Convince your manager

You're eager to attend Artificial Intelligence, and why not? You know it has the potential to help you work smarter, support your business objectives, and advance your career goals. But does your manager? Below are some resources that can help you get approval to attend.

Before the conference: Build support for your attendance

• Download and customize this Request to Attend Template.
• Open and customize this Request to Attend Email
• Start the approval process right away to secure the Best or Early price; review the list of discounts to see if you qualify
• Note that the conference offers training courses (included in Platinum or Training passes); find out if your company has additional budget resources for training, or are more likely to approve requests for training

During the conference: Track your participation

The conference website and O'Reilly Events app have useful features to help keep track of your participation. Use the Personal Schedule feature to track the sessions you attend (you must be registered to access the Personal Schedule).

A few weeks before the conference, you'll receive a notification when the Attendee Directory becomes available. Start to note and contact the people you're interested in meeting.

During the conference, post about the sessions you attend on your social media channels. You'll gain new followers, grow your network, and your colleagues will see what you're learning. The official Twitter conference hashtag is #TheAIConf.

After the conference: Create a report and share what you learned

Use your personal schedule information, your social media posts, and the conference Trip Report Template to create a report detailing what you learned. Supplement your own materials with speaker slides and keynote videos, posted during and after the conference. Search for news articles, blog posts, and #TheAIConf tweets for additional reference materials to include.

The Platinum and Gold passes also come with a video compilation of all recorded presentations, so you can watch them with colleagues who were unable to attend.