Best Strategies for Generating Revenue from CME Events

How often have you created activities, such as live conferences or webinars, that were only conducted one time? You put a great deal of time and effort into something that ultimately didn’t provide you with a good revenue return due to the event’s infrequent use. With your learning management system (LMS), you can record and repackage a CME activity into an enduring program and make it available online for purchase. This way, you’re using both technology and outside-of-the-box thinking to get things moving.

Here are a few of the best strategies for generating revenue from CME event content.

Convert to the Virtual Format

When you’re planning your CME event, the venue that you choose can only accommodate a certain number of attendees. Moving to the virtual format enables more individuals to attend.

For example, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) used technology to solve a challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. The event team had expected 17,000 people to attend their Chicago-based, three-day in-person event. When they converted to the online format, they used technology to offer twenty-four livestream sessions and pre-recorded the remaining content for on-demand access.

Within thirty minutes of their opening session, nearly 13,000 people logged on from around the world. By the time that the event ended, 34,000 unique visitors had logged in for the live or pre-recorded sessions. At the ninety-day mark, the ACC reported 63,000 unique visitors who had accessed the conference’s content. By embracing technology, it was able to successfully increase the number of attendees at its event.

Likewise, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) was planning on holding its conference with 44,000 registered attendees. It measured its total content views, and the results were staggering: there were more than 2.5 million content views during the meeting. In social media, more than 8,800 Twitter users posted more than 45,000 tweets using the #ASCO20 hashtag, generating 750 million likes, shares, and comments.

Put Your Eggs in Different Baskets

Don’t keep your proverbial eggs all in one basket. When it comes to strategies for generating revenue from CME events, a key one is to diversify. You can also repackage your CME content and embrace other strategies.

Offer live-streamed events. Then, take those events and turn them into pre-recorded ones for individuals to buy. Offer Q&A sessions, small group events, breakout sessions, and more. Use these activity strategies for generating revenue from CME events.

Audio podcasts

Leverage audio technology among your CME event offerings. Podcasts have become the new talk radio for mobile devices, especially with the explosion of mobile phone use. They’re an excellent way for individuals to gain new information. Listeners will subscribe to a podcast series—such as yours!—and listen regularly. Keep your podcast running regularly with fresh content, and you will generate new revenue.

Audio discussion rooms

There has been a degree of Zoom fatigue due to this technology’s extensive use. For some CME organizations, getting a Zoom meeting up and running can take a great deal of effort and cost. An audio discussion room is a low-cost alternative and an easy way to get people engaged. Audio rooms are always open, so people can chat at any time to talk about your event, its content, and activities. It’s one of many ideal strategies for generating revenue from CME events and activities.

Interactive elements

Using Q&As, forums, peer-to-peer networking, discussion groups, breakout sessions, chat rooms, and social media opportunities can all work hand in hand as part of your CME event content. Your attendees will have perfect opportunities to interact with one another, which can spell more revenue for you as the word gets out about your event, its CME content, and available enduring materials.

“Birds of a feather” breakout sessions

One form of a breakout session is the “birds of a feather” version. It enables attendees to meet and discuss a specific topic. It’s ideal for your virtual event because it promotes connections between like-minded individuals.

“Birds of a feather” sessions can be on any topic, and they’re particularly valuable when they're part of your event. Make the sessions even more engaging: invite leading medical experts to speak on the latest medical research or your keynote speakers to share new information. A positive experience can result in more networking opportunities and success, as the ACC and ASCO experienced with their events’ unique views and social media sharing. It can also provide more revenue because your attendees will look for new CME content to purchase, like enduring materials, pre-recorded or live videos, or podcasts.

Let Technology Do (Most of) the Work for You

When it comes to strategies for generating revenue from CME events, look at your completed live webinars and pre-recorded meetings and determine how you can leverage them further. After your live webinar has finished and your learners have obtained their credits, you can use your LMS’s course-cloning feature, like the one found in EthosCE, to convert the webinar and any other activities into enduring content. To do this, you can use those Zoom Meetings or GoToWeb meeting recordings. These are available immediately in your LMS. You won’t need to download, convert, or upload large files. The course-cloning feature enables you to easily create an enduring version of the meeting. You add pre- and post-tests, evaluations, and credit types, and soon, it’ll be up and ready to go. You now have enduring materials that people will pay you for.

Since you’re already using e-commerce and a shopping cart for your CME course purchases, use them to provide event discounts and coupons to entice learners. Sell single events of learning items or mix and match activities. Subscription-based access is another strategy for generating revenue for your organization.

Create Brand Recognition as a Provider of Quality Content

After you hold one CME event, you want to keep learners coming back to attend more virtual events and accessing content. The more that learners continue to purchase your materials, the more revenue you’ll gain. When your CME content is popular, you’ll be recognized as a leading educational provider, and that means additional revenue.

Promote Your CME Event Content to Your Learners

Don’t forget to promote your CME content to your target audience of learners. Contact them just as you would to promote your events and CME courses, and let them know about your on-demand materials, networking events, and enduring materials.

Let EthosCE Help You Generate Revenue from Your CME Events

When you need strategies for generating revenue from CME events, look to EthosCE for assistance. From course cloning to e-commerce and integration with the video conferencing technology of Zoom Meeting and GoToWebinar, among others, this robust LMS will provide you with all the tools that you need to generate revenue from CME events.

At EthosCE, we understand the challenges of staying up to date and compliant with ACCME changes. We know how critical it is to get things done right the first time when it comes to team-based education and success.

To learn how EthosCE can enhance the continuing education of your healthcare teams, schedule a free 1-on-1 demo with one of our specialists today!