Top 6 Tips to Write a Powerful Business Proposal

Before you begin writing your business proposal, follow these six rules to improve your writing style and to organize your thoughts more effectively.

Tip 1. Identify your competitive strengths

Past studies at Yale University claim that many decision-makers and thought-leaders advise to curb the length of your written proposals to no more than 8 minutes of reading, irrespective of its importance.

This is a valuable competitive discriminator for the proposal, especially in the Executive Summary section. You must manage those 8 minutes to express your competitive strengths to the Assessment Review Team.

a) Think like your prospect.

b) Dissect your proposal into easy steps.

c) Communicate your competitive strengths in one sentence.

Tip 2. Structure your proposal correctly

Structure is a question of control. It helps you to determine the sequence in which you intend the reader to digest your words, sentences and paragraphs. It allows the reader to digest your information in the order of importance. And it allows you to move the reader from section to section.

Simple guide to create an effective structure:

a) Take into account your target reader.

b) Collect your ideas, thoughts and concepts on paper.

c) Consider the order of importance.

d) Write a first draft and a final draft.

Tip 3. Organize your proposal

The organization of a proposal is vital. It ensures that the reader can find the information and facts quickly; it also allows you to pass out specific sections or sheets of your proposal between the assessment team for review and examination.

Tip 4. Write everything clearly and concisely

When writing your proposal, always remember that your readers might not have a lot of time to read what you write, so consciously decide to write concisely and to the point. Avoid compressing too much information into your proposal because people will stop reading it before they reach the conclusion.

Tip 5. Make sure you answer the questions

A written proposal that neglects to answer pertinent questions is the worst mistake that you can make. It's quite simple to get caught in this trap. The assessment team will rely on you to respond to their questions, should your proposal fail to answer them. Make sure you read and study your completed proposal, in case this should happen, so you can answer any pending questions.

Quite often if you fail to proof thoroughly your proposal for any missing information, it will lack focus, cause problems with reading, and neglect to address the desires and needs of the assessment team.

Tip 6. Proofing and Correcting

All of us commit mistakes, and that's why you need to re-read and proof your proposal to weed out an unfortunate errors. Simple misspellings or typographical errors can cause confusion in a proposal. Take this step very seriously. You've worked very hard on your proposal, and you certainly do not want to ruin its overall purpose with simple writing errors.

Conclusion

Always remember that the reader interprets what you wrote, not what you've written, so make sure your proposal's message is clear and direct in meaning.

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Face Britain

What do you think of this self-portrait?  Who do you think painted it?

If you like the singer, Adele's self-portait, unfortunately, you missed the chance to buy it for   £5,000.00!


Adele painted this picture as part of the FaceBritain project:

Children aged 4- 16 were invited to create their own special self portraits in aid of the project, entitled Face Britain, in the hope that they would be able to explore their creativity and cement their place in history as the 2012 generation. Portraits at all levels of skill, and in any medium were acceptable, including drawing, textiles, 3D, painting, graphics, and photography.

Over 200,000 of the portraits were then used to form a giant portrait of the Queen which was then projected onto Buckingham Palace.

www.telegraph.co.uk

You can watch a video of the projection here.

And what do you think of these two portraits of the Queen?  What do you think they are made of?

Find out! (and see more portraits of the Queen) here.

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My guest post on take a photo and ........

In a previous post, I wrote about an impressive blog:  http://takeaphotoand.wordpress.com/

A while ago, Fiona Mauchline, manager of that blog, contacted me after I left a comment on one of the posts.  She asked me if I'd be interested in writing a guest post for the takeaphoto blog.  I replied that it would be a pleasure and finally, 4 months later, this became a reality!

So, here is a link to the post.  I think that you'll find it relevant, especially if you're preparing student for the Cambridge English: Preliminary or Preliminary for Schools exam.
http://takeaphotoand.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/buddha-and-oral-exams/

Hope it's useful!

Anne

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Google Lab's Ngram Viewer

Sorry not to have been with you for a week but my week has been a bit busier than usual!  (= awesomely busy!!!)

'Awesome' is not a word I normally use regularly.  How long has the word 'awesome' been around?  10 years?  100 years?  How can I find out?

One very quick way of checking is to visit the Google Ngram Viewer:  http://books.google.com/ngrams/

If you feed in the word 'awesome' like I did, you get a graph like this:

From this we can see that the word 'awesome' does not appear to have been widely in use before 1870, and became very popular and frequent around 1980. The graph shows how a word which has existed for hundreds of years but has always been very rare can suddenly acquire a much more general meaning and become a part of the everyday language when it gets picked up by teenagers. 

