Five steps for creating a CPD seminar: part two
In our previous Journal post, I covered the first three steps of creating a CPD, using Edify’s own trusty formula.
Define the topic – agree the aim of the CPD with the sales team and don’t be tempted to squeeze too much in.
Outline the narrative – think about how you’re going to keep an audience engaged for 45 minutes or so; use a storyboard to help you plan your story.
Develop a draft – use your storyboard to help you create content notes into a slide deck and consider which visuals you could use.
Now let’s take a look at the final two steps.
Step 4: Fine-tune the content
Now you have a rough draft of your slide deck, you’re ready to start creating the script. Try to keep the script to accompany each slide as brief as you can. Making a point over several slides is better than forcing your audience to stare at the same slide for an extended period.
It’s important to keep the text on the slides themselves to a minimum too. By all means include key points and references to technical details, or important regulations and standards that the audience might want to note down. Aside from that, the slides should mostly contain visuals. You can be sure your audience is visually literate so use all the visual cues you can – diagrams, videos, illustrations and photos of installations/projects – in order to inspire them.
And one last tip here: if you’re worried the CPD doesn’t feel engaging, present it to the sales team or future CPD presenters. They’ll be able to work with you to suggest tweaks. You may also find that inspiration strikes as you bring the CPD to life too.
Step 5: Training and roll-out
When everyone is happy with the content, it’s time to hand the CPD over to the presenters. We have our own tried-and-tested formula for running CPD training but there are, of course, many ways to do this. The most important thing is to ensure your CPD presenters are comfortable with all the content and understand the reasoning behind it. This means they can confidently bring the content to life and deliver a session that’s inspiring, relevant and useful.
And there we have it – five steps to creating a great CPD. Now it’s time to start spreading the word about your new CPD. As part of our CPD package, we provide marketing materials so you have everything you need to start promoting the CPD. Want to find out more? Get in touch!