Pitching Your Boss: Attending New Orleans Entrepreneur Week After Your Mardi Gras Extravaganza
For many young professionals, dozens of Mardi Gras parades and parties have been scheduled into their calendars since early January. Perhaps even their bosses have the same dates marked as "Out of Office." But, in true New Orleans fashion, the city that’s always alive with unique parties and non-stop culture, after all the Mardi Gras mambo madness is over, there is another event to mark on your calendar: New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW) - pronounced noh-weee! - from March 11th to 16th, 2024. However, there’s one problem: it’s three weeks after the days off for Mardi Gras, and now you need to tell your boss that you want to attend. If this sounds like you—fear not! We have your back with a few fool-proof strategies on how to get your boss onboard with #NOEW2024!
Create Buzz in the Office
Start casually building some buzz in your office about NOEW with a quick elevator pitch! Mention how you’re interested in innovative business ventures, looking into entrepreneurship events, and searching for networking opportunities to help elevate your career.
An easy way for you to do this is to write 1-2 sentences about what NOEW is, mentioning the dates, who attends, and very strategically why it would be a valuable opportunity for you and others to take advantage of.
Here’s a draft to help you get started!
“Have y’all heard about New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW)? It’s one of the largest entrepreneurship gatherings in the city that centers conversations and networks around innovation and culture. There are going to be hundreds of top business leaders, industry experts, startup founders, and so many other professionals from across the region attending! It’s happening March 11th - 16th, 2024, just a few weeks away. We should consider attending!”
Mention that NOEW is a Free Professional Development Opportunity
After you have built up the hype in the office, it’s time to add a little more persuasiveness to your NOEW pitch. Begin by highlighting the professional development benefits of attending #NOEW2024 at no cost to the company – because NOEW is free to attend! You would gain insights into different topics such as Artificial Intelligence, Climate Tech, Health Innovation, and Startups, while also connecting and networking with diverse business leaders that could lead to business opportunities for the company and further advance your profession. Click here to learn more about the NOEW themes.
Mention Keynote Speakers and the Sessions You Are Interested In
After delivering your pitch, follow up with your boss via email and/or Slack, and link the #NOEW2024 schedule web page. Mention how keynote speakers like Edrizio De La Cruz, Robyn Bolton, Chris Meaux, and Arthur Soroken, and 100+ more who will be speaking as part of Innovation Day - presented by Entergy - on Wednesday, March 13th, 2024, at Gallier Hall.
Pro tip: think strategically about what kind of speakers you think your boss would be interested in hearing from and then pitch those names along with the above!
Asking your boss for more days away from the office to attend an event can be difficult to do – especially after the city-wide holiday of Mardi Gras – but New Orleans Entrepreneur Week is an event that you shouldn’t miss and would be valuable for your boss as well! Hopefully, they and other colleagues might just mark off their calendars to attend with you.
Who says you can’t balance work and play? After all, NOLA does it best! 🎷✨ We hope to see you at NOEW!
This piece was written by Valeria Ali, Strategic Marketing Associate, and Kristine Liang, Spring 2024 marketing and communications intern.