APMP’s 2021 Virtual Capture and Business Development Conference (CBDC) Delivers Crowd-sourced Training Topics and Networking Opportunities for a Global Audience

FOMO is real if you didn’t attend CBDC last week… It was THAT good, for those of us wanting to begin the new year with a renewed focus on capture and business development excellence. However, if you missed out—fear not. Here, we break down the highlights and key takeaways from CBDC and give you a chance to weigh in on what you want to see from your local APMP NCA chapter.

This year’s all-virtual conference did not disappoint. On January 28, CBDC featured a 16-hour line-up (beginning at 4:00 Eastern time!). Top-notch speakers with years of industry expertise shared their unique points of view on BD and capture. Speakers and attendees were diverse — from both the U.S. and abroad, serving both public sector and commercial clients. Since APMP had crowd-sourced the topics in advance, the menu of talks was perfectly prepared to the tastes of the audience. The agenda moved quickly. It was well-orchestrated and professional with lively energy from the attendees, who chatted amongst each other throughout the day. After a year of (let’s face it) seemingly endless, boring conference calls and virtual events, CBDC was refreshing! The hosts thoughtfully attended to the minor details that make events memorable, such as giveaways, virtual swag bags, and lots of fun pre-event hype on social media.

There were so many thought-provoking topics and aha moments from the conference to take throughout the year. A few notable moments included the following.

Stephanie Spears’ presented powerfully about diversity within capture and BD teams. She covered eye-opening statistics, and offered her truths from her own personal journey leaving us with the substantiated position that, ‘Inequality affects the workforce and your bottom line.’

‘Apply money early in the capture. A bad move is giving the capture the late treatment.’ Jay Herther on the benefits and short-comings of the capture process.

‘Don’t overcomplicate it. Celebrate the little successes. And do what you can,’ Krystn Macomber on tailoring capture processes to fit the size and needs of the organization.

From Mike Parkinson’s presentation, he shared the five tips to crush the competition ‘You’re going to notice a theme — focusing on helping people build relationships.’

‘Don’t ask for too much too soon from a contact you meet online. Wait until you develop a level of rapport,’ Jennifer Namvar on developing better relationships online.

‘Capture is more challenging in a hybrid world. You have to find different ways to reach your customers,’ from the panel discussion on the future of winning featuring Kristin Dufrene, Brad Douglas, and Jamie Ninneman.

The top 5 things that we at APMP NCA loved about APMP’s virtual CBDC were:

Networking – who doesn’t love a dozen new friends on social from across the globe that actually understand the craziness of our career choice working in proposals?
Relaxed, fun atmosphere
Huge variety of industry-relevant talks and topics
No technical hiccups —seamlessly orchestrated by the hosts
Online access to the sessions for 1 month after the event
Getting a glimpse of how the presenters apply the well-worn principles of Capture and BD in their work —especially using new technologies

Now, it’s your turn to weigh in. As your NCA Chapter, we are making our plans to serve you, our members, in the best way possible in 2021. So we are dying to know: