You’ve delivered the presentation, answered some questions and everyone’s heading back to their desks. You pack up your laptop and start thinking about the next thing in your diary.
Hang on. There’s still a bit to do.
You might have spent two hours or more travelling to and presenting the CPD. You’ve probably bought lunch. You’ve just had a room full of relevant people listening to you explain something you know a lot about.
Don’t let the follow-up be the bit that lets you down.
I’ve delivered hundreds of CPDs, and I’ve also been the person with certificates piling up, questions waiting for answers and every intention of getting round to it tomorrow. Here’s what I’d recommend.
Get the attendee list before you leave
Go back to basics. Pass round a physical sign-in sheet and ask people to add their names as they arrive. Explain that it’s for their certificates and follow-up resources.
Before you leave, check you can read it. If someone’s handwriting is a mystery, ask while there are still people around who can decipher it. If someone joined halfway through and missed the sheet, get them to add their name too.
I think of the attendee list as your “payment” for the session. You’ve put time into preparing, travelling and presenting. Knowing who was there gives you the chance to build on those conversations afterwards.
Don’t get so hung up on email addresses that you come away without the names. If people would rather just give their name, start there. Work contact details can often be found afterwards, and Generate can help with that too. Just check you’ve found the right person.
And if everything goes wrong and you leave without a list?
Have a look at the practice’s team page straight after the CPD, while the faces are still fresh in your mind. You can often recognise people from their mugshots and put names to the people you’ve just spent an hour talking to.
I’ve done this myself, and it can work surprisingly well if you do it quickly. If you’re unsure about someone, check with the coordinator rather than guessing.
Get the next CPD booked while you’re there
Honestly, this is one of the best things you can do after a good session.
It does mean having another CPD to offer. I’ve written about why a CPD series beats a one-off presentation, and it makes this conversation much easier.
If a relevant point comes up, you can mention that you have another session which goes into it in more detail. With a RIBA-approved CPD, keep that invitation outside the core educational content, in line with the commercial-content guidance.
Then get straight onto the coordinator:
“Do you think they enjoyed that? Shall we get the next one in the series booked?”
You’ve just delivered the session, they know what you’re like and everyone still remembers it. It’s a good time to ask.
I’ve found that after you’ve delivered a few CPDs to the same practice, people start opening up more. They know you, they’re comfortable asking questions and they’ll tell you about the things they’re struggling with.
You can encourage that by asking whether anyone has a particular question or a tricky scenario they’d like help with. If there is something, agree what you’ll do next and write it down.
Don’t worry if nobody has a project to discuss on the day. Keep being useful and give the relationship time.
Send the follow-up the same day
I’d be quite firm with yourself on this one.
One session’s worth of certificates is manageable. Leave it until you’ve delivered three or four more, add a few missing names and some unanswered questions, and suddenly it’s a job you really don’t fancy starting.
Leave time in your diary and get it done the same day.
Every attendee should receive an email addressed to them, with their own certificate. Include the slides, any useful resources and, if you have a recording you can share, a link to that too.
A lot of coordinators will say, “Just send all the certificates to me and I’ll pass them on.”
That’s fine, send them a set. But don’t let that replace your individual follow-up emails. You’ve just spent an hour sharing your knowledge with these people, and you deserve the opportunity to build on that connection.
Explain that you’ll also email each attendee their certificate and resources, so they can come straight back to you with questions.
Keep the email short and friendly. Thank them for coming, send what you promised and ask how they found the session. You don’t need a feedback form for that. A simple reply can tell you far more than a score out of five.
You don’t have to write thirty emails by hand
Personalised follow-up doesn’t need to take all afternoon.
Use something like Generate to create the certificates and send an individual email to each attendee. You can have different templates for different CPDs, with the right resources included.
Spend a bit of time getting those templates right. Write the sort of email you’d actually send to someone you’ve just met. A short thank-you from the presenter is plenty. You don’t need a big marketing email full of banners and buttons.
If you had a specific conversation with someone, follow that up separately. Mention the detail you discussed or send the resource you offered. That’s worth a few minutes of your time.
Don’t make everyone wait for one technical answer
You’ll sometimes get a question you need to take back to a colleague. That’s absolutely fine, provided you actually come back with an answer.
Keep a list of what was asked, who asked it and who you’re waiting on. Sending the question to your technical team doesn’t mean it’s finished. You still need to make sure someone replies.
I’ve had questions get stuck here. You send an email, your colleague is busy, you get distracted and the attendee never hears another word.
Keep an eye on it. If it’s taking a while, let the person know you’re still chasing.
But don’t hold up the certificates, slides and everything else while you wait. Send the normal follow-up, then deal with the outstanding question separately.
Connect with the attendees on LinkedIn
This is a big one. I’d really encourage you to make it part of your routine.
Find the people who attended and send a connection request, with a short, personal thank-you. If you talked about something specific, mention it. Make it easy for them to place you.
Then post useful content regularly.
I used to make two-minute explainer videos. I’d take a technical question and explain it out loud, keeping it fun, personal and easy to understand.
The questions people asked in CPDs gave me loads of ideas. If someone had needed me to explain it in the session, there were probably other people who would find the answer useful too.
It worked. People kept seeing me, kept learning something and remembered who to come back to when they needed help. It led to a lot of recall and business.
You don’t have to make videos if that’s not your thing. But give the people you’ve connected with something worth reading or watching. If all they see afterwards is product promotions, you’re wasting a good opportunity.
And pay for the lunch
Please don’t forget this bit.
If you’ve agreed to reimburse the practice, make sure it happens promptly. Send accounts whatever they need and check the payment has actually gone through.
Leaving someone chasing their lunch money for weeks can leave a sour taste. Sorry.
It might be an accounts error, a missing receipt or an invoice that’s gone to the wrong person. Whatever it is, the coordinator shouldn’t have to keep chasing you to get it sorted.
You’ve put all that effort into delivering a good CPD. Don’t let an unpaid sandwich bill be what they remember.
Leave time for all of this
When you put a CPD in your diary, allow for the follow-up as well as the presentation and travel.
Before you leave:
Check the attendee list and any names you can’t read.
Write down the questions and resources you’ve promised to follow up.
Speak to the coordinator about the next session.
Then, the same day:
Send the individual certificates and resources.
Pass technical questions to the right person and keep track of them.
Connect with attendees on LinkedIn and thank them for coming.
Sort out any lunch reimbursement.
Get the templates and process in place and it becomes a perfectly manageable part of delivering a CPD. Much easier than spending Friday afternoon trying to remember who asked you what on Tuesday.
If certificates and follow-up emails are the bit you keep putting off, ask us about Generate. And if you need the next CPD in your series, get in touch. We can help with that too.
