Letter for Practitioners

Dear <...>:

I would like to attend the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) 2014 Annual Conference, May 15-17 in Honolulu, Hawaii. As you may know, with more than 6,000 members, SIOP is the world’s largest professional organization for industrial and organizational psychologists. The 29th SIOP Annual Conference is I-O psychology’s premier educational event, showcasing the latest in research, developing trends, and applied best practices all directly related to my ability to perform my job.

This year’s conference is expected to draw more than 3,000 attendees. Among the professional development opportunities will be sessions on using Big Data, the identification of high potential employees, leadership development, gaming and hi-fidelity assessments, and legal issues. There are also considerable opportunities for me to earn continuing education credits at the conference. Further, given the proximity of Hawaii to Asia, there will be greater attendance from Pacific-Rim I-O psychologists, which will allow me to network with contacts in this important region of the world.

In contrast to other professional conferences where registration fees in the neighborhood of $1,500 to $2,000 are typical, SIOP has successfully kept costs low. The conference registration fee is an incredibly reasonable $175 if I register by February 19, 2014. Hotel room rates are also in line with conferences in other major U.S. cities like New York and San Francisco. Registering early will also help me secure the best flight options, which will help keep my expenses down. This 3-day event brings together so many educational and business networking opportunities in one place, and it is more cost-effective and time-efficient than participating in multiple conferences or webinars.

The opportunity for me to keep up to date on current trends and research in the field, network with colleagues to benchmark and learn more about best practices other organizations are applying, and to develop a better connection with colleagues in the Asia-Pacific region makes my attendance at the 2014 SIOP conference a wise investment. Please consider my request to attend this conference. I’ll be glad to provide any additional information that you need in order to make a decision.

Sincerely,

name

Letter for Academics

Dear <...>:

I would like to attend the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) 2014 Annual Conference, May 15-17 in Honolulu, Hawaii. As you may know, at more than 6,000 members, SIOP is the world’s largest professional organization for industrial and organizational psychologists. The SIOP Annual Conference is I-O psychology’s premier educational event, and one of the only conferences in the world that brings together a mix of the very best academic researchers in the organizational sciences with leading practitioners from industry, government, and consulting firms.

This year’s conference is expected to draw more than 3,000 attendees. There will be a full three days of workshops and presentations on cutting edge research and methodological issues that will help drive my own research and teaching forward. And due to the unique mix of attendees in academic and practice roles, SIOP provides me with an invaluable opportunity to network with I-O psychologists in the workplace, helping me to identify emerging practice issues that can be developed into new research questions.

In contrast to other professional conferences where registration fees in the neighborhood of $600-1,000 are typical, SIOP has worked to keep costs low. The conference registration fee is an incredibly reasonable $175 if I register by February 19. Hotel room rates are also in line with conferences in other major U.S. cities like New York and San Francisco. Registering early will also help me secure the best flight options, which will help keep costs down. Because this 3-day event brings together so many educational and business networking opportunities in one place, it is more cost-effective and time-efficient than participating in multiple conferences or webinars.

The opportunity for me to keep up to date on current research and to develop better international contacts makes my attendance at the 2014 SIOP conference a wise investment. Please consider my request to attend this conference. I’ll be glad to provide any additional information that you need in order to make a sound decision.

Sincerely,

name