Lecture Build Guide

Under WAC 246-851-160 and the Optometry Board's rules (WAC 246-851-150), continuing education for a Washington optometrist must be directly related to the clinical practice of optometry — diagnosis, treatment, ocular disease, pharmacology, refraction, binocular vision, public health, ethics, or practice management as it relates to patient care.

A lecture qualifies for credit when it meets all of the following:

• ✓Clinically relevant subject matter taught at a doctoral level — not patient-education or sales content.
• ✓Delivered by a qualified instructor (typically an O.D., M.D., Ph.D., or recognized subject-matter expert) whose CV supports the topic.
• ✓Defined learning objectives that the participant should be able to demonstrate by the end of the session.
• ✓A measurable duration in 50- or 60-minute contact hours (do not count breaks, meals, or unrelated business).
• ✓An attendance record sufficient to prove who was present for the full session.
• ✓Source documentation retained for at least 4 years per WAC 246-12-210 — slide deck, signed sign-in sheet, presenter CV, and recording when applicable.

COPE accreditation is not required for a Washington licensee to count hours, but non-COPE courses are more likely to be scrutinized in an audit — so the documentation standard is higher, not lower. Build every lecture as if it will be audited.

• ✓Pick one clinical question the lecture will answer. If you cannot finish the sentence "After this hour, the attendee will be able to ___," the topic is not scoped yet.
• ✓Write 3–5 learning objectives in measurable language (identify, differentiate, manage, prescribe, refer). These go on the certificate and the audit file.
• ✓Decide the CE category: general, ocular disease/treatment, pharmacology, or ethics/jurisprudence. Pharmacology hours have a per-renewal cap — confirm with the admin before promising a category.
• ✓Confirm there is no commercial bias. If a product or device is discussed, disclose any financial relationship and present alternatives.
• ✓Submit the proposal through Suggest a Lecture so the admin can schedule and pre-build the audit folder.

The most reliable structure for a 1-hour clinical lecture:

Two-hour lectures should be split into two of these arcs with a real break between them, not stretched.

• ✓Plan for roughly one slide per minute as a ceiling — fewer is almost always better. 45–60 slides for a one-hour lecture is plenty.
• ✓One idea per slide. If you read a slide and it makes two arguments, split it.
• ✓Six-by-six rule for text slides: no more than six lines, no more than six words per line. Speaker notes carry the rest.
• ✓Use real clinical images at the largest size the slide allows. Label findings directly on the image rather than in a separate caption block.
• ✓Pause for 3–5 seconds after each new image or graph before speaking — let the audience read it.
• ✓Rehearse out loud at least once with a timer. If you finish more than 5 minutes early or late, restructure rather than ad-lib.

Peer-led C.E. only works if attenders are active. Build at least three engagement moments into a one-hour lecture:

• ✓Open with a clinical poll — "How many of you saw a case like this in the last month?" — to anchor the topic to real practice.
• ✓Mid-lecture case challenge: present the work-up, pause, ask the room what they would do next, then reveal the actual management.
• ✓Reserve genuine Q&A time. Do not bury Q&A as a slide you skip when you run long; protect it with a hard timer.
• ✓Invite dissent. The strongest sessions surface where reasonable optometrists disagree on management.
• ✓For remote attenders, repeat in-room questions into the microphone before answering and watch the chat between case transitions.

• ✓Anchor recommendations in peer-reviewed sources, current AAO Preferred Practice Patterns, FDA labeling, or established clinical guidelines. Cite on the slide where the claim appears.
• ✓Distinguish on-label, off-label, and investigational uses explicitly when discussing drugs or devices.
• ✓Disclose all relevant financial relationships (consulting, speakers bureaus, equity, royalties) on slide 2. "Nothing to disclose" is also a disclosure — say it.
• ✓When a single brand is discussed, name the drug class and at least one alternative. Audit reviewers look for this.
• ✓Avoid promotional language ("the only," "the best," "the gold standard") unless you can cite a study that supports it.

Every presenter is responsible for completing the audit folder for their own lecture through the member portal audit wizard. Retention is 4 years from the end of the calendar year in which the lecture was given (WAC 246-12-210).

• ✓Presenter CV — current, dated, showing the qualifications relevant to this topic.
• ✓Final slide deck as delivered (PDF preferred). If slides were updated after delivery, save the as-delivered version.
• ✓Written learning objectives and the lecture description used to advertise the session.
• ✓Signed sign-in sheet or digital attendance log with full legal names, license numbers, and signatures.
• ✓Recording, if the session was recorded, uploaded to the secure vault.
• ✓Disclosure statement(s) shown to the audience.
• ✓Reference list / bibliography of sources cited.

• ✓Objectives appear on slide 3 and again on the summary slide — and you can actually deliver on all of them.
• ✓You have rehearsed the full talk at least once, on time, out loud.
• ✓Every image is high-resolution and readable from the back of the room.
• ✓Every clinical claim has a source you can name if asked.
• ✓You have at least three engagement points planned.
• ✓The audit folder is pre-loaded with your CV, deck, and objectives before the lecture starts — only the sign-in sheet should be added afterward.
• ✓You know which CE category the lecture falls into and how many hours it is worth.

• ✓Upload the signed sign-in sheet and (if applicable) the recording within 7 days through the audit wizard.
• ✓Review the admin-issued certificate for accuracy — title, date, hours, category, instructor name.
• ✓File feedback from attenders in your own notes. Recurring questions usually point to the next lecture topic.
• ✓If anything in the talk changes materially (a drug pulled, a guideline updated), note it in the audit folder so a future auditor sees the lecture in context.