How To Use Webinars to Help With Continuing Education

Offer Convenient Learning Opportunities To Employees Through Webinars

Continuing education (CE) is necessary to provide professional development opportunities and keep your company at the top of the industry. 

In the past, holding live meetings with free continuing education was the most efficient way to diffuse updated information to employees and offer accessibility to crucial CE hours. 

Unfortunately, with so much to do and only so many hours in the day, it’s tough to fit professional development into the average workday. 

Technology holds the keys to providing continuing education while maintaining the integrity of the workday. 

You may be wondering the difference between a webinar and an online course for continuing education. However, blending the two mediums can create the perfect continuing education opportunity. 

Webinar-based CE courses have evolved into a time-efficient way to access critical knowledge with little more than an internet connection and mobile device. 

So how can your company use online CE webinars to offer professional development opportunities? Let’s examine three reasons why these high-demand webinars matter and the best formula for delivering CE webinars. 

Three Reasons Why Continuing Education Through Webinars Is Effective 

Webinar CE has become increasingly popular due to the rise in the remote workforce. 

Healthcare workers, educators, and other professionals turn to online courses to gain required continuing education credits, or CEUs. This allows them to expand their professional knowledge and further their careers. 

Here are three reasons why your company should consider developing a continuing education webinar series. 

1. Webinars Give You The Ability To Host More Events More Frequently

Webinars typically last 60-90 minutes. This means you can split up the continuing education topics into separate, more frequent sessions. This prevents attendee burnout and promotes learning retention.

You can host your CE webinar from anywhere and quickly secure high-quality presenters for your CE webinar without pesky scheduling conflicts. This also cuts costs, enabling you to host webinars more frequently than live events. 

2. Webinars Remove Time And Distance Attendance Barriers

Live CE sessions prohibit remote or international employees from attending. This means you are limiting your company’s reach. 

Since webinars occur virtually, attendees can log in from anywhere in the world and learn asynchronously if needed. They are simpler to attend and allow you to increase the number of people you communicate with exponentially. 

And if your company is just beginning to offer continuing education, you may not have enough of an audience to justify a live event. A webinar is a safer choice to preserve your ROI.  

3. Webinars Enhance Your Lead Generation Strategy 

At the top of the sales funnel, there are many different ways you can generate leads. However, not every avenue offers value to your target audience.

While you may be considering offering continuing education opportunities to your employees, webinars allow you the option to branch out and provide your CE content to more people.  

When you integrate CE into your sales strategy, you will find yourself attracting responsive, higher-quality leads. 

The Best Formula For Using Webinars To Enhance Continuing Education Opportunities

Continuing education is essential for professional development. It’s the best way to keep your company at the top of your field. 

Using webinars for continuing education has removed barriers that have prevented participation, like family obligations, travel restrictions, and demanding work schedules. 

It allows attendees to attend lessons and meet the demands of their careers without having to leave the comfort of their homes or office. 

Choose An Overarching Goal For Your Webinars

When creating an interactive webinar series, you’ll need to identify why your attendees will need to participate in all of the continuing education courses provided through your webinars. 

Identify what goal participants should aim for, such as earning CE hours or CEUs, and map out what the professionals will need to know to meet the continuing education requirements. 

Create A Draft For Each Live Webinar Lesson 

Once you know the topic of your continuing education course, break down the big ideas into separate webinars to allow for easy accessibility. Draft each lesson, noting desired takeaways and possible content ideas. 

Be sure to hand off your draft to a trusted colleague or superior for peer review. This will allow you to refine your course based on feedback and more towards publishing your series. 

Plan On Offering Webinar Content OnDemand

Continuing education webinars can live on after the event ends if your webinar platform offers event recording and media library hosting. 

You can easily record your webinar to OnDemand viewing, meaning attendees who had a scheduling conflict can still participate and view your content OnDemand. 

Focus On Webinar Attendee Engagement

Just because your audience is attending your webinar for professional development doesn’t mean the fun is off the table. Attendee engagement is crucial for the success of your continuing education webinar. 

Here are some ways you can engage your audience with interactive webinars. 

• Gamification: Include some trivia or friendly competition within the virtual event. 

• Live-Polling: Encourage attendees to voice their opinion through your webinar platform’s live polling feature. 

• Social Media: Create a unique hashtag and encourage participants to use it when posting about your continuing education webinar. 

By incorporating some tried-and-true virtual event engagement techniques into your continuing education webinar series, you’ll keep your audience wanting more. 

Don’t Forget An End-Of-Course Evaluation 

Once your CE webinar series has concluded, follow up with your attendees to see what worked and what didn’t. 

When you send out accreditation materials, like certificates, include an evaluation survey. Learn from the critiques and use the positive feedback as testimonials to promote your subsequent continuing education offerings. 

Incorporate Webinars To Enhance Your Continuing Education Strategy 

When you host continuing education webinars, you cast a wider net and improve your company’s reach. Most states and professions accept live webinar attendance as in-person CE. 

Offering online CE courses allows you to share critical knowledge with your target audience while creating reusable content that can be shared and referenced for years to come. 

If you are ready to begin planning your continuing education webinar, you’ll need a continuing education platform to handle your webinar series from start to finish. 

BeaconLive can produce, deliver, and manage your CE event with user tracking, certificate management, and automated accreditation. We even manage requirements set by accrediting organizations, which reduces the hours you spend on administrative items.