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Bring Home the Bacon!
Part One:
Why Project Managers Should Improve Their Presentation Skills
By Larry Tracy
Tracy Presentation Skills, Alexandria, VA
Introduction
This essay is Part one of two articles for the PMIWDC webpage. It evolves from my November 4 PMTools presentation at the Crystal City Sheraton. In this first part, I want to explain (a) why proposal managers/writers and project managers must work in concert, not separately as is often the case. Then (b) I’ll provide advice to enable project managers to improve their presentation skills. This advice will be based on the methodology that is the heart of my executive workshops.
In Part two, to be published on the PMIWDC website at a later date, I will outline an integrated four phase process by which writers and presenters can develop contract-winning synergy.
Just what do I mean by “Bring Home the Bacon? “ Simply this: It’s what project managers are expected to do when they head an orals presentation team competing with other companies for contracts. Yet project managers are often brought into the proposal process relatively late. They are expected to win the business, but are not involved in developing the proposal. That, I submit, is not a way to win business
Proposal managers/writers and project managers must realize that their efforts are not separate elements of the bidding process, but instead are joined at the hip. The proposal and the oral presentation are not ends in themselves but instead interdependent means to achieve the end of winning the contract, especially as the oral presentation, spearheaded by the Project manager, can often be the deciding factor when the competing proposals are virtually identical in solving the customer’s problem.
In addition to being a member of PMIWDC, I am also a member of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP), and have spoken during 2010 at the International APMP Conference in Orlando, the Annual Conferences of regional APMP chapters in Boston and Atlanta, as well as the Annual APMP Conference of the United Kingdom in Nottingham.
I mention this because I bring to these proposal professionals the same message I am bringing to you: Early and continual collaboration between proposal managers/writers and the project managers who must “Bring home the bacon” is the key to winning contracts
Although I am concentrating on how to compete successfully for a government contracts, the advice I am offering can be applied with equal validity to commercial opportunities To paraphrase Frank Sinatra, “if you can sell to the government, you can sell to anyone.”
Assumptions
Let me start with five assumptions:
First, Government Requests for Proposals (RFP) are more like the musings of the Oracle of Delphi than examples of clear writing. They often require interpretation. Interpret correctly, you are gold; interpret incorrectly, you are dead.
Second, when orals are an afterthought in the bidding process, a “wall” is created between writers and presenters.
Third, the written proposal is the objective marshalling of a company’s capabilities, which respond to the RFP-stated requirements.
Fourth, the oral presentation is much more subjective, and factors such as poor speaking ability, distracting body language and repeated use of “uh’s” and “you knows” can all undercut a well-crafted and responsive written proposal.
Fifth, Government evaluators are cautious and very risk-averse. They do not want to be blamed as the group which awarded the contract to the “wrong” company.
Why Project Managers and Proposal Writers Should Collaborate
Now, with those assumptions in mind, permit me to use the syllogism, one of the oldest methods of deductive reasoning, to make my case that proposal managers and project managers should work hand in glove.
My major premise is that written proposals represent a costly investment of a company’s financial resources and the time, intellectual energy and creativity of proposal managers and writers.
My minor premise is that when competing proposals are virtually identical, the oral presentation, headed by the project manager, can be the deciding factor or tiebreaker.
From these premises comes the inevitable conclusion that any “wall” separating proposal managers and project managers must be torn down, and that preparation for the orals, and collaboration between proposal managers/writers and the Project managers/oral team must be an integral part of the proposal process from the outset.
Here is the message I bring to proposal professionals. They are the creators of the intellectual project known as the proposal. They have burned the midnight oil; they have written under deadline pressure; they have had to interpret the obtuse writing of the Government’s RFP.
Why should they consider their job complete when the proposal goes out the door, or even celebrate when they have “made the cut,” or, in the Government’s arcane language, been judged to be in the “competitive range?”