So what exactly is the Google Ngram Viewer?  Well, around 5.20 million books written in English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese and Russian were digitalised.  This produced a database containing 500 billion words which had appeared in these books (published between 1500 and 2008).  

On the Ngram Viewer website, you can feed in a string of up to 5 words, click and within seconds, a graph charting the frequency of use of the word or string of words appears. 

For more information (and some fascinating examples of how world events and trends can influence the use of words), I thoroughly recommend the following TED talk. You'll see why I chose to use the word 'awesome' at the start of this blog post!!!

http://www.ted.com/talks/what_we_learned_from_5_million_books.html

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Using news with younger learners

When you watch the news on television, although some of the stories shown might be suitable to use with children and young teenagers, others are definitely NOT.

One great source of news items for students of these age groups is CBBC (BBC Children)'s Newsround. 

 

The home of news and fun facts for kids.

I remember watching this programme myself when I was growing up (so it's been around for a long time!)

The start-up page for the website is divided into 5 sections: home, news, sport, entertainment and animals.


I clicked on two news stories that I had watched yesterday morning on Sky News.  I chose them because they were thematically related (both talking about sport).

The first showed the actor Will Smith trying out some sports with athletes, boxers and basketball players from the GB Olympic team.

In class, you could show your students these pictures and then they could be asked to find them within the video clip.


The second story is to do with swimming.

Too many children can't swim properly, says news report

I thought this would be great to use in class when talking about 'can' and 'can't'.  

After the news report, CBBC have published comments from kids on the subject, like this one from 

Lilion, London, England

"I want to be a Olympic swimmer... but our school doesn't teach us!"

Your students could be asked to write their own comment on the subject.
And then, they could take the Olympic Games Quiz.

And don't forget to use materials from the Olympics sports page I wrote about last month!

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How To Start A Successful Blog With Happy Readers

Blogging is the act of sharing thoughts and ideas with others in written form online. How do you start? Here are some tips to help you with the process.

1. Decide whether you want to be a serious blogger. By this I mean do you want to make a commitment to blogging? This is very important as you will spend time luring readers in and then leave them flat, and they won't return if you don't take it seriously. If you are unsure about this, try to start out slow. Blog just every once in a while and get used to writing in the blogging format. Some people blog only a paragraph, some add photos, some are more lengthy.

2. Decide what your blog will be about. Make it personal. Remember who is writing this blog; that is why readers will follow you. They are interested in what you have to offer or they wouldn't be reading it.

3. Decide if you wish to self-publish or use a blogging software. An example of self-publishing would be for you to host it on your web space. Then you would need a feed burner or e-mail program to let people know when there is a new post available. Or, alternately you can use a blogging software and there are many free versions available, such as WordPress or Blogger. Everybody has their favorite but I have found that a simple interface is Blogger's software and a more technical interface would be WordPress. You can also self-host with WordPress, although WordPress does offer a free version, where you do not need to have web space. The only drawback is that you cannot control what type of ads will be displayed along your blog when it is seen online.

4. Decide if you want your blog to make revenue. There are ad programs who will allow you to be an affiliate and your blog could make money as people click through on ads. Typically the business who is allowing you to be an affiliate will send you a revenue check each month or quarter, based on their criteria- how many click-throughs, how many sales resulted, etc.

5. Decide on a brand. Make your blog recognizable, by its logo, color scheme or headline. Make the font easy to read and always design to your weakest reader- one who has never read a blog before and might not know how.

6. Decide to promote. Once you are up and running, you will need to let people know you are out there! Advertise on social media networks, put it in your signature line on your e-mail, make a bumper sticker and put it on your car! No one can visit if they don't know you're there.

7. Decide to be nice. No one wants to read a blog where people's comments are insulted or denigrated. It is easy to want to strike out at a negative comment, but remember, this is how you learn.

8. Decide to offer great content. Remember 90 percent of your readers, just by nature, will be 'skimmers' and the other 10 percent will want to read everything you have. It is the nature of the blog to offer skimmers lots of options that are clear and easy to navigate. I always list a table of contents on each post so that readers can skim and then choose what they want to read without wading through the entire blog. Remember skimmers and waders alike like pretty pictures. Make sure your pictures are clear and not blurry.

9. Decide to stick with it. If you don't get a ton of readers right away, don't be discouraged. It takes time for people to find you. Just keep looking for ways to remind them.

