Practical Considerations to SettingUp a Radiology CME Conference:

How We Do It

Joel A. Gross, MD, Carole W. Fisher, CCMEP, Mahesh M. Thapa, MD

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The authors describe our experience in planning, organizing, and running a radiology CME conference at a hotel (rather than at astand-alone conference or convention center). Much of the information described should also be useful for other medical and nonmedical

conferences. This experience should provide new conference organizers with useful information to ensure a more efficient and successful

conference, so there are fewer ‘‘If I knew then what I know now’’ moments over the years.

ªAUR, 2013

We describe our experience in planning, organizing,

and running a radiology CME (continuing medi-

cal education) conference at a hotel (rather than at

a stand-alone conference or convention center). Much of the

information described should also be useful for other medical

and nonmedical conferences.We hope this provides new con-

ference organizers useful information to ensure a more effi-

cient and successful conference, so there are fewer ‘‘If I

knew then what I know now’’ moments over the years.

Readers seeking useful, practical information on how to get

started often desire real world numbers and expenses. We

include some typical values and prices encountered over the

past few years, running conferences in Seattle, Washington.

Please be aware that prices may vary significantly by region,

type/class of hotel, taxes, and so on.

PLANNING COMMITTEE

It is helpful to have a planning committee to provide a variety

of input about the planning process and to help with the many

details entailed in organizing and running a conference. Most

of the committee members should include people who are

interested in and committed to the educational process. In

addition, committee members should have expertise in the

subject material being presented, as they will help select

ad Radiol 2013; 20:382–386

om the University of Washington, Department of Radiology, Harborviewedical Center, Box 359728, 325 Ninth Ave, Seattle, WA 98104-2499.A.G.); University of Washington School of Medicine, Office of Continuingedical Education, Box 359441, Seattle, WA 98195 (C.W.F.); and Seattlehildren’s and University of Washington, Department of Radiology, 4800nd Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105 (M.M.T.). Received May 22, 2012;cepted December 11, 2012. No grant funding was used for this article.dress correspondence to: J.A.G. e-mail: jagross@uw.edu

AUR, 2013tp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2012.12.004

2

appropriate topics and speakers. It may also be helpful to

have at least one member who represents your target audi-

ence, to ensure that the course offerings meet the target audi-

ence’s requirements rather than the expert speaker’s

preferences.

Planning for a conference of more than a day or two in

length should begin at least 9 to 12 months before the confer-

ence. Arranging the venue is usually the most important initial

component of the process, as it determines the dates and loca-

tion. For larger conferences with 500 or more attendees, addi-

tional lead-time (up to 24 months) will provide more options

and flexibility in scheduling.

PLANNING THE CONFERENCE

When developing a new conference, it is important to define

your target audience. Is the conference targeted to general

radiologists or to subspecialty radiologists; to attendings or

residents/fellows or medical students? Is the coverage and pre-

sentation broad enough to be relevant to nonradiologists?

While expanding coverage may increase your potential audi-

ence, the content of presentations has to be adjusted accord-

ingly to ensure education of all levels of participants. This

may decrease the value of the conference for more experi-

enced attendees. If other participants, such as advanced regis-

tered nurse practitioners or radiology technologists, are

targeted, is it worth the expense and effort to provide specific

credit for them, especially if theymake up only a small number

of the attendees?

Equally important is determining the purpose of the con-

ference and the target speakers. Is the primary purpose to gen-

erate large numbers of attendees and revenue? If so, you may

use your best speakers and most renowned faculty to entice

large numbers of registrants and ensure a high-quality confer-

ence. However, local conferences are a useful way to provide

experience and exposure to junior faculty, who can speak on

Academic Radiology, Vol 20, No 3, March 2013 SETTING UP A RADIOLOGY CME CONFERENCE

their home turf (without the stress of travel), with a mentor in

the audience (or nearby for support), and to a smaller audi-

ence, which may be friendlier if composed of many of their

trainees and colleagues. Those who perform well may be rec-

ognized by guest faculty or other attendees and obtain invita-

tions to lecture at other conferences. On the other hand, there

is the risk of unknown and less-experienced faculty perform-

ing poorly, and there is a tradeoff between providing these

developmental opportunities for faculty and providing the

best conference with seasoned, reliable speakers. While most

of the speakers will likely be radiologists, nonradiologist

speakers may provide a practical and valuable perspective on

how radiology can better serve our patients and clinical col-

leagues (1).

