By the time Friday arrives, your brain probably needs a break. This series is designed to provide a little information that will hopefully go a long way in being helpful.
Here are very simple reasons that justify attending a conference. If you belong to an organization that wouldn’t ask you to justify attending a conference, consider yourself lucky. More and more people are struggling with getting approval to attend a conference…hopefully these tips help.
- Choose a conference that is a good enhancement to a skill that you already have or will provide a skill that you need. Be prepared to discuss how this is important to not only your development, but to allow you to provide a higher level of knowledge to your organization.
- Research the agenda of the conference you wish to attend, share the beneficial highlights with your boss, include specifics on how it benefits your organization.
- Examine the costs, do they make sense? Will the return that you organization can gain from your attendance be greater than the cost of the conference?
- Determine a plan for any work that will need to be taken care of while you are out of the office. Is there someone who can fill in for you? Can you do any of your work remotely..
- Last, but certainly not least, look at other attendees of the conference. Identify key connections that you can make and how they can benefit your organization. One of the biggest benefits to conferences is the networking aspect, so make sure that you don’t leave that out when making your pitch.
As you contemplate attending a conference, be honest about your motivation for wanting to attend. If you have valid reasons, share them and make an effort to attend. Also, if you know there is great value to be had by attending a conference, don’t talk yourself out of it…sometimes the thought of asking is enough to prevent you from going.
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