Debbie R Maguire, Development Relations Manager, Lotus/WPLC System Test and Early Programs, IBM Software Group
Aside from stating the obvious about quality of presentation, here are a couple of thoughts.

Unless you're really sure, don't count on having a mind-blowing submission that removes all doubt as to the winner. The differences in the top contenders will be subtle. That's where care in preparing the submission and thoroughness of the information can make the difference as the judges have to take the whole picture into account.

As a practical matter if in judging, we have problems viewing the demo or accessing the Web site, etc, we may miss something in what you're trying to convey. Test it before submitting. Better, have someone unfamiliar with your product or site review it. You may be too close to it to really see if there are areas that are unclear.

Shelley Bower, Program Director, Marketing Programs, IBM
The Lotus Awards are an exciting time for all of us. I am most interested in learning how the technology is applied each year and look forward to seeing the new solutions. As a judge for the Lotus Awards, I wish every candidate could win! Since that's not possible, I need to narrow down the candidates.

To that end, I look for certain items as part of the process. All candidates begin with a perfect score and then I deduct for missing items and finally for poorly stated or poorly represented items.

First, I look to see that the candidates have provided everything requested, from a description of the entry to the requested references. If any of these items are missing, the rating is moved down. It is an absolute must for me to see the solution.

Word descriptions are initially needed, but seeing is believing and really understanding. Seeing a demo, video or a presentation of the solution helps me to gain clarity beyond the written words. I now know exactly what you have developed and provided to your clients!

And please, do not send me to a Web site that talks about your company or organization unless there is a video for me to watch.

Another key point for me are the references from your clients and the number of implementations you have. Your clients are the ones using the solutions and their words do mean a great deal! I also want to know the solution is saleable and has on-going value. One implementation is not guaranteed to get my attention.

And lastly, I want to see a return on investment (ROI) to know that this is practical and has value for your client organizations. Are you saving process time, freeing people to be more productive, addressing changing life style issues or even lives?

Clive Longbottom, Service Director, Business Process Analysis, Quocirca Ltd
For me, I'm always looking for what the real differentiators are. I don't care if a vendor has managed to get Domino and Sametime working for 1,000 people who then think that it is great.

What I'm looking for is a sort of a narrative. What problem was the customer looking to solve? What was the thought process behind the choice made? How did the entrant go about solving the problem? What does the customer believe the benefits were -- not just at a "Ooh, look, it worked" or a "We reckon that we saved $x in the first 17 seconds", but along the lines of "Once we'd used it for a while, we realised that we could do other things with it, it has changed our approach to how we look at different business processes".