The End of My Semester Break

Wow, time passed very fast, is time for me to get bk to my Uni Life again =) but before i ending with it, i had an enjoyable night movie with my boys. We watched the Pirate of the Caribbean (On Stranger Tides).

Before the  movie starts, all of us keep searching for car park in Jusco and some even parked their car at the roof top =)
The movie was great but we couldn't a nice seat in the cinema caused Chee Fong and I "neck pain"!!!
By the way, we went for yum cha after the movie and it was a great night for me, at least i wont continue rotting myself in the house ><
However, one day when i read the newspaper, i found out an article which mentioned some tips for a great proposal.

The title is 10 Tips to a winning proposal =)

Writing a good proposal is a critical skill in many occupations, from school to business management and geology. The goal of a proposal is to gain support for your plan by informing the appropriate people. Here's a guide for us to write a winning proposal:

1 Make information easy to find
   Use a table of contents for proposals over 10 pages. Arrange information in the order that's most important to the client.

2 Use headings to guide your reader
   Give each proposal a title that stresses the main benefit to the client. Give each section a title that helps readers orient themselves. Express key selling points in subheadings.

3 Respond fully
   Answer every question in the Request  for Proposal (RFP), no matter how elementary or annoying. And make your compliance with the RFP obvious in your headings. Use the terms and jargon that the RFP uses.

4 Avoid banal headings
   Don't say "Strategy Section" when you can say "Our 10-Step Plan to Increase your sales. Use strong verbs in headings, especially verbs that stress benefits for the client.

5 Avoid business cliches
   Avoid: "I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for considering the enclosed." Get to the point: "Here is our proposal." Avoid: "If you have any questions, please feel free to call. That closing has been done to death, so bury it."

6 Be simple, direct, specific
   Be specific rather than general, definite instead of vague, concrete rather than abstract. Instead of saying " I am pleased to have this opportunity to submit to you this proposal that you requested for the marketing campaign for XYZ Company", say "I am pleased to submit this proposal to provide marketing services in response to your ad."

7 Use concrete language
   Avoid saying the general; "XYZ Comapany has considerable design experience in the areas of education and culture", when you can say the concrete: "XYZ Company has a combined total of 187 years of experience designing booklets, manuals and posters for schools, universities and museums."

8 Write in the active voice
   Sentences written in the active voice are more direct and vigorous than those written in the passive. Don't say this: "The writing and designing of the book will be done by our company", when you can say this : "Our company will write and design your book."

9 Omit needless words
   If you can cut a word and keep your meaning, cut. Rather than say "The project plan which follows suggests a possible breakdown of task components and tentative timelines," say "The following plan suggests a breakdown of project tasks and timelines."

10 Sell your solution
   Above all, avoid hype, padding and fluff. Support your recommendations with statements that stress benefits to the client. Remember that your proposal is a legal document that's part of your contract if you win.

Finally i hope all this tips is useful to everyone and every of my friends and including me myself too T.T