Are you interested in the professional growth and networking available at a NAFSA Regional Conference? Attending a regional conference is a great way to develop local connections with colleagues and understand trends and best practices in international education.
Regional Conferences take place in multiple cities across North America every fall.
Find the conference most accessible to you at www.nafsa.org/regionalconferences.
How to make a strong business case with your employer:
- First, answer these questions:
- What are the most important issues or initiatives facing my institution/organization?
- What is my role in contributing to these issues and initiatives?
- What sessions, connections, or partners would relate to and help support my contributions?
- Prepare an estimate of costs: registration fee, airfare or mileage, hotel, meals, and ground transportation.
- Plan back-up for your work while you are attending the conference.
- Offer to host a post-conference debrief to share conference resources with colleagues who didn’t attend.
- Write all this information concisely and clearly in a request to your employer.
- Ask early. Last-minute requests don’t work as well and early registration saves your employer money.
Sample message:
Dear [Supervisor],
I am writing to request approval to attend the NAFSA Region _ Conference in __ from DATE to DATE in LOCATION. NAFSA is the world’s largest and most diverse nonprofit association dedicated to international education and exchange. This NAFSA regional conference is an accessible, cost-effective opportunity for me to connect and learn from this community.
At the Region _ Conference, I will have the opportunity to attend educational sessions that will provide me with tangible resources and best practices to help me in my role. I will be able to network with hundreds of other practitioners in our region and meet with exhibitors and partners.
Registration includes:
- Access to 50+ educational sessions. In particular, I would prioritize attending:
- [Include specific topics or session titles.]
- Entry into the exhibit hall.
- [Include specific products or partnerships to pursue.]
- Opportunities to connect and network with over 200 international education professionals.
- Meals: [Some meals may be provided to attendees; see regional conference website for details.]
Early bird registration is $__ for NAFSA members and $__ for non-members. Rates increase after early bird date.
[Optional: I would also like to request to attend a pre-conference workshop at an additional cost.]
I estimate my total travel costs to be [airfare/milage + hotel + meals + ground transportation].
More information is available on the NAFSA website: www.nafsa.org/regionalconferences.
Thank you for considering my request for this opportunity.