Attending and/or speaking at conferences and events can be a wonderful opportunity to learn, work on skills you may not use every day at Buffer, and give back to a community.
When you do decide to attend a conference, please mark in Timetastic the days you will be away from normal day-to-day work.
If you’re interested in attending a conference, please chat with your lead / manager first. Together you can decide if the conference feels like something Buffer can help support as far as taking time off to attend and covering travel expenses.
For conference tickets, travel, lodging, and food, we encourage you to consider using your Growth Mindset Fund .
If it’s a conference that feels essential to your role, and/or Buffer attending provides the company significant value, we may choose to budget some additional funds for this as needed. Examples from past years include Mobile Engineers attending Apple’s WWDC, and senior Engineering leads attending Facebook’s F8. Conferences that fall into this category change over time depending on budget, our strategic initiatives, and our partnership efforts, so please speak with your lead if you think a conference or event falls into this category.
If you've been asked to speak at a conference on behalf of Buffer, please ask conference organizers what they can cover as far as expenses. (Example script: "Thanks so much for thinking of me and Buffer for this event! What are you able to cover as far as travel and lodging expenses and a speakers honorarium?")
Each event is different, but larger professionals conferences put on by companies have a budget and are likely able to pay speakers, or at least cover all travel costs. Small local conference or those run by non-profits might be looked at from a different perspective.
As part of her communications role, Hailley works with many event planners. Feel free to loop her in early in conversations about conference expenses; she is great at hopping in and can help advise during negotiations.
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