To protect their intellectual investment, they must work closely with the project manager and his/her orals team. If they do not do so from the period before the RFP is released, they are shooting themselves in the foot. No matter how well written the proposal, a lost contract is a lost contract.
Unfortunately, many proposal professionals believe that a well-written proposal that “answers the mail” of an RFP is sufficient, and an oral presentation merely a formality. I recommend to those thinking that way to heed the words of a former executive of the world’s most successful strategic consulting firm, McKinsey & Co. Robert Garda, now a professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business was quoted in the book The McKinsey Mind as saying
Project managers may also labor under an equally false impression that technical knowledge alone is enough, and that speaking skills are not necessary. Lee Iacocca disagreed with this notion. In his autobiography, Iacocca wrote,
His solution? Have these engineers take courses in presentation skills so they would not be limited in their careers because they were ineffective presenters.
How Project Managers Can Improve their Presentation Skills
My objective in the following pages is to show you how to “tell a board or committee what’s in your head.” Your goal should be to deliver presentations that cause audiences to “buy in” to what you are advocating. You may ask, “Why do I need to improve my presentation skills? I’m an engineer, a project manager?”
My answer, and that of Lee Iacocca, is that you must present to senior executives to “sell” your ideas, to members of your project team, etc. As a “manager,” you are always communicating. Chances are the person who presents his/her case best wins the day.
Those who can distill and explain complex data in "pressure-cooker" situations (such as boardroom presentations for project funding or competitive presentations for lucrative contracts) are highly valued. Moreover, when called on to speak extemporaneously at meetings, you have a wonderful opportunity to shine and to impress.
You also have a wonderful opportunity to fall on your face if you cannot deliver a hard-hitting, succinct message.
Keep in mind that every presentation is actually four presentations: (1) the one you plan to deliver, (2) the one you actually deliver, (3) the one your audience hears you deliver, and (4) the one you wish you had delivered.
After internalizing the systematic, proven approach in the following pages, you will be able to deliver as you have planned and practiced, be on the same page as the audience, and have fewer of those "I wish I had said it this way" moments.
What about the well-known fear of public speaking? Survey after survey ranks "speaking in front of a group" at or near the top in lists of phobias. Unlike many speech coaches, I make no promises that merely reading this article, or my book, or attending one of my workshops will vanquish your apprehension about speaking to groups.
Nor do I believe you should seek to eliminate this fear, which can be used to develop energy and enthusiasm. I am often asked if I get nervous before a presentation. My answer is I make myself nervous. Let me explain.
After I retired from the Army and entered the field of speech coaching, I was invited to address a large meeting of commercial real estate agents in Northern Virginia. The presentation went well, and as I was leaving, the woman who had hired me to speak made what I considered a strange comment. She said, “You must operate under terrible pressure when you speak to audiences such as ours.”
Considering the hostile audiences I had faced while detailed to the Stare Department, I certainly didn’t consider commercial real estate agents particularly frightening, I said “No, I don’t really think so. Why do you believe I operate under great pressure?” Her response has had a profound impact on me all these years.
She said, “As commercial real estate agents, our job is to sell or lease properties. If we do a poor job of presenting, the property retains its market value. If you do a poor job in presenting, who would ever hire you to teach them to be better speakers. You are the property.”
That hit me like a punch in the stomach. Whenever I am set to make a presentation, I remind myself that “I am the property.”
Don’t seek to eliminate fear of speaking. Instead use it to motivate yourself to practice so you desensitize yourself and anticipate the areas which will cause you concern. Change fear of the unknown into knowledge of the known.
Gaining “Buy-in”
Now let’s show you how to develop and deliver presentations which cause your audience—one or many—to “buy in” to what you are advocating. Although the title of my book is The Shortcut to Persuasive Presentations, I am using “buy in” more frequently now, because I recognize that persuasion is a means, and buy-in the goal.
You can be very persuasive in your presentation of the facts, but unless the audience concludes that what you are advocating is in their best interest so they buy-in to what you are saying, you will not persuade.
