The school year may be wrapping up, but in the professional world, education is a year-long endeavor. Many people including medical professionals, engineers, finance professionals, and lawyers require continuing education to maintain licenses. Even if there is not a license involved, many . Some, in fact, require a certain number of continuing education credits even without a tie to a license. So how do you build this benefit into your events?[Tweet "The school year may be wrapping up, but for professionals, education is year-long endeavor."]
There are many types of professional learning credits, but the two most common are:
- CPEs - Continuing Professional Education. These credits are earned for training that includes updated knowledge and other information that will help individuals gain a broader understanding of their industry. CPEs are offered by universities, professional organizations, and private companies and are typically accredited by the organization's governing body.
- CEUs -- Continuing Education Unit. These credits tend to be related to licensed professions and are tied to the renewal of those licenses. The International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) developed the continuing education unit (CEU) in 1970 and is the caretaker of the CEU. However, The term "CEU" is in the public domain and can be used by organizations that are not IACET Accredited Providers.
Becoming an accredited provider of CEU and CPE credit classes can be a long and arduous process. For event producers, the best bet may be to partner with an organization that has already received accreditation to provide that training. The IACET provides a searchable database of authorized providers. [Tweet "Becoming an accredited provider of CEU or CPE credited events can be long, arduous process."]
Because CEU is in fact a public domain term and different industries use these credits in different ways, any event can offer continuing education credits. There must be someone, other than you, that says the training provided meets general industry criteria for training. Employers, industry organization or governing bodies, or the industry at large must agree that the content you are providing merits the award of a credit. This entails sharing curriculum, presentations, and takeaways with the people you want to recognize the value of the training you provide.
How have you incorporated continuing education credits into your events? Let us know in the comments.
