Build a Business Case to Attend

Need to build a business case to attend LavaCon?

If you haven't done so already, read the STC Intercom magazine article How to Build a Business Case by Jack Molisani and Bonni Graham.

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Begin building your business case by listing all the problems you are facing in your job and how those situations cost your company money. Then print the conference schedule and highlight all the sessions you feel will address those problems.
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Next, invite your boss to attend as well. Our 2008 program has plenty of sessions and workshops that will appeal to upper management:

• Overcoming Resistance to Change
• Mastering the Art of Managing Up
• What Your Project Team Isn't Telling You
• Risk Management for Fast-Changing Projects
• More

Have a problem with conflicting priorities or resource allocation? Highlight the people management sessions that will help you in your job:

• Facilitating Conflict Resolution
• Mastering Office Politics
• Honing your Workplace Negotiation Skills
• More

Need to enhance your project management skills? Attend:

• Applying PMBOK Practices to Documentation Projects
• The Backpacker’s Approach to Project Management
• Using the “Balanced Scorecard” Approach to Measure
  Project Success
• More

Want to keep up with the latest tool, trends and technologies? Attend:

• What’s New in DITA 1.2
• Workplace 2.0: The New World of Collaboration
• Using Agile Principles to Create Documentation Projects
• More

Considering content management? Don't miss:

• Choosing a Content Management System that’s Right for You
• Content Convergence: The Future is Closer than You Think
• It’s the Content, Not the Tools! Making Project Decisions to Ensure Smooth CMS Adoptions
• More

Does your company translate user documentation? What you'll learn in just one of the following sessions or workshops will save your company far more than what it costs to attend the conference:

• Choosing a Translation Vendor that's Right for You
• Implementing an Internationalization Strategy that Supports Simultaneous Releases in Multiple Languages
• How to Save Big Bucks on Translation and Localization Projects:
  Best Practices and Lessons Learned
• More

Want to know how other companies are handling the same problems you are experiencing? Attend one of the many case studies offered this year:

• Moving from Unstructured FrameMaker to XML and Back Again
• Single-Source Publishing with MadCap Flare
• Migrating to DITA: Real World Successes, Failures and Lessons Learned
• More

Next, print the review of LavaCon that appeared on the Silicon Valley STC website and attach it to your training request.



Include comments from previous attendees in your business case. While you may not make thousands of dollars more in future negotiations as a result of attending as one attendee did, chances are that the data offered in the 40+ sessions and workshops offered at LavaCon will make you better informed and more productive, in the long run saving your company much more than the cost of attending.




Compare the cost of LavaCon to other conferences. Tuition is comparable, and you can reserve your conference hotel room for only $195/night (plus tax)—that's less than the hotels at both the STC Annual Conference and the PMI Global Congress!

Have you been working long hours? Back-to-back deadlines? Due any comp time? Mention to your boss that you have been contributing far above-and-beyond a normal 40 hour work week, and that attending the conference will not only result in the cost savings you outlined in the first part of your business case, but it will also pay back some of that comp time you have accrued.

Is your boss still not convinced? Email or or call me at 888-378-2333 and I will put him/her in touch with managers who have sent people to previous LavaCons so they can speak manager-to-manager about the value of attending.

Good luck, and see you you in November!

Jack Molisani

Executive Director, The LavaCon Conference on Advanced Technical Communication and Project Management