This informal CPD article ‘How To Organise a Successful Educational Event For Healthcare Professionals: 10 Top Tips’ was provided by Iceberg Medical, a boutique medical communications agency that specialises in mid-sized Rare Disease companies.
Delivering a successful educational meeting for healthcare professionals (HCPs) can be challenging. To make things easier, we’ve put together our 10 top tips. These practical tips will help you plan an event that’s relevant, engaging, and worth attending.
1. Develop an interesting agenda
The key to a successful educational event? An agenda that delivers value to its healthcare professional (HCP) audience.
Think about who you will be inviting to the meeting and research the disease area. What are some of the hot topics or areas of debate? Ask some healthcare professionals (HCPs) what topics would encourage them to join. This information will allow you to design an engaging agenda. Once you have your topics, plan your agenda timings carefully. For optimal engagement, allow a mix of presentation and discussion time.
2. Choose presenters carefully
High-quality presenters will help you deliver a successful event. Select speakers who are credible experts in their field and strong presenters. If possible, choose people whom you have seen presenting. Remember, not all experts are good presenters.
3. Select the best format or venue
A successful HCP event can be held face-to-face or virtually. It’s important to consider what works best for your specific audience. Longer meetings where there are a series of workshops are best held in person. Shorter virtual meetings with more presentations and less discussion can be effective.
4. Make the meeting innovative
HCPs attend a lot of educational meetings. Consider how yours can stand out and be unique. This might encourage HCPs to make the time to join. Think about the topic, venue (keeping compliance rules in mind) and format. Could you organise an interesting panel discussion? Could an expert debate interest your audience?
5. Think about the timing
Consider when your HCP audience is most available to maximise attendance. Sometimes evenings or a Saturday can work well. If people can get study leave, then they may be able to join during the working week. When planning your event avoid date clashes with other educational events.
6. Plan your invitations
How are you going to select the right HCPs to join? How will you ensure your invitation reaches the right person? How will you ensure it gets read?
An invitation delivered in person is more likely to be successful. If face-to-face delivery isn’t possible, share your invite through relevant professional channels your audience frequently uses.
7. Get the content right
How many presentations have you seen let down by poor slide content?
Successful educational meetings require engaging content. Slides should have minimal content, contain the most important key points and be easy to read. Ask yourself if the audience needs to see all the detail. Can the key takeaways be verbalised and detailed information requested afterwards? Detailed information is unlikely to be remembered. Hearing different opinions on the best clinical practice can be more valuable.
8. Pay attention to the details
Successful HCP meetings can be challenging to plan. It’s important to stay organised and pay attention to details. Tools such as materials checklists can help. Speaker briefing calls are key. They help speakers grasp the requirements and know which topic to discuss. Make sure that the level of detail and the approximate number of slides required is agreed in advance.
9. Consider agency support
Considering time, effort, and budget required, it’s worth thinking about whether an agency can assist with planning and running the meeting. A good agency will provide an experienced dedicated team. They can remove a lot of the stress and worry.
10. Apply for CPD certification
Apply for CPD certification for your content to demonstrate that it is credible and professionally recognised. This shows that the education you provide meets learning standards. HCPs can add the certified content to their personal CPD folder, which may help them get study leave permission more easily.
Planning a healthcare educational meeting isn’t always easy—but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With the right approach, you can deliver an event that’s informative, well-structured, and valuable for your HCP audience.
We hope this article was helpful. For more information from Iceberg Medical, please visit their CPD Member Directory page. Alternatively, you can go to the CPD Industry Hubs for more articles, courses and events relevant to your Continuing Professional Development requirements.
