While continuing education is a critical component of most industries, in the medical field, it can be a matter of life or death. Medicine evolves at an astonishing rate: we hear about new advances, clinical trials, and unexpected challenges, like the recent COVID-19 pandemic, on a regular basis.
Managing all of this requires consistent and cutting-edge continuing education opportunities. The best continuing education programs are those that feature tools and solutions that can keep pace with the medical field. As we’ll explain, this has been a challenge to date; however, Attendee Interactive is making it possible to deliver those opportunities while also realizing an increase in your ROI as a host or CME event planner.
According to celebrated medical and higher education reformer, Abraham Flexner, “Medical education is not just a program for building knowledge and skills in its recipients… it is also an experience which creates attitudes and expectations.”
Currently, one of those expectations concerns the caliber of CME events offered by the best continuing education programs.
Before we introduce Attendee Interactive’s RX for CME event success, let’s start with a quick history of CME and how it became so integral to the medical profession.
A Brief History of CME in Consideration of Current Challenges
As outlined by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), prior to World War II, the CME system was in its infancy. However, it grew quickly during the late 1960s with the launch of a systems of accreditation of continuing education providers.”
Early CME included day-to-day operations and routines, like attending meetings and conferences, reading industry publications, and completing hospital rounds.
Fast forward to the current CME model and common options now include online education, podcasts, videos, various team training, and even simulation centers. This underscores a need for cutting-edge events management supported by the latest technology and that’s where CME encounters some issues.
Challenges Facing CME = Your Opportunity to Deliver and Boost Profits!
The following, as explained by the NAM, encapsulates the most concerning CME challenge:
“While continuing medical education (CME) that is focused on the dissemination and maintenance of medical knowledge and the development of skills plays a critical role in helping physicians keep up to date, the authors of this manuscript believe the structure and delivery of CME have not sufficiently evolved to be broadly viewed by health enterprise leaders as a strategic or integral asset to improving health care delivery.”
Bill Gates famously said,
“We’re changing the world with technology.”
While that is true, the speed required of these changes isn’t necessarily on pace with what industries like the medical profession require in order to actually improve upon its services or how it connects those services with those who need them.
The authors of “Systems-Integrated CME”: The Implementation and Outcomes Imperative for Continuing Medical Education in the Learning Health Care Enterprise conclude,
“Therefore, an evolution and a reconceptualization of the structure and function of CME are necessary to enable collaboration between leaders and improvement experts in health care enterprises and CME.”
Partnering with Attendee Interactive is an opportunity for CME planners to present the best continuing education programs on a cutting-edge platform with custom, proven solutions. Enhancing CME is possible by using the right tools to build beneficial events for all involved.
The effectiveness of continuing medical education for specialist recertification, published in the Canadian Urological Association Journal asserts that, “If developed appropriately, CME can offer the opportunity to fulfill many of the objectives of specialist recertification and revalidation.”
That development requires the right technology to deliver the requisite information and increase your ROI for planning and hosting CME events.
With the challenges facing current CME offerings, how can you deliver value while generating revenue opportunities from the best continuing education programs?
Value-Driven CME Events Designed to Generate Revenue
You know how to provide value to your CME attendees by sourcing strong speakers and keeping connected to all participants before, during, and after the event. The question is then, how can you position your CME event to generate more revenue?
Most CME revenue comes from the courses; however, given the time and effort you’ve committed to planning engaging activities and booking sought-after speakers, shouldn’t your CME bring in more for your bottom line?
Yes, it should and it can if your pursue this potential opportunities:
- Video is king — and for good reason. With video, you can drum up interest before your event, use livestreams to capture key moments during the event, and then offer the live-streamed content as downloads for purchase. In fact, 96% of event planners will use livestream at their events in 2022, and then generate additional revenue following the event by packaging recorded sessions, speeches, panels, and workshops into downloadable content for purchase. Think of it this way, w: Why would you only pay for an industry authority to give a speech when you could livestream it for those unable to attend and then offer the video of the experience as easily accessible content to download for a fee.?
- Podcasts can be profitable. Not unlike video, audio from the event can be repurposed into podcasts which attendees or those who were unable to attend can pay to access. By publishing this audio content on industry-specific podcasts, you can not only generate additional revenue, but also extend your reach to people who might be interested in attending any future CME events you host.
- Consider cloning your events! That sounds scarier than it is and certainly more complicated. Cloning an event is an easy way to copy and duplicate it, including any relevant features, in order to offer it again to a new audience. With the exception of dates and times, the event information remains the same and can be easily reused and introduced to more people in need of CME credits.
Check both boxes. Ensure that you offer compelling content on-demand that is also available to purchase as a download.
Attendee Interactive’s top of class CE solutions will exceed the expectations of those in attendance at your event while supporting your creative strategies for generating revenue at your CME event.
Check out a few key features of Attendee Interactive’s continuing education management capabilities:
- Fast claiming: Simply log onto the platform, click on your event, and manage CE credits, seamlessly.
- Customizable materials: Whether course- or session-specific [need noun here – maybe item?], event planners can create targeted evaluations.
- Personalized web portal: Event attendees are able to claim CE credits, access course materials, and even complete assessments via their personal web portal.
- Smooth sharing: Distributing content like learning activities, self -reflections, and enduring content is seamless and supports additional revenue streams for event managers.
Our team can’t overstate the time-saving potential of our solutions, so we’ll let one of our clients take it from here.
“I manage the logistics for a national conference, this year expecting 1000 attendees. This system is managing our call for proposals, continuing education, and evaluations. It has cut about 150 work hours out of my schedule, allowing me to streamline attention, customer service, and my own mental health. The system has both reinforced existing and expanded infrastructure, allowing us to grow our conference program and attendance.” — – Jeffrey W.A. Senior Program Coordinator, Education Management
Saving time might not be a revenue stream but it certainly can cut down on costs, relative to staffing, management, and organizational processes.
Between our event technology and revenue generating strategies, Attendee Interactive equips and empowers you with the tools to build the best continuing education programs and create revenue generating opportunities in the process.
