Planning professional learning events
Professional learning events require a programme suited to participants, a workable budget, accessible arrangements and promotion that reaches the intended audience.
Purpose and programme selection
Chapter events can provide tangible member benefits and income, but compete with professional and personal demands on members' time. Planning can be organised around conversations, convenience and connections: relevant topics, accessible participation and promotion.
Professional conversations, national conference sessions and journal debates can identify topics for local events. In 2006, AMWA's Greater Chicago Area Chapter successfully reused a popular national presentation about changes to the AMA Manual of Style and hosted a well-attended debate about scientific versus nonscientific backgrounds in medical writing. Continuing education can interest members across disciplines; a local panel on it prompted active questions and discussion. Offering varied topics over time may serve diverse members better than seeking one topic that interests everyone.
A conference can provide time away from simultaneous projects to reflect on the profession's direction. AMWA's 2008 “Setting the Pace” and 2009 “Blazing the Trail” themes linked the host cities' histories with considering where the profession was, where it wanted to be and how to get there. The 2008 committee invited ideas for open sessions, breakfast roundtables and coffee-and-dessert discussions, and invited prospective leaders, speakers and presenters to contact it or an officer. Coordinators were named for each session type, and the conference coordinator offered to forward ideas to the appropriate person. The poster call widened participation to empirical research of interest to members as well as medical writing, with abstracts due on March 5 for the October 2008 conference and accepted abstracts to appear in the September journal.
Workshop selection depends on the curriculum offered and instructors' availability, popularity and range of teaching. Peer recommendations, instructor evaluations and teaching awards can inform selection; some instructors teach only one or two workshops. Avoiding duplication across chapters and previous years can help members completing certificates, while a balance across disciplines can serve more learners. General workshops usually fill quickly; advanced workshops have a smaller eligible pool, though a scarce advanced offering can attract travelling members. In the 2007 AMWA programme, a two-advanced-workshop limit at the national conference made chapter offerings another opportunity for advanced-certificate participants.
Budget, accreditation and scheduling
The inaugural European Health Innovation Collaborative (EuHIC) conference in September 2016 was organised by a medical communications company to provide affordable expert updates, research presentations and networking across health areas without an industry sponsor, with aims to enhance the company's profile and cover costs. Its multidisciplinary purpose responded to increasingly specialised meetings and separation between pharmaceutical, medical-device and digital-health communities despite multidisciplinary patient care and a growing patient voice.
Discussions with practising doctors in the UK and abroad suggested that interaction with delegates mattered as much as current, interesting content. Potential participants wanted brief presentations in varied formats with a European perspective, contact with scientists and innovators, limited travel and time away from patients, and continuing professional development (CPD) credits. A survey of healthcare professionals found that around 40% of delegates had had a poor meeting experience, health professionals preferred events lasting no more than two days including travel, and 75% wanted greater input into the agenda.
EuHIC chose a one-day meeting with a welcome evening beforehand and networking afterwards. Comparable European events charged £225–700 (€260–800) for a day, depending on booking time; EuHIC set trainee registration at £140 (€160) and full registration at £195 (€225), and estimated a £20,000 (€23,000) budget based on 100 delegates. The budget also depended on attracting up to twelve industry supporters with stands costing £500–850 (€575–975). Eventbrite handled bank-transfer and credit-card bookings for delegates and exhibitors, charging a reported 5–7% administration fee in 2016. Speakers received no payment for their time but had travel, accommodation and social participation funded; some sought first-class travel and dinner expenses despite registering for catered events.
The primary target audience was medical trainees, new hospital consultants, academics and general practitioners across Europe. The Royal College of Physicians awarded seven CPD points, but requiring the final programme before application delayed effective promotion. Scientists and innovators from pharmaceutical, medical-device and digital-health organisations mainly participated as presenters and exhibitors.
The September 21–22 dates avoided much of the medical-meeting calendar and allowed preparation time, but put peak advertising in the July–August holiday period. Low registrations and the UK's vote to leave the European Union prompted consideration of cancellation before bookings rose early in September; trainees said they had needed their timetables before booking.
