{"id":74065,"date":"2014-06-09T08:00:19","date_gmt":"2014-06-09T13:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=74065"},"modified":"2014-06-09T08:24:50","modified_gmt":"2014-06-09T13:24:50","slug":"paying-your-way-through-conference-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=74065","title":{"rendered":"Paying your way through conference season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Angela J.A. Kent, Head Editor,\u00a0<\/span>INALJ-Virtual Work<\/a><\/p>\n

Paying your way through conference season<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"AngelaKent\"<\/a>Many information professionals and students, myself included, are currently gearing up to attend\u00a0some of the industry\u2019s largest annual library conferences. While there\u2019s been no shortage of articles on\u00a0conferences<\/a>, there is one aspect that I thought was worth adding my two cents.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk money.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A significant obstacle to attending conferences can be funding. Regardless of whether this your first\u00a0conference or your fiftieth, it can all come down to money. How will you cover registration? What\u00a0about meals? If it\u2019s out of town, how will you cover travel and lodging?<\/p>\n

I cannot say I\u2019m an expert at getting funding – although I aspire to be one! – but I have had success in securing conference funding as a student, paraprofessional, and professional staff member. In fact,\u00a0I will be attending the upcoming Special Libraries Association (SLA) annual conference with the\u00a0financial support of not one, not two, but three supporters.<\/p>\n

Students<\/strong><\/span>
\nFinding conference funding as a student is similar to finding scholarships. There\u2019s lots of money out\u00a0there and you just have to invest the little bit of time and effort it takes to apply. It\u2019s fair to say that\u00a0there can be plenty of groups looking to sponsor students, with sometimes very few students willing to\u00a0pull together an application package.<\/p>\n

Conference funding for students can come from the conference host, the local chapters and divisions,\u00a0the conference sponsors (i.e. vendors), and from your school (e.g. university-wide funding, graduate\u00a0student association, library school or department funding).<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a huge non-monetary advantages in attending conferences as a student. It can be easier\u00a0to schedule the time to go (a challenge for full-time employees), you can attend any and all sessions\u00a0that are purely of interest or curiosity to you, and, to top it all off, professional members love talking\u00a0to and recruiting students. Attending as a stipend or award recipient not only means helping with your\u00a0bottom line, but gaining recognition at the conference and keeping that distinguishment for a long time\u00a0afterwards.<\/p>\n

Paraprofessionals<\/strong><\/span>
\nThis is the time when your work (library or non-library) and professional associations can work hand in\u00a0hand.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re lucky enough to be working in a library or information setting, some employers are able to\u00a0extend conference funding to their paraprofessional staff. You should frame your interest in attending\u00a0the conference as an opportunity to learn more about the profession and a way for your employer to\u00a0invest in their current employees and potentially future professional staff. You may not receive the full\u00a0benefits of your professional staff co-workers, but you should let your boss know you\u2019re interested in\u00a0attending.<\/p>\n

At one job, all staff were invited to attend a local conference because our library was given a group\u00a0entry pass — you just had to make sure your boss knew you were interested in attending. Another job\u00a0allowed paraprofessional staff to attend one day of the conference. At another, they were willing to\u00a0offer administrative leave. Regardless of what your job is able to cover, showing your interest and\u00a0initiative in being involved in the profession is a positive employee attribute.<\/p>\n

If your workplace cannot support your conference attendance or can only cover some of your\u00a0expenses, turn to your local and national professional associations. Many of the library and information\u00a0professional associations have specific funds set aside for paraprofessionals. Local chapters will\u00a0usually fund members – regardless of professional status – to attend conferences as well. Use your\u00a0membership benefits in every way shape and form!<\/p>\n

Professionals<\/strong><\/span>
\nFor my upcoming conference trip I was able to secure three sponsors. However, when I booked\u00a0my tickets and reserved my hotel, I had none. This was in part because I was graduating from\u00a0library school (and would no longer be eligible for student stipends), I was leaving my current\u00a0paraprofessional position (without another job lined up) because I was relocating (away from the local\u00a0chapter that knew me and had sponsored me in the past). So, if you\u2019re keeping count, I didn\u2019t have\u00a0funding resources available to me as a student, an employee, or through my local chapter.<\/p>\n

The first funding opportunity came through the host association, SLA. As a true testament to volunteer\u00a0leadership, I was notified by the host that I would be receiving an award. As an award winner, SLA\u00a0would cover my registration fee — not a small amount as a non-student! Many conferences will cover\u00a0all expenses for their award recipients and presenters. While others may cover some expenses (e.g.,\u00a0registration). If the conference is large and international in size, they may only set aside money for\u00a0presenters and provide funding through competitive stipends. Actively participating in the conference\u00a0is one way to increase your pool of funds and build your professional portfolio.<\/p>\n

The second funding opportunity came through my new, local SLA chapter. Before I had even moved\u00a0to my new location, I added the local chapter listserv to my news feeds and began following the\u00a0events they were working on and identifying the leaders within the region. When a message calling\u00a0for volunteers was posted, I quickly responded and – just as quickly – was put to work! I now sit\u00a0on the executive board and am working on preparing a number of chapter events. As a new, but\u00a0active member, the executive board accepted my application for funding and was excited to have me\u00a0representing their chapter at the annual conference. It\u2019s worth noting that my travel award only required\u00a0that I was a member of the local chapter.<\/p>\n

The third funding opportunity came soon after I was promoted to a full-time, professional librarian staff\u00a0position. Not only were my new employers excited to have me in this new position, but they were quite\u00a0interested in supporting my trip. It probably did not hurt that I had secured outside funding and that\u00a0they would only need to support partial funding from their limited pool of conference funds. While it\u00a0certainly helped that I had a manager and director that were willing to support my travel request, I did\u00a0the heavy lifting of crafting and framing my reasons for attending, while also going through numerous\u00a0iterations of paperwork for human resources and accounting. It was well worth the effort! Not only do I\u00a0have additional funding to help me with my expenses, but my employer has a tangible example of how\u00a0I am involved in our profession in a meaningful way.<\/p>\n

The most important part of receiving conference funding is to give back. Always provide a formal\u00a0thank-you to your sponsors and supply a summary about how your attendance enhanced your career\u00a0development. In the past, I\u2019ve prepared blog posts, formal travel reports, as well as participated in\u00a0post-conference presentations. These are all great ways to summarize your experience and share your\u00a0insights with colleagues who could not attend the conference.<\/p>\n

Plan on remaining involved with the organization, division, or chapter sponsor by volunteering for a\u00a0leadership position, writing articles, or participating in future award juries.<\/p>\n

Conference funding is a one-time, short term reward; but the experience you get out of going to the\u00a0conference and the recognition as an award or stipend recipient can have a lasting impact on your\u00a0career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Angela J.A. Kent, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ-Virtual Work Paying your way through conference season Many information professionals and students, myself included, are currently gearing up to attend\u00a0some of the industry\u2019s largest annual library conferences. While there\u2019s been no shortage of articles on\u00a0conferences, there is one aspect that I thought was worth adding my two cents. Let\u2019s talk…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":70716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[5895,69,3592,6282,4668,4238,5894,6280,6281,111],"class_list":["post-74065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-angela-kent","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-conference-funding","tag-conference-tips","tag-conferences","tag-inalj-virtual","tag-money","tag-paying-for-conferences","tag-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/angela.kent_.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-jgB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}