The education you will receive at CLEAN WATERWAYS is extremely beneficial, though you may need to validate to management your reasons for wanting to attend. You also may need to present management with the health and safety features in place in order to get approval to attend. CLEAN WATERWAYS has compiled a justification toolkit that will help you with those needs. When speaking with management, stress the sessions you will attend, the types of people you will meet, and the companies you will visit in the exhibit hall. 

Here are a few ideas to include when compiling your request:

Letter to Management: Compile a letter to management outlining the benefits of attending CLEAN WATERWAYS. Here is a sample letter to use.

Conference Materials: Offer to share lessons-learned with your co-workers.  Bring home your conference materials and share your experience with your team.

Conference Sessions: Highlight the conference sessions most applicable to your job. Bring the highlighted program to management to reinforce the value your attendance will bring to your company.

Speaker Line-up:  CLEAN WATERWAYS attracts key stakeholders to speak. You will have direct access to these industry experts since information sharing, question-answer sessions and networking are a vital part of the CLEAN WATERWAYS experience.

Networking Opportunities: Interact with a group of emergency response and environmental professionals who share your same goals. Contacts you make through networking can be invaluable once you return to work and can provide insight in future endeavors at work for years to come.

Attendee Certification: Customized certificates are available to verify conference attendance and session participation. These certificates may be included in personnel files to show training/education completion.

Exhibitor Line-Up: Between conference sessions, the education continues on the exhibit floor.  Exhibitors are there to learn about your day-to-day challenges and discuss solutions. Bring back potential solutions to management that can help your company’s role in spill prevention and response.

Health and Safety: Download our health and safety PDF or present the following information:

The health and safety for our event attendees, exhibitors and sponsors is of the utmost concern and priority for CLEAN WATERWAYS. In an effort to maintain the health and well-being of all at our events, we are committed to following the U.S. Travel Associations guidelines for business travel. We recognize that all events and venues are different, so we will update all of our participants on specific safety measures before we go onsite.

Cost-Saving Features: We understand that spending a day or two away from your job can be expensive, so we’ve worked to bring you savings wherever possible.

• Group Discounts: If 3 or more from you company are interested in attending CLEAN WATERWAYS , contact Jill Dean at 301-354-1618 to set up a discounted group registration package.
• Hotel Discount: CLEAN WATERWAYS attendees will receive discounted rates at the Westin Pittsburgh. Book your hotel room here.
• Airline Discounts: CLEAN WATERWAYS  has secured discounts on airfare with participating airlines.  Visit our Travel page to learn more.

Sample Trip Report: Create a trip report after the conference. This report should discuss the sessions you have attended and how you will apply those concepts to your job. Once your supervisor sees how much you have learned during the week and how it can be applied in your facility, they will be more likely to send you to a conference again. Here is a sample trip report that may be used when presenting your request.