Nursing professionals must commit to a lifelong pursuit of continuing education to achieve and maintain competence in their practice. 2. When pursuing quality, cost effective continuing education in times of limited financial resources for professional development, many practitioners must consider their educational requirements for relicensure and certification. 3. Prudent educational sponsors devote adequate resources to accurately assess the needs of potential learners to ensure successful programming and minimize costly marketing failures. 4. Participant evaluation and achievement of outcomes serve as the basis for improving and planning future educational activities.