Let’s define precisely what is meant by “buy-in.” First, it occurs when the listener concludes that what is being proposed by the speaker is actually in the listener’s best interest. Buy-in takes place when the presenter’s objective is perceived by the listener as a solution to that listener’s problem.
The S3P3 System
From my own speaking experience in front of quite demanding audiences, I developed a methodology for achieving buy-in that I call the S3P3 System, which you might visualize as a pyramid supported by three pillars.
These three pillars are Substance (the knowledge the speaker holds on the issue), Structure (the logical means by which this knowledge is presented to the audience), and Style (the use of rhetorical devices, the arrangement and choice of words, vocal quality, facial expression, gestures and other non-verbal communication). These pillars support a pyramid of Planning, Practicing, and Presenting.
In Planning, you must develop a concrete objective, aimed at solving the problems, needs, wants and concerns of your audience. This is always important but especially so when facing a demanding audience. Know specifically what you wish to have this audience do with the information you are providing.
It is here where you draft your presentation, and this can best be done, in my opinion, by following my 3-1-2 System. While this system is counterintuitive, it virtually guarantees that you will have both focus and theme, vital for an oral presentation.
Take a stack of 3x5 cards. Mark one with a “3,” and place on it the “bottom line” message you wish to impart to your audience. In front of these words, put “In summary,” “In conclusion,” or some other phrase signaling the end of your presentation.
You now have your conclusion, as well as a mini-presentation, especially beneficial when making a business or sales presentation when time for the presentation is reduced at the last minute. Take another card, mark it with “1,” and use it to tell the audience where you are taking them on this oratorical journey.
Next, place the supporting points that flow from “1” to “3” on a series of cards marked “2A,” “2B,” “2C,” etc. Using the 3-1-2 System will enable you to present maximum relevant content within the limited amount of time your audience may have to listen to you.
You’ll have more focus, because you will know when you start drafting where you are going with the presentation. Most importantly, audience members will see a logical structure to your argument. Using this “backward planning” method is far more effective than the traditional 1-2-3 method-Introduction, Body, Conclusion.
The next level of the pyramid is Practicing, and I want to share with you an observation Abraham Lincoln made abut getting ready for a presentation. He said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my axe.”
The Gettysburg Address was an example of such diligence. Don’t believe the nonsense that he wrote the speech on the back of an envelope on the train to Gettysburg. Lincoln scholars have uncovered numerous drafts he wrote, and he undoubtedly practiced for what has become known as a masterpiece of brevity, some 270 words delivered in less than three minutes.
He sharpened his axe repeatedly, and the result was the greatest political speech in our history. We who tend to be somewhat wordy in our presentations can learn much from this great President.
I call the method for practicing which I teach in my workshops the “Practice three step.” Step one is practicing solo, with a tape recorder and/or video camera. No one nearby. After a few sessions, listen/watch yourself. Watch your mannerisms; listen for the “uh’s” and “you knows.” Do it again, making corrections.
Step two is with a colleague, friend, or spouse as your audience. Ask for constructive criticism.
Step three is a “Murder Board.” This is a term I bring with me from the military. It is to the presenter what the flight simulator is to the pilot.
Just as the pilot learns to deal with in-flight emergencies in the flight simulator, the Murder Board permits presenters to learn from their mistakes, so that the actual presentation is (1) more responsive to the informational needs of the audience, (2) answers are developed for likely questions to be asked, and (3) overall speaking confidence and competence are enhanced.
The apex of the pyramid is Presenting, and by necessity we must discuss how the audience sees and hears you. Negative non-verbal communication can seriously impact how an audience receives your information. Think of speaking as algebra, with he difference between positive equations and negative equations determining the value of the proposition.
If you reduce the negative equations you increase the value of the proposition. If you reduce speaking negatives, you automatically become a better speaker. In my workshops, I conduct a drill to help people afflicted with the “uh” and “You know” malady.
