5 steps to convince your boss to send you to GitHub Universe

It’s officially conference season, and if you’re interested in attending GitHub Universe 2022 in person, now is the time to use up your learning and development budget or ask your manager for some budget to attend! But if you’re not sure how to approach this topic, here are five steps you can take to convince your boss to send you to GitHub Universe this year.

Step 1 – Get familiar with the conference details

The first thing you need to do is get familiar with the conference details. Gather answers to the following questions:

• What formats are available for attendance? (This year we have both in person and virtual options!)
• What are the exact dates and times? Are there any conflicts with your current responsibilities?
• What is the cost of the tickets?
• Who are the speakers and what sessions are available?

Conference details for GitHub Universe 2022 can be found on our website. The full line-up of sessions, workshops and speakers will be available by mid October.

Step 2 – Outline the benefits of attending

After getting familiar with the details of GitHub Universe, start outlining the benefits of attending the event. How will attending Universe benefit your organization, contribute to your team’s goals, or enhance your professional development? This year’s conference includes content tracks for security, community, cloud, and AI, and offers many opportunities to focus on networking, attend demo spaces, and participate in hands-on workshops.

You will have the opportunity to learn and interact with experts in your industry in real time.

Step 3 – Do all the legwork

One of the best ways to get a “yes” from your manager is to do all the legwork. Calculate the following costs to increase your chances of getting an affirmative response:

• Airfare
• Lodging
• Food
• Local travel to and from airport/ hotel/conference hall
• In person or Virtual Conference ticket

Psst! GitHub Universe tickets are 20% off until September 30. Now is the perfect time to get your pricing chart together and make a request to your manager to attend the conference.

Step 4 – Send a formal request letter over email

Once you have all your ducks in a row, send a formal request to your manager asking to attend the conference. If you have no idea how to do this, fear not! We’ve created a convince your boss template that you can copy and paste into your email and send off for approval!

Remember: it’s important that you have all the costs laid out so that your manager doesn’t need to do any additional work and can easily approve your request.

PS—Keep the request short and to the point! Your manager is busy and you want to make it an easy yes for them, so don’t bombard them with too much information in your request. The template that we put together makes everything clear and concise, so definitely make use of it!

Step 5 – Commit to reporting back to your team what you learned

Be sure to let your manager know that you would love to do a post-conference briefing with your team so you can share your experience and all that you’ve learned. Connect what you’ve learned at GitHub Universe with your company’s goals to prove added value to the organization.

This means that while attending workshops, talks, and demos around GitHub Universe, you should take notes and engage with everything you can. Bonus points if you record some video content to show your team when you get back to the office!

See you at GitHub Universe!

GitHub Universe 2022 is the global developer event for cloud, security, community, and AI. I hope you’ll be able to join us in person in San Francisco this year. But if you’re not able to join us in person, you can still attend the event virtually for free!

Written by

Kedasha Kerr

@ladykerr

Kedasha is a Developer Advocate at GitHub where she enjoys sharing the lessons she's learned with the wider developer community. She finds joy in helping others learn about the tech industry and loves sharing her experience as a software developer. Find her online @itsthatladydev.