Registration will open in early 2012, but, it’s not too early to start pinging your supervisor about the opportunity to attend the next CONNECT®.
Make Your Business Case to Justify the Trip!
As a communication, marketing or member service professional at an electric cooperative, you know that to be competitive you must constantly fine-tune your skills, find new ways to reduce costs, streamline processes and be innovative in reaching your stakeholders.
Plus, the city of New Orleans offers economical travel rates, so not only will you be a force for change at your co-op by bringing back an abundance of knowledge and ideas to implement, you won’t break the budget doing it!
Communicate Why Your Participation is Vital
Professionals who are better prepared than their competition have the advantage — as do their cooperatives. Whether you belong to a large or small co-op, investment in your professional development will be repaid many times over.
Here are a few of the benefits you'll reap by attending CONNECT:
- Discover practical solutions to complex problems
- Get "ready-to-implement" ideas
- Analyze best practices and trends
- Discuss timely and hot issues with colleagues
- Network with other communication, marketing and member service professionals
- Learn from powerful keynote speakers and content experts
Make Your Case in Three Easy Steps
- Identify your current initiatives, such as energy efficiency, using social media to communicate with members and other stakeholders, marketing the cooperative difference, providing award-winning customer service, conveying complex ideas, rolling out smart meters, and then find corresponding sessions.
- Prepare a list of the benefits that can result from your attendance.
- Explain the relationship between these conference activities and your goals. It's important to be able to logically describe to your co-op how you can make an impact.
Develop a Winning Proposal
- Put your ideas in writing and submit a formal proposal to your direct supervisor, include your intended schedule of sessions to attend and why the knowledge and skills gained will be valuable to your co-op.
- List all areas where your department faces challenges and then identify the sessions you want to attend and the people you plan to meet—all of which will help you and your co-op meet these challenges head-on.
- Strengthen your proposal by outlining your department's goals and identifying sessions that will help you achieve these benchmarks.
- Include the cost of registration, airfare, meals and lodging in order to support a comprehensive and compelling proposal.
NOTE: The full registration fee includes access to all conference general sessions, learning labs, super-sessions, CONNECT Innovative Showcase and related functions, conference sponsored meals, networking sessions and all conference materials. Attend as a group and take advantage of the CONNECT ValuePak discount.
Learning that Benefits You and Your Co-op
After attending CONNECT, your commitment to follow-up with your supervisor will dramatically increase the return on investment of your attendance. Let your supervisor know that your participation in the conference was a valuable decision for your co-op. Refer to your original proposal and provide feedback on strategies and tools learned at CONNECT that addressed your targeted goals. Most importantly, let your supervisor know that your participation in the conference was a worthwhile venture and how you plan to implement the practices and proficiencies that you gained.
Plan your strategy. Prepare your proposal. Secure your approval. Demonstrate that your co-op's investment in both you and CONNECT is a winning combination!