stevef@crash.cts.com (Steve Feinstein) (10/04/89)
I've just requested that my boss send me to the SYMPOSIUM in Anaheim and he needs me to Justify it. I attended a single day last year as a guest of my Sales Rep, and now I see it as definately worthwhile for me to attend all week. But I thought that someone else could help me with some reasons why. In a nutshell WHY DOES MY BOSS >>>NEED<<< TO SEND ME? (I know the reasons, but maybe someone a bit more articulate than myself could give me some assistance.) -- ============================================================================= Steve A. Feinstein stevef@crash.cts.com Data Trek Inc. 621 2nd Street Encinitas, CA 92024
bluntb@ingr.com (Bob Blunt x6849) (10/04/89)
In article <470@crash.cts.com>, stevef@crash.cts.com (Steve Feinstein) writes: > > I've just requested that my boss send me to the SYMPOSIUM in Anaheim > and he needs me to Justify it. > > In a nutshell WHY DOES MY BOSS >>>NEED<<< TO SEND ME? > > (I know the reasons, but maybe someone a bit more articulate than myself > could give me some assistance.) The bottom line is: you will be the best source of justification for attending a DECUS Symposium. You will have to customize the reasoning to jive with your site. I've done this for the past three years, and gotten to go once (budget reasons shot down the last two years). I waited until the schedule of tentative schedule of sessions came out, and picked the sessions that were of interest to projects being worked around the office. If necessary, I paraphrased the abstracts to give the boss an idea of what he could expect to glean from my attendance. It worked (until the bean- counters got wind of it :-< ) every time. Another good point is the potential to gather information from other attendees. In many cases, you get more problems solved faster by talking to attendees/presenters/developers than by trial-and-error, saving your company money. Another good written source is the "Why You Should Attend DECUS Symposia" segment of the "DECUS Seminars/Symposium Program and Registration Info" booklet that comes out before every symposium and the July 1989 DECUSCOPE had a fairly lengthy article, "Sending Your People to DECUS," on pages 26- 28. The author, G. Beau Williamson, goes over several myths and "cases" where he gives rationales behind DECUS Symposia attendance. Try to get a copy of either or both, and come up with a game plan to attend. Bob Blunt -- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "Growing older, but not up" J. Buffett || Bob Blunt | M.S. IW1601 "My metabolic rate is pleasantly stuck" || BLUNTB@INGR.COM | INTERSnail _______________________________________________________________________________
jkw@alpha.lanl.gov (Jay Wooten) (10/05/89)
> In article <470@crash.cts.com>, stevef@crash.cts.com (Steve Feinstein) writes: > > > > I've just requested that my boss send me to the SYMPOSIUM in Anaheim > > and he needs me to Justify it. > > > > In a nutshell WHY DOES MY BOSS >>>NEED<<< TO SEND ME? The justification I have used in the past has been twofold: 1. Some specific sessions which related directly to work I was doing or was going to do in the near future. By having specific sessions already in mind, I was able to plan a little better and get to sessions I wanted to attend VERY early. This is important because popular sessions fill up very quickly. In fact, you may have to sit thru one or more talks you have no interest in just to get a seat for a later talk. Bring a good book in case you run out of sales brochures. 2. The most useful information picked up at a DECUS is often found just by wandering around the demo booths and talking to people. I have always found useful info at these meetings which there was no way of knowing about ahead of time - call it planned serendipidity. I also always promise a trip report, make sure I do it, try to make it interesting, and make sure that as many DEC-interested prople in my organization see it as possible. ~ Resident DUMPie... Downwardly Unmobile Middle-class Person ~ Jay Wooten Los Alamos National Lab ARPA: jkw@lanl.gov
nobody@blia.BLI.COM (Nobody at all) (10/06/89)
In article <470@crash.cts.com> stevef@crash.cts.com (Steve Feinstein) writes: > > In a nutshell WHY DOES MY BOSS >>>NEED<<< TO SEND ME? > >(I know the reasons, but maybe someone a bit more articulate than myself > could give me some assistance.) I attended symposia over the last 12 years, many times both Spring and Fall. My reason for attending is that I got more information about how to keep our systems running better at DECUS symposia than from any other source. Just sitting around talking to experts with many years of experience solved many problems for me. In any group, it is highly likely that a problem I had was solved previously by someone else. So I avoided "reinventing the wheel". The sessions, handouts, exhibits, etc. are often just as informative. So it all boils down to many hours of work saved and better running systems.