Continuing Professional Development (CPD) sessions are flexible, adaptable and valuable marketing and sales assets for building product companies. However, some businesses simply do not know how to begin in planning and delivering the content.
CPD sessions help construction professionals to update and improve their knowledge of key aspects of their work as well as new regulations and standards. Many professional organisations require members to complete a certain number of hours of CPD activities per year to retain their professional status. These include the Architects Registration Board (ARB), Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
For building product manufacturers, offering CPD presentations is an excellent way to engage with specifiers. CPD sessions allow businesses to position their team as experts in their field by providing educational seminars. A CPD presentation can also be a useful way of introducing professionals to the benefits of new products by showing how they help meet the challenges of modern projects. This can be particularly effective if the solution is complex or fulfils a new requirement.
Some businesses may be reluctant to consider developing CPDs due to the misconception that they have to go through the rigours of the accreditation process. CPD content does not need to be third-party certified as many professional bodies allow their members to use both accredited and non-accredited sessions to fulfil their annual learning requirements. In fact, our research suggests that the performance of accredited and non-accredited offerings is very similar.
These CPD presentations can be delivered online and face to face, with both methods proving popular and effective in recent years. However, each has its own benefits, both for the participants and the provider.
Online or in-person?
The COVID-19 pandemic understandably saw a huge boost in the demand for CPD sessions that could be delivered remotely. Throughout 2020 we helped building product companies reach their audience using our own online CPD service, which has gone from strength to strength in the past three years.
Online presentations open the CPD session up to a far wider audience and allows the presenter to connect with a large group of interested professionals simultaneously. There are also convenience benefits for the participants as they can fit the sessions into their working schedule more easily with no need to travel. This may also allow them to participate in sessions more frequently.
However, CPD sessions presented in person are still a great way of delivering the content. It allows easier interactions between the presenter and participants and can be very useful for product demonstrations. We have discovered that some practices and contractors prefer conducting group sessions to ensure their entire team stays updated on relevant topics and maintains their certificates.
How to choose the right channel
In reality there is no one-size-fits-all answer and the choice to deliver the CPD online or in person will depend on the resources of the business, the content of the presentation and the preferences of the target audience. Often it can be valuable to offer both methods and allow the participants to choose the format that works best for them. In fact, feedback from participants following the sessions will allow a better understanding of what people are looking for from the CPD and enable future offerings to be tailored accordingly.
Why partner with Causeway CPD?
We provide a seamless, all-in-one service to help with online and face to face CPDs. We provide assistance with CPD scheduling, promotion, registrations and follow up with participants. This also includes support in creating CPD content through collaborative efforts with specialised CPD marketing agencies.
We work with some of the industry’s leading businesses to promote and deliver CPD content including Profab Access, Granada Glazing, and Graf UK.
For online CPDs, we help bring the content to a wider audience by promoting it to the 70,000+ architects and specifiers who actively use Causeway SpecifiedBy. For those looking to deliver the CPD face to face, we manage registrations, cancellations and rescheduling, arrange locations, qualify attendees and conduct post-event follow up.
41%
average attendees per each Causeway hosted digital CPD
100%
customer satisfaction rate on Causeways CPD booking service
To find out more on how Causeway CPD can help to boost your success in the changing CPD landscape, get in touch here.
