When you do them right, career conferences are two things: amazing and exhausting. But before you can reap all of the professional opportunities that conferences have to offer, you’ll need to figure out how you can actually afford to attend one.
Here’s how you can save money on everything from food to accommodations at your next big work conference.
First things first, know your goals
If you want to come out of the conference with X number of new clients, a solid understanding of your industry, or a slew of new job leads, set that goal ahead of time – if you hit it, it’s even easier to justify the amount you want to spend to attend.
This info will not only help you make the most of the conference while you’re there, it’ll help you sort through the wide world of conferences that you could attend. There are probably dozens of events you could put on your calendar, but only some of them will be uniquely suited to your specific goals. Those are the ones you should seriously plan for and make sure you’re at this year.
When you end the event with five new freelance clients, or a hot new job, you’ll be glad you did.
Cyber-stalk the event to figure out ways to save
Maybe you don’t have the budget – or the time – to attend a conference right now, but it’s still useful to start planning ahead for your someday-dream conference. Specifically, as soon as an event catches your eye, get on their email mailing list and start scoping it out ahead of time (like, way ahead of time). Some conferences will open up limited-time early bird deals as early as the week after the conference is done. Yes, 51 weeks ahead of time.
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Keeping an eye out for those early bird deals will help you drastically cut costs, whether the deals come up a year ahead of time, or a few months out from the conference. Sometimes you’ll even be able to score bonuses for signing up early, like attendance at exclusive conference events, or early access to the exclusive Facebook group or Slack group for attendees.
Plus, conferences usually turn to their email list to ask for volunteers first, and volunteering is the best way to frugal-ize your attendance if ticket prices are steep. Trust me, if you consider how pricey the tickets can get for conferences, you’ll never be that well paid for a morning of handing out conference badges. As a sweet bonus, you’ll make great connections with other volunteers while you’re at it.
Getting the best prices on travel and accommodations
The same advice applies just as much to travel: The earlier you start to research and plan, the cheaper it’ll be. Start looking into hotel and flight rates now, and keep an eye on them for a few weeks. Once you get familiar with the regular prices, you’ll be in a better position to identify a good deal when you see it.
And speaking of hotels, while there’s a lot of perks to staying at the official conference hotel (running into speakers in the elevator, anyone?) it usually comes at a corresponding premium. A walkable AirBnB might save you a ton of cash, especially if you book early to snag the best place nearby.
Connecting with other attendees can seriously help your budget
Once you’re committed to going, check out the event hashtag on Twitter, or join the event group on Facebook or on Slack. This will help you find and connect with other people who will be going – some of whom you might already know!
Connecting with people ahead of time will give you two big advantages. If they’ve gone before, they can give you advice on which costs are worth it, and which ones you might have looked over when budgeting for the conference.
If they seem awesome and normal, you might even find opportunities to save money by splitting a hotel room, or sharing a cab to the airport post-conference. Use your best judgement here, because that’s a big step, but in the right situation, you’ll save a ton of money and end up with a great new conference buddy.
Look around for savings outside of the conference
When you get to the city, one thing you definitely want to scope out is the food situation. If you can find a grocery store within walking distance, you’re pretty much set, and you’ve just saved your food budget from days on days of restaurant meals.
Plus, here’s a pro tip if you’re staying in a hotel: If there’s no mini-fridge in your room, you can call down to the front desk and ask for one. Since there are so many medical reasons you might need one (everything from “my meds need to stay cold” to “I’m breastfeeding”) they almost always provide one free of charge – and they won’t ask you why you need it.
Once it’s in your room, feel free to stock it with the same low-cost groceries you’d scarf at home.
Takeaway
Whether work is ponying up for some (or all!) of the costs for you to attend or you’re footing the bill yourself, a bit of planning goes a long way towards keeping your conference costs down.
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