I ask them to speak for one minute on any subject. The rest of the class is asked to listen carefully and when they hear the offending sound, they shout “uh’ at the speaker. When they hear “you know,” they respond with “No, we don’t.” This firm of behavior modification normally results in a sharp reductions in these abominations of the English language.
Shortcuts to Eloquence
Positive speaking “equations” contain what I call “Shortcuts to eloquence.” These include the “Rhythmic Triple,” expressing your thoughts in punchy cadences of three. Sir Winston Churchill used this technique when he articulated the thought that the people of England owed a great debt to the pilots of the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain.
Instead of using a mundane declarative sentence, Churchill said, “Never in the field of human endeavor have so many owed so much to so few.” See how you can convert important thoughts into such “triples.”
Analogies and metaphors are useful means to help audience members learn something new by comparing it to something well known to them. These rhetorical devices can be an excellent bridge from the known to the unknown, but be careful of excessive use of sports metaphors.
The rhetorical question can be employed to “bring back” audience members who have perhaps dozed off or are daydreaming. Move close to that person, do not look at him or her, pose a question, and then pause. Your presence and resulting increased volume will awaken the daydreamer/dozer, who will have no idea of the answer due to their comatose state.
When you provide the answer, they are now wide-awake, and grateful to you for not embarrassing them. A word of caution: Do not use this technique on a dozing boss. Let him or her wake up of their own accord.
The Final Arrow
We are conditioned to end our presentation when the senior recipient says “Thank you.” If you do end then, you lose an important opportunity to drive home your “buy-in” message.
So consider using what I call “the Final Arrow. Think of your presentation as a quiver of arrows.
You fire the first one to motivate the audience to listen because you are going to provide information to solve their problem. That’s the ‘”1” of the 3-1-2 method. Then fire your various “2” arrows which provide the substance of your argument. You then end with your “3” conclusion, and you answer questions. So you see that you draft 3-1-2, but you deliver 1-2-3.
You still have a small arrow in your quiver, which is a reduced version of your “3.” When the recipient says “thank you,” look directly at this senior person, say “Thank you and I just want to reiterate…” while you are closing your laptop or gathering your notes. Condense this message into no more than 15 seconds.
Be careful to lead in with “reiterate,” “say again,” or some other short phrase that shows you know your time is up, and you are just repeating information already presented while you are preparing to leave. This is the last message the recipient and others will hear, and it may just “stick.” It is similar to the “closing argument” of the trial lawyer who hopes the jury retains this message as they decide the fate of the defendant.
PowerPoint
Any primer on presentation skills must address how to use PowerPoint, or, more correctly, how to avoid “Death by PowerPoint.” The program has so many capabilities that it tempts users to employ far too many. I frequently receive brochures advertising courses, which promise to turn attendees into spellbinding speakers by mastering PowerPoint.
I consider that a contradiction in terms. My recommendation is to be a minimalist, not one who uses so many “bells and whistles” that the audience is distracted from the substance of your remarks.
Here are two pointers on how to use PowerPoint so it can reinforce your message through the visual avenue to the brain. First, bring the bullets onto the screen one at a time. If you have, say, five bullets and they come onto the screen at the same time, audience members will scan down, perhaps being attracted to one of them, and therefore not listening as you address the first bullet. By bringing the bullets on one at a time, you focus the audience eyes and ears at the same place.
Second, it is not necessary to have words or graphics on the screen continually. When you want to give the audience a break, hit the “B” key, and the screen goes black. Hit it again, and the slide comes back on. If you want to jump forward to a slide, or backward to review one already shown, hit the slide number, then enter, and the desired slide appears on the screen. This means, of course, you must have a list with the numbers of the slides being used.
Let me conclude Part one with an observation from the birthplace of speech training-ancient Greece. The Greeks of that day, even while admiring the speaker with the stentorian voice, dramatic gesture and clever turn of phrase, nevertheless realized the purpose of any presentation was to cause audience members to take the action the speaker wished them to take. So it was said, in comparing the greatest speaker of the day with one who had lived many years before:
"When Demosthenes speaks, people say 'how well he speaks'.
