Posted By: Ann Klinck, Communications & Marketing Assistant; and Amanda Olsen, Meetings Assistant, ASHG
Many institutions and organizations are on a yearly budget, which means now is the time to request funding for any educational and professional development opportunities you have in mind for 2019. If you’re attending the ASHG 2019 Annual Meeting, the best way to get funding is to submit your request early, appeal to your institution’s mission, and fulfill any promises you make during your appeal when you return.
Starting Early
With more professional development opportunities arising in the form of webinars, special-interest conferences, and service-learning, your department likely has a hard choice to make when deciding who and what to fund, even with an increased professional development budget. Many of these allocations are first come, first serve. Now is the time to do your research and put in those requests!
Figure out approximately how much you’ll need to attend the event including travel, registration, and hotels. Not every conference or meeting will have registration open in time for your request, but ASHG shows the benefit of early registration by sharing prices and price increase timelines well ahead of the ASHG Annual Meeting. Many organizations, including ASHG, share hotel rates ahead of time. Booking flights early doesn’t always get you the best savings, but using tools like the Kayak Travel Hacker Guide will help you know when to start booking and what kind of price you can anticipate.
Clearly indicate the financial savings of booking early and include all your research in your value of attending letter. Use our blog from last year to cut costs when traveling.
Appeal to the Mission
The Return on Investment (ROI) Toolkit helps you convey that while this meeting will benefit you, it will also benefit your institution since they are supporting your attendance.
- Note which topics are being presented that directly correlate to your work.
- State that the meeting isn’t just a learning opportunity but is also valuable for networking and can increase the possibility to collaborate.
- Consider presenting your work, which would help get more visibility for your research and your institution.
- Most importantly, explain that you’ll be ready to share all this new information upon your return. Sharing your findings with colleagues increases the value of attending to your institution by increasing the number of people who benefit from the cost.
See some other ways to get the most of a scientific meeting.
Fulfill Promises
Meetings can take a lot of energy, both mental and physical. Days full of new content can leave you burnt out and speechless when asked “what did you learn?” That’s why ASHG created several tools to help you keep track of it all. Track your participation on paper, or use our app! There are notes sections in each session listing where you can type about the session, and then email them to yourself later.
We’re looking forward to collaborating with you in Houston, so use the ROI Toolkit and get moving on those value of attending letters!