Tracking CEU Credits Without Annoying Anyone
For many professional audiences, including doctors, nurses, accountants, engineers and vets, continuing education credits are a large part of why they attend at all. If your credit tracking is unreliable, these visitors will not forgive you. If it is slow, they will still attend, but they will not enjoy it.
What accrediting bodies usually want
Requirements differ between professions and countries. Many bodies want evidence that a named person attended a specific session, for at least a given time. Some want entry and exit records. Others also ask for an evaluation or a short test. Start by asking your accrediting body for its rules in writing, then design the process from there.
Choose the scanning point carefully
At each session door, a member of staff with a handheld scanner works well if numbers are modest. For large rooms, fixed readers on stands let people scan themselves, and one staff member can watch several at once. Touch-range chips are quick here. A QR code on a phone or badge also works, but it is slower when it has to be aimed and focused.
Exit scans are the hard part
Getting everyone through a reader as the session ends creates a bottleneck, and some people simply leave. There are a few ways to soften this. You can put more readers at the exit than at the entrance. You can have the session timing, rather than the exit scan, trigger the credit when the entrance scan is on time. Or you can use a short code displayed during the talk that attendees type into the app.
Give people a way to check
Let attendees see their credits as they build up, either in the app or at a kiosk. That reduces the rush at the help desk on the last day, and mistakes can be fixed while the person and the session staff are still on site.
Make the certificate easy
Generate certificates automatically, send them within a few days and keep them available for several years. Licensing boards can ask for proof long after the event, and being able to find a certificate quickly makes a strong impression on your audience.
A well-run credit system is rarely noticed. That is what success looks like here: people walk in, walk out and find their certificate waiting.