Make powerful graphics that grow your business.
Increase your success rate, lower your cost, and get your business communications right the first time.

"The class was a real eye-opener."
—Adam Bramm, Proposal Coordinator

"Quality shot up immediately."
—Michele Miller, Orbital Sciences Corporation

Billion Dollar Graphics Training
Click here to get more information and pricing.

Watch a clip of Mike presenting.
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Turn Your Ideas Into Graphics that Win
If you need your next presentation, proposal, sales or marketing effort, or seminar to be a winner, then you want clear, communicative, compelling graphics. You have very little time to convince your audience that you are the best-of-the-best. Graphics communicate volumes about you, your company, and your product or service in seconds. You say your company and solution are the best, then your business materials need to support that assertion. For example, which company is better: Company A or Company B?

You have to quickly share your features, benefits, and discriminators while influencing or motivating your audience to buy.

"... Mike's training session was an immediate hit. Some of the participants were so excited, that they started using the new methodology the very next day. I would highly recommend Mike for his ability to communicate with his audience—whether it be subject matter experts, graphic designers, proposal managers, or executives. With this new level of efficiency, we can now focus more of our time and effort on creating a winning solution."—Kathy Furlong, Nortel

Visuals are proven to succeed better than words alone. But how do you do it? How do you turn your words and ideas into a winning graphic? How do you make the right graphic for the right job?

The Billion Dollar Graphics training shows you how to quickly turn your words and ideas into powerful, persuasive graphics that are guaranteed to win for you and your business. The course is for business, sales/marketing, and design professionals as well as technical experts that need to communicate complex concepts and solutions visually.

You and your company have great ideas. It would be a shame if you lost revenue because your audience didn't understand your solution. What if you and your company looked less professional than your competition? Everything you put in front of a current or future client must be synonymous with professionalism and quality. The good news is that there is an easy-to-learn process that will help you eclipse your competition and increase your success using graphics.

The course is made specifically to help you win more and achieve your growth goals. The process was born from 20 years of real-world experience helping other highly successful companies increase their collective revenue by billions of dollars.

Don't lose anymore of your energy, money, and time over explaining your ideas, getting negative feedback, or failing to hit your goals. Help your audience better absorb your solutions, concepts, data, processes, and ideas. Influence and motivate your audience to take action. Leave no doubt that you offer the best solution. Get the training now. Each day you wait you are losing sales.

How It Works
Option 1: One-on-one Training
First, we will review your current needs, processes, and goals. Then we share best practices, tips, tricks, and secrets that will get you your desired results. Next, we will apply what you learned to real-world business graphic situations (such as proposal development or presentation design) so that if you have any questions, you can get the answers immediately. We will tailor the training to meet your needs. If you identify a specific step or challenge as a hurdle, we will focus on that.

Option 2: Group Training
This class uses real-world challenges to educate you and your colleagues to conceptualize clear, communicative, compelling graphics. First, we will review your company's current needs, processes, and goals. We will tailor the training to share best practices, tips, tricks, and secrets that solve you and your group's challenges and achieve the company's goals.

Who?
The course is for business, sales/marketing, and design professionals as well as technical experts that need to communicate complex concepts and solutions visually.

All training is performed by Mike Parkinson. Mike Parkinson has spearheaded multi-billion dollar projects and created thousands of graphics resulting in billions of dollars in increased revenue for his clients. He is often requested to speak at national conferences, large and small companies, and graphic industry events. Mike is a frequent contributor of visual communication articles for magazines, newsletters, and a variety of professional websites. (Learn more.)

Where and When?
All training is conducted at your facility and schedules are arranged to fit your needs. Conducting training at your facility ensures that real-world, day-to-day challenges are in the same building and can be seen, reviewed, and solved.

Takeaways
Takeaways will vary from session to session based upon the needs of those requesting training. Takeaways include but are not limited to the following:

Increase your sales or win rate by 43% (based upon independent research on visual communication)

• Make any complex idea easy to understand
• Increase audience retention rates
• Influence and motivate your audience
• Turn ideas and text into graphics
• Visualize and better communicate your solutions
• Make professional graphics that are clear, communicative, and compelling
• Know what imagery, colors, fonts, and style to use (and why)
• Master Quality Control (stop making errors that cost you money, time, and credibility
• Get amazing software tips and tricks
• Eliminate reoccurring challenges ... permanently
• Know where to go to find the right imagery at the right price
• Get graphics right the first time
• Accurately schedule support
• Estimate level of effort and staffing needs
• Learn how proposals, presentations, marketing slicks, brochures, and any other business materials write themselves with effective visualization

Curriculum
The curriculum varies from session to session based upon the needs of those requesting training. The following is an overview of our process and all topics (topics are addressed based upon need and the length of the session):

Part 1: Review your current needs, processes, and goals. A questionnaire, phone interview, or question and answer session provides the necessary feedback to the tailor the training.

