How to convince your boss to send you to the Community-Led Marketing Summit
Learn how to convince your boss to approve your attendance at the Community-Led Marketing Summit 2026.
So you want to attend the Community-Led Marketing Summit in St. John’s . . . but you’re not sure your boss will be on board.
Totally fair! Conferences cost money, take you out of the office, and your manager needs to know it’s worth the investment.
The good news? With the right framing, this is a pretty easy case to make. Here’s how to position it so your boss sees it as a strategic opportunity – not as a day off.
What’s the Community-Led Marketing Summit?
The Community-Led Marketing Summit brings 300 marketers together in St. John’s to explore what it really looks like to build marketing around relationships, not reach.
Through practical talks and interactive workshops, you’ll learn how to create marketing that invites participation instead of passive consumption.
Attending is an excellent opportunity for professional growth and brings valuable knowledge to your team.
How to position this to your boss
When you ask to attend, your goal isn’t to explain why you want to go. It’s to connect the summit directly to the outcomes your team already cares about.
Here’s how to frame it:
Tie it to current team goals
Start by anchoring your request in existing priorities. For example, if your team is focused on:
- Increasing engagement
- Improving retention
- Building stronger customer relationships
Then community-led marketing directly supports that work.
The summit focuses on how to move from one-way broadcasting to participation and relationship-driven growth – exactly the areas most teams are trying to improve right now.
Emphasize practical, immediate takeaways
Your boss doesn’t need another event that’s “interesting.” They need something that’s useful.
The summit is structured to make that clear:
- Workshops are built around real scenarios, not theory
- Speakers share what’s working based on actual implementation
- Sessions are designed to leave you with ideas you can test right away
This helps position the event as professional development with immediate ROI, not just a learning experience.
Highlight the speaker lineup
Credibility matters when budgets are involved.
The summit features a mix of experienced community practitioners and teams actively building community-led strategies – including companies like Bluesky and Sheerr Weather – which means the insights shared are grounded in real experiments, real wins, and real mistakes.
Show the value of the network
One of the biggest benefits of attending an event like this is the room itself.
With 300 marketers in one place, not only are you learning from speakers, but you’re also learning from peers who are facing the same challenges your team is dealing with right now.
That creates opportunities to:
- Compare approaches
- Learn what’s working (and what isn’t) across industries
- Build relationships you can continue learning from long after the summit ends
For a topic like community-led marketing, these peer conversations are often just as valuable as the sessions themselves.
Reinforce the efficiency of the investment
Because the summit is a one-day event, it’s a focused and manageable time commitment. You’re gaining exposure to a wide range of ideas, speakers, and conversations without being away from work for multiple days.
From a manager’s perspective, that makes the cost-to-learning ratio much easier to justify.
Be clear about what you’ll bring back
One of the easiest ways to get a “yes” is to show that the value doesn’t stop with you.
Offer to:
- Share a written summary of key insights
- Present recommendations tailored to your team’s goals
- Identify a shortlist of ideas you can test in the next quarter
This turns your attendance into a team resource rather than an individual opportunity.
Make the decision as easy as possible
Your boss is more likely to approve the request if they don’t have to chase down details.
Include:
- A clear cost breakdown
- Travel information (if applicable)
- A short explanation of how the learnings will be applied
The fewer unknowns there are, the faster the decision tends to happen.
Consider attending together
If it makes sense, you can also suggest that your manager or a teammate attend with you.
Sharing the experience creates an aligned context, which makes it easier to turn ideas into action once you’re back at work.
Plus, it shows that you’re thinking about team impact, not just your own development.
Email template
If you’d rather not start from scratch, you can use this as a starting point:
Hi [Manager’s Name],
I wanted to ask for your approval to attend the Community-Led Marketing Summit in St. John’s on June 18, 2026. It’s a one-day event focused specifically on how marketing teams are using community to drive engagement, retention, and long-term growth.
The summit will bring together around 300 marketers and include practical talks, interactive workshops, and panel discussions led by teams actively building community-led strategies. The focus is on real-world applications, not theory, which means I’d be able to bring back ideas we could start testing right away.
I believe this would directly support our current goals around:
- [insert team goal, e.g., increasing engagement]
- [insert team goal, e.g., strengthening customer relationships]
- [insert team goal, e.g., improving retention]
If I attend, I’ll share a summary of key takeaways with the team and outline a shortlist of recommendations we could apply to our own strategy. I’m also happy to present a short recap so everyone benefits from what I learn.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
- Event: Community-Led Marketing Summit
- Location: St. John’s
- Date: [insert date]
- Cost: [pass + travel if applicable]
Please let me know if you’d like more details or if you’d like me to explore bursary options as well. I really believe this would be a valuable opportunity to bring back practical insights for our team.
Thanks for considering this!
[Your Name]
FAQs
Where and when is the Community-Led Marketing Summit 2026 taking place?
The summit will be held at the St. John’s Convention Centre in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, on June 18, 2026.
Who should attend the Community-Led Marketing Summit?
The summit is designed for:
- Social media managers
- Community managers
- Marketing leaders
- And anyone responsible for audience growth, engagement, or retention
If your role involves building relationships with customers or managing an online community, you’ll find the sessions highly relevant
Who is speaking at the Community-Led Marketing Summit 2026?
Our lineup includes community, marketing, and industry leaders such as:
- Joe Teo, HeyOrca
- Linda Lebrun, Bluesky
- Christina Garnett, HeyOrca
- Eddie Sheerr, Sheerr Weather
- Krystal Hobbs, Reflective Marketing
- Sennah Yee, Crowdriff
- Melissa Pike, Paradise Brand Club
- Dylan Bridger, Dylan Bridger Email Marketing
- Scottie MacDonald, Vish
- Tori Anderson, Vish
- Sheldon Payne, Newfound Marketing
- Adam Puddicombe, The Idea Factory
- Amy Fisher, Aera
- Jesse Luimes, HeyOrca
- Iliyana Shoushounova, HeyOrca
- Lysle Hood, HeyOrca
- Jessica Lui, HeyOrca
- Stephanie Crombie, HeyOrca
- And many more!
Can I get approval even if my team has a limited training budget?
Yes. Many attendees secure approval by positioning the summit as a way to bring back actionable insights for the entire team. Highlighting the one-day format, practical sessions, and your plan to share learnings can make the investment easier to justify.
How much does it cost to attend?
Pass pricing varies depending on availability and timing. You’ll also want to factor in travel and accommodation if you’re coming from outside St. John’s. If cost is a concern, a limited number of bursary passes are available.
Ready to make the ask?
Attending an event like the Community-Led Marketing Summit isn’t just about getting out of the office for a day. It’s about gaining exposure to new ideas, learning from teams actively building community-led strategies, and bringing those insights back to strengthen your own marketing efforts.
If your team is trying to move beyond one-way campaigns and build deeper relationships with your audience, this summit is built for exactly that kind of work.
Use the template above to start the conversation with your manager, tailor it to your team’s goals, and make a clear case for how the experience will benefit not just you, but your entire organization.
And if cost is the main barrier, don’t forget to look into the available bursary passes.
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