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This is part 6 of a 16-part blog series designed to help you win government oral presentations. In this blog, I’ll pick up from a previous blog, The 5 Factors (and One Non-Factor) for Selecting Your Presentation Team. This week, I’ll cover selecting your final team members to create a dynamic and cohesive team. To read the previous blogs, click here to find the index with individual blogs. 

Now that you have completed the hard work of determining good candidates for the team, it is time to make your final selection of team members. Below are some criteria that are critical to consider as you solidify your team composition. 

Scope Coverage

As you start finalizing your team, it's important to examine the technical areas each member can effectively represent and if they cover all areas needed for the presentation. 

In the case of a Static Presentation, assemble the team to cover all the topics in the presentation so that the speakers are experts in their respective topics and can provide examples that demonstrate their expertise.

In the more complex and dynamic presentations, proper scope coverage is critical. In these situations, the team may have to respond to scenarios or questions on the spot or after a caucus. This means identifying members to present who can speak to and show expertise in everything the government may ask. Whether it’s a Statement of Work (SOW), a Performance Work Statement (PWS), or another document that outlines the contract's technical requirements, the ideal “caucus and respond” proposal presentation team will have a background covering everything required by the contract.

I advise my teams to compile all the requirements into a single document, whether it’s your Rules of Engagement (ROE) or a compliance matrix; you need to see the whole picture. When you put everything into a single document, you can see the scope holistically and make informed decisions about the team's composition. I have participated in tough conversations where we've traded niche experience in a remote part of the scope of work to double up on depth of experience in the most important requirements. This usually comes along with stronger relationships and more direct experience with the customer. In my time as a coach, we have never regretted having depth over breadth of coverage. 

Relationship Coverage

Once you are confident in your technical coverage, relationship considerations are the next layer to assess in building a strong team.

Fielding a team that knows everyone on the Technical Evaluation Board (TEB) gives the team a significant advantage when going up against another team of experts without direct relationships.

Sometimes, staff who know the clients can’t be on the presentation team. Use these experts as part of the mock evaluation board during training. These professionals can sit in the shoes of the government evaluators and give important feedback on how to align with the TEB's concerns and ambitions on presentation day. 

Don’t miss blog 2, Decoding the TEB: How to Win Over Government Proposal Evaluators.

Stakeholder Access

Another consideration intentionally placed third on this list is access to other people and organizations that the government customer cares about. This stakeholder access in the presentation is gold when used correctly. To be clear, I would not trade deep subject-matter expertise for stakeholder access unless I already knew I had complete coverage of the important parts of the statement of work. Ideally, expertise and stakeholder access are combined to create a team that knows how to get the job done and has relationships with all the relevant organizations. 

One particularly powerful example was when my client brought in one of the previous directors of a government intelligence agency. When this person spoke, the evaluation board appeared impressed and recognized the significant value of having access to this person on their contractor team. 

You may not always be able to bring prior flag officers, senior executive service (SES) civilians, or government superstars into the presentation room. When you can, it can have a powerful impact on the attention and interest of the TEB and on how they grade you. 

Innovative Experience

After addressing scope, relationships, and stakeholder access, consider the unique forward-looking and innovative experience and expertise each member brings to the presentation team. 

This means selecting experts who have experience that the TEB will consider important for their future challenges and requirements. I have coached teams that have powerfully described the future challenges their prospective government customer will face and then had experts in innovation talk about their proven innovative solutions to these challenges. Laying out the risks and challenges ahead and bringing the experts who can solve them raises the bar for every competitor to do the same.

Choosing Corporate Representatives

Finally, think strategically about which corporate leaders will best represent your organization and lend credibility to your proposal. 

Oftentimes, the government will request or allow one or two corporate representatives to observe only, have a limited presentation role, or fully participate in the process. A corporate representative’s primary purpose is to introduce the prime contractor and subcontractors on the prime’s team and to give an overview of the presentation team's expertise and accomplishments relevant to the solicitation. 

The corporate representative should be at the appropriate executive level so that the evaluation board knows that the contractor is taking their contract seriously. Typically, the appropriate executive level for a small business is the president of the company. For a large business, I recommend a vice president or above who is the officer in charge of the contract and can sign on behalf of the company. 

It is important that the overall responsibilities of the corporate representative include the ability to bring resources outside of the contractor’s delivery team to bear when needed. The TEB will want to know who they can go to when they need more support or when there is a quality issue with delivery. The corporate representative should be high enough within the organization to bring the cavalry and take corrective action quickly. 

There are frequently two corporate representatives allowed in the room. When you can bring two corporate representatives, choose one with the criteria above as the executive “where the buck stops,” and use the second spot to bring more horsepower to the presentation team. They may know the government client, have relationships and a network that would be useful, or have a deep understanding of your company’s relevant experience. 

Here are a few examples of corporate representatives who added substantial value to the proposal presentation team: 

• An executive of a large corporation who was once a 4-star admiral 
• An executive who once led a large part of the U.S. Army’s intel organization 
• A high-performing company owner whom the government organization knew, liked, and trusted 
• A technologist who is part of the standards development body that the government had to follow 

Elevate Your Orals with the Right Team Composition

With all these factors considered, you can now approach your final candidate evaluation and team assembly with clarity and confidence. I recommend these six steps to choose the right team: 

1. Develop roles and requirements for each position of the team, even if the government doesn’t provide you with any guidance. 
2. Cast a wide net for potential candidates, including your subcontractors, and don’t “infect” their thinking by keeping your preferred candidates to yourself until you have created the candidate pool. 
3. Compare candidates using a Candidate Decision Matrix and the following factors: 
         a. Required education, qualifications, and relevant experience.
         b. Availability to attend the training.
         c. Incumbency, insider knowledge, and relationships.
         d. Skeletons in their closet' that might taint the TEB’s evaluation.
         e. Motivation to participate. 
4. Understand that individual presentation skills are not the priority and should not overshadow core competencies. 
5. Compose the team as a whole, emphasizing the importance of SOW/PWS coverage, relationship coverage, stakeholder access, and valuable/innovative technical experience. 
6. Choose the best corporate representatives for the situation. 

Free Download: Download Trident’s Candidate Evaluation Comparison Matrix here.

Trident’s Support 

Our orals coaches work with federal contractors at every step, from individual pre-work through final team delivery. 

We’ll equip every presenter to command their slides, deliver irrefutable examples, and engage the government with credibility and passion. 

• Explore our Oral Presentation Coaching services and winning frameworks. 
• Contact Us to ensure every member of your team is individually and collectively ready to win.

Don’t miss blog 7: Individual Pre-Work Part 1: Preparing to Practice Your Static Presentation 

Written by Jeff Everage  

Jeff is the President and Founder of Trident Proposal Management. As a GovCon Oral Presentation Coach for more than 15 years, Jeff has coached more than 100 teams to success. His insights into oral coaching, gained from the trenches of coaching, are designed to support you and your team in your efforts. As a Navy veteran, Jeff resides in Southern California and provides support to clients worldwide as part of our globally dispersed team.