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UGC 2011 - Justification Toolkit

CBORD now offers you all the materials to get the funding you need to attend the annual User Group Conference (UGC). With expert advice on how to have a successful and cost-effective conference experience, along with pre-conference justification documents and post-conference reporting templates, your manager or supervisor is sure to appreciate the investment made in your training and your company’s success.

Communicating the Value of CBORD’s User Group Conference

Communicating the Cost Savings and Justification


Communicating the Value of CBORD’s User Group Conference

How to Justify Attending a Conference

CBORD’s action-packed User Group Conference will be the most cost-effective professional-development opportunity you have all year! The following are suggestions for how to justify your UGC attendance.

  • Offer to prepare and deliver a short presentation, and Q&A session to your colleagues when you return to share what you learned. Others can benefit from your attendance too!
  • Share the conference materials, PowerPoint presentations, and handouts with your colleagues. As an attendee, you have unlimited access to materials posted on our conference website, including the downloadable PowerPoint presentations.
  • Explain what you plan to get out of attending and how that will benefit your work, organization, and customers.
  • Be ready with a plan that shows who at your organization will cover for you while you are attending the conference.
  • Offer to share a room with another conference attendee to reduce hotel expenses.
  • Compare the cost of attending with another educational course, conference, or on-site training opportunity.

What is UGC?

UGC is a purposeful and strategic program for increasing product knowledge and getting hands-on experience with CBORD systems. Our 2011 conference focus is on education through training and certification. As an attendee, you will gain ideas and knowledge to increase revenues, lower costs, improve customer satisfaction, and enhance safety and security at your organization. 

Why You Should Attend

Get the most out of your CBORD investment.

  • Comprehensive educational sessions and systems training
  • One-on-one access to CBORD experts
  • New products to see and new cost-saving technologies to investigate
  • Knowledge sharing
  • Continuing education credits

You will walk away equipped with tools to directly impact your organization in a positive way. Attend UGC 2011 and become more productive, knowledgeable, and invigorated to work with your CBORD system(s).

Communicating the Cost Savings and Justification

Justification Worksheet

Need more help justifying your conference attendance? Download this helpful Justification Worksheet to organize a list of professional and organizational objectives that you would like to address.

Letter to Your Manager

Review a helpful letter template that you can send to your manager to request permission to attend the 2011 CBORD User Group Conference.

Understanding Your Conference Expenses

Conference expenses are affected by a number of factors. Use the following Expenses Worksheet to calculate the estimated cost of attending UGC 2011. Understanding the breakdown of the conference expenses will aid you in justifying your attendance.

UGC 2011 Expenses Worksheet

Expense Guideline Cost
Conference registration  Early Bird three-night full conference package $ 1,800.00
Certification and training Sessions $ FREE
Conference materials $ FREE
Flight
Use an online travel service to get a quick estimate $
Lodging
Included in full conference packages (three-night stay) $ FREE
Transportation: airport to hotel If flying: Taxi? Car rental? $
Transportation: hotel to airport If flying: Taxi? Car rental? $
Mileage reimbursement $
Parking reimbursement At airport for flight departure, or at hotel where conference is located $
Food (conference) Meals included in full conference package–Continental breakfast, lunch, dinner, and breaks $ FREE
Food (travel) At airport for flights, Sunday evening dinner. $
Subtotal $
Total number of employees attending  
Subtotal x total number of employees attending = total $
Group discount for the second individual and each person thereafter registered from the same organization.  $100.00 discount each for the second, third, etc., registered attendees. $ –
TOTAL $

Cost-Saving Tips

  • Be an early bird
    • Register on or before 7/15/11 and take advantage of the lower conference rate.
  • Save on lodging
    • Share a room with a coworker to save on expenses.
  • Don’t go hungry or spend a fortune on meals
    • All full conference registration packages include continental breakfasts, lunches, and two dinners
  • Earn continuing education credits
    • Attendees at our 2010 conference had the opportunity to earn up to thirty credit hours through The American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS), Certifying Board for Dietary Managers (CBDM), and The American Dietetic Association (ADA).

Post-Conference Reporting

Commit to your manager that you will prepare and share a conference report with him or her and your team.

Examples of information you might include in the conference report, include:

  • Executive summary of key themes, concerns, ideas, and practices discussed
  • Opening General Session highlights
  • Specific breakout or skill-building session highlights
  • Networking event takeaways (new contacts, why they are important, who will follow up and when)
  • Information gathered from the Technology Pavilion about products and services
Program ideas or recommendations picked up or generate while at the conference