How to Make the Most of Bid and Proposal Con
Bid and Proposal Con. It’s like an amusement park for the
proposal professional—and this year, it’s fittingly located in Orlando! Bid and
Proposal Con is a time where I dedicate four straight days to my professional
development. I get to reunite with people I haven’t seen in months. I get to
meet new people and make new connections. And I have the opportunity to learn
new best practices, further hone my professional skills, and share my own
proposal insights.
But with so much jam packed into four days, Bid and Proposal
Con can also be overwhelming. Especially for those attending for the first
time, you may not have any idea about how to take full advantage of this
exciting event. Though I am a Bid and Proposal Con novice compared to some of
my colleagues, I have developed some strategies over the years to get the most
out of the conferences that I can. I share these tips below, and I hope that
others out there will chime as well!
Prepare
Similar to proposal development, preparation is key for Bid
and Proposal Con. APMP provides many useful resources so that you’re not going
into the event blind. Here’s what I suggest to prepare:
Download the App. The app puts everything you need in
the palm of your hand. Everything from hotel maps with restrooms locations, the
presentation schedule, a list of presenters, discussion boards, and more. Here
are links to download the app, if you haven’t done so already:
Plan out Your Schedule. With many great sessions to
choose from, it can be overwhelming to make an on-the-spot decision as to which
you’d like to attend. So take some time before you head to the conference and
pick which sessions you’d like to target. If you have downloaded the app, you
can even select these events and add them to your personal schedule. Don’t
worry, you won’t be committed to these selections. The schedules are simply
there for your benefit!
Plan for Some Excursions. Since many of these
conferences are destination trips, research the area and find some things you’d
like to do outside of the conference. Last year I visited the San Diego Zoo,
took a trip to Coronado Island, and ate my way through an exciting Yelp list.
It was amazing! This year you might check out one of the local amusement parks,
plan a day trip to the beach, indulge in some time by the pool, or plan a day
at the spa.
Engage
To get the most out of the event, it’s really not enough
just to show up. You’ll get so much more out of the event if you participate
actively, ask questions, and make new connections. Here are some ways I
recommend to stay engaged:
Be an Active Participant. The purpose of Bid and
Proposal Con is to share best practices and to learn. So make sure you are
taking full advantage of this opportunity. If you want to know more about a
certain topic or need clarification on something presented, speak up! The sessions
are much more effective when there is strong audience participation.
Network. In addition to maintaining your existing connections,
be sure to reach outside your existing network, meet new people, and build new
relationships. We become better at what we do by learning from each other. And
even though the conference happens just once a year, we can learn from one
another constantly. Make sure you are building and maintaining the network to
make that happen.
Attend the Evening Events. To make the most of the week,
I recommend attending the evening events. These provide the opportunity to build
relationships in a more relaxed environment. These events are also a great way
to catch up with the people you didn’t get a chance to connect with during the
day.
Schedule Some Downtime. With breakfast starting at
7:00 a.m. and evening events running sometimes as late as 9:00 p.m., make sure
to schedule some downtime into your schedule. Make time to relax, rest, and
recuperate. This will keep your immune system from wearing down so that you can
remain energized and focused throughout the week.
Embrace
Similar to how we look back on our proposal and capture
efforts through lessons learned, it’s important for us to make time for
reflection after the conference. This will better enable us to target key takeaways
and embrace some of those new best practices into our established proposal
processes.
Reflect on What You Learned. It’s critical to reflect
on what you have learned once the conference has ended. Pick some things that
you want to embrace in how you approach the profession. Write them down.
Throughout the year, monitor whether you are following through.
Take Ideas Back to Your Company. Identify some best
practices that you would like for your company to embrace and write down the
benefits of each. Share these ideas with your team and document any resulting implementation
goals. To increase the chances of successful adoption, set up a plan for
achieving these goals, and track your progress regularly.
Gain Credit for Your CEUs. The conference is a great
way to keep up with your required CEUs for maintaining your APMP
certifications. So don’t forget to log your experience in your profile at
apmp.org. Once logged in, go to My ProfileàManage
ProfileàProfessional
Development.
Follow up with the People You Met. It’s great to meet
new people, but make sure you maintain those relationships! Connect with your
new contacts on LinkedIn. If they are local to your area, schedule some time to
meet up in person once you both return from the event. You can’t continue to learn
from one another if you don’t maintain communication lines!
Final Thoughts
Like an amusement park with many options and limited time, Bid
and Proposal Con can be overwhelming, especially for first-time attendees. To
get the most out of the conference, I make sure to prepare before the event,
using the app to plan my schedule and strategy. During the conference, I make
sure to engage and participate actively. I use the networking time to reconnect
with colleagues as well as build new relationships. And finally, following the
event, I make sure to reflect on my experience so I can embrace and apply what
I have learned.
If you are a first time attendee, or just looking for more
ways to make the most out of your conference experience, I hope you have found
this article helpful. If you have some personal tips that I haven’t covered, I
hope you will share those with us as well!
Written by Ashley Kayes, CP APMP
Senior Proposal Consultant, AOC Key Solutions, Inc. (KSI)
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