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Careful Preparation is the Key |
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The route to being prepared involves 7 steps.
- Revisit the Proposal
Based on the instructions and time you are allowed, begin your planning by revisiting your proposal. Review every aspect of it to make sure everyone is familiar with all of it, not just the portion he or she was originally responsible for. You may, at the same time, begin step two, the creation of new storyboards.
- Create New Storyboards
You should create the new storyboards for the presentation on the basis of what was in your proposal and whatever emerged when you "revisited" it, but you must be careful not to introduce information that was not presented in your proposal. This is especially true of government procurements, which are often required to disqualify your organization if you introduce new information.
They do this to preserve the fairness of the competition and prevent information from being considered that may subject the selection to protest. (Of course, there are always instances of unusual circumstances; say, for example, a recent tornado destroyed a section of beach where a sea wall was proposed and now the money will be used to reclaim whatever beach can be scooped up and smoothed out.)
- Create Time Limitations
Instead of page limitations; create time limitations for each storyboard. Once you have your storyboards approved, each speaker should use them to create their scripts. The scripts are for each person's own use, so don't edit or change them. This will prevent your speakers from sounding like they are unfamiliar with the material. During rehearsals, you can note items that need to be changed by the speaker, but they should do this in their own words.
- Anticipate Questions and Answers
In most cases, you'll have to be available for questions and answers during or at the end of the presentation. Your team can anticipate some of the questions and talk about what would be the best way to handle them. You should work out who will be the lead person for fielding the questions and directing the answers. In most cases, this will be the proposed Project Manager. Practice what you will do if you're asked a question and you don't know the answer. And most of all, don't practice bluffing. It always shows.
- Practice: Conduct a Dry Run
The first rehearsal should be a "dry run." With everyone sitting around a table, each person reads off their portion of the presentation. Everyone is free to make comments and suggestions as they go. This should be a low voltage affair, letting everyone get comfortable with the material and allowing folks with less experience to learn from the more experienced members of the team. Be sure to review all of the intelligence used in the proposal. And confirm, as much as possible, that nothing has changed. At the end of this session, sketches of any art needed for the presentation should be turned in.
- Practice: Conduct Rehearsal(s)
Each speaker, in the order you'll follow at the actual presentation, presents his or her material. Standing in front of the group, he or she, using whatever media they might actually use, presents without interruption. And at this point, charts can be simply a sketch copied onto an overhead transparency.
At the end of each speaker's presentation, the others make their comments and suggestions. The amount of time used should also be noted for each speaker so they can adjust their presentation to stay on time.
Next page in the Magic of Winning
Proposals | Proposal
Manager | Proposal Coordinator
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