Planning Your Meeting - Step by Step

Meeting planners or program chairs wishing to request CME sponsorship from the Department of Medical Education at Nicklaus Children's Hospital for their planned educational activities are required to follow the steps and timeline below in starting the application process. Click on the links below to be directed to a step-by-step planning process for your CME activity.

6 months before activity
Activity Chair and Planner(s)
  1. Activity Chair completes and submits a CME Activity Request Form.
  2. Activity Chair and all Planners shall complete and submit a CME Disclosure Form.
  3. Activity Chair reviews the Course Director's Responsibilities
5 months before activity
Activity Chair, CME Director, and Committee

Activity Chair awaits notification of approval of Activity Request. All COIs should be resolved prior to proceeding with the planning process.

Activity Chair and CME Staff
  1. Schedule a meeting with CME Staff to discuss steps and CME Checklist deadlines.
  2. CME Department provides an orientation to the Nicklaus CME website, forms, and roles.
4-5 months before activity
Activity Chair

Once all COIs of activity director and planner are resolved, complete and submit a CME Application Form along with the following documents:

  1. Draft agenda
  2. List of confirmed speakers
  3. Proposed Budget (Contact the CME Department for the template.)
  4. Marketing Materials (when ready) for review
  5. AV Request Form
  6. Proposed Evaluation Forms

If activity is a Regularly Scheduled Series, the activity chair must complete one of the following:

  1. CME Application Form for the entire series, if the sessions have the same theme
  2. CME Application Form for the entire series and an RSS addendum for each session, if the sessions vary in theme
CME Staff

The CME Department designs the activity's registration site or dedicated landing page based on feedback from the Activity Chair and Planners.

4 months before activity
Activity Chair

If soliciting educational grants or exhibitor support, submit one of the following:

  1. Educational grants - A signed Written Agreement for Commercial Support for each commercial entity
  2. Exhibitors - A signed exhibitor agreement

Please note that there are differences in policy between exhibitors and educational grants. All grants requests and exhibitor agreements MUST be reviewed by CME staff prior to execution in order to ensure compliance.

CME Staff

The CME Department sends letters to faculty to collect faculty disclosures, CVs, and other documents.

2 months before activity
Activity Chair or Planner(s)

OPTIONAL - Submit a revised preliminary budget.

CME Director and Activity Chair

The CME Director and Activity Chair review all faculty disclosures for potential conflicts of interest and relevant financial relationships. The CME Director decides on the mechanism for resolution of any conflicts of interest, which will be logged in a COI Resolution/Peer Review Form.

During the activity
Activity Planner(s)
  1. Maintain accurate sign-in sheets.
  2. Collect evaluation sheets from attendees:
    1. Faculty Evaluation
    2. Activity Evaluation
    3. Pre and Post Surveys
Activity Chair, Activity Planner, or Moderator

The activity moderator(s) complete a Written Attestation of Live Disclosures.

2 weeks after activity
Activity Planner(s)

Submit all sign-in sheets, evaluations, and forms collected during the event to the CME Department.

1 month after activity
CME Staff
  1. The CME Department grants CME credits based on attendance records, sign-in sheets, and/or evaluation forms.
  2. Emails are sent to attendees with instructions on claiming their CME certificates.
2 months after activity
Activity Chair or Planner(s)
  1. Submit copies of final syllabus and/or handouts.
  2. Submit a final budget report. (Contact the CME Department for the template.)
CME Staff

The CME staff distributes the Evaluation Summary Reports to CME Director (and optionally, to the Activity Chair).

  • Speaker Valuation by Learners
  • Event Evaluation by Learners
  • Pre/Post Survey Gap Analysis Report
3 months after activity
Activity Chair

If applicable, consider a 3-month Post-Activity Survey to assess practice change.

4 months after activity
Activity Chair or Planner(s)

Submit an Activity Improvement Plan using the PDSA Documentation Form.