How to Convince Your Boss to Send You to a Conference (AND Pay for It) – The Short Answer

1. Familiarize yourself with the conference layout and details.
2. Create a sample agenda with a list of workshops and sessions you’d like to attend.
3. Outline your top three reasons for attending.
4. Send a formal request letter to your boss (we recommend doing this, whether it’s required or not).
5. If you are unsuccessful, consider researching free and reduced-priced professional development opportunities.
6. Tip: Understand your boss’s communication style. Keep your request brief or wordier depending on what you think will work best.

How to Convince Your Boss to Send You to a Conference (The Long Answer):

1. Step 1: Familiarize yourself with the conference layout and details.

   Before you discuss the conference with your boss, you’ll want to be sure you’ve thoroughly explored the conference agenda and speakers.

   Familiarize yourself with all the options available and start thinking about which sessions align best with your organization’s objectives and aspirations. Ask yourself: what are our short-term and long-term goals? Then, determine which sessions are likely to contribute to these goals.

   You May also want to find out these key details:

   • How long the conference has been running (this will help you determine the level of quality you can expect)
   • Attendee and speaker demographics (this is especially important if the event revolves around diversity, equity, and/or inclusion)
   • Dates and times (and whether they will conflict with any current responsibilities)
   • Event format (virtual vs. in-person, types of sessions, etc.)

2. Step 2: Create a sample agenda with a list of workshops and sessions you’d like to attend.

   Create an outline of your selections with a brief justification for each choice. In your justifications, be specific.

   Here’s an example we came up with for one of our Measurable Equity 2021 sessions:

   You could say something like “Attending the Moving from Intention to Impact: Funding Racial Equity to Win session aligns with our department’s goal to be generative members of the racial equity ecosystem. As a participant in this session, I will learn more about the intersections of data, racial equity, and performance reporting as part of the funding process. I will also learn how we can aggregate capital, the types of results we want to see, and how to effectively deploy capital to achieve those results.”

   You may also want to think about which speakers you’d like to network with. Create a list of 5 speakers who will have the most relevant knowledge to share, and develop a few questions you’d like to ask them. You can use this list of speakers and questions as another tool to help you prove that the conference will be a worthwhile experience and that you are prepared to make the most of it.

3. Step 3: Outline your top three reasons for attending.

   You will want to explain to your boss as succinctly as possible why the conference is unique and why it is worth attending. Here are some example value statements we came up with for our conference last year. As a first step, try editing these sample statements to align with whatever event you’re trying to attend. We’ve attempted to make them as general as possible to fit a wide variety of events.

   1. You will gain practical skills and learn proven methods for maximizing your funding and impact. To deliver on your organization’s mission, you must ensure you are using the most strategic methods that are proven to get results. At Measurable Equity 2021, you will learn from national and global experts who are using proven methods and tools to improve the quality of their programs and services and achieve equitable results. Attending the conference will provide you with skills, knowledge, and methods to move your plans forward.
   2. Learning from real success stories means you will save time and money trying to figure out what works. Many organizations waste time going through a lot of trial and error before discovering the formula to success. A good conference will challenge your current way of thinking, but will also provide you with actionable advice and takeaways. At Measurable Equity 2021, our speakers will challenge you to think critically about your work. They will also provide you with actions and advice you can start using immediately.
   3. This is a networking opportunity you can’t miss. Some of the country’s top equity, funding, grantmaking, accountability, performance improvement, and collaboration experts will be at Measurable Equity 2021 (both as speakers and as participants). You will have the opportunity to interact with leaders in your field, learn from each other’s challenges and successes, and create lasting connections (in a convenient virtual environment).

4. Step 4: Send a formal request letter to your boss (we recommend doing this, whether it’s required or not).

   A compelling request letter contains all the necessary information your boss needs to make an informed decision:

   • You should be upfront in your introduction and state your top three reasons for attending.
   • You should articulate how the event will benefit you, your organization, and any current relevant initiatives.
   • Consider including a few sessions you’d like to attend and a list of 5 speakers you’d like to network with.
   • You should also include an estimated cost breakdown. (How much do you need for travel, meals, lodging?. This will provide you with a negotiating tool; your boss may be willing to send you if you can find a way to reduce meal or lodging costs. This is also where you will want to emphasize that the event is virtual if applicable. Virtual events tend to cost much less and are much more accessible.)

Tip: Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! CEOs and managers are extremely busy people. Generally speaking, brevity will work best with this audience. Try and keep your request letter to under one page length. Include the most important and compelling information. You can always expand on things if requested. As with most tips – take this one with a grain of salt. You know your manager better than we do! Check out their emails for an insight into their writing style. Do they frequently give one-word responses or do they write novels every time? Try designing your request letter based on what you find. Good luck!

Download a Sample Request Letter:

Download a real letter that helped one of our past conference attendees (Results for Health 2018) get permission!

We hope you’ve found these tips helpful! Help other readers of this blog post; please share any other methods below that you’ve found to be successful.

What to do if You’re Unsuccessful

1. Try asking for a discount (and ask the right people)! It never hurts to ask. Some conferences offer discounts for small businesses, nonprofits, and organizations led by women and/or people of color. If you are a customer of the conference host, you may also be eligible for a customer discount. For example, Hubspot offered some of their software customers discounts for their Inbound22 conference. Tip: instead of inquiring about discounts via the general inquiry email (usually info@xxxx.com or registration@xxxx.com), reach out to your account representative. General conference support staff deal with a large volume of requests and are often instructed to deny discount requests for any reason due to time constraints. On the other hand, customer account representatives are usually afforded much more discretion when it comes to discounts. If you get a “yes,” use this as an opportunity to reinforce the value to your boss and demonstrate your commitment to professional development.
2. Consider a digital pass. Many conferences are shifting to hybrid models that include both in-person and digital pass options. Check out digital pass options for the event, as these are usually cheaper. Additionally, digital passes may allow more of your team members to access recorded conference content after the event concludes. If you’re still unsuccessful, you may be able to afford to pay for the digital pass yourself. Consider it an investment in your career growth and personal development. If you do this, consider presenting your takeaways to your team and developing a few recommended projects you could manage to implement high-impact conference material. Your company may be open to reimbursing your digital pass if you make a good case for yourself.
3. Look for free professional development material. This might be a no-brainer, but a plethora of valuable information is available to you online. Most companies will record their webinars for free and offer them on their website in exchange for your contact information. Try searching [your topic of interest] + “free webinar” in Google and see what you come up with. If you work in government or the nonprofit space, Clear Impact offers a number of free recorded webinars on our website here. You can learn about topics like Results-Based Accountability, Collective Impact, Asset Based Community Development, Racial Equity, Performance Improvement, and more.