Another decision is whether to invite guest faculty from an

outside institution. While local faculty typically cost the con-

ference nothing (or fairly minimal amounts for parking, pos-

sibly meals, etc), the conference usually covers the costs of

transportation, housing, and meals for guest faculty (2). Hon-

oraria are fairly common, as is the case with external grand

rounds speakers (3), but not provided by all conferences.

Thus, it could cost between $1500 and $4000 to cover all

expenses associated with a guest speaker.

Guest faculty can add cachet and recognition to your con-

ference. They can also introduce variety to a conference that is

offered repeatedly (typically every year) and provide new

material for repeat attendees, and for your own faculty who

attend the conference. They can be selected to provide exper-

tise not available at your institution or to offer a different

approach to similar issues that are addressed at your institution.

This provides an opportunity to introduce your faculty to the

guest speaker, which is particularly valuable for junior faculty

who may not have many outside connections.

Conferencesmay be held locally or at a desirable destination

(such as Hawaii) or at a central city (convenient to travelers

from around the country).

Conferences staged within your home city offer a number

of advantages. A large number of local faculty have the oppor-

tunity to lecture, since they can attend for a few hours and

return to work for the remainder of the time. They also

have the opportunity to attend portions of the conference

when convenient (such as on academic days). There are no

expenses for travel and accommodations for your local faculty

or for your CME office and other staff associated with the

conference. The conference location can be easily evaluated.

If you are fortunate enough to work in a ‘‘desirable’’ city,

the location itself may attract attendees (and their families).

While conferences at destination locations may attract a

number of attendees (such as those who wish to combine

the conference with a family vacation), they are more com-

plex and often more expensive to run. It is impractical to pro-

vide lecture opportunities to a large number of local faculty.

Instead, a smaller number of faculty will be required to present

more lectures. The conference may have to cover expenses

(travel, accommodation, etc) for your local presenters, in

addition to expenses for guest lecturers, CME office staff,

etc. The conference hotel may have to be booked without vis-

iting the site to confirm it meets your needs, or the conference

will incur expenses to send one or more people out to evaluate

options. A preconference site visit is strongly recommended to

identify potential problems and challenges, so that these can

either be addressed in advance, determined to be significant

enough to result in a change in venue, or used to negotiate

concessions from the conference site.

The format of the conference should be clearly defined early

in the planning stages. Will the conference consist of didactic

lectures, case-based presentations, panel discussions, or a mix-

ture?Audience response systems (ARS) for case-based presenta-

tions have become popular over the past few years (4–6). These

incur an additional expense to the conference, although newer

systems allowing attendees to use smartphones and other devices

may reduce or eliminate expenses in the future, assumingWiFi

and cell phone coverage is available. There are still some

technical challenges with ARS, such as speakers creating slides

that are compatible with the ARS and that leave space on the

slide for the ARS-generated material without obscuring the

slide’s content. If the ARS slides have to be manually modified

in the PowerPoint presentation byCMEoffice staff, the presen-

tations cannot undergo last minute updates by the speakers and

must be submitted in advance of the conference for processing.

The length of time for the presentation, questions and

answers (Q & A), and transitions between speakers must be

clearly defined. If lectures are scheduled every 30 minutes,

many speakers will plan a 30-minute lecture, not considering

the time needed for Q &A and transitions. It is recommended

that explicit instructions be provided, such as 26 minutes for

the presentation, 2 minutes for Q & A, and 2 minutes for

transitions.

We have found the Q & A time between lectures to be the

most variable and difficult to control. Some speakers seem to

lose track of time during Q&A and run far beyond their allot-

ted time if not guided off stage. Another option is a public

Q & A forum at the end of each session with those speakers

at the podium answering questions posed by the audience

from microphones set up for the audience. Everyone benefits

from the answers provided, but this usurps valuable time from

the conference. Another option is to have the speakers avail-

able in front of the podium/stage after their session (during

the break or at the end of the day) to interact directly with

attendees. The disadvantage is that attendees do not get to

hear all the questions and answers. The advantage is that no

conference time is lost with this approach, and it permits a

more direct communication between speakers and attendees.

Those not interested in the Q & A can take advantage of the

break time.

While it adds a more personal touch to introduce each

speaker before her lecture, it takes time from the conference,

and can be challenging for the organizer to run back and

forth, especially if she is busy managing other aspects of the

conference at that time (such as contacting the audiovisual

[AV] team to fine-tune the projector, or adjusting the temper-

ature or lighting settings for the room).