Part 2: Tailor the training to provide specific best practices, tips, tricks, and secrets that will get you your desired results. The following is a list of optional topics:

a) Graphics 101 (a basic understanding of visual communication):

• Why graphics matter
• How to estimate level of effort, support, and schedule projects
• Styles
• Vector vs. raster
• Color theory
• Fonts
• Icons and symbols
• Resolution and dimensions
• Templates
• Legibility
• Legends
• Telling a story
• Animations (when applicable)
• Copyright and rights-of-use law
• Critique

b) Getting Graphics Right the First Time (save time and money by getting graphics correct on the first version):

• Six Strategies:
• Designers and teams
• Storyboards
• Leverage existing graphics
• Evolve the concept (exercise)
• Templates (exercise)
• Customer focus

c) Conceptualization (how best to translate words and ideas into winning proposal graphics):

• The Lifecycle of a Winning Graphic (overview and introduction)
• Step 1: Know the P.A.Q.S.
• The Primary Objective
• The Audience
• The Questions
• The Subject Matter
• P.A.Q.S. Questionnaire
• Interactive Testing and Application
• Step 2: Conceptualize
• Four Methods
• Design Techniques
• Affecting Emotions
• Interactive Testing and Application
• Step 3: Render (business pictionary game used for groups only)
• Problem Solving: Three Traps and Eight Rules
• Interactive Testing and Application
• Conclusion and Summary of Lessons Learned
• Putting It All Together: Interactive Application

d) How to better use graphics software to get what you want (tips, tricks, techniques, and software secrets shared):

• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Illustrator
• Microsoft PowerPoint

How do you go from A to B?

Part 3: Real-world application. We will evaluate, conceptualize, or render graphics for your day-to-day needs. Mike will also answer any outstanding questions and help solve any reoccurring challenges.

Free Books with Training
The books contain insider secrets that give you the advantage. Literally, billions of dollars have been made using the graphics and techniques in these books. Any visual solution you need is within your grasp.

Leverage the experience of successful professionals who have profited from the secrets in Billion Dollar Graphics to succeed where others fail. Use what you learn in the course to to get more sales, save money, get your business materials right the first time, and go home early.

Pricing
Pricing is available upon request. Simply click here to get pricing information and an information packet (PDF) quickly emailed to you. Why wait? Do it now.

(The program is also eligible for five CEUs toward APMP certification and may be eligible for additional credits for other professional certifications. Check with your professional organization for more information.)

Questions? Call (703) 608-9568 or click here to get more information and special pricing.

Here are a few pictures from recent training events...

Testimonial:
Just to let you know that I found ... your graphics course very enlightening and educational. ... Your book is worth the price of admission, but having available all of your high class/high quality graphics on line that will raise the level of our graphics efforts in presentations and proposals, was way over the top. But having these two sources would not be complete without your thoughtfully well done presentation to tie it all together. [A]fter sitting through your presentation I will take a more logical approach not only to graphics, but to the overall logic of our proposal or presentation to make certain that it is sound and well crafted. Additionally, I will likely choose to use more graphics to convey information instead of just writing. ... I truly enjoyed the day and found it tremendously rewarding.—Gary Pierson, Business Development Associate, Intelligence Analyst IV, CAMBER Corp - i2S Division

Mike presented or conducted graphic training workshops at the following companies and organizations:

• Lockheed Martin
• Motorola
• Raytheon
• Northrop Grumman
• Association for Proposal Management Professionals (APMP)
• Orbital
• Verizon
• HP
• Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
• L3 Communications
• Nortel
• SAIC
• Honeywell
• Gov-Con FCCC Fort Belvoir Procurement Forum
• Institute For International Research (IIR)
• PAICR
• Nextira One
• American Systems
• NCI
• Wellpoint
• Morgan Franklin
• Noblis
• Pragmatech
• Staubach Company
• Horne International
• Kadient
• Triple Canopy
• Management Systems Designers (MSD)
• Watershed Concepts
• Thomas S. Wootton High School
• Entrepreneurs Organization
• Iacocca Institute
• Dulles Chamber of Commerce
• Government Contracting Institute in Howard County MD
• CAMBER Corporation
• Grant Thorton
• CapturePlanning.com