2. Lessons from the Newsroom for NewsworTHy Proposal Writing
Front Page News
Lessons from the Newsroom for NewsworTHy Proposal Writing

3. The Daily Planet Workshop
Headline worthy “leads”
The Fab Five
The Inverted Triangle for editing
Reverse “6” Layout
Dragnet Interview styles

4. Benefits and Takeaways
Formula to write compelling proposals
Get ahead of the curve, save time
Reduce costly rewrites
Improve active voice and readability
More compelling, win worthy proposal

5. Takeaways Formula to write newsworthy proposals
Write to compel reader to action
Active sentences that hit you between the eyes
Rank your stories, just as you rank messages in a proposal
Write active voice before the editor/writer fixes
Dragnet interview styles

6. Workshop Format Overview and Orientation Demonstrations
Divide into teams & roles
Take your assignments
Build your front page news

7. Daily Planet Roles The Editor-The Boss Perry White Gives assignments
Selects most newsworthy story
Final Cuts and edits
Final Layout
Perry White

8. Daily Planet Roles Chief Editor “Perry White” Owner Lex Luthor
Reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane
Photographer Jimmy Olsen
Gossip Column Cat Grant
Business Column Lana Lang
Political Column Ron Troup
Sports Column Steve Lombard

9. Logistics for Exercise
Orientation to the Front Page Contest

10. The Fab Five
Who
What
When
Why
How

11. Front Page Editing The Reverse 6 Layout Inverted Triangle
Puppies, babies, and babes
Action (Example-The Shipping News)

12. Dragnet Interviewing Just the facts ma’am
Ask simple questions with an open mind
“Now explain to me”
The essentials of solution development

13. Dragnet Two characters-detective and interviewee
Dialog questions on the Fab Five
What happened?
Who dun it?
Where did it happen?
Why did this go on?
How did it occur?
Write improv-type dialog based on a proposal technical scenario: Who: The engineers; What-fixed xx; Where-at the xx building; Why?-cuz it broke, it was too slow, we had a surge, etc; How did it go? We reconfigured the widget at no cost to the government.

14. Examples of News Writing
Heroes of newswriting style
What makes a good story
Clip from “The Shipping News” movie
Other examples

15. Snippets on style Heroes
Straightforward; his sentences concise, his language simple, his paragraphs brief, and his ordinary tone conversational. Vonnegut uses this style to convey normally complex subject matter in a way that is intelligible to a large audience.…reading Kurt Vonnegut feels more like being spoken to by a very close friend. There's an inclusiveness to his writing that draws you in, and his narrative voice is seldom absent from the story for any length of time– direct, involving and extremely idiosyncratic.–
Kurt Vonnegut
Chicago City News Bureau
Slaughterhouse Five
Slapstick
"I myself was awarded my country's second-lowest decoration, a Purple Heart for frost-bite.”

16. Hunter Thompson
Gonzo journalism involves an approach to accuracy that concerns the reporting of personal experiences and emotions, in contrast to traditional journalism, which favors a detached style and relies on facts or quotations that can be verified by third parties. Gonzo journalism disregards the strictly-edited product favored by newspaper media and strives for a more personal approach; the personality of a piece is as important as the event the piece is on.
Gonzo Journalism
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
― Hunter S. Thompson, The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, ”

17. Write what you know Very short Action Hero Ernest Hemingway
Old Man and the Sea
The Sun Also Rises
What is the application to proposals? It is that subject matter experts should do the writing-start from the basic events and take a fresh start-don’t rework old material or expect a writer

18. The Daily Planet

19. Exercises - Front Page News
Divide into team of 10
Draw a role out of a hat
News assignments provided
Photos, visuals provided
Timed competition to design a front page on easel board paper

20. Conclusion Winning Front Page News Team Recap of best practices
Runners up, Top Prize
Recap of best practices
Application to Proposal Improvement

21. Q&A
Questions and Answers