categorizing graphics so some of the more generic graphics, like icons, don’t get overused.
When working with limited resources or under deadline, Lambert said the three basic graphics to focus on are:
- organizational charts (to show your corporate profile)
- circular diagrams (good for showing market position, current situation, target audience, brand personality, etc.)
- process flow (good for showing business objectives, detailed solutions, etc.)
She also said the beginning of proposals seem to be most effective for graphics.
Newman talked about the importance of developing a process – before the RFP hits – with simple training or handouts with guidelines that writers can use. She continually emphasized the importance of consistent branding across the proposal and ensuring that every graphic matches, not just with each other but with the rest of the document. She suggested developing a style sheet for graphics that includes things like color palates, fonts, etc. Goring demonstrated how to use and make a custom color palate in PowerPoint that you can save and then have available throughout Office so that your entire proposal has one united color theme.
Farrell said look for the key messages in the text that you want the reader to focus on and use graphics for those points. Both he and Goring emphasized that graphics are inherently eye-catching, so if you want someone to stop reading or skimming and focus, put a graphic there.
And Lambert said that, while for capture it’s important to get the designer involved at the beginning, for quick turnarounds when the proposal is still being developed (especially if a small staff of designers is juggling multiple proposals), it’s more valuable to bring them in later.
All panelists talked about the importance of training staff on what the graphics process is, how to choose strong graphics, how long it takes to get or make graphics, so everyone understands expectations. Moderator Lisa Rehurek, Founder & CEO of RFP Success Company, suggested having a coworker look over the designer’s shoulder as they’re working to really see how long it takes to make the graphic and make each change.
Biggest no’s for graphics? Using clip art, not making good use of white space, and making sure the graphics also print well in black and white.
The Power of Women in the Industry
The continuation of a two-part panel on women in the industry focused on knowing your value and being an effective leader. While panelists did sometimes speak in generalities, they clarified that it’s important not to group people together and to recognize individual differences and strengths.
Stephanie Spears, Director of Bids & Proposals at EF Johnson Technologies, Inc., talked about how her involvement with APMP has helped her recognize and own her value. Through training, conferences, and certification, Spears was able to grow and gain confidence in her abilities, and she met role models to emulate. She also said that APMP has provided a platform to show the value of the industry as a whole.
Hélène Courard, Director of Global Enablement and Global Proposal Center at Unisys, also said to make sure you’re not discounting your own expertise by how you communicate something. When she gives a directive, she used to include long justifications for the decision within the email – now she simply states the directive. She’s still open to having the conversation about why, but this happens if prompted on the individual level.
Christina Lewellen, Vice President of Business Development and Operations at the Association of Proposal Management Professionals, talked about the importance of recognizing where your individual weaknesses lie or where you can improve, and then figuring out how to bolster those areas. When a previous company offered to send her back to school for a graduate degree, she assumed it would be in journalism (her background at the time) but her on-the-job experience already made her valuable at that – instead, they sent her to an MBA program so that she could gain new skills.
Marina Goren, President/CEO at Smart BD Consulting, talked about an experience when she had questioned her value in terms of setting an hourly rate and began to think more about how a man would have reacted to the same situation, but Spears said it’s more important to be your genuine self and that women don’t need to simply act like men in order to be successful. Goren agreed that one mistake women leaders often make is trying to overcompensate for what they see as traits that make them stand out as women. Many of these more typically female traits, like listening or relationship building, are valuable in the proposal industry and in management. Embrace differences instead.
Salary negotiation specifically came up, related to embracing your value, and Goren suggested taking emotion out of it, doing the research, and putting together the logical argument including why you deserve a raise now. She also suggested thinking how you would do the same negotiation on behalf of someone else. Lewellen suggested turning a salary negotiation into an either-or situation, with two salary proposals based on different sets of deliverables or other factors.
Goren noted that she could tell how she felt about her own value was tied to how the company valued her – if she felt valued by the company, she could perform at her best. When she started managing others, she made sure to take the time to tell her team members that she valued them and give them positive feedback. She noticed that, by doing this, her team would communicate the same back to her.
It’s important to recognize your team as individuals, said Courard, and this includes making sure they get personal time. She pointed out that it was important to make sure everyone on the team got personal time, not just those who had children to take care of.
An audience member posed the question of how to handle balancing an emotional response – for example, when a team member isn’t delivering – without being judged against negative stereotypes against women or women of color. Panelists overall concluded that it was important to speak to others the way we would like to be spoken to but to also be assertive when appropriate. A few specific suggestions for handling a situation like this were:
- Talk in short sentences, speak in periods, and keep your voice flat.
- Avoid trying to fill the void but say less so each word has more import.
- Verbally express what you’re feeling and take a minute to privately collect yourself if necessary.
- Kindly but assertively call people out when they need to take responsibility for their actions, but then turn the conversation to solutions: “I’m not happy. This is unacceptable. Now what do we do about it?”
