MacGyver Proposal Hacks

Proposal deadlines have a way of testing even the most seasoned AEC marketers. No matter how carefully a pursuit is planned, you never know when you'll have to defuse a ticking time bomb, minutes before the deadline. In this episode of The Shortlist, Wendy Simmons is joined by designers Becky Ellison and Lauren Jane Peterson to discuss the “MacGyver moments” that happen when proposal teams are racing against the clock.From InDesign crashes and corrupt exports to oversized PDFs, emergency printer fixes, and hand-assembled printed proposals, Becky and Lauren Jane share stories from the trenches along with practical troubleshooting tips that can save a submission in the final hour. They also explore strategies for making impossible amounts of content fit on the page, compressing files under strict upload limits, and knowing when to make a sacrifice to the "proposal gods" rather than missing the deadline entirely.If you’re a proposal manager, designer, or marketer who’s ever submitted with seconds to spare, this episode offers equal parts practical advice, camaraderie, and comic relief for surviving the chaos of pursuit work.CPSM CEU Credits: 0.5 | Domain: 4