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This article is Part 1 of a four-part series designed to help you intentionally connect events and continuing education into one cohesive strategy.
Share outcomes, not more meeting invites.
Despite an event delivering a strong experience and an education program delivering valuable learning, the member journey can still feel fragmented when events and education are planned in parallel.
This play is about changing that.
Alignment doesn’t mean restructuring teams or adding layers of coordination. It simply requires agreeing on shared outcomes so that decisions across planning, content, communications, and measurement reinforce one another. It becomes easier to plan intentionally and tell a stronger impact story when teams align early.
What this play unlocks:
- A clearer member journey where each experience naturally leads to the next.
- Stronger year-round engagement since each event becomes a launching point for ongoing learning.
- Less internal friction since teams can coordinate time, effort, and resources.
- A stronger ROI narrative that connects investment to outcomes over time (not just attendance).
Alignment questions (use these every time):
- Who is this for?
- What behavior are we trying to drive?
- How does success show up over time?
These questions can be applied to all different types of situations, such as a flagship annual meeting, a webinar series, a certification, or even a full-year CE program.
Implementing Play 1 (in 30 days)
Start with one program (one event, track, or audience segment) and complete these actions:
1. Create a shared outcomes snapshot (one page, created together).
Example: For your Annual Meeting, have your events and education team agree that the primary audience is first-time attendees. Then make the target behavior post-event CE completing and define long-term success as returning participation in at least one additional program within 6 months.
2. Map the member journey from pre-event -> event -> post-event -> ongoing engagement.
Example:
- Pre-event: “Top 5 Sessions for Healthcare Professionals” email + recommended learning goals.
- During event: Session engagement + prompts like “Save this session for CME later”.
- Post-event: Curated on-demand playlist + CME pathway.
- Ongoing: Monthly microlearning series tied to event themes.
3. Align the calendar by using event themes to inform education planning.
Example: If your event tracks include themes like Innovation, Leadership, and Quality Improvement, your education team builds a 90-day post-event calendar with one follow-up webinar per theme and an on-demand bundle that stays available year-round.
4. Agree on shared reporting so your success can be measured consistently over time.
Example: Instead of reporting only “attendance”, teams can share a scorecard that includes:
- Event participation (attendance/session engagement)
- Post-event learning (on-demand views + CE/CME completion)
- Long-term engagement (cross-program participation or returning attendance)
Cheat Sheet: Metrics to Track
- At the event
- Attendance/participation
- Session engagement indicators (polls, Q&A, scans)
- Post-event
- On-demand content views
- CE/CME completion rate
- Repeat logins or return visits
- Long-term
- Cross-program participation (event + education)
- Returning attendance
- Renewal or retention indicators (if available)
Common Pitfalls
Treating alignment as a “meeting problem”.
It’s tempting to assume alignment means more syncs, committees, and even time on calendars. This often creates frustration without changing outcomes.
What to do instead: Keep alignment lightweight and decision based. A single shared outcomes snapshot is often enough to align planning, messaging, and measurement without adding overhead.
Optimizing too many audiences at once.
Many associations want to serve everyone, from first-time attendees and loyal members all the way to learners and non-learners. The result is a program that becomes overly complex and general.
What to do instead: Choose one primary audience segment for your first alignment pilot (for example, focusing on first-time attendees). Once you’ve built a repeatable model, scaling up to additional segments becomes easier.
Defining success only at the event moment.
Usually events are measured by registration and attendance because those are visible and immediate. But if success is only defined as “what happened this week”, you’ll miss the longer member story.
What to do instead: define success across time horizons:
- At event engagement
- Post-event learning and CE/CME completion
- Long-term return engagement across programs
This creates a shared scorecard that purposefully connects events and education.
Alignment creates a stronger, more connected experience for members. It also gives your teams a shared definition of success that makes planning and execution far more effective. Once you’ve aligned that “why” and the “what”, the next step is to make execution easier.
