Looking for ideas. Struggling to convince employer to fund my travel to the barnraising.

[nunes.melissa.m]

Hi guys!

I am trying to use my professional development budget to fund me coming to the barnraising, but I am having a hard time spinning it so that my boss sees the value in me coming. He is looking for something more concrete than "collaborating on various open source projects and communities increases cross fertilization and creative capacity". 

I am not doing the best job at being convincing, and this really shouldn't be hard since I am a web developer. 

Do any of  you have any ideas for convincing justifications for someone to come to the barnraising that will also sound appealing to my corporate managers? How do you typically sell an unconference with no set agenda to your employers?

THANKS!

Melissa

[Jennifer Hudon]

Do you have a job description or list of standards you're expected to be evaluated on each year or quarter? I generally re-frame the Barnraising (or other similar endeavors) into my org's goals, priorities, or evaluation standards to get funding or admin leave approval. Basically, I work backwards.

If you want to share your evaluation standards, job description or org mission, I'm happy to work with you to re-frame them.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "plots-barnraising" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to plots-barnrais...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to plots-ba...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/plots-barnraising.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Thomas Levine]

You could just say you're giving a talk on web something something
and not mention that it's an unconference. Another option is to say
that you're attending a training on a particularly specific something.
I volunteer to give the training.

[Jeffrey Warren]

This is the best thread ever.

I can invite you to give a talk on something, in a formal sounding email to be shown to your boss. We can all invite each other to give keynotes and add them all to the barnraising wiki.

[Bronwen Densmore]

I love the idea of keynotes! Can we do a pecha kucha / presentation party kind of thing where we knock out 20 or so keynotes one evening over beer? 

Also, when I was in a position to have travel time authorized, having my name listed as a presenter somewhere formal and/or having an invitation letter from somewhere carried a lot of weight. I also tended to translate my organizer status as "committee member" (on the organizers committee!) for a national/international organization, with Barnraising as our annual meeting.

[Melissa Nunes]

Love all of the suggestions!

Jennifer, I am going to take you up on your offer to help reframe the barnraising by walking through my job description, etc. I'll  get started on a draft, and then send you a package with all of the mission statements, job descriptions, evaluation criteria, etc.  THANKS!

Also, love the idea of some 'training'. I need to stew on that one a bit to come up with ideas of training topics that fit both my job context and PL.

In terms of giving a 'presentation', I am in! I think a lot about communication on teams, and would be interested in facilitating a discussion for real about that. Subtopics I am thinking of are:

• How tech projects tend to adopt the language of jargony tech people. How does the use of this language impact decisions, self-esteem, social status, and inclusivity. What are good personal and team strategies to keep language as inclusive as possible? Where do we draw the line? (What are the implications of 'dumbing down'?)
• Design as communication - product users arent psychic! How to create good user experiences with small budgets.
• The importance of documentation of all sorts and how we tend to undervalue it and procrastinate it away. How to get team members/volunteers on board with the unsexy but crucial chore of documentation? (or is it really crucial?). 
  

Thanks for the awesome ideas everyone!

Melissa Nunes

Web Developer | Spatial IT Specialist

Skype: nunes.melissa.m

Email: nunes.m...@gmail.com

Linkedin

[Catherine D'Ignazio]

+1 for pecha kucha keynotes to hear what everyone is working on and thinking about

[Liz Barry]

+1 all these ideas and helping

[Miriam Belblidia]

Agreed. Really hope you can come, Melissa! 

Miriam S. Belblidia, MPA, CFM

Co-Founder/CEO, Water Works

mir...@waterworksla.com
504-615-2711

New Address! 1307 OC Haley Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70113

We're also on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. 

For a copy of the Joy of Water, visit our website! 

[Di Leonardo, Diana R]

I hadn’t thought of selling the Barnraising as professional development, but that’s a great idea! I’d also be interested in how people do this.

 

 

 

 

Diana Di Leonardo

Earth and Environmental Sciences

Lab Technician

Departmental Safety Representative

Stanley Thomas 224: (504) 862-3271

Sediment Dynamics Lab: (504) 862-8378 

ddil...@tulane.edu

[Stevie Lewis]

Great thread! 

Keynotes for everyone! Cheers!