Are you having trouble getting your supervisor to approve the budget for your ticket to NextGen? Are you not even sure how to approach him/her about it?
Mr. GovLoop, Steve Ressler, has written out a sample letter for your use to help convince your supervisor to come to NextGen.
This type of written communication is a skill the next generation needs to develop – how to make the case and ask for what you want.
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Dear (boss)-
I’d like to attend the training sessions at the Next Generation of Government Training Summit (nextgengovt.com) on July 26-27th in DC and would like to get your approval. The summit is in the process of becoming OPM approved (it was approved last year) and the sessions are geared toward the ECQ competencies.
I think this training will help me do my job in the following ways:
1) Presentation skills – A big part of my job is presenting my work and analysis to senior management. I would love to improve these presentations both in terms of powerpoint skills and public speaking skills. There is a session titled “Speak Up: How to be a Great Public Speaker”, in this session participants will learn how to make clear and convincing oral presentations to individuals and groups, clarify information as needed, and facilitate open communication.
2) Time and project management – I’m excited to have so many great projects to work on. I would love to improve my ability to manage my time across projects and deliver great projects on-time and within budget. There will be a session titled: “Project management 101: Getting Things Done in Government″. This session will teach participants to make well-informed, effective and timely decisions while managing a project’s budget, scope, and schedule.
3) Lessons learned from other agencies – For my current assignments, I know there are other agencies doing similar work and I’d love to learn and leverage their best practices. During NextGen, there are opportunities for me to have one-on-one conversations to gain insight and build relationships in an intimate setting. I will be able to bring these connections and lessons learned back to our agency.
After the conference, I plan to write-up an analysis of the sessions I attended and key takeaways for our team. I can also provide a short briefing in our weekly team meeting.
The cost to attend the training is $640 (before June 23). Based on the level of learning, I think this is a good value – similar conferences such as a course on “Time Management” at Learning Tree is $1,500.
Thanks for considering my request. If you would like to discuss further, please let me know when you are available this week.
Thank you!
- (Your Name Here)
For more information on The Next Generation of Government Training Summit 2012 please contact Megan (megan@govloop.com).
