Before Finance Says No: The Five-Part Case for Your Rome Trip.

A growth lead asked in public this year: "How would I make the business case without sounding like I'm just asking for a free conference ticket?"

Most of the answers were some version of "networking is valuable", which is the sentence that gets a request declined. So here's a better answer: the memo itself, in five parts, with an excerpt of what it looks like filled in. This is the format the kit's Justification Memo uses, and the point of showing it is that you can judge whether it's useful before you request anything.

The memo, as an excerpt

1. Objective and targets. Recruit two partners able to reach [market] customers we don't currently serve, and renegotiate terms with [network] ahead of Q1. Targets: [company A, marketplace: listing and offer fit], [company B, network: market coverage and payout], [company C, network: terms].

2. Total budget. Pass [tier, price]. Flights [ ]. Accommodation, three nights [ ]. Local transport and incidentals [ ]. Days out of office: [ ]. Total: [ ].

3. Pass choice. [Tier], because it includes [the access the targets need]. A higher tier adds [x], which this plan doesn't require.

4. Meeting-request plan and dates. 2 to 5 November, Fiera Roma. Attending [days]. On pass purchase, when meeting access opens, request the three targets above plus [two backups]. Planning forecast: [total budget] ÷ [realistic number of qualified meetings] = [cost per qualified meeting, estimate]. Accepted requests form the itinerary.

5. Reporting commitment. One-slide summary within a week of return: requests sent, meetings held, partners in evaluation, terms changed, next steps and owners. Follow-up review at [date].

Read that as a finance person would. Nothing in it is "networking". Every line is either a fact about the event, a number you own, or a commitment you're making. Now, part by part.

Part 1. Objective and targets

Not "attend AGS". What you're going to do there, and with whom. The kit's first component, who you could meet and why they matter, is where the targets come from: confirmed companies by partner type, roles named where confirmed. Two contrasting examples of what a target looks like. ClickBank and Digistore are marketplaces; a target there reads "listing requirements and offer fit". MaxWeb and TerraLeads are networks that run consumer offers to their own traffic and partners; a target there reads "market coverage, payout expectations, launch requirements". Write the objective in terms of what each conversation would establish, not what it would close. A logo on the list is a target to request, not a meeting already booked.

Part 2. Total budget

The ticket is the part everyone prices. The trip is what finance approves. The Best Value for Money Guide's budget section lists every line: pass, flights, accommodation, transport, incidentals, and the days out of the office, which your manager will count even if the memo doesn't. Put the real numbers in. A memo with a full budget is harder to argue with than one with a suspiciously small one.

Part 3. Pass choice, and why

Every pass gets the welcome reception, the floor, all sessions and the Match App. Higher tiers add things. The guide's inclusion table says exactly what each tier includes and under what conditions, so this part is one sentence: this tier, because it includes the access the targets need, and the next tier up adds things this plan doesn't use. Saying what you don't need is the most credible line in the memo.

Part 4. Meeting-request plan and dates

This is the part that was wrong in most requests you've seen, including some you've written. The meeting count in a memo is a planning target, made before access opens and before anyone accepts. It is not a list of meetings the kit supplies. So write it as a plan: on pass purchase, when meeting access opens, request these targets and these backups; accepted requests form the itinerary.

Cost per meeting belongs here as a forecast, labelled as one: total budget divided by a realistic number of qualified meetings. A growth lead described presenting exactly this to a CEO as "the cost per meaningful connection" and said it "makes for a much different picture." It does, as long as the forecast is honest and the actuals get reported afterwards. Compare it with what the same money buys elsewhere using your own numbers, not somebody's reply-rate statistic.

Part 5. What you'll report back, and when

The strongest line in the memo, and the one most people leave out. A one-slide summary within a week: requests sent, meetings held, partners in evaluation, terms changed, next steps with owners. And a date for the follow-up review. This is the line that makes the trip accountable, and accountable is the only thing finance is actually asking for. A growth lead wrote that pre-event outreach is "the only thing that leadership actually understands, since you can point to meetings booked not just conversations had." Part 5 is where you commit to pointing.

What's filled in, and what isn't

The kit's Justification Memo arrives with the event facts already in it: dates, venue, the confirmed roster by partner type, the tier comparison with prices, the budget structure. You add your targets, your actual travel costs, your objectives and assumptions, and your reporting commitment. It's ready to customise, not to forward untouched, because the case has to be yours to survive the first question.

The Best Value for Money Guide is where the tier comparison and the budgeting method come from; the memo packages that reasoning for approval. One request delivers both, with the rest of the kit.

Get the kit, customise the assumptions, and send a considered proposal. Nobody can promise the answer. A memo in this shape gets the right question asked.