- Ask about the barriers that are preventing them from completing their responsibilities so that you can figure out how to address it.
And Spears also pointed out to be aware of your body language during emotional conversations.
Prompted by an audience question, panelists also talked about learning how to say no. Lewellen suggested practicing an actual script when the inevitable request comes for something outside the scope of your job, adding that leaders can help their team come up with appropriate language. But Spears suggested that, since the work still needs to get done even if it isn’t technically your job, either find a way to say yes or help them find the right person to do that job. You may want to show them what it will take for you to do that particular task or provide an either-or choice (“I can do this or this – which would you like me to do?”).
Proposal Pressure Hacks
Bruce Farrell, Proposal Manager at Plante Moran; Yasaman Sadeghipour, Senior Marketing Coordinator at CHIEF; Christina Wooldridge, Manager of Business Planning and Proposals at Louis Berger; and moderator
Bette Sturino, U.S. Proposal Manager of Sales Enablement at BMO Financial Group, began this session on work-life balance with a stat: 66% of full-time American workers say they don’t have work-life balance. A straw poll of the audience seemed to match that percentage.
Christina Wooldridge, Manager of Business Planning and Proposals at Louis Berger, began with three tips for finding balance:
- Put yourself first, especially your physical and mental wellbeing (such as taking time to exercise, planning meals, taking vacation time after a big deadline).
- Schedule meetings for yourself with yourself to focus on specific tasks.
- Live like there is a tomorrow – plan out your next day, looking at your personal and professional schedules, so you can plan for emergencies.
For Bruce Farrell, Proposal Manager at Plante Moran, having a flexible work schedule and getting involved in non-work activities that you enjoy are key. Farrell works in 2 to 3-hour stints with a break in between, which stretches his work day (important since he’s working with a team of people on the other side of the world), but he is vigilant about watching his time so that he doesn’t inadvertently have a 15-hour work day. He also schedules time for hobbies and other pursuits he enjoys so he stays productive but also, he’s more likely to guard his personal time if it’s filled with things he’s passionate about.
Yasaman Sadeghipour, Senior Marketing Coordinator at CHIEF, talked about the importance of setting boundaries with other departments that affect your time and have conversations about how everyone can get the work done in a timely manner. She also talked about setting personal expectations for what work-life balance means to you at this point in your life and career and then enforcing those expectations. Further, she suggested questioning assumptions among coworkers – if the mentality is it’s going to be a late night, people will work late even if it turns out they don’t need to.
Wooldridge likes to make a list of daily tasks that she prioritizes. She pointed out that not everything can be a top priority, and you will need to reprioritize throughout the week. She also noted that sometimes you’ll realize that not everything can get done, so then you need to let people know or ask for help.
Farrell suggested time tracking, partly so you can understand how long it takes you do to do things and so you understand what a full work day looks like for you, but also so you can share that information with others when they ask you to do more. You can then propose an either-or – I can do this, or I can do this – and figure out what will and will not get done.
Time tracking can also be helpful for combating overwork. Farrell suggested pointing out that if you are overworked, the quality of your work is going to go down. Sadeghipour pointed out that there will be busy times during the year that you simply need to get through, but they should be short – being constantly overworked is not sustainable. If that’s the case, then you need to have a conversation with management about bringing on more people, moving takes to a different team or department, or creating more efficient processes. Show them how many total hours you’re working. One of the most common myths with management is that they think it doesn’t take long to do things and that people are always prompt on deadline. Management may need to be educated on how long it takes to do things and they may need to be part of the conversation on when things are due. Track, for example, how and when people are missing deadlines over the course of time and present that data. Provide regular training to staff on what the process is and how long it will take.
This lead to a conversation about work culture. There are companies that value work-life balance while, at other companies, the system is broken. In that case, it’s a lot harder to change a broken system than to choose to go to a company that already has it. But if you are overworked and the company undervalues you, you need to ask yourself if you still want to work there. Sadeghipour pointed out that there may be times when work-life balance is not a priority – perhaps at a certain stage in your career, if you need to earn the money, or if there’s another factor – but if that’s the case, don’t be bitter about that chosen sacrifice.
There does seem to be a shift towards valuing work-life balance. One audience member talked about how their company is trying to bring more humanity into the workplace. Another shared that their company was beginning to reward people’s efforts toward work-life balance and to try not to inadvertently reward putting in long hours. Sturino echoed this, encouraging attendees to actually go home if their supervisor suggests it, even if it’s early, and taking vacation time.
Sturino ended with ten tips for work-life balance:
- Set SMART goals and prioritize them.
- Have a structure in place to keep accountable.
- Practice good time management.
- Get the training you need (even if it’s for personal pursuits).
- Take holidays and long weekends.
- Reward yourself.
- Stay healthy.
- PEP – be positive, enthusiastic, and passionate
- Love your job
- Love your life
Save the date! Bid & Proposal Con 2019 will be June 3-6, 2019, in Orlando, Florida. Look for registration to open in early 2019.
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