The planning diary recorded these activities in sequence:
| Period | Activities |
|---|---|
| 2015 | Agree core topics and cross-cutting themes. |
| December 2015 | Commission branding and logo design. |
| 2016 | Locate and book the venue. |
| January | Purchase the domain; design a save-the-date flyer. |
| February | Begin website design and content, continuing to September; distribute the flyer; secure the chair; begin approaching presenters and exhibitors, continuing through May. |
| March | Set up registration and payment; book refreshments and social entertainment; approach speakers from Germany, the US and Ireland. |
| April | Start direct emailing; visit the venue. |
| May | Register with the Royal College of Physicians for accreditation; send promotional material to postgraduate deans and other gatekeepers. |
| June | Set up mass emailing through Doctors.net; continue direct emailing; submit the CPD application; book accommodation and travel. |
| July | Start the Twitter campaign; publish the BMJ advertisement; update the website; compile speaker biographies and presentations; distribute the conference flyer; receive seven CPD points. |
| August | Repeat mass emailing; complete the programme; compile evaluation forms, attendance certificates and badges; increase Twitter activity; refresh the website with abstracts and biographies. |
| September | Finalise documentation and print the handbook; update the delegate list and confirm refreshments; send final instructions to delegates, speakers and exhibitors. |
Venue, access and support
Convenient highway or public-transport access helps attendance, though an unusual venue may outweigh extra travel, particularly when events rotate across a chapter's geographic area. A setting suited to learning, free food or parking, affordable nearby hotels and free airport or venue shuttles can reduce attendance costs. Event information and registration should be easy to obtain and complete.
EuHIC chose Imperial College London's medical school for technical facilities, a link to the conference's theme and access to potential delegates in nearby hospitals and universities. A lecture theatre and three adjacent rooms, catering, equipment and a technician cost approximately £7,500 for 100 delegates. Another event booked alongside it caused registration confusion and clashes during breaks, a storage room was double-booked for a tutorial, and visiting schoolchildren added disruption. A 2009 chapter-conference example similarly shared a hotel with a large fan convention and a volleyball tournament, filling the lobby with other attendees.
AMWA's 2008 Louisville conference promoted a riverfront hotel with a theatre across the street, an orchestra, concert hall and historic steamboat a block away, an entertainment area three blocks away and a bat museum four blocks away. Its announcement combined professional reasons for attending with visitor information about the city.
Nearly 40% of AMWA's 2007 annual-conference attendees were first-timers. Its 2008 Conference Coach Connection paired newcomers with experienced members who could answer questions and introduce them to others. Under the 2008 scheme, coaches were to volunteer through a registration checkbox, receive two newcomers' names and email addresses about a month beforehand, and send an introductory email arranging to meet. Their only obligation was the forty-five-minute meeting on the evening before the first full conference day, where they were to answer questions and make introductions.
Promotion and response
Connected channels can reach members and others: member email, specialty-specific messages, wider conference announcements, a website calendar linked to details, and photographs or summaries of earlier events. Personal invitations, reminder postcards, announcements and flyers at existing events can supplement these. Press releases, local educators and cross-promotion with writing and editing organisations can reach beyond members.
EuHIC created its logo, website and electronic and paper save-the-date cards with its in-house digital team and regular designer. An early mass email preceded speaker confirmation and CPD approval, so limited website content and presentation may have discouraged visitors; the site later became the central repository for conference documentation. Mailchimp tracked opens and clicks for emails to the company's own database and professional contacts; outreach was restricted to people likely to be interested in the meeting, mindful of data-protection obligations. Those direct emails achieved a 20% open rate and 3% click rate.
Two Doctors.net.uk mailings to around 60,000 UK doctors cost £2,500 (€2,900). The first had 20,000 opens (32.75%) and 338 website clicks (0.54%), but no registrations; an incomplete programme and unconfirmed accreditation were considered likely contributors. The reminder achieved similar open and click rates and a small number of registrations. A quarter-page colour BMJ advertisement cost £3,000 and appeared six to eight weeks beforehand; it and listings on the journal's and Royal College of Physicians' websites were judged to have limited direct benefit.