But when Pericles spoke, people said, 'Let us march.'"
In Part two, I’ll address how Project managers and Proposal professionals can collaborate in a four-phase process so your customer. says “Let us march with this company.”
Part Two:
The Four-phase Collaboration Between Project Managers and
Proposal Professionals that develops contract-winning synergy
Synopsis
This two part article evolved from my November 4, 2010 presentation at the PMTools in Crystal City. Part One emphasized ( a) why proposal managers/writers and project managers/orals teams must work in concert, not separately as is often the case, and (b) specific guidance enabling Project Managers to improve their presentation skills to make them more effective in leading oral presentations. Theses orals can be the “tiebreaker” in determining which company is awarded the contract. In Part Two, I’ll outline a four phase approach which unites the proposal and orals teams to enhance the chances of winning contracts
Introduction
I hope that readers of Part One have “bought in” to the twin concepts (A) that Project Managers and Proposal Managers should work closely and early from the beginning of the bid process, and (B) that Project managers, who will be charged with “bringing home the bacon” in the oral presentation, should improve their presentation skills, not rely on their technical expertise alone.
Before launching into the four phase approach to ensure collaboration between proposal professionals and project managers, let’s discuss three salient points of oral presentations.
- From the outset, orals should be developed from the perspective of what the customer wants done, not what you and your company wants to do. You may certainly try to shape the requirements of the RFP before it is released, but don’t push too hard.
- If you are going to have sub-contractors to plug holes in your own capabilities, make sure you have the commitment of senior management of these companies that the best people will be provided, and that they will be available for the orals, even during vacation time.
- In both the written proposal and the follow-on oral presentation, emphasize the discriminators which make your company a better choice than your competitors, and also point out, in a subtle manner, what the customer will lose by not choosing your company (proprietary software, a person with unique talent under a non-compete contract to your company, etc. )
Four Phases for Successful Collaboration
PHASE ONE
Meeting with the Contracting Officer and initial drafting of the proposal
Step one:
This phase ideally begins when the word starts to circulate of an impending RFP. Representatives of companies are free to visit with the contracting officer and other representatives of the prospective customer to elicit information about the upcoming RFP.
They may even be able to shape the RFP to a degree. These initial contacts are generally made by the capture manager and perhaps the proposal manager. Where is the project manager in this initial step? Nowhere to be seen. This is a huge mistake. If there are indications that the RFP will require an oral presentation, it is wise to have the Project manager who will likely lead the orals team be involved in these initial contacts with the customer.
Such meetings provide an opportunity for the customer—the contracting officer and perhaps others--to get to know the person who will oversee the contract if it awarded to that company. The contracting officer knows that he or she, and the company, will not see the proposal professionals again until the next RFP, but the company will be dependent on the capability of the Project manager and his or her team.
If the project manager is a known quantity, and the customer believes will be easy to work with, it increases the likelihood the company’s proposal “will make the cut.” This initial contact provides the customer the opportunity to size up the person with whom they will be working.
The project manager should request inclusion, pointing out that having he or she and the orals team involved in the early stages will serve to protect the intellectual investment of the proposal. If those in charge of the proposal object, then the project manager should take his or her case to senior management, which will be looking to maximize the odds of being the winning the contractor.
Step two:
While the proposal professionals and the project manager are coordinating with the customer, the orals team and the proposal writers should be working on the initial draft of the proposal, even before the RFP is released. The writers have primacy here, with the technical experts of the orals team “looking over the shoulders” of the writers.
The orals presenters can see the theme being developed, the discriminators being emphasized, the approach to the basic requirement of the probable RFP being taken. Information gained by the Capture manager/proposal manager/project manager team in their meetings with the customer should be continuously injected into this initial draft.
