August 28, 2023

How to Convince Your Boss to Send You to VMX 2024

How to Convince Your Boss to Send You to VMX 2024

Are you interested in attending VMX 2024, but not sure how to convince your boss to agree to pay for it? You’ve come to the right place — we’ve got some tips for how to approach your boss and even a sample letter you can download and use (or tweak to fit your specific request and needs).

Do Your Homework

It’s possible that your employer offers tuition assistance or reimbursement for continuing education. Many companies allocate part of their budget toward professional development. If you’re not sure, ask your HR manager or the person who handles HR functions at your practice, clinic or hospital. If this is a benefit available to you, find out the process for applying for it. If it’s not a benefit, your HR representative may know about other options (such as budget that’s earmarked for events) or advice for making the request.

Identify Your Boss’s Communication Style

Understand how your boss prefers to receive communication. We recommend putting the request in writing, even though we recognize some people prefer one-on-one conversations. If your boss falls into that category (or if you do!), try mentioning that you’d like to attend VMX 2024, and that you’re hoping they’ll pay for your registration and other expenses. Explain that you know it’s a “big ask,” so you’ve outlined the benefits and costs in a letter or email that you will deliver or send to them.

When you write the letter or email, also keep in mind your boss’s communication style and time constraints. You may need to keep the request concise and brief, especially if you know that your boss’s schedule is hectic. Or you may want to write a longer one, with lots of details, if you know that your boss likes to consider all the facts before making a decision. At the bottom of this blog post, you’ll find a link to a sample request letter that you can use — simply choose the one that applies to your title and/or scope of work and feel free to amend it to fit your needs.

Explain Why You Want to Attend

In your letter or email, outline your top reasons for wanting to attend VMX 2024 and explain how the conference achieves those goals. There are a wide range of reasons that you can detail in your letter or email. For example, remind your boss that it’s crucial for veterinary professionals to stay informed about the exciting advances taking place in veterinary medicine so they can provide animals the best possible health care. Perhaps your practice just lost their most senior anesthetist, and you’d like to gain confidence in your anesthesia skill set in order to step into that role. Maybe you struggle with client interactions, and your boss has asked you to work on developing your verbal communication skills. Again, VMX has a number of sessions devoted to client communication, client support, and how to build trust to ensure compliance. Do you need CE credit for licensure renewal? Whether you are a veterinarian or a veterinary technician, VMX has continuing education offerings that are appropriate for you. Has your boss asked you to undertake professional development as one of your performance goals? VMX 2024 is a great way to meet that objective (and even offers measurable, timely benchmarks if your organization is using S.M.A.R.T. goals as part of your employee review process).

Determine which sessions are likely to contribute to these goals by checking out the VMX 2024 program schedule. Create a list of workshops and sessions you’d like to attend and list the top five to 10. You may also want to list the specific benefits you anticipate gaining from each one.

Break Down the Costs

Right now, the registration for VMX 2024 is only $125 (until October 30). Of course, the cost to attend a conference includes more than just the registration fee. You will have to factor in other costs, such as transportation, lodging and time away from work. This is where you’ll need to be persuasive in convincing your boss that VMX 2024 will help you do your job better and elevate the entire team at your practice, clinic or hospital. Investing in you and your career can pay dividends for you, your employer, your clients, and most important, your patients. When your skill set is elevated and used, the bottom line of the practice or clinic improves. The bottom line is that this is an important factor to stress when asking for your boss to fund your registration and expenses at VMX 2024.

What If My Boss Says No?

Company leaders understand that ongoing professional development and training is important for employees to develop successful careers, but there may be circumstances that prevent your boss from giving the green light to your VMX 2024 dream. Ask your boss if there are additional details that would be helpful in reconsidering the request. If the request is still denied, ask whether attending VMX 2025 is a possibility.