2022 Western Region Conference
Continuing with our Disney's Grand Californian Hotel location, 2022 was the first year that our annual event was changed to a 1½-day format, with presentations on Thursday afternoon 6 October, a reception at the Napoli Ristorante e Bar in Downtown Disney on Thursday evening, and continuing with a full day of presentations on Friday, 7 October. 76 attended.
Culture of Connectedness: Cultivating Team Synergy in Any Environment
The proposal industry is notorious for being one of the worst for work/life balance. Proposal teams are expected to work nights, weekends, holidays, overtime, and can be seen as grunt workers. When I became the Director of Microsoft’s Proposal Center of Excellence, I presented my vision for the team: For us to be the best proposal shop in the industry, and the best proposal shop to work for in the industry. I value work/life balance as much as I value the proposal excellence we deliver because a highly-skilled winning team is of no use to me if they’re exhausted, unhappy, unhealthy, and disconnected from their regular lives. This presentation covers how to achieve this culture in an industry incongruent for work/life balance—both as a leader of proposal teams and as an individual proposal professional.
Carrie Jordan, CF APMP
As Global Director of Proposals for Microsoft's Proposal Center of Excellence (PCoE), Carrie is passionate about creating the best proposal organization in the industry, and the best proposal organization to work for. Carrie draws from over 14 years of experience in proposal management. Most of her experience is in large, public sector cloud deals. She previously served as the Director of Consulting Services for Shipley Associates. She has supported over $150 billion in proposal wins.Planning to Win Between “Go” and “Kick-off”
How can you recognize your leverage, engage people, and build resilient proposal teams to capture excellence? In this interactive hybrid session, participants will learn tools and techniques to engage well and often with subject matter experts and others across their organizations to help meet deadlines and secure trust during and beyond specific proposal efforts. The key: Use the unique leverage that win heroes like you bring to our work. Please join us. We’ll bring the frogs.Note 1: The reference to “frogs”: 1) “Swallow your frog”—identifying challenges in proposal planning and 2) a model for framing and designing an “engagement matrix”: Function, Relationship, Order, Grace.
Note 2: Todd was unfortunately not able to attend the conference and sent us a video of his part of their presentation. Click Video to watch.
Karen Hansel, CP APMP
Karen is a seasoned business development professional with 20 years' experience in the business development lifecycle across multiple industries including aerospace and defense, information technology, healthcare, construction engineering, and law firms. Her expertise is in the development and deployment of programs, procedures, and operations for large-scale projects. Karen earned her BS in Business Management from LeTourneau University, Master of Aeronautic Science and MS in Logistics and Supply Chain Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She has attained APMP Practitioner certification and has a goal to successfully achieve the Capture Practitioner accreditation by the end of this year.
Todd Packer, CF APMP
Principal Consultant and Executive Syzygyst™ of Todd Packer and Associates, LLC, Todd aligns opportunity, value, and excellence to help organizations thrive with new sources of growth and revenue. For over twenty years his innovative techniques have helped individuals from corporations, universities, non-profit institutions, small businesses and healthcare facilities in the US, Canada, and India. A published author and top-rated presenter, he integrates coaching, research, writing, training, and consulting to launch and manage successful initiatives based on ideas that win. Todd has presented popular and highly interactive sessions for professional associations, including APMP BPC and Chapter conferences.Industry Breakouts to discuss Best Practices
Topics included:- Software tools and resources to reduce costs and proposal cycle time
- Industry changes in the acquisition process
- Process improvements/initiatives for centers of excellence
- Agile proposal process
Keynote: Maximum Influence: How to Get It and How to Use It
Proposal development is a team sport, and we’re the captain. Our role requires that we teach, coach, and inspire the rest of the team in order to have the best outcome. Our ability to effectively persuade, motivate, and influence others who do not report to us can be the difference between winning and losing. Loosely based on the book “Maximum Influence” by Kurt Mortensen and my own experiences, attendees will learn the laws of persuasion and how to apply them to proposal work. As a society, we are interconnected and the ability to make connections is vital to our success. We can’t get anywhere in life or proposal work unless we are able to work with other human beings. This has been my experience and I love to help other people find ways to harness their own power to achieve success.
Robin Davis, APMP Fellow
Robin has 22 years of proposal experience, primarily in the healthcare industry. She founded and is CEO of Metre, the leading proposal development consulting firm for US healthcare companies. Robin is an APMP Fellow and has held several different leadership roles in the association over her 20 years of membership. She invites you to learn more at www.metreworks.com and connect with her on LinkedIn.Black Hats and Wargames—the What, Why, and When
In our hyper-competitive environment, companies are increasingly looking for ways to develop a deeper understanding of their competitors’ strategies and tactics on a given opportunity, so that they can effectively defend against them in their capture and proposal plans. Black Hat reviews and their lesser-known (and lesser-used) cousins, Wargames, are powerful tools in helping to develop this deeper understanding. This session will address what they are, why they are useful, and when is the right time to use them. We will also discuss several best practices and common pitfalls for organizing and conducting these activities.
