Guide To Secure Approval
Build Your Case: As the person making the difficult decisions about the budget, you are the first to sacrifice your own professional development to save funds for others’ use. But as the leader of your district’s financial future, you are neglecting the people who depend on you—and the people who depend on them—when you neglect your own professional development. Now more than ever, your district needs your finely-tuned skills and leadership.
Whether you need to convince yourself or your supervisor, take five minutes to bring the benefits of the Oklahoma ASBO Conference alive. Follow these four simple steps:
1. Write down two to four issues being addressed in your district right now.
•
•
•
•
2. Think about how you personally contribute to the strategies used to address those issues and make a list of these personal contributions.
•
•
•
•
3. Look at Oklahoma ASBO’s sessions and mark the descriptions that relate to your list of personal contributions to the strategies used in your district. Also make a note of speakers or other people at the conference, like exhibitors or colleagues, you would like to meet.
4. Use this information to make your case. Explain how attending these sessions and meeting these people will help you contribute to your organization’s strategies to address critical issues.
Here’s an example.
Your case might read:
Dear Supervisor,
As a school business official, I am accountable for our district’s financial success, while making decisions that impact all facets of student learning. As we face serious budget cuts, it is especially important that we have all the tools at our disposal to best serve our community, and most importantly, our students. By attending the Oklahoma ASBO Conference, I will gather best practices, case studies, and contacts that will benefit our district.
At present, our district is highly focused on green initiatives. As a school business official, I am responsible for finding ways to increase efficiency in a cost-effective way. Many sessions at the conference, will cover social responsibility and green initiatives. I would like to attend these sessions and meet the expert presenters in order to get specific ideas about maximizing the cost savings we could receive.
Financial Transparency and making the most of our budget is always one of our utmost concerns. At this conference we will hear the latest about reports generation that fully meet the expectations of Financial Transparency, learn about Excel Energy Allowances, Shared Services and their savings, and much, much more. Find out if GASB 54 will Require Special Revenue and Capital Projects Funds to be reported in the General Fund.
As part of my registration, I will have access to almost 30 hours of session materials from the meeting. That means I will be able to review the information from every one of the sessions offered. I will share these resources with our entire team, as topics will cover interest areas such as human resources, information technology, transportation, nutrition, facilities, security, accounting, and more.
Meeting Follow Up
Emphasize the value of your attendance. Immediately after the conference, write a concise summary (one or two pages) of what you learned, who you met at the conference, and how you will use the information you received and contacts you made to improve your school district. Submit the summary to the person who sponsored your attendance, thanking him or her for the opportunity. Share what you learned with your team too. You could hold your own mini-conference by calling a meeting and reviewing the session word documents, power point slides or distributing your notes.
Hope to see you at the OKASBO Conference!
