Need help justifying your attendance at this year's ARMCUMS Conference?

Research continues to show that attending educational conferences is the most cost effective method of obtaining industry-specific knowledge, gaining insight into best practices, gathering information on cost reduction and revenue generation and establishing a professional network.  Yet, each year more college and universities across the country are reducing or eliminating travel and professional development budgets and much discussion is focused on the value of attending conference programs.

We are pleased to share that ARMCUMS delivers industry leaders with years of experience that know and understand the mail and shipping industry.  You will have the opportunity to learn from the best in the business.

We realize that it's not always easy justifying attendance to a conference, especially when budgets are tight.  We’ve put together some ideas and key points to assist you with the process.  We’ve even put together a sample justification letter you can modify to fit your needs and present to your manager.

BENEFITS:

Conference Programming

The ARMCUMS Conference is designed specifically to address the needs of all sizes of college and university mail operations, both small and large.  We also have the benefit of networking with peers from within our region that may have similar needs.

  • Learn how to successfully implement best practices from industry experts
  • Discover new ideas for generating revenue
  • Get answers and solutions to issues facing your operation
  • Learn about emerging technologies and upcoming mail and shipping regulations
  • Create and expand your professional network

Exhibit Hall

  • Ability to visit multiple business partners in one location
  • Seek solutions through quality discussions with vendors
  • Learn about new products and technologies
  • Comparison shop for products and services

Purpose for Attending

To justify the cost, evaluate the purpose of your attendance.  Make a list of the things you would like to accomplish:

  • Is there a current issue at your college or university that you are looking for a solution to?
  • Can you find one idea that will increase revenue and/or decrease costs?
  • What developments are happening at the US Postal Service that will impact your operation?
  • Are there any emerging technologies you feel would benefit your institution?
  • Would you benefit from expanding your personal and professional network?

The Facts

  • Determine total cost to attend: registration, hotel, airfare, taxi cabs, and meals.
  • Make sure you share what a great value the ARMCUMS Conference is - huge opportunity for a small investment
  • Study the agenda – know what sessions will be of benefit to you and your operation
  • Contact the ARMCUMS board to recommend pertinent topics that would be beneficial to you
  • Be prepared to explain what you expect to get out of the conference and more importantly, how it will benefit your institution
  • Be able to demonstrate what aspects of your operation will improve from your new-found knowledge, such as improvements in productivity, increased revenues or another quantifiable result
  • Align your institution’s goals with the conference program
  • Once you have the facts, write a formal letter to your manager requesting attendance and state why.  Schedule a follow-up meeting with your manager to discuss the request in person.

Focus on Relevant Issues

  • I am going to look for a solution for ‘this’ problem
  • I believe information about ‘this’ is beneficial to our institution and I would like to learn more about it
  • The educational training and experience will be excellent
  • I am going to look for some revenue opportunities for our operation as well as ideas on how to reduce costs in ‘these’ areas
  • I am going to talk with several companies about ‘this’ technology we are looking at

Share your Knowledge

  • Hold a training session for your co-workers
  • Create a report for your manager outlining ideas gathered at the conference and make a plan for implementing them
  • Create comparisons of products or services you learned of at the exhibit hall and show how they will decrease expenses or improve efficiencies