There's some talk of attending one of the summer conferences on the west coast of the states this year, one of:
I'm wondering how people have convinced their company in the past of the benefits of such conferences. It works out to be approx. $2000 per person with hotel and flight costs on top of that. Any novel ideas?
Constant Learning is a human right !
On a sidenote. If it's an OpenSource conf and your company doesn't do or use OpenSource well then it's gonna be difficult.
Otherwise, I would convince them about the need for you to develop further and to exchange ideas in order to stay competitive on the market with whatever your company does.
When I first started the job I'm currently at, the company paid for us to go to JavaONE. I have to say it was one of the most educational experiences I've ever had. You get exposed to a lot of new technologies. Most of the classes are pretty good and you get to learn about best practices and new technologies right from the experts.
The price is steep, definitely. I am not sure how you would go about convincing your company, but you can always say that learning is an important part of what you do as a developer. You can also say that without learning and without being exposed to new material you risk becoming stagnant and so it would be better for the company to ensure that its developers remain up to date with new technologies. JavaONE is also a good thing for new developers (those fresh out of college). It gives them good exposure to the industry.
Also, once you get back from JavaONE try to have follow-up trainings within your department (JavaONE posts the videos and slides up after the conference). Or even better - before you leave try to schedule them for after you get back (do it before you go talk to your bosses!). That may help convince the higher-ups that you are serious about the conference.
To touch upon what I talked earlier, as programmers/developers/software engineers we are constantly learning and we have to constantly learn. Once your bosses understand that, they may be more willing to send you. Of course, it also depends on a whole lot of other stuff (revenue in particular), so it may not make financial sense to send all the developers. In that case, chose the few you think would benefit most from the training and also those you think can disseminate the information once they get back (i.e., those that are good teachers/mentors).
Hope this helps, and I hope you get to go to JavaONE/whatever other conference you want to go to! It's really awesome!
In order of importance for the developer: (IMHO)
1) Networking aka drinking with nerds aka making new friends
2) Learn about your peers (see #1), what they're doing, their passions, and their visions for the future
3) Learn new technologies. Different types of learners means that some people are more geared towards instruction based knowledge transfer.
4) SWAG
For the company:
1) Recruiting/finding the best and the brightest. Conferences are a good place to recruit and sell your company on an ad hoc basis. Not advocating poaching by any stretch, it's just good to know who's out there if they are looking for a change.
2) Learning that can then be passed on to coworkers. Your company won't send everyone, so they'll want to send someone who can bring back knowledge and transfer that locally.
3) Keeping you happy. $2000 may be a lot, but if they know you're a good employee and you'll stick around for awhile, that's an investment, especially if you can do #1 and #2 while you're there.
Keep in mind that the reasons you want to go are not necessarily the same reasons your company may pay for you to go. They could say no, in which case you can ask for a reasonable explanation why, and then you can better formulate a response when the next conference comes up.