Feeling Down? Here is the Cure

CMEpalooza withdrawal (N): That empty feeling in the pit of your stomach that persists for 2-4 weeks after each live CMEpalooza broadcast. Often accompanied by the need to write grant proposals in haiku form.

CMEpalooza withdrawal is a syndrome that has not yet been widely appreciated in the medical community, although Derek and I have received more and more clinician referrals in recent years. Despite the abundance of online conferences for the CME community available this spring, we nonetheless received more than a dozen inquiries over the last few weeks asking if there was any cure for this ailment.

There is, of course. Which I’ll get to in a second.

But first, some big big news. OK, it’s probably very little little news, but it’s nonetheless enough for a special announcement.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Bye bye CMEpalooza. And hello CMEpalooza™.

Yes, that’s right, we are officially a trademarked entity according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office! When Derek proposed applying for a trademark last summer (I forget why – that’s how long ago it was [note from Derek: I don’t remember either. I’m sure it was a very important reason though.]), I figured it would be no big thing. Well, it was, and it wasn’t.

I don’t know how many of you have ever applied for a trademark, but as with everything that has to do with the government, there are VERY SPECIFIC regulations that need to be followed. Not only do you have to cross every T and dot every I, but you need to use the right font and character size too. Get anything wrong and it’s back to square one (which means waiting 4 months for another official review after you correct your errors). In the meantime, have fun scrolling through the dozens of emails you’ll get every day from law firms who are just dying to help you, all for the low low price of $500.

I’m actually rather proud of myself that we only got dinged once for some inconsequential error and that I managed to complete the process without the help of any of those pesky (but I’m sure super helpful) law firms. Our initial submission went in on August 16 and we received the official notice on April 13 that our application was approved. That’s only 8 months. I’ve had grant requests that languished in supporter portals for longer than that!

If anyone ever wants any help or advice on the trademark application process, I’m available (for the low low price of $500). And for all of you who had designs on usurping the CMEpalooza™ for your own commercial purposes, well, just stop it. Or Derek will hire a lawyer to, er, do something.

OK, that’s announcement No. 1, and probably has left you wondering, “I just read four paragraphs about this because…” Our second announcement should be a little more notable.

For everyone suffering from CMEpalooza™ withdrawal, we have good news – more CMEpalooza™! (I’ll stop with the trademark symbol now – you get the gist)

Yes, we have a special CMEpalooza Spotlight on the calendar with the fine folks at Daiichi Sankyo that is scheduled for 11 am ET on Wednesday, June 23. It’s still a ways away, but it’ll hopefully give you something to look forward