Flyers went to postgraduate deans and educational centres at England's thirteen Local Education and Training Boards, as well as speakers, associates and clients. The team also found email addresses of postgraduate-education contacts itself rather than buying lists, to save costs. EuHIC initially lacked Facebook, Twitter and YouTube profiles; Twitter and LinkedIn promotion began in the months beforehand, but one delegate expected more social activity. The team had found that building a meaningful following takes time and effort. The British Chamber of Commerce in Germany promoted through European networks, other organisations used reciprocal arrangements, and faculty and academic contacts promoted locally in exchange for free trainee and researcher places. Face-to-face promotion and colleague recommendations accounted for 50% of registrations; team members introduced the event in conversations and email exchanges and presented it at London hospital grand rounds.
Programme complexity and attendance
EuHIC selected topics from the medical press and approached known speakers interested in research and teaching. Early agreement from its conference president gave the event authority and helped attract speakers. Speakers were asked to concentrate on learning outcomes in ten to twelve minutes without unnecessary detail; most achieved this, though one exceeded twenty minutes. Compressed teaching can require changes to delivery and assessment and is demanding for learners. Sixteen sessions across four rooms, delivered by sixty-three clinicians, scientists and industry representatives, created substantial logistical demands.
Parallel slots combined specialist and broader topics, but delegates criticised clashes between primary care and emergency medicine, and between gastroenterology/hepatology and diabetes. Many wanted a different order, without agreement on what it should be. Attendance also contradicted predictions: primary care drew more people than cardiology with interventional-procedure videos.
EuHIC received 175 registrations and around 120 attendees, mostly from the UK with some from Germany, Ireland and Finland. Many absent registrants were trainees and university staff with free places for people without funding. Travel and clinical commitments caused late arrivals and early departures, leaving the 09:30 oncology symposium poorly attended; the organisers planned to put key presentations in the middle of the day subsequently. A wrong presentation title remained in the handbook despite repeated checks.
Among evaluation respondents, 34/39 (87%) rated organisation good or excellent and 37/40 (93%) rated the programme similarly. Similar numbers valued engagement across healthcare areas and meeting people they would not normally encounter at conferences; 34/36 agreed or strongly agreed that they would like to attend a similar future event, reported as 93%. The day had no technical problems, and nine exhibitors reported worthwhile participation, enough visitors and genuine interest. A rooftop barbecue beforehand and a reception in the college president's house and garden afterwards supported informal networking. The team gained accreditation and event-management experience, reusable material and academic and commercial connections, while feedback suggested improved visibility and goodwill. Medical writers on the team became more confident across tasks, possibly because of their problem-solving skills, and delegates and companies expressed interest in the next year.
Paid registrations did not cover expenditure, some costs exceeded expectations, and the organisers anticipated a significant loss, possibly around £10,000 (€11,500), before final reconciliation. They judged the programme overambitious and believed fewer speakers, a less packed schedule and more targeted promotion could have achieved similar impact. They considered an unfamiliar multidisciplinary meeting from an unknown, unaffiliated organiser a likely barrier in a crowded market; one GP received up to ten meeting invitations daily, many free. They nevertheless intended to run a 2017 event in Berlin.
The organisers' planning lessons were:
- Planning and running a conference is stressful and hard work, especially for newcomers.
- Costs are likely to exceed expectations; find a co-sponsor.
- Start twelve months ahead; send save-the-date cards at nine months and regular updates afterwards.
- CPD points attract doctors and lend credibility and authority to the programme.
- Obtain CPD approval before the main promotion campaign; have the programme and presenters ready early.
- Medical meetings compete in a crowded market; the event must stand out.
- Avoid an overly broad programme and limit social events because delegates' time is limited.
- Charge even a nominal fee because attendees are more likely to value an event they have paid for.
- Expect mistakes, including in the handbook.
