The word "Seminar" comes from the Latin word "semen," meaning "seed." Just as a seed helps the plant to grow, Seminars help professionals to grow by unlocking their full potential.

Seminars are discussion forums in which small groups of students interact with a teacher to discuss a specific topic. Since the mid '90s, with the advent of the Internet, `face-to-face' or `in-person' Seminars are increasingly supported or sometimes even replaced by `computer aided' ones. The latter don't require participant's in-person attendance.

Whether face-to-face or computer-aided, NCE Seminars are events where professional people discuss problem-solving approaches. They may review case studies, participate in role play or computer-assisted simulations, attend lectures, participate in roundtable discussions with experts or take tests and exams. They acquire powerful learning experience applicable to new situations. NCE Seminars offer tremendous possibilities for nurses to actively collaborate with expert faculty and peers [from different states or countries] under one roof.

Seminars usually last one or two days. Face-to-face Seminars often provide a continental breakfast and/or lunch to the participants.

As far as face-to-face Seminars are concerned, most often, participants from different areas gather at one place, say a teaching hospital, where experts are invited and Seminars held. Some Seminars are tailor-made to suit the specific requirements of the participants in any one area or hospital, and held in-house in this location. Such Seminars have great advantages, as they address specific issues that are unique to the organization. If the participants are large in number, an on-site Seminar is more economical.

There are Seminars that are held exclusively for the benefit of earning credits and provide some kind of measurable results to the participants.

Using Internet search tools, one can search for Seminars by topic or by region and choose from an array of them. There are several Seminar providers whose curriculum includes hundreds of courses to choose from.