Top Reasons Why IT Staff Should Attend Conferences!

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Top Reasons Why IT Staff Should Attend Conferences!

7/16/2003

By Terry Calhoun

Now that's a good, clear example of the kind of serendipity that comes from traveling away from home and attending conferences. That young woman and I—had I not spent the money to go to New Orleans—would certainly not ever have met, and I probably would still be in ignorance of UM's WorkTools environment.

But that's a hard example to explain to your boss. So here are what we think are some good reasons (statements, questions, arguments, stories) to travel and attend IT-related conferences that we gathered from the people we queried. (Not in any particular order.)

1. Overheard in the computer section of Borders … Guy says into cell phone: "Yes, I know the server is down." Listens to reply: "I know, I know! I'm looking for a book on it right now!"

2. They don't call it information architecture for nothing. More and more our institutions are built on it—architecture that has to constantly be shifting to meet changing demands and needs. Thus your IT staff's knowledge and connections must constantly be updated.

3. When do we know enough about our members and prospects, where do we store what we learn, and how can we push that information to the right people at the right time so we stay in business?

4. Cut the consultants first (or maybe they're already cut), which means internal staff needs to know more of what you were using the consultants for.

5. (Or this twist.) Want to pay $2K now for staff to travel and attend this conference, or $10K next year to bring in a consultant who was at the conference?

6. Our IT staff will get professional training in the coming year. The question is, "Do we want it to be at this institution or somewhere else?"

7. Network intrusion, network intrusion, network intrusion.

8. Face-to-face meetings—in hallways, at lunch, at dinner—give you personal connections to people you can call with questions and ask for help. If you travel to meet them, they are people who've learned more than is available in your building.

9. It takes knowledge and skill to do more with less.

Please let us know if you use any of these, and if they worked. We're also interested in hearing about "arguments that worked" for you. We'd like to think that the current shift in economic circumstances d'esn't mean the end of conference travel! E-mail me at terry.calhoun@scup.org.

Many thanks to Paul Ward, John Nicolette, George Breeden, T.J. Rainsford, David Gammell, Tony Lam, Vince Streiff, and Rayann Turpie for their contributions.

About the author: Terry Calhoun is Director of Communications and Publications for the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP). You can contact him through CT's IT Trends forum by clicking here. View more articles by Terry Calhoun.

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Terry Calhoun, "Top Reasons Why IT Staff Should Attend Conferences!," Campus Technology, 7/16/2003, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=39429

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