Preparing a Proposal Presentation

Congratulations – you are moving through to the Proposal Presentation round! You’ve passed the first test – your RFP proposal was well-received, and you and a select group of short-listed proponents have been invited to deliver a proposal presentation to the selection committee.

The proposal presentation round is your opportunity to clinch the win. This post is dedicated to ensuring you do by providing some proven tips and tricks for preparing a compelling proposal presentation.

Set Aside Some Time

This stage of the RFP process has reduced your competition. You’ve effectively differentiated your company and its offering to become one of the few selected to deliver a proposal presentation.

Given the reduced competition, it is paramount you set aside enough time to develop powerful slides that demonstrate your suitability and practice the presentation. We recommend starting immediately after short list announced and dedicating at least eight to ten hours to the effort – preparation and rehearsal.

Build your Proposal Presentation

To create a compelling and engaging presentation, be sure to:

Sketch out your entire presentation in a working whiteboard session with all key players attending.
Identify the key win themes you want to emphasize.
Present one main idea per slide
Incorporate powerful, evocative visuals that will engage the audience.
Master your storytelling. People will not remember facts and figures but will be moved to action through memorable stories. For example, use your case studies to weave a success narrative.

Practice, Practice, Practice

A fluid, well-rehearsed presentation will convey your competence and lend confidence to the selection committee. We cannot understate the importance of practice. Be sure to:

Recognize that almost everyone experiences some anxiety when presenting. Practice runs will help to minimize nerves on the actual date.
Conduct practice sessions in front of a live audience. This will be critical to your success as it offers a forum for feedback, discussion and the fine-tuning of your presentation. An audience will allow you to practice conveying critical points effectively and revising your wording if necessary.

Running a complete ‘dress’ rehearsal builds confidence and allows your team to address rough spots. It also provides a firmer sense of the time it will take to deliver your presentation.

Connect

A presentation is always more impactful when the speaker connects with the audience. Conducting practice runs with an audience will help you better gauge where the opportunities for audience connection lie in the deck. When you deliver the presentation, be sure to:

Focus on your audience and how your company and solution will benefit them.
Try to engage the audience in a manner that helps you learn about them – their goals, drivers, etc.
Make eye contact with the audience and only refer to the slides occasionally.
Use your hands when you speak and find ways to engage audience members.

Toot your Own Horn

The presentation is the best place to hammer home your credibility and success, so be sure to:

Highlight your experience delivering similar projects and clearly articulate the benefits you delivered to those customers.
Summarize your best, most relevant case studies. Provide context, explaining the challenge, process and solution, finishing with the benefits. This is an opportunity to share your company’s best practices and processes in a way that lends confidence to the prospective client.
Ideally, spell out how you delivered an ROI to previous clients and how you will do the same for this one. Clearly communicate your value and be aware that ROI extends beyond the financial benefit to improved productivity, increased sales, reduced costs etc.
Use compelling imagery and client testimonials to showcase your successful engagements.

Employ Good Design Principles on your Proposal Presentation

A well-designed presentation will resonate more deeply with an audience. It will help ensure your salient points are remembered. Some simple design principles you should follow are:

Use a clean, powerful font and high-resolution images to complement your storytelling.
For maximum impact, consider employing the 10-20-30 principle of presentation design. This guide, designed by former Apple brand ambassador Guy Kawasaki, states a presentation should have no more than ten slides, last approximately 20 minutes and use a 30-point font.
Consider incorporating quick videos or demonstrations as part of your presentation.
Infographics with critical data points are a highly effective visual tool for storytelling. Use them.

Wrap it up on a High Note

How you finish a presentation will determine the lasting impression on your audience. Your final slide should drive home your pitch to secure the opportunity, so be sure to:

Summarize your key differentiators and emphasize the benefits of your solution to the client.
Tailor your conclusion to shape the subsequent Q&A in your favour; this might be a powerful call to action, for example. The goal is to get your potential client involved in the conversation.
Listen carefully to the questions you receive. They can provide important insights to help you seal the win.

Conclusion

Following these tips will help you nail your presentation and, hopefully, secure the contract. It is a critical step in the proposal process and is often wrongly treated as an afterthought once you’ve submitted the bid and been short-listed.

However, the proposal presentation should be treated with the same attention and care that went into developing the bid that got you to the presentation stage. Don’t underestimate this opportunity to secure the business.

Are you looking for help with proposal writing? You can win your next proposal with help from The Proposal Lab.