Our Current Situation
As a professional conference organiser (PCO), the outbreak of this current pandemic is driving the world to embrace the digital world regardless of age and location.
We need to remember that while the worlds’ attention is on the COVID-19 pandemic, all other diseases and healthcare emergencies still require the attention of our healthcare professionals.
Indeed, the mortality and morbidity of both communicable and non-communicable diseases is ever present. Dee Dee further emphasises that “healthcare professionals need to continue pursuing their medical education and professional development in the areas of their specialty”.
Movement Control Order
The lockdown or movement control order enforced in many countries in a bid to stem the spread of this pandemic, has created a huge shift in the way work is being conducted, meetings are held and education is pursued.
We can already see an immediate and massive shift by universities, medical associations and the medical industry to move from face to face CPD / CME programmes to webinar modules so that the education of healthcare professionals may continue in the face of a pandemic.
She said in her writing that “The forced cancellation and postponement of scientific meetings and conferences; coupled with the uncertainty of how this pandemic will unfold in the remainder of this year, will also result in the birth of more hybrid conferences or live online conferences”.
Preparing Ourselves on a new Paradigm
Before you jump on the bandwagon of offering online CPD / CMEs to the members of your association or conference attendees, it is important to remember a few points :-
- Select platforms or solution providers that offer security on their hosting sites especially if your webinar requires pre-payment of fees by your attendees.
- Select platforms that allow you to selectively allow specific attendees and that your webinars are not accessible to members of the public unless your intention is to make a webinar intended for members of the public.
- While the speaker is the star of the presentation, we cannot overlook the role of the moderator. A well-prepared and engaging moderator will ensure that webinar attendees are engaged and interactive especially during Q&A sessions and panel discussions. The importance of the moderator is even more palpable when viewing a symposium through a technological device.
- Prepare, Prepare, Prepare. A rehearsal is essential.
- Pay for dedicated bandwidth of at least 20 Mbps from the location where you are uploading or streaming the webinar.
- Ensure that the webinar speaker and moderator are in a quiet room with no background noise.
- Send repeated reminders to your webinar attendees that the webinar is about to start.
Once you have checked all the above, you are set for a successful CPD / CME webinar session.
Written by : Dee Dee Quah
LinkedIn : Dee Dee Quah
Website : www.medicalconferencepartners.com