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GROSS ET AL Academic Radiology, Vol 20, No 3, March 2013

Another consideration for a local conference is how to

schedule the topics without disrupting clinical coverage.

For example, if all the neuroradiology lectures were

assigned for one day, it might be disruptive to that section to

have so many faculty away on the same day, commuting

back and forth to the conference. Splitting the discipline

into two sessions over different days may allow more of the

speakers to present on academic or CME days and will mini-

mize clinical disruptions.

CME CREDITS

Credit provided for physician conferences is American Med-

ical Association Physician’s Recognition Award (AMA PRA)

Category 1 Credit� (often referred to simply as Category 1

credit or Cat1 credit). This can only be provided by an organ-

ization that has been approved as an accredited provider by the

Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education

(ACCME). Information regarding Category 1 accreditation

can be obtained from their website (7). Approved providers

pay an annual fee, as well as a reaccreditation fee every 4 to

6 years.

Most academic medical centers have a CME office, or

another office that can provide similar support, such as an

Office of Professional Development or Office of Continuing

Medical Education. In this manuscript, we will use the term

‘‘CME office’’ to refer to the CME office or equivalent.

Educational activities such as department conferences or

grand rounds that are conducted for internal faculty and staff

can usually be handled internally by the department. Larger or

more complex conferences, and those offered to attendees

outside the academic institution, often benefit from the

expertise of the CME office. At our institution, all Category

1 credit must be designated through our CME office, if the

school of medicine is sponsoring the activity, or if any funds

for the activity are processed through a university budget.

Some CME offices are self-sustaining and have to charge

fees for all of their services. Others are supported by the

home institution, lowering the costs for conference

administration.

Attendance records must be kept for 6 years. Accreditation

files must be kept until the accreditation period expires.

LOGISTICS AND NEGOTIATIONS FORCONFERENCE FACILITIES AND HOUSING

Similar to buying a car, several items are often interrelated

when negotiating a price for a conference at a hotel. The pri-

ority for hotels is usually to fill their hotel rooms, and they use

the conference rooms as an enticement to fill (sell) rooms,

rather than treating them as independent profit centers.

Thus it may be difficult to reserve a conference room far in

advance without committing to filling hotel rooms, as the

hotel may wish to keep the conference room available for

another conference that would result in the sale of many hotel

384

rooms. On the other hand, if the hotel is already filled for that

time period, and they have no need to fill additional rooms,

they may be willing to reserve a conference room at a reason-

able price.

Three items are often negotiated as a package—conference

room fee, roomnights and rates, and food and beverage (F&B)

minimum—and will be discussed later. These may be influ-

enced by many factors including how busy the hotel expects

to be at the time of the conference, the size of the conference,

prior experience with the conference organizers, and expect-

ations that they will return for future conferences.

Hotel rooms are negotiated as ‘‘room nights,’’ where a room

night refers to one hotel room filled for one night. As

expected, three room nights could refer to one hotel room

filled for three nights, three hotel rooms filled for one night,

or one hotel room filled for two nights and another filled

for one night. A rate for each night in each class of room is

negotiated.

The organizer and hotel negotiate a number of room nights

and an attrition rate. The number of room nights guarantees

the number of hotel rooms available for conference attendees

at the negotiated price (usually discounted from standard hotel

rates). Selecting a high number ensures that all attendees are

able to obtain a hotel room at the negotiated price. However,

this opportunity comes at a cost. The organizer is responsible

for ensuring that the hotel is paid for the agreed upon room

nights multiplied by the attrition rate, and if fewer rooms

are sold to attendees, the organizer owes the hotel for any

unsold rooms. The attrition rate is typically about 80% to 90%.

To clarify how this works, assume 100 room nights were

agreed to, with an attrition rate of 90%. If only 83 room nights

were sold to conference attendees, then the organizer would

owe the hotel for 7 room nights, to ensure that hotel effec-

tively sold 90 room nights (90% of 100 room nights). These

are payable at the negotiated price, along with taxes, and

can result in a significant expense to the conference if rooms

are not filled.

Food and beverage minimum refers to the minimum

amount the conference will spend on food and beverages.

The prices for F & B are usually fixed, with only limited

room for negotiation. This is often an unexpectedly high

cost for new conference planners. At upscale hotels, a small

bottle of soda or water may cost $5 to $6. A gallon of coffee

or tea may cost $60 to $80, resulting in a cost of $3 to $5

per cup. A continental breakfast may cost $20 to $25. The

F & Bminimum does not include tax and gratuity, which typ-

ically adds 30% to the bill. Our conferences usually incur costs

of $85 to $100 per person for F & B.

