5 other tips for organizing a support care conference

Earlier this week, I shared five tips to help you maintain the proper functioning of your next health care conference or support care. The post was originally intended to be one of the first 10, but as I bring it together, I realized that I had much more to share with you than I thought for the first time!

So here is … five more The ways to make sure that your next support care event is going well. Appreciate!

COFFEE!

If you are like me, it should be a fact – we cannot work without our caffeine. Not only should there be be coffee, there should be enough coffee. The exit is inexcusable. Although you can be at the mercy of the place for this, make sure they know what you think in advance.

Coffee should also be where people can get it. Put the coffee in a separate room is only agree If the public can get there without disturbing the presentation. If the doors are creaky, put the coffee makers at the back of the room. Do you really want to amaze them? Keep the pots full on each table.

I know it seems crazy, but a year was called on our assessments by a lot people. Seriously… coffee!

In this same light, mid-wave are always moments when people need a boost. Water and soft drinks and perhaps a light snack would maintain energy. This is an expense, but it is worth it to make the public more receptive to speakers after lunch.

Enough time for breaks and networking

When you plan your program, you will be tempted to pile up as much as possible. You spend a lot of time (and money) to collect people, and you want them to learn as much as they can. However, one of the main principles of support care is personal care, so not to be fashionable!

Give time between the presentations to allow the public to ask questions to the speaker and network with each other. At the OSF, we have teams from all against Illinois and Michigan, some of whom can never be seen. There is many more learning in progress than just when your speakers speak, believe me. That said, do not take the breaks so long that people wander and lose the concentration, but give them time to say hello and network a little.

Lunch

If lunch is buffet style, make sure there are enough lines and enough time for everyone to go and have time to eat. The served lunches can actually be more problematic, because people tend to wander late and / or start from lunch early. If you follow this path, make sure the public knows how it works. Hungry listeners are not happy listeners.

You may want to offer a kind of activity for lunch – presentation, notes, discussions, etc. In OSF, we learned that lunch time should be downtime. Let your participants recharge their body with good food and their brain with a good conversation. If you want to do something, make it light and entertaining. Just like breaks, don’t be tempted to collapse in something else.

Offer continuing education credits

If someone takes the time to come to your support care conference, they should get credit for this. Most health professionals must earn a minimum of hours of continuing education, so make sure they can get them. That said, credit requirements vary according to the profession and become more strict. It takes a lot of work to complete the forms and meet the requirements. Find out who is your CE supplier, work with them and log in early. You will be surprised as long as it really takes, but it is really worth it.

Personal invitations and commitment

Even with the greatest known speakers of man, at the perfect Conference Center, on the best date for everyone, there is no substitute to reach out and personally invite people to come. They will see you appreciate them and really want them to benefit from your event. This is particularly true for conferences for support care, where people think they already know the equipment or are not interested in the subject. Make sure to tell them why it’s important for them To attend.

Bonus advice-Hold a pre-conference speaker dinner

This should be offered to optional speakers. Some want to have the day before to reproduce after having traveled, to update their slides, or something else. Some may not go to town in time for a dinner. Those who attend there will appreciate the possibility of meeting the other speakers and knowing more about your program and your city.

Correntic connections can become college relationships, and although you pay them for their presentations, it’s just a good practice. You may not have time to interact a lot with them on the day of the conference, so it also gives you a chance to interact personally with them. Again, keep it light, informal and flexible. If someone needs to come late or leave early, too bad. Also make sure to invite the planning committee, a reward for all their hard work.

Final reflections

Planning and organizing a support care conference is a lot of work and requires a very organized and dedicated team with a lot of energy and time. Medical education moves all the time in more virtual sites, with webinaries and online presentations, which are easier to assemble and less expensive to offer and assist.

Although I support increased learning that can occur after technology, I also find that there is a huge advantage for events in person that technology never surmounts. Although it can be a little easier to assemble, I find that the work is worth it for our annual event of a day or, as a friend of mine, “the juice is worth it.”

I would be interested in hearing the thoughts of others. Let a comment and let me know what your list could have who is not on mine!

Last update: November 6, 2018