Conferences

Apply for a conference

Finances

Example Conference Costs 2022

Domestic Conference (Queenstown)

• Poster printing A0: $42
• Accommodation x4 nights: $920
• Conference registration: $195
• Conference dinner: $75
• Return flights to Queenstown (seat only): $250
• Food: $120
• Uber/public transport fare: $50

TOTAL = $1652

Getting to the conference

Set aside an hour or two to complete the administrative tasks required for travel to the conference. If you’re booking flights and accommodation, try to book sooner rather than later. The prices will go up as the date gets closer.

Flights

1. 1. Go to the staff intranet: staff.auckland.ac.nz. Type ‘orbit’ into the search bar and press search.
      • Click on the first Q&A to get to the orbit travel page (top picture).
      • On the orbit travel page, click on the link to the ‘Orbit Travel Portal’
   2. In the Orbit Travel Portal on the sidebar, click on ‘Orbit online.’ Then click the green button ‘Open orbit online’ (pictured 2nd from top).
      • Click to ‘accept’ the pop-up conditions. Then on the sidebar click ‘Bookings’ and ‘Create New Booking’ (pictured 3rd from top).
   3. Enter your travel destination and dates. At the bottom of the page click on the orange button ‘Continue to Itinerary’ (pictured 4th from top).
      • Scroll through the available flights to choose the best option. You can change the date of the flight to see more options.
      • Once you have found the flight you want, click on it and then click the orange ‘OK’ button in the lower right corner. You can book accommodation now or click the rubbish bin button to remove accommodation. The same process applies for rental cars.
      • Choose your return flight and click the orange ‘OK’ button (same as step 8). Click ‘Express Checkout’ button at the bottom of the page to create your itinerary.
   4. Read through the terms and conditions to accept and finish booking.
   5. An Orbit Booking Number- Documentation for Itinerary will be emailed to you. Download and save the attached PDF. Click on the link in the email ‘Travel Purchase Order Request Form’ to request a new purchase order.
   6. Fill out your details in the purchase order form.
      • If you are using your PReSS account to pay for travel, enter your UPI into the ‘Project Code’ box. You can leave the internal UOA code blank.
      • If you are using a scholarship or research grant to pay for travel, enter the ‘Department code’ and ‘Project code.’  Department code refers to the cost centre for your school/department at FMHS (e.g. 2660). You may need to ask your supervisor for the project code if they are paying using their research grant. If the scholarship is yours, you should have received a code on receipt of the scholarship.
   7. Upload the PDF you saved from Orbit and submit your purchase order request. The Shared Transaction Centre (STC) will send you confirmation that they have received your purchase order.
   8. When your purchase order has been approved, STC will email you: ‘University of Auckland purchase order dispatched to House of Travel’. When Orbit has confirmed your itinerary with your purchase order, they will email you with the booked itinerary.

Accommodation

You can book accommodation using Orbit- the process is the same as for booking flights (see section 2.1, page 4). When booking accommodation, check:

• How far is the accommodation from the conference venue?
• How will I travel from the accommodation to the conference venue? How will I travel from the airport to the conference venue or accommodation?
• Does the conference have preferred accommodation? (Sometimes you can get the accommodation at a cheaper price if you indicate you are going to the conference.)

As with flights, the later you leave it to book the more expensive the accommodation will be.

The above method allows you to prepay using University-managed money. You could also pre-pay with the University’s pCard, or you could pay out of your own pocket, and get reimbursed from your PReSS account via Concur. Please refer to our document on Finances for more information on how to use these (coming soon!).

International Conference Considerations