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Dear <Insert Boss’s Name>:

I’d like to kindly ask for your approval to attend the Academic Event Professional Conference (AEP) that will be taking place February 23 – 24, 2025 at Florida International University – Biscayne Bay Campus.

Why AEP? The annual conference, now in its 18th year, provides a rare opportunity for event planners in academia to receive tailored professional development, network with others in the field, and meet vendors that specialize in products for academic environments. Attracting both seasoned planners and industry newcomers, the AEP conference is known for its strong commitment to very practical sessions and interactive round table experiences. The conference focuses on topics unique to higher education events and helps to share and create best practices for the field. By attending this conference, I will gain insight into new and emerging industry trends, network with peers at other institutions and apply what I learn to help our institution.

During this conference, I will learn how to:

• Adapt strategies to create engaging content to market events and connect with constituencies.
• Keep a pulse on emerging trends in academic event planning from seasoned academic event professionals and vendors.
• Build an effective engagement strategy for our events.

Here are a few more important details about this event. Attendees will:

• Connect in person with academic event professionals from institutions across the country.
• Dive into breakout sessions facilitated by seasoned academic event professionals who have prior experience working on small to large scale events and galas. 
• Build an exciting, creative community—AEP is attended by other academic event planners like me from a wide variety of colleges and universities, so I will be able to create a peer-to-peer network for resources and input. 

Here’s the approximate breakdown of costs for me to attend:

• Conference: $850 Early Bird, $975 regular rate                        
• Hotel: $229
• Other Travel Expenses: $< Insert Amount >
• Total: $<Insert Total>

I hope you agree that this investment will be a great opportunity for me to bring back new ideas, innovations and delivery methods that will ultimately benefit our institution. Upon my return, I will be ready to share key takeaways, including best practices we can start to implement immediately.

Thank you for your consideration!

Best regards,

<Insert Name>