I will not need to convince my boss to grant the week off as he readily understands the value of the knowledge to be learned and shared amongst the teams and team members and empowers us to make such smart decisions ourselves. Unfortunately, the organization does not recognize the value and those coworkers who are going thus far have paid their Java One, lodging, and air fare entirely on their own. But they will have the week off! And if I win a full pass, I will book my flight and lodging and shall happily be amongst them so we can share the information and technologies we learn upon return.