- Contact delegates individually and make them feel welcome.
- Expect the unexpected and keep smiling.
Programme review and revisions
Post-event feedback supplied most ideas for EMWA's 2016 webinar programme, with surveys after conferences and webinars and possible room for one or two additions even after the schedule was largely set. Closing surveys were also used to shape future events in 2023 and 2024; in January 2024 the moderator said all feedback was read.
AMWA's 2012 programme enhancements responded to member and attendee feedback, with successive administrators building on predecessors' knowledge. Workshop leaders' luncheons had combined thanks, networking and feedback to the workshop, education and annual-conference committees; the event was to return as a breakfast in 2012.
Feedback from the 2013 post-conference survey informed AMWA's 2014 programme. The committee sought specialist speakers beyond the association for three-and-a-half days of programming. It continued popular interactive formats and asked speakers to involve attendees, increased popular roundtables, and developed a webinar to help members prepare and lead them. Session lists by topic track were to help attendees see benefits and plan schedules, while newcomer and coach-connection events were being revised to help people navigate according to their interests.
Attendees' limited time away led many to leave on Friday or Saturday, while hotel room-block commitments helped keep costs and registration fees down. AMWA sought to balance these needs with a strong programme on every day and an advance schedule-at-a-glance. Members' wish for an opening general session prompted a Thursday-morning award lecture, with a second general award session closing Saturday afternoon. The Swanberg Award lecture moved from a paid Friday-evening dinner to a free Friday lunch so every attendee could hear it, adding networking, wider celebration of awards throughout the programme and a free evening. A closing networking reception returned and was to preview the following year, with host-city tours also planned. Hotel bookings were available by the spring preview, with the registration brochure due in early June and registration opening in early July.
AMWA's 2007 keynote used a moderated discussion between two medical-education leaders, and recordings and slides from it and two award lectures were made available afterwards.
Distributed participation and environmental cost
EMWA's first hybrid-conference plan, for November 2021, kept workshops virtual, with a London conference day livestreamed to local networking events under national COVID-19 rules. London was chosen to avoid international travel and test the format with UK head-office support; a creative team offered promotional support for local events. The September plan scheduled the conference day for November 4 and virtual workshops for November 6–20, with a graphic showing eight countries and five confirmed.
The conference had 390 attendees in total; twenty-five attended the opening day in London and sixty-four EMWA and non-EMWA members joined networking events in London, Zurich, Amsterdam, Warsaw and Potsdam. The opening day was streamed across Europe and beyond, and 182 volunteers organised conference sessions and activities beyond formal education. Thirty-eight leaders delivered twenty-nine online workshops, nineteen foundation and ten advanced. Attendee comments described feeling part of the community while meeting people locally and connecting to other hubs and online participants.
A conference-support system described in 1995 aimed to automate repetitive work, support participants and organisers, simplify communication, improve access to resources and speed information transfer, while helping people meet in person. Its designers considered personal contact and direct verbal exchange irreplaceable and expected in-person conferences to remain essential. EMWA continued virtual education and networking during 2020–21. The 1995 system covered:
- Invitations and calls for contributions.
- Submission and review of contributions.
- Registration and event preparation.
- The conference itself.
- Presentations.
- Scientific exchange and communication.
- Social and non-scientific matters.
- Post-event matters.
Face-to-face events offer benefits virtual ones cannot fully provide, so decarbonisation requires balancing direct interaction and environmental cost. By 2023 EMWA had ended paper conference handouts, encouraged sustainable volunteer travel through reimbursement policy and enabled hybrid participation in some face-to-face sessions. Plans included fully virtual autumn conferences from 2023, travel-mode data collection, validated carbon calculators and screening vendors and venues by footprint. Investment in digital infrastructure during the pandemic showed that medical congresses could adapt without travel, while the return to in-person meetings showed continuing demand for networking and knowledge exchange. Regional parallel sites with streamed plenaries across time zones could reduce long-haul flights, time and cost while preserving local face-to-face interaction, reaching new audiences and improving inclusion.