The conference room price depends on the room nights

and F & B minimum negotiated with the hotel. The higher

these numbers are, the better deal the hotel will usually pro-

vide for the conference room, and about half the time we

are provided with the conference room at no charge.

AV services are provided internally by many of the larger

hotels or may be provided by an independent AV company,

which works closely with the hotel. We usually use these

Academic Radiology, Vol 20, No 3, March 2013 SETTING UP A RADIOLOGY CME CONFERENCE

AV services, due to the additional access fees and hassle that

would be incurred if we were to provide our own AV services.

Fees for these services are usually negotiated separately from

room nights, F & B minimum, and conference room fees

and typically run $750 to $2000 per day.

Another surprisingly high expense is WiFi access, as many

attendees expect Internet access while at the conference and

are often quite upset when this is not available. This may be

provided by the hotel or by the AV company. Prices are typ-

ically $10 to $30 per day per person, making it difficult to

afford WiFi for many conferences. It is hoped that costs will

come down in the near future.

It is useful to negotiate for a room near the conference

room, to allow storage of materials when the conference is

not in session. If cell phones do not work in the conference

and registration area, phone connections need to be arranged

with the hotel.

In Seattle, parking at our conference sites is moderately

expensive. However, free parking may be readily available in

other cities. If parking is owned by the hotel, parking fees

might be negotiable, but we have not found great flexibility

in pricing. If parking is owned by an independent company,

parking fees likely cannot be negotiated. We pay for parking

for our staff and presenters, but attendees pay for parking

themselves.

Conferences held on a university campus can cost 35% to

50% less than those held at hotels.

CONFERENCE BROCHURES AND SYLLABI

Brochures for the conference can be mailed or emailed out to

prospective attendees. Mailing lists that are somewhat tailored

to your expected audience can be purchased and have cost us

approximately $500 to $700 for 15,000 to 20,000 names. Our

CME office mails printed brochures rather than using e-mail

notifications, as they believe this to be more effective. In their

experience, many of the e-mail notifications are blocked by

institutional e-mail spam defenses or end up in the recipient’s

‘‘junk’’ mailbox.

Over the past few years, we have stopped printing the bulky

and somewhat pricey syllabi and now provide the syllabus

online. Attendees should be instructed to download the sylla-

bus in advance, especially ifWiFi is not available in the confer-

ence room. A smaller printed packet is provided containing

the schedule, faculty information, important conference

information, and space to take notes. This is environmentally

friendly and easier for the attendees to carry, typically provides

better image quality than printed images, and is less expensive.

RUNNING THE CONFERENCE

Now that the facilities and speakers have been selected, it is

time to address the details of running the conference. The

organizer should arrive early to review the set up, ensure

everything is working well, and take care of any problems.

Before the start of the conference, check the lighting con-

trols, audio and video quality, and work with the AV staff to

correct these before the first attendees arrive. Determine

how to control the temperature of the room or who to contact

if adjustments need to be made.

Radiology conferences in particular, require high-quality

image projection and display, such as for subtle findings on

radiographs. A standard PowerPoint slide with text and

graphics is easy to display, and may project well and look

perfectly adequate, while a projected radiograph is impossi-

ble to interpret using the same equipment and settings. A

high-quality projector is essential and the room lights

should be dimmed to optimize viewing. Test the projector

and lighting by displaying a variety of slides with subtle find-

ings, and adjust the projector and lighting to ensure optimal

visualization. Ideal room lighting is dark enough to clearly

see projected images but bright enough to see hand written

notes.

We strongly discourage the use of laser pointers and do not

provide them at our conferences. The mouse should be used

as a pointer, as this can be seen by all attendees, and is visible if

the lecture is being recorded or transmitted remotely. In addi-

tion, we have discovered that when a lecturer uses a laser

pointer, she often turns her head away from the audience to

look at the projected image. This disengages the lecturer

from the audience, because she loses eye contact and her voice

is no longer directed toward the microphone.

Ensure that the podium has a large enough surface area and

appropriate texture to allow effective use of the mouse. This

may sound simple and obvious, but small podiums have

been a problem for us for several years and at several locations.

At times we have had to add a small table adjacent to the

podium to use the mouse.

