I was at the CME Congress in Toronto last week, where there was lots of talk about core competencies for various types of physicians--the things they absolutely have to know to do their jobs. There also was a lot of discussion about what the docs think they know versus their real knowledge base, and ways docs can self-test (usually through a Web site) to determine whether or not they needed to learn what a particular activity covered (went to a very good session on this and would be glad to share--please e-mail me if you'd like particulars).
Just curious how that might translate to meeting professionals:
What would you say are the core competencies meeting professionals must have?
How would you feel if those who provide your continuing education provided voluntary, anonymous self-tests you could take to learn which of these core competencies in reality may need honing and which you're already up to snuff on, regardless of where you think your skill levels are in each of the areas?
Personally, I'd love to see this in my profession, because what I think I'm good at and what I'm actually good at may very well be two different things. (Of course, the stuff I probably should bone up on is probably the boring stuff and not the cool sessions I'd want to go to at a meeting--that'd be the downside. But it would probably guilt me into going.) While this goes a little against my philosophy that people should be encouraged to do more of what they're good at instead of forced to improve what they're bad at, I do think there are basics that everyone in a profession must know to be able to do their job, and this could be a relatively objective way to gauge what someone's real learning needs are.
What do you all think?