How to convince your boss that you need attend SocialDay

Do you want to come to SocialDayUK but you need to convince your line manager that taking some time out of the office is a good idea? Also... you need them to cover the cost. Our delegates are usually senior marketers in agencies and brands, or founders (luckily you founders can make up your own minds, but not everyone has that ability)

Convincing your boss that:

The conference is worth attending. You should have the time off to attend. The cost is an investment in you.

This can often be a tricky subject to address, we are all busy, it's never a good time to be out the office with client pressures and business demands, however, if you put the case across you could also be heading to join your peers on the 30th May - 1st June. Let's start with some of the top reasons your boss should let you come to SocialDayUK

• The Content - SocialDay gives you access to sessions and topics that you might not normally get to see. It might be not just listening to the Head of Twitter in the UK, but we also have a wide variety of case studies, hear from your peers about what worked and lessons that were learned along the way!
• Professional Development (CPD) - For 2018 we have CPD accreditation meaning that those hours you spend attending will all count to your CPD, we will even print you off a certificate for your records.
• Cost - The cost of training varies from place to place, given the quality of our speakers and a whole day of interactive workshops you’ll be hard-pressed to find 3 days training with CPD and the variety of topics we are covering for a similar price!
• We record all sessions - We have all been to an event, and in the next team meeting we need to report back what we took away. Fear not, at SocialDay we record all sessions so you can watch back and relive the presentations, workshops and keynotes over and over again.
• Networking - Regardless of working within an agency or brand the legendary networking at SocailDay often leads to not just new friends, or clients, suppliers some of our delegates have even found employment! If you are currently looking to attract the best talent to your business then the quality of delegates is second to none!
• Location - The event is in Central London, if you already based in the city then it’s extremely easy to get to the venue, being in central London WC1. If you are based outside London, then we have a morning dedicated to registration on the 30th May meaning you don’t have to get here the night before (unless you want to) and being central you are close to a wide variety of hotels of all budgets.
• Speakers - We have sourced all the speakers, they are the key people who “work” in the industry, they have clients and understand your challenges, they have come to SocialDay to share what they have learned, what you won’t find is someone who just talks for a living! We have the social networks and case studies from McDonald's, Jungle Creations, McVities, Coca-Cola to name a few.
• Lunch - We like our friends in the audience to be focused on the sessions, not sat in the auditorium with a rumbling stomach wondering where the nearest food outlet is, so we provide lunch on the full days and coffee and tea in the breaks, leaving you free to network and one less receipt your accounts team needs to worry about.

How do I approach asking?

In reality, asking to attend a conference will mean a few common things for the individual who will sign off your expenses and authorise the 3 days as a work trip?

1. Additional cost
2. Time off
3. What is the benefit to the organisation?

Put yourself in their shoes, structure the case for attending and maximise your chance of attending by highlighting the relevant sessions, the full program can be found here:

• Structure your proposition, start with Impact on workflow - how your time will be covered?
• Content - what is relevant to your business/department? what will you be able to implement on your return?
• What is the cost of the trip? (make it easy for them to see the value, against 3 days of training)
• Who are the keynote speakers and why is it important to hear what they are saying? (Twitter, Facebook, Artificial Intelligence, Future of Live Stream, competitor case studies)
• Audience - who is attending, who could you be networking with, how will this impact the business?
• How will the event help deliver current and future KPI’s?

In practice it's always better to get some dedicated time to sit down and talk through event attendance, it's never a good idea to tack it on to the end of another meeting or ask when your boss is on the way to a pressing meeting. Make time, be prepared to follow up, put a good case together. Most good bosses and HR teams have a budget to invest in staff, more often than not it gets overlooked simply because we are all very busy and in this day and age your development may not be at the top of the to-do list!

Once you have approval, spend some time to circulate to key stakeholders in the team what you took away from the event, what you can implement, it will make future trips easier to obtain as the value can be seen, you have put what you’ve learnt into action. We look forward to seeing you at SocialDay!

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