10. Decide to have fun. I have learned so much since I started blogging. It is an experience in itself and you should have fun along the way!



Blogging is the act of sharing thoughts and ideas with others in written form online. How do you start? Here are some tips to help you with the process.

1. Decide whether you want to be a serious blogger. By this I mean do you want to make a commitment to blogging? This is very important as you will spend time luring readers in and then leave them flat, and they won't return if you don't take it seriously. If you are unsure about this, try to start out slow. Blog just every once in a while and get used to writing in the blogging format. Some people blog only a paragraph, some add photos, some are more lengthy.

2. Decide what your blog will be about. Make it personal. Remember who is writing this blog; that is why readers will follow you. They are interested in what you have to offer or they wouldn't be reading it.

3. Decide if you wish to self-publish or use a blogging software. An example of self-publishing would be for you to host it on your web space. Then you would need a feed burner or e-mail program to let people know when there is a new post available. Or, alternately you can use a blogging software and there are many free versions available, such as WordPress or Blogger. Everybody has their favorite but I have found that a simple interface is Blogger's software and a more technical interface would be WordPress. You can also self-host with WordPress, although WordPress does offer a free version, where you do not need to have web space. The only drawback is that you cannot control what type of ads will be displayed along your blog when it is seen online.

4. Decide if you want your blog to make revenue. There are ad programs who will allow you to be an affiliate and your blog could make money as people click through on ads. Typically the business who is allowing you to be an affiliate will send you a revenue check each month or quarter, based on their criteria- how many click-throughs, how many sales resulted, etc.

5. Decide on a brand. Make your blog recognizable, by its logo, color scheme or headline. Make the font easy to read and always design to your weakest reader- one who has never read a blog before and might not know how.

6. Decide to promote. Once you are up and running, you will need to let people know you are out there! Advertise on social media networks, put it in your signature line on your e-mail, make a bumper sticker and put it on your car! No one can visit if they don't know you're there.

7. Decide to be nice. No one wants to read a blog where people's comments are insulted or denigrated. It is easy to want to strike out at a negative comment, but remember, this is how you learn.

8. Decide to offer great content. Remember 90 percent of your readers, just by nature, will be 'skimmers' and the other 10 percent will want to read everything you have. It is the nature of the blog to offer skimmers lots of options that are clear and easy to navigate. I always list a table of contents on each post so that readers can skim and then choose what they want to read without wading through the entire blog. Remember skimmers and waders alike like pretty pictures. Make sure your pictures are clear and not blurry.

9. Decide to stick with it. If you don't get a ton of re`ders right away, don't be discouraged. It takes time for people to find you. Just keep looking for ways to remind them.

10. Decide to have fun. I have learned so much since I started blogging. It is an experience in itself and you should have fun along the way!

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404

What does the number 'four 0 four' mean to you?  Four minutes past four?  Four hundred and four?  A room?

If you're on the computer, 404 is bad news!  It's an error page, where you get to when your search is unsuccessful, if you've mistyped an address or the webpage has a broken link.

I'm subscribed to TED talks (I've mentioned these before in my post about listening sites for Advanced students) and when I have time, I try and watch one or two (obviously depending on how long they last).  This morning, I clicked on the link in the email with the weekly update, and watched a short, amusing video (4.08 minutes!) of a talk by Renny Gleeson.

Renny Gleeson: 404, the story of a page not found

This led me to run a quick search on google images for some 404 pages.  Here is a small selection of the results. (Most taken from stunningmesh.com)

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Tips on Finding the Most Suitable Van Rental for Your Relocation

Before you begin your search for the most suitable van to meet the requirements of your relocation it is absolutely vital that you the specifications of the vans available out there, with such a vast array of options for you to choose from to suit a whole plethora of varying needs. By planning ahead you can be sure to obtain a vehicle that will provide you with the necessary resources in which to make your move as stress free and efficient as possible. The best thing about hiring your own vehicle out for the purpose of moving homes is the fact that you can ensure the safe transit of your belongings at your own pace without having to worry about an hourly rate set by a removals company.

One of the most important aspects that should be taken into consideration is the amount of items that require moving as it would be a great inconvenience for you to have to run back and forth between properties. Likewise, there is no point in paying over the odds for a vehicle that is too large as you will end up with plenty of unused space once your belongings have been loaded. Either way you will be faced with an unnecessary expenditure whether in the form of petrol or paying for space that is not required.