Provide a monitor in front of the speaker to allow them to

view their slides as they present. It should be easily visible to

the speaker but not block eye contact with the audience.

Lack of a monitor results in problems similar to those caused

by the use of a laser pointer, causing the speaker to turn away

from the audience to view the projected image on the screen.

A high-quality microphone is critical, and it should be

adjustable for each speaker. The organizer or AV personnel

should be available to make adjustments to the microphone

when it is being set up for the speaker. Ideally, sound levels

should be adjustable remotely during a lecture.

A timer should be provided and readily visible to the

speaker. A separate control unit should be accessible to the

timekeeper, who may be seated in the back of the conference

room. There should be a warning indicator when time is

running short (eg, 3 minutes before the end of the lecture)

and an overtime indicator when they are exceeding their

allotted time. A timekeeper must start and reset the timer

at the beginning and end of each lecture, adjusting the times

if presentation lengths are variable. Also consider displaying a

card for the speaker to see, when they are near the end of

their lecture, such as when there are 5 minutes remaining.

The timekeeper must be prepared to move near the podium

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GROSS ET AL Academic Radiology, Vol 20, No 3, March 2013

or onto the podium, if the speaker appears unlikely to be

quickly wrapping up his talk when running over his allotted

time.

A Mac and a Windows-based computer (PC) with current

versions of all required software should be provided for pre-

sentations, to eliminate or reduce incompatibilities in fonts,

software, and appearance of images. Ideally, all lectures are

loaded onto these computers in advance. If a few lecturers

are permitted to use their own computers for their presenta-

tions (which usually occurs for lectures with many or critical

videos), it is preferable that they present at the start of the

day or immediately after a break, so that their computers

can be set up and connected without interrupting the flow

of presentations. In addition, we provide several monitor

adapters for Mac computers, but the presenter should be

strongly encouraged and reminded to bring her own adapter

to avoid last-minute incompatibilities if she plans to use her

own computer for the presentation.

Schedule your speakers to arrive at least 30 minutes before

their session (so you can confirm they are all present, and you

do not need to arrange for a replacement), and to stay until the

end of the break following their session (or 15 minutes beyond

conclusion of the day’s lectures) to ensure their availability to

answer questions. Even with specific repeated reminders,

many faculty arrive just before their scheduled presentation

times, making it challenging for the organizer who may

already be scrambling to arrange for a replacement speaker.

This is also problematic if the previous speakers finish early,

which could result in an uncomfortable gap in the presenta-

tions. Track faculty who make conference organization diffi-

cult and consider replacing them with more cooperative

faculty in the future.

If speakers have last-minute updates of their lectures, it is

especially important they arrive at least 30 minutes before

the session in which they are speaking, so there is time to

load and test their new lectures.

If at all possible, arrange for several speakers or the session

moderator to have extra lectures available, which could be

presented in the event of an unexpected absence. Even if

the topic differs from the originally scheduled one, most of

the audience will prefer a valuable lecture (and the CME

credit associated with it) to none at all.

The organizer should be actively observing the conference

and stepping in to make it a pleasant and valuable experience

for attendees. The organizer should sit in a number of posi-

tions in the conference room to determine visibility of screen

and sound quality/volume. The organizer should spend more

time in the back of the room, as this is usually the most chal-

lenging location for visibility. It also allows the organizer to

386

observe more of the attendees and determine if they are

engaged, browsing the Web, etc.

Be aware of the environment, and if you see large numbers

of attendees who appear to be hot or cold, adjust the temper-

ature. Be actively involved and close doors that remain open

and allow light or sound to intrude into the conference room.

CONFERENCE EVALUATIONS

Conference evaluations contain several questions dictated by

CME requirements, along with questions developed over

the years by the conference organizers. They should query

attendees about the quality of topics and speakers, relevance

to practice, achievement of learning objectives, environment,

and other features that should be addressed to improve future

conferences.

While evaluations are useful to detect trends, be cautious of

outlier comments and evaluations. Not surprisingly, we some-

times discover evaluation forms submitted and completed for

lectures that have not yet been presented.

SUMMARY

We have discussed the lessons learned and shared our practical

experiences with organizing and running a CME radiology

conference. We have reviewed the planning and structuring

of a conference, the logistics and negotiations for a conference

site, the running of a conference, and other details useful for

anyone who plans to organize a conference.

We hope that our experience will help you with your first

or next conference, and wish you Happy Conferencing!

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