Brandon Conroy
Brandon is the Director of Competitive Intelligence at Richter & Company LLC, a Maryland-based Competitive Analysis and Price to Win firm. He brings more than 20 years of experience as an intelligence analyst (both national and competitive intelligence) as well as instructor and Black Hat facilitator, with a primary focus on the federal contracting space. Brandon leads a department of analysts who provide leading edge research and actionable intelligence to a diverse client base.New Approaches to Proposals: Learn How Newsrooms and Magazine Editorial Departments Write to a Deadline
Our proposals would be perfect, if only we had more time! This session will explain how reporters, freelancers, editors, newsroom chiefs, and publishers always meet their deadlines for breaking news articles, investigative reports, and information pieces in the most highly regarded publications. Are there lessons that we can use from them? Of course! Attend this session to learn how you can adapt their approach to your proposals.Note: this was a panel session which SMA kindly recorded: click Video to watch. Ajay’s panelists were:
- Tim Lynch, Strategist, Executive Communications, Claremont Graduate University (former Senior Copy Chief, Foreign and National Desks, Los Angeles Times)
- Nick Owchar, Editorial Director, Pitzer College
- Bruce Rosenstein, Managing Editor, Leader to Leader
Ajay Patel, CF APMP
Ajay leads SMA as President and CEO. He has over 30 years of consulting, business development, operations, program management and systems engineering experience. Prior to coming to SMA, Ajay was a Director at Deloitte Consulting in the Aerospace and Defense practice. He was a Senior Partner at the Monitor Group for twelve years and created and led its global National Security practice. During the 1990s, Ajay served in various roles at SMA including Vice President of Business Development, Executive Vice President of SMA’s Proposal Management group, and as the firm’s Chief Operating Officer. Previously, Ajay was at TRW serving in technology development, systems engineering, program management, and business development roles. He holds an MBA in Strategic Planning & Finance from the Marshall School of Business at USC and a BA in Physics from the Johns Hopkins University.Lessons from the Mouse: Adding Creativity to the Proposal Lifecycle to Impact Evaluators
Most people think of proposals as business documents designed to appeal to a person’s technical side (the brain). Great proposals also appeal to the evaluator’s emotions (the heart) by connecting with their hopes and allaying their fears. To add this necessary depth to proposal efforts, we need to think of proposals as creative enterprises. We can learn valuable lessons and ideas from leading creative minds and organizations, including the Walt Disney Company, Pixar Animation, Jim Henson, and more. This presentation provides clear, actionable tips and guidance for adding creativity to existing proposal development processes. Specific topics include how to inject creative processes into win theme and solution development, content creation, and reviews. Using the tips and ideas from this presentation, proposal professionals will be able to create more successful content and evaluator engagement within the traditional proposal framework.
Kevin Switaj, PhD, CP APMP
Kevin is President and Chief Executive Officer of BZ Opportunity Management, a consulting firm based in northern Virginia specializing in working with Government contractors. An experienced proposal professional, he has led bids of diverse sizes and requirements for a wide range of Government clients. He focuses on providing high-quality Federal proposal development and oral proposal coaching. He is actively involved in APMP, having served as a member of the APMP National Capital Area Board of Directors and a mentor in the chapter’s mentor-protégé program for multiple years. He is a well-recognized thought leader in the field who speaks regularly at regional and international conferences. Kevin has also won multiple awards for his writing on opportunity management.Motivating Virtual Teamwork: Best Practices from Social Science and Real-World Experience
Decades of research on small groups, team communication, and the Science of Team Science have provided us best practices for building in-person teams. But what do they tell us about handling virtual teams? In this presentation I bring together what psychology, sociology, and communication sciences reveal about virtual team building with my experiences submitting proposals with over 40 different virtual proposal teams since the start of the 2020 COVID pandemic. I'll leave you with tips and tricks, backed by social science, for successfully engaging and influencing virtual proposal teams.
Quyen Wickham, MA, CP APMP, CAPM
Quyen has worked in bid and proposal management for over 12 years. With a Master’s degree in Communication and Science of Team Science, combined with a penchant for technical communication and persuasive writing, he helped launch the Oklahoma University Research Development Office to win research awards and contracts. Now at Arizona State University he serves as Senior Proposal Manager and has managed over $500M in bids, facilitates teams, and advances bid and proposal knowledge through training and process improvements. He is praised for his calm demeanor, attention to detail, and strong support of diversity and equity.Panel: Continue to Build Your Team and Q&A
Gather what you have learned from this conference and discuss with industry leaders: 2022 lessons learned and key priorities, including actions and commitments for defining a future of proposal excellence.
Anita Wright
CPP APMP Fellow
(Moderator)Northrop Grumman
Robin Davis
APMP Fellow
MetreCarrie Jordan
CF APMP
Microsoft