Training Bulletin Issue 10

Welcome to the tenth issue of The Training Bulletin. Our special 2-4-1 offer on training courses is still running; you have until the end of May to take advantage of this. Call us for details.

When scented candles aren’t enough

How many times do you read an instruction that ends with something like “…and now sit back and relax…” as the advertiser’s wonderful product solves all your problems? If only life were that easy.

You can train yourself to relax at work. Pay attention to the way you breathe: make it slow and deep, and each time you breathe out, imagine a bit of tension seeping out of your body. Imagine with each breath your body relaxing and feeling heavier and heavier, and sinking into your chair.

Confidence-building training

But if your work involves writing bids and proposals and you’re up against a deadline then you’ll need more than scented candles and breathing exercises to help you relax. Practical help such as the right training gives you the confidence you need to get your proposal in on time and hit all the marks.

Plain Words’ Writing Winning Bids and Proposals course is written and run by experienced bid writers. It is packed with insider tips gleaned from writing successful bids for major companies.

If your job includes making bid presentations then our course Presenting Winning Bids & Proposals is for you. It takes you through the whole process, step by step, from preparing the bid presentation to handling the questions and answers. Don’t let a poor presentation lose you the business. Learn how to deliver bids presentations that win!

Writing Winning Bids and Proposals
“Interesting and informative, well presented and well organised course. Relevant exercises and information on improving writing and structuring techniques for proposal writing”

Presenting Winning Bids and Proposals
“Course content was specific to the needs, first class, enthused the group and drove team development.”

Time-saving tools

A big part of producing a bid is managing all the necessary documentation: as well as the original content you produce in response to the invitation to tender, there may be standard elements to include as well—things like your terms and conditions, information about team members who will work on the project, case histories of similar work and material that you’ve written before for other bids. Knowing you have the correct versions of everything ready at your fingertips will go further to helping you relax than the wafting odour of ylang ylang.

Plain Words’ bidworker™ software is designed to automate much of the hard slog of creating bids—or in fact, any large document where you need to compile information. Once you’ve organised your material into the right folder structure, you can produce a first draft in minutes from any combination of your documents. You’ll still need to customise some material but you’ll find this quicker and easier to do than before. Not only will your bid look slick and professional but you’ll also be certain that you haven’t left out anything important. Now that’s something that would help me to sit back and relax…

To find out more about bidworker™, take a look at bidworker.com.

Editor recommends

Harold Lewis, Bids, Tenders and Proposals: Winning Business Through Best Practice This is a good general text covering all aspects of bid writing: public sector procurement, contracts for private sector clients and applications for research funding.

Find it at amazon.co.uk

If you plan on gritting your teeth and creating your bid the hard way, then when you’ve finished you might benefit from The London Symphony Orchestra’s CD, “The Record of Calm and Tranquillity: Classical Music For Relaxation”, also available from Amazon.

Kind Regards
The Plain Words Training Team

Public course schedule

• 09 May – Brush Up Your English! – London
• 10 – 11 May – Designing & Writing Technical Documents Workshop – Shropshire
• 10 –11 May – Designing & Writing Technical Documents Workshop – Newbury
• 17 – 18 May – Copywriting Essentials Workshop – London
• 18 May – Getting the Best Out of MS Word – London
• 23 – 24 May – Writing Winning Bids & Proposals – London
• 23 May – Structuring & Writing Reports – London
• 06 – 07 June – Writing a Compelling Business Case Workshop – London
• 07 – 08 June – Structuring amp; Writing Reports Workshop – Newbury
• 20 June – Effective Business Writing – London
• 22 June – Writing for the Web – London
• 27 June – Effective Email – Newbury

The price is £495 + VAT per person for a one-day intensive course and £850 + VAT for a two-day workshop. Most one-day courses are also available as two-day workshops.

We also offer private courses at your premises. Please call 01635 202013 or 0207 0960 749 for details.

To book, call Abi on 01635 202013 ext 28 or use the booking form.