The anatomy of an outstanding CME meeting

Organizing a continuing medical education (CME) meeting should not be a casual undertaking. It requires experience, staff support, and adequate funding. The sponsoring entity should have a thorough grounding in the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education mind-set, and the course should be within the mission of the organization. Needs of the potential attendees should be assessed and objectives developed to meet those needs. An evaluation process should be in place to ensure that the needs were addressed and met. Ideally, a postcourse evaluation should assess the impact of the meeting on the behavior and practice patterns of the registrants. Excellent teachers should be selected as faculty members. These educators should be given advance information about the characteristics of the attendees, their needs, and their expectations. Topics should be chosen for their relevance to the registrants, as opposed to the convenience of the faculty members. This paper deals with these issues and several related topics. It is based on the author's experience and supplemented by relevant peer-reviewed scientific literature. The CME "market" has a "caveat emptor" approach.