By researching a number of rental companies before making a decision you will be able to get the best deal out there to suit your particular requirements. It is advisable for you to get quotes from the companies that seem to provide the most sufficient vehicles for such a purpose. With each company offering different types and sizes of vehicles you may find that some companies offer more affordable prices for the van that is most appropriate to your needs, so digging a little deeper could really pay off. In addition, it is also important that you read the small print before finalizing your decision to opt with a certain company to ensure that their insurance policy and services are more advantageous than the others you have previously looked at. By searching a company in the online marketplace you will be able to find out if they offer the correct services before you even ask for a quote.

Before leaving the company premises with the van you should always look at both the interior and exterior of the vehicle for any damage and due to the fact that even the tiniest scratch can result in a charge ensure that they are aware of this and it is detailed in the agreement. You do not want to be blamed for any damage to the vehicle that has been caused through no fault of your own.

Driving a van is a much different experience to that of driving a car, for this reason you should ensure that you are comfortable with the vehicle that you are hiring out while making your decision. They are likely to be very different in their dimensions and weight than the vehicle that you are used to, therefore it may be restricted to the spaces in which it is able to fit through. If you do not feel completely confident driving such a vehicle then a reputable car hire company will be more than happy to give you some tips and make sure you feel at ease before driving away.

Once you have selected you vehicle all you will have to do is make sure that your possessions are loaded properly, thus not to cause any damage during transit and you will be free to make the safe transition into your new home with the cost effective solution of a hire vehicle.

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Preparing teenagers for the PET exam

I have met Emma Heyderman several times in San Sebastian and in Bilbao.

Photo:  http://ylandtsig.ning.com/profile/EmmaHeyderman

I have never been in the live audience at her seminars, but she has been part of my audiences at seminars, and I hold a lot of respect for her and her publications.

As so often happens these days, I was looking up something else (well, actually - I think I was preparing the previous post for this blog come to think of it!), when I came across a selection of videos featuring Emma on the Cambridfe University Press ELT Youtube channel.

Take for example this one:
Preparing teenagers for the PET exam: Listening.

Emma demonstrates just how important it is for students to listen carefully to the whole of the listening texts and not to choose an answer too quickly.

As well as this video, you can find other clips looking at the other skills tested on Cambridge English: Preliminary.

So now, running up to the main examining period of the year and for us Cambridge ESOL presenters, coming to the end of our live sessions for 2011-2012, watch Emma's tips to gain some advice and ideas for your candidates.

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A quick post to share some fun!!!!

Just had a quick check of my emails.  This was in one of them a (teacher) friend sent me, along with some other good ones.  I thought I'd share my giggles with you!

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray:
'Take only ONE . God is watching.'

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.

A child had written a note, 'Take all you want. God is watching the apples.' 

Photo:  http://blog.lib.umn.edu/meyer769/psy_1001/giggle.jpg

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Take a picture in Oviedo

Just back from Oviedo.  I thoroughly enjoyed my trip along the coast on Saturday morning.

My session was the last one of the morning, so I had the chance to pick up some very useful tips and ideas from Karen Elliot and Borja Uruñuela who were 'on' before me.

Karen shared some great story and story telling techniques with us.  We were treated to her 6 'voices' when she entertained us with some stories.  Another important number in stories is 3 apparently.  I learnt some very useful and simple tips for choosing and using stories for class.  Great!

Next on was Borja.

 I had heard a lot about Borja before I first attended his session in Bilbao at this year's TESOL Convention.  I was not disappointed there nor last Saturday, where, like Karen, he was sharing the Magic Ingredients for the Primary Classroom.


Again, I was impressed by the way he demonstrated simple, effective techniques and suggestions for really involving students in classroom activities and the learning process.

And then it was my turn.  I was talking about one of my favourite topics - using pictures to stimulate language practice.  I wanted to show how the same picture can be used at different levels to practise different language.

Most of the activities and pictures (such as the ones above) that I shared with teachers in Oviedo are available to download from the Cambridge ELT website.

The teachers in the audience were GREAT!  They participated, laughed and smiled.  Thanks if you were one of them!!!

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Memoir Writing for Beginners

                  People, who are running an online business, need good content to grab the attention of their target customers. Many business owners try their hand at writing the content on their own but very soon realize that this expert's job must be delegated only to the professional content writers. The importance of copywriters has never been underrated because of their ability to create a variety of write-ups. They not only help business owners to start a website of their own but also to keep it going. If you already have a website or a blog, you would possibly understand the importance to keep it up-to-date. One of the best ways to keep a site or blog updated is to regularly add fresh content into it.