PHASE TWO:
Initial drafting of the oral presentation while the writing of the proposal continues simultaneously
When the RFP is released, the writers will start adapting what they have written to the actual proposal. The presenters, continuing to provide technical input, will at the same time look for “nuggets” to include in the oral presentation.
At some point, the presenters will break off to concentrate on the initial draft of their presentation, but will maintain continual interaction with the writers to ensure consistency between the two products.
The Project manager must develop an opening and close which serve as “bookends” to the presentation. Remember the 3-1-2 System described in Part one? It provides the model for developing these “bookends.” Begin by drafting the concluding remarks, the “3,” which will be delivered by the project manager, showing why your company provides the best value for the customer. It must be delivered with emphasis and inflection.
This is where the key discriminators are enumerated (and make sure they are in fact advantages which no competitor has!). After developing this close, draft the “1” opening statement which is an overview of the company’s capabilities, past performance with similar projects, and a brief introduction of the members of the team.
The objective is to “shake hands” with the evaluators and increase their confidence that your company can do the job better than your competitors. The “2” is the technical narratives by the respective team members addressing the Selection Criteria of the RFP.
If your company is the incumbent, emphasize that awarding the contract will avoid a steep learning curve. Point out how you will you will “hit the ground running, because you know the ground so well. If you are competing against an incumbent, point out how you bring innovative (proprietary?) solutions to the problems of the customer. Any intelligence you can acquire on the customer’s dissatisfaction will be helpful.
PHASE THREE
Intensive simulated practice presentations, or “Murder Boards,” with proposal writers playing the role of the customer’s evaluators.
In Part One of this two-part essay, I noted that the Murder Board permits presenters to be (1) more responsive to the informational needs of the evaluators, (2) develop answers for likely questions to be asked, and (3) gain confidence in their speaking ability.
Keep in mind that the purpose of the Government’s emphasis on oral presentations is to have the people with in-depth knowledge make the presentation, not polished speakers who possess less-detailed knowledge of the RFP requirements.
Nevertheless, the team of experts making the clearest and most professional presentation certainly increases its prospects of winning the contract. An outside orals coach should be brought in to show the technical experts how to make a coherent and effective presentation that focuses on the customer’s needs.
He or she should certainly use a video camera so you have “game films” of the various practice sessions. In the first session, however, the coach should not use video. There will be understandable nervousness on the part of the presenters, and the presence of cameras will just add to their “performance anxiety.”
In subsequent Murder Boards, two cameras should be used: One to record each individual presentation, thus permitting presenters to review and improve upon their “performance” privately; the second camera should record the entire presentation to see how the various presenters “fit” together. Having a video of the entire presentation will also aid in staying within the RFP-imposed time limit.
In addition to providing knowledge of the speaking art, this coach can be much more frank in providing constructive criticism to presenters than will co-workers, who, wanting to maintain positive working relationships, may be "kinder and gentler" in their critiques of presentations.
The coach’s objective is to blend the techniques of effective presentation skills with the expertise of the presenters. The fusion of these two elements produces contract-winning presentations. The coach should concentrate developing the delivery skills of the presenters, and helping them overcome obstacles to good delivery.
Let’s look at some of these obstacles. First, the boring monotone of most men. A few minutes of a monotonic presentation is a cure for insomnia. The orals coach can help those afflicted with the monotone to place emphasis on verbs and other words that connote action and movement.
They must then listen to themselves on a tape recorder, seeking to continually put inflection in their voices at appropriate times. Many women reading this are probably smiling and nodding. Not so fast, ladies. I am an equal opportunity offender, and now it is your turn.
Women, while having a natural inflection, sometimes speak at too high a pitch. For women with this problem, my advice is to practice, again with a tape recorder, lowering your pitch. Three role models to emulate are the late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, the late UN ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick, my former professor and a friend for 30 years, and, of course the “Voice”—Maya Angelou. All three of these women spoke with a lower than normal pitch, but retained their essential femininity.
