How High-Performing Employees Make the Case to Attend Industry Events

Don’t ask to attend, make a case and prove ROI.
 

The benefits of industry events range from bringing home tangible best practices to making lasting connections through networking that lead to company growth, sales, brand awareness or all of the above. Many companies actively seek out next generation leaders and proactively put them in situations to elevate, but that isn’t the case for everyone.
 

Oftentimes newer employees or middle management leaders hesitate to ask for opportunities. Maybe the company hasn’t attended events in the past, so folks are unsure if it’s even on the table. Maybe there is a tight budget, and it can be difficult to prove ROI for traveling to in person events. Whatever the case, for those wanting to invest in the future of their career through invaluable in person connections, roundtables and education sessions, taking a bold approach could be the answer.
 

What tends to separate the employees who get a “yes” from those who don’t isn’t tenure or title, it’s how the request is framed. Too often, the ask is positioned as a personal development opportunity, something that would be “nice to have” if time and budget allow. To a decision-maker managing margins, inventory risk and day-to-day operations, that kind of request is easy to deprioritize.
 

High-performing employees don’t ask to attend an event, they connect the opportunity to a business need. That could be as direct as improving a specific process, gaining insight into a new product category, or understanding how peers are approaching a challenge the company is already facing. This way, the conversation moves from “I’d like to go” to “Here’s how this helps us solve X.”
 

That alignment matters more than ever as companies look to build their next generation of leadership. According to ASA Emerging Leaders survey data, leadership development of next-generation talent ranks as the top desired outcome for companies, followed closely by retention and engagement.
 

When asked what specific topics or skills emerging leaders would like to see covered, leadership development, communication, business acumen, technology and customer experience consistently rise to the top, reinforcing that these events are less about exposure and more about solving real operational and strategic challenges.
 

That shift starts with understanding what matters most to leadership. “It comes down to being in tune with your company’s current strategic initiatives and framing a discussion on attendance around them,” says Matt Guidish, Director of Sales Operations & Marketing for Preferred Sales Inc. “Any leader is going to think twice if someone makes a business case versus a pure exposure case.”
 

Successfully facilitating this this non-ask means doing a bit of homework upfront. What are the company’s current priorities? Where are the bottlenecks? Is the focus on growth, efficiency, developing teams, or navigating market uncertainty? Aligning an event with one or two of those areas gives leadership something concrete to evaluate.
 

Preparation should go deeper than simply reviewing an agenda. Guidish recommends researching speakers and tying their expertise directly to those strategic priorities, as well as identifying where your own role could benefit from new insight. He also suggests taking a proactive approach to networking before the event even begins. “If you can find a list of registered attendees and identify key contacts where your organization needs stronger relationships, you can develop a plan to start building that relationship at the event,” he explains.
 

One of the biggest hesitations leaders have around industry events is the lack of visibility into outcomes. A clear plan, whether it’s a post-event recap for the team, a short presentation, or even a few actionable ideas to test internally, helps close that gap and signals that the value won’t stay with one individual, but will extend to the broader organization.
 

The desire for real-world application is echoed in ASA survey responses, where companies pointed to the ability to bring ideas back, implement strategies, and deliver measurable impact as the defining factors of a “must-have” program.
 

“The key is taking a plan back to your leadership team after the event,” Guidish says. “Anyone can sit and listen to a speaker, but I’d encourage active note taking and using the plane ride home to start outlining your ideas and execution plan.”

In many cases, those takeaways become long-term assets for the business. Guidish points to the evolution of leadership and culture-focused content across ASA events as one example. “There have been so many strong presentations on culture that have helped us continue to grow our employee engagement and experience over the past decade,” he notes, reinforcing that the value of these events often compounds over time.
 

And while tangible takeaways matter, the less measurable benefits can be just as impactful. “The other super valuable but a little less tangible item is the networking,” Guidish adds. “Anyone can benefit from strengthening their network in our industry, especially with the pace of change we are seeing.”
 

In many cases, leaders aren’t opposed to sending people to events, they just need a reason that fits within the realities of running the business. Emerging professionals who speak that language shift the conversation from approval to opportunity.
 

ASA’s Emerging Leaders division cultivates people with potential in their individual companies and the industry into tomorrow’s most complete business leaders. EMERGE will take place May 18-20 in Arlington, TX and registration is open now.

By Natalie Forster, Director of Communications