                    Writing has the power to convey the core message of your business to your target audience. And when it is about web content writing, the writer opts for a distinct writing approach. When a copywriter creates content for a website he/she does not follow the usual journalistic writing style. Instead, he/she follows a specific pattern that is required for driving traffic to the website. The web writers try to make their write-ups interesting, useful, informative and attractive that helps them to stimulate interest among the users.

                     Every website whether it is meant to sell a product or service necessitates good content in order to entice the visitors. Content writers play a significant role here by writing rich, compelling and eye-catching content that can drive huge web traffic to the website. As the content writing job demands quality writing, not everyone can do it effectively. An online business can flourish only with the use of targeted content provided by the professional copywriters. Through their excellent skills and writing ability they can produce fresh and unique content carrying attractively formed relevant information.

                      These experts know that the top search engines such as Google, MSN, Yahoo and Bing would rank a website depending on relevancy and quality of the content written therein. Higher search engine rankings help the potential users in finding out the website which can fulfill their needs. This further increases the possibility of getting more business sales. As the copywriters are highly knowledgeable about all aspects of content writing such as blog writing, press releases, landing pages, sales copy, website writing, auto responders, newsletter etc, they can ensure the overall growth of a web business. While working on all these aspects they follow a distinct style required by each aspect and take into account the target customers at the same time. To summarize, if you're running a web-based business, availing the services of a content writer is a must.

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Hiring a Memoir Ghostwriter

                 Have you lived a life which merits a memoir? Perhaps you have risen from poverty to riches, or have accomplished a first you want people to be aware of, or you wish to celebrate memories from a lost world from a bygone era. These are great reasons for writing a memoir, but the task can be a bit daunting and even impossible for some. Perhaps you have started to write and are lost in the shaping of an intdresting memoir. Or, maybe your schedule is so busy you hardly have enough time to devote to writing a memoir. If you have tried your hand at writing, and feel it is too hard, time-consuming, or that the learning curve is just too steep, you may want to consider hiring a memoir ghostwriter. A ghostwriter can assist you throughout the entire process and write the book according to your instructions.

Isn't Ghostwriting like Cheating
                Even with these positives it is not unusual to have reservations, doubts and questions regarding hiring a ghostwriter. You may ask yourself, 'Isn't making use of a ghostwriter a little bit like cheating?" Not really. It's no different than making use of a carpenter to construct your house or having a plumber to fix the bathroom. The ghostwriter you hire is a professional with book writing experience and who isn't daunted by the idea of organizing years of scattered and oftentimes contradictory material into a cohesive and interesting memoir. You hire all kinds of professionals to carry out work for you. Why not choose the services of a ghostwriter who can develop a great memoir-your memoirs? They can make your dream of passing on your story a reality.

Will the Ghostwriter Get My Life Right?
                   You may like the concept of a ghostwriter, but wonder, "How will someone else get my life story right?" Remember, the ghostwriter does not go off and create a fictional life for you. It is your story, and you work together with the ghostwriter to collaborate. Most often this is done by phone. Along with this, you will turn over copies of relevant notes, photocopies of letters and journals, photos, and perhaps a copy of your previous endeavors at memoir writing.

                   As the "author" you line up interviews with people you know to ensure that the ghostwriter gets a broad spectrum view of both you and your life. A ghostwriter provides drafts of the memoir as the writing progresses, and you as the author should review them for accurately and will note changes needed. Together, the author and ghostwriter work through the manuscript to make changes. The author has the final say.

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Saturday in Oviedo

If you've read the previous posts on this blog, you might have guessed that pictures are an important part of my teaching tools.


I thought I'd write a quick post about the session I'll be giving in Oviedo on Saturday.

I'll be giving a very practical session called Take a Picture.

Pictures are used in the coursebooks we use and feature prominently in the Cambridge ESOL Young Learners English Tests.  In the classroom, we can use pictures for a huge number of activities and games, and, at the same time, develop our students’ language skills and range.

In the session, participants will try out some picture activities and we will discuss how to help our students notice and think about the contents of pictures.  


My session follows a seminar by Karen Elliot called Storytelling: tips and techniques for Primary and a session by Borja Uruñuela taking the magic ingredients for young learners.  Should be fun!!!

For the  programme, follow this link

If you live near Oviedo and would like to come along - great!!!

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