Speaking of Maya Angelou, she once wrote. It takes the human voice to impart deeper meaning.” Let’s look at how a project manager of an incumbent vying to be retained can emphasize this deeper meaning. He or she should punch out this message by saying “If we are fortunate enough to be awarded this contract, there will be NO learning curve, NO transition, No loss of momentum. This emphatic delivery, using the Rhythmic Triple covered in Part one, may appear a bit theatrical, but emphasizing those key points will likely register on the minds of he evaluators far better than a monotonic declarative sentence.
What are some other vocal distractions? Again, as I said in Part one, the most egregious fault is repeated use of the fillers “Uh” and “You know.” Speakers improve in direct proportion to the reduction of these abominations of the English language. In my workshops--and you and the orals coach can do this in working with the presenters--I conduct a drill that normally proves effective in reducing this tendency. Speakers are greeted with a chorus of high decibel “Uh’s!” from their colleagues when making that sound, and equally loud “No, we don’t!” when they say “You know.” A few such behavior-modifying sessions will at least reduce the use of these fillers.
Some body language obstacles are poor posture, hands in the pocket or in the “fig leaf” position (I refer to those who move and back and forth to that position as “Flashing fig leafers.”). A slouching posture suggests indifference, and robs a presenter of projecting an image of really caring about winning the contract. (Remember those concerns of evaluators I mentioned a few minutes ago.) A passion for the company’s capability can be conveyed not just by words, but how presenters look and sound saying them.
People have a tendency to read from a script or from the PowerPoint slides on the screen. Little eye contact is made with the evaluators, and the chance of reverting to the dreaded monotone is increased. Note cards--3x5 cards are best because their size precludes writing too much--with memory joggers can certainly be used, but speakers must show they "own" the material.
Glancing at the slides on the screen is certainly permissible, but remember that the evaluators are literate and do not need you to read the words to them. Few things alienate people more in any audience than to have the speaker read verbatim the words on the visuals. Reducing to a minimum the text on the visuals during the various Murder Boards will help presenters avoid the "reading from the screen" trap. If possible, presenters should place their laptop in such a position that they can glance at the visuals on its screen, then to the evaluators, avoiding turning to the large screen.
Who should role play the evaluators in these simulated presentations? None other than the proposal writers, with the Proposal manager playing the role of the Contracting officer. These people certainly know the proposal’s strengths as well as its potential vulnerabilities.
Consequently, the writers can anticipate objections from the perspective of the evaluators, and help the presenters address these in the Murder Board, thereby possibly preempting any questions that might be in the minds of the evaluators as they listen to the oral presentation.
Government Evaluators in particular have a responsibility to get the "best buy" for the taxpayer’s dollar, and may, at least subconsciously, see a correlation between the effectiveness of the team’s presentation and how the company will accomplish the requirements stipulated in the RFP. They may view a disjointed and unclear presentation as an indicator that this team will be unable to perform the terms of the contract.
In the Murder Board sessions, all participants should listen to the practice presentation with concerns evaluators may have, such as
- What is the chemistry between and among team members?
- Does the team have a clear vision of what the Government wants accomplished, or does the presentation suggest the team is still trying to figure out what is required?
- Do the skills of the different companies and individuals complement or clash?
- Is the prime contractor really in charge, or do there appear to be some Prima Donnas among the sub-contractors, suggesting later friction?
- Does the presentation demonstrate that the consortium has the experience to accomplish the project required by the RFP?
- Is there a willingness of team members to accept Government oversight, or an attitude of "give us the contract, then get out of the way?"
- Does the company/consortium seem genuinely interested in, and demonstrate proven capability to solve, the Government’s RFP-expressed problem?
The RFP will generally call for a separate Q&A session for clarification purposes after the formal presentation. Consequently, separate Murder Boards should be conducted with the creators of the proposal again playing the role of the evaluators, and asking questions they believe will be asked.
The project manager should quarterback this session, directing questions to team members according to their respective expertise. The stress level will probably be less on presenters during the actual Q&A session because it will take place within the more familiar conversational context. But remind them in this session that in the “real thing” they will still be on stage, so they should not be lulled into a false sense of comfort.
PHASE FOUR
Going for the Gold: The Oral Presentation
Lockheed Martin had a commercial on television a few years ago that showed two fighter jets maneuvering, with a dramatic voice intoning, “If you train the way you’ll fight, you’ll fight the way you trained.”
That is solid advice for presenters—practice the way you will present, and you will present the way you practiced.
Here is some advice for the Project manager and his or her team as they sally forth:
- They should stay at a hotel the night before the presentation. Why run the risk of a traffic delay, or arriving tense from a rush hour drive?
- They should do a reconnaissance of the room in which they will present, checking the location of electrical outlets. If the room has a fixed screen, which may be impacted by sunlight, the team should bring its own screen.
- They should arrive as early as the customer will permit to set up, and should have backup laptops, bulbs, and extension cords. Being so attentive to detail sends a psychological message that the team has its “act together.”
- Assure that the team points out clearly the key discriminators, which separate your company from competing firms. Perhaps you have proprietary software or some other unique capability, which will enhance accomplishing the requirements of the RFP.
- The team can then articulate the message “if you don’t give us the contract, the government will not have access to this capability.” This message, of course, must be done in a subtle, non-threatening way.
- After the presentation, the team should conduct an immediate “post-presentation analysis,” focusing on the reactions of the evaluators and their questions in the Q&A session. This can set the stage for the next proposal/orals the company will make.
- After this grueling experience, go out and have a drink with the proposal team.. You have worked together, now celebrate together.
- Win or lose, seek a debriefing. You will gain “intelligence” which will improve your next proposal and oral presentation.
Let me close by returning to the theme of Part one: That Project managers should not just rely on their technical knowledge, but realize their ability to ”sell” them selves and their ideas are vital. To support this view, I repeat from Part one the words of one of the greatest “project managers” of the Twentieth Century, Lee Iacocca, who saved Chrysler from bankruptcy with a highly effective and persuasive “oral presentation” to Congress in 1979 to get a “bail-out” for that beleaguered company In his autobiography, he wrote:
About 2500 years before Iacocca’s observation, the great Greek statesman Pericles wrote something remarkably similar:
Iacocca and Pericles have a warning for companies competing for contracts, and particularly for project managers who have the responsibility to “Bring home the bacon.”
"Terrific ideas" can easily be trumped by those who can "express what they think." If your competitors are improving the presentation skills of their project managers and other technical experts because of the importance they attach to oral presentations, while your company relies on your superior ideas, programs, and experience, you may find your firm losing millions of dollars. A small investment in presentations training can pay large dividends when lucrative contracts are awarded.
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President Ronald Reagan described Larry Tracy as “An extraordinarily effective speaker.” He was an Army colonel assigned to the State Department at the time, debating controversial foreign policy issues throughout the country. He previously headed the Pentagon’s top briefing team, responsible for the daily intelligence presentation to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He coordinated and supervised over 500 of these muli-media, multi-screen presentations, and personally briefed the Chairman almost 100 times.
He is now cited as one of the top presentation skills trainers/coaches in the country in publications such as the Information Please Business Almanac and Sourcebook, published by Houghton-Mifflin, Best of the Best, published by Insight Publishing, and What to Say When… You’re Dying on the Platform, published by McGraw-Hill. Larry’s book, The Shortcut to Persuasive Presentations, published by Imprint Books, Charleston, SC, distills the techniques he teaches in his executive workshops, and is the text for the Oral Presentations Course at the Center for Leadership Education at Johns Hopkins University. He is a member of the National Speakers Association, The Association of Proposal Management Professionals, and the Project Management Institute.
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To purchase a copy of “The Shortcut to Persuasive Presentations” 
