Today, we formed into teams and selected each team’s product or service to use for the final deliverables in the class. You used Google Drive to collect your files and to begin collaborative writing.

The final deliverables include:

For your website, you are required to have 10 cited sources with some of them coming from the library databases or other vetted sources.

The presentation must include all team members with speaking parts in the presentation.

It is recommended that you use the website as a part of your presentation.

Remember, you are marketing the product or service that your team has selected. Some of the proposal material may be incorporated into your marketing material and presentation, but the proposal may not be used wholesale or without understanding that the purpose of these final deliverables are not to propose but to market something that you imagine has been approved and made.

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Adding to your Introduction, Current Situation, and Qualifications sections due today, you will want to focus on the Project Plan and Methodology and Conclusion/Cost-Benefit Analysis.

The Project Plan is written out in sentences and paragraphs. It creates a narrative for how the proposal will be realized into a real project or service. You will explain what is step one, what does it require to be done, and how will you know that step one is completed. Then, you do the same with step two, three, etc. until you arrive at a testing methodology for ensuring your prototype works/solves the problem. Finally, you explain how you take what was learned in the testing methodology to produce your proposed service or product.

The Conclusion should explain what costs there are to the company or investors to create the product or service, and what benefits there are to the company or investors from creating the product or service. To be convincing, you will need to explain how the benefits outweigh the costs.

The final layout of your document should take this form:

• Introduction
• Current Situation
• Project Plan and Methodology
• Qualifications
• Conclusion: Cost/Benefit Analysis
• Works Cited (most of these sources will likely inform your current situation)

Use headings and subheadings as you see fit to make your document easier to read and follow. Remember to begin with a cover page.

At the beginning of our next class, turn in a printed copy of your complete proposal document. Each student will have an opportunity to give a 60 second pitch of his or her proposal to the class. After all students complete their pitches, you will have a chance to form teams around a proposal selected from your team members to complete the next deliverables in the class.

The pitch is your chance to sell your idea and yourself in a single moment. As you can imagine, many opportunities might begin by happenstance. Having a pitch always at the ready might open a door for you that you will only get that one chance to realize because your pitch is ready to deliver at the right time, to the right person, in the right way (briefly and to the point).

Your pitch should include these things:

• Who are you and where are you affiliated (school or job)?
• What is your idea?
• USP (unique selling proposition)
  • 1-2 key features
  • differentiation from other products or services
• Why is it important/worth investing in?
• What are the benefits and results?
• Avoid too much jargon.
• Keep it simple, direct, and without excess/filler words.
• The 60 second time limit will be imposed.

You can find some examples of elevator pitches here, here, and here.

Bottom line: practice your pitch before coming into class!

Today, we are beginning the project that will set the stage for everything we do in the last part of the semester. It is the 1500-2000-word formal product or service proposal. According to the syllabus, this project involves these things:

A 1500-2000-word formal product or service proposal that demonstrates: 1. knowledge of the product or service offered, of pertinent market forces, and of the potential customer base. 2. the proposer’s qualifications to deliver the product or service described. 3. knowledge of research methodology and the ability to describe that methodology. 4. proper proposal format. At least six library-sourced citations must be included (non-library-sourced citations are encouraged, but they do not count toward the six library-sourced sources). Any outside sources cited should be documented according to APA format.

In this project, you will think of a product or service that you would like to make a reality if given the time, personnel, and material resources. This project requires a little creativity on your part to imagine a product or service that you would like to build or offer. Your proposal should address all of the components listed above, but in particular, you have to include research on the current state of the market you would be entering, who are the intended users/customers, and how you qualify to propose and lead this project that you propose (ethos). Research on your part will inform questions about the product/service, the market for it, and the intended users. You must describe a research methodology as a part of your proposal–it could R&D to create the final product, it could be UX testing, etc.–you think what kind of research methodology applies to the successful implementation of your plan and describe it in your proposal.

Use Dr. Richard Johnson-Sheehan’s “Planning and Organizing Proposals and Technical Reports” on the Purdue OWL website as a guide in planning and executing your proposal.

We will use today’s class to begin brainstorming your topic and conducting your background research.

During today’s class, brainstorm what you want to propose. It should be within the realm of possibility, but it can take technology into new directions. Write a memo to Professor Ellis that includes these things: 2-3 sentences describing your proposed product or service, and 3 URLs to similar/competing/inspiring technologies (each link should begin with the technology’s name and the name of the company producing/offering it).

Due at the beginning of our next class is a printed copy of these sections of your proposal: Introduction, Current Situation, and Qualifications.