248 Part III: Executing Your Software Project Plan (Web hosting isp)
248 Part III: Executing Your Software Project Plan Hosting a bidders conference Remember when you were in high school and you had those parties in your parents basement? All your friends came and tried to impress each other. Ah, those were the days. Well, a bidders conference is similar to those basement bashes, but now they have a fancier name and no Spin the Bottle. In high school, each party was different and had its own tone: You had after- game parties, parents-are-out-of-town-for-the-weekend parties, and post-prom parties. Well, the same is true for bidders conferences each one is its own adventure. In your own practice, you may run into different types of bidders conferences, and just like those high school festivities, each one can have its own advantages and disadvantages. There is more than one correct way to host a bidders conference. The bidders conference is the second-best opportunity for vendors to impress you; the best opportunity, obviously, is a knock-you-out-cold proposal that you can t turn down but that comes later. You can set up a bidders conference as an informal meeting, where you sit around a conference table and have a discussion with a couple of vendors, or you can set up a formal round-table forum with several suitors vying to outdo each other. In any meeting, however, it is imperative that you maintain control all vendors think that they have the best solution to every development issue and they will take every opportunity to gain control of the meeting and convince you that they are the best. If vendors take over, you ll end up hearing sales pitch after sales pitch. That s okay, but you need to have control so that you can ask the hard questions. You get the picture. You know who you consider to be viable vendor candidates, and you can control the conference by controlling who you invite. Whether you send formal, written requests for vendors to attend, or simply invite the vendors by e-mail or phone, control of the meeting begins with who you invite. Occasionally, a vendor may hear of your project through the grapevine, contact you, and ask to attend. The decision is yours, but know what the vendor offers before you extend an invitation. If the vendor doesn t understand your process, it is unwise to bring him in at the last minute. A day in the life of a bidders conference The bidders conference is the place for all parties to ask questions regarding your project and the various offerings. As the person hosting the conference,
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