Many workplaces now recognize the importance of attending the Out & Equal Workplace Summit and have policies and funds in place to support sending team members at every level.
If you work for a company that has not yet approved your registration for Summit, we’ve drafted the following request to educate your company’s decision makers about the importance of the conference and to inform them of the benefits to you and your organization.
Use it as a starting point for your own email. Just copy, paste, and edit it.
Dear _________,
I wanted to share an excellent workplace equality conference that I came across, the Out & Equal Workplace Summit. This year, the Workplace Summit will be a 5-day virtual conference filled with abundant educational opportunities including over 100 LGBTQ-specific workshops, featured panels, community advisory roundtables, and inspirational plenaries featuring prominent LGBTQ and ally leaders. And with this year’s Summit being virtual, there is even more opportunity for LGBTQ and ally leaders to attend from all over the world.
At the Workplace Summit there is content for almost anyone in our (Insert ERG / Organization / Firm). On their website, you can view the workshops for this year’s Summit, including a number of curated “Tracks” that synthesize their workshop offerings into accessible specialized paths, ranging from uniquely designed tracks for leadership, allies, globally-focused employees, and recruiters (among others). I think that if we were to attend this conference, our personnel would bring back cutting-edge information surrounding LGBTQ talent acquisition, retention, creating workplace cultures of belonging, ERG development, and best HR practices. Most of the competitors and clients in our field are already attending—I wouldn’t want us to miss this important opportunity to gain the edge we need to be successful with (Insert focus: ERG development/recruitment/capacity building/supplier diversity/D&I/benefits administration/executive promotion).
They’re expecting thousands of LGBTQ and ally professionals to join them virtually this year.
This would be a valuable opportunity for myself, my colleagues, and our organization to develop professionally, co-create a successful and affirming company culture, and stay up-to-date on the best practices to foster LGBTQ diversity within our company. The conference takes place from October 5–9, 2020.
You can glance at this report from the 2019 Workplace Summit to really narrow in on who attends and what they gain from the experience. I’m hopeful I’ll be able to attend this year and share my own custom recap report with you and the team after returning.
Thank you for your support.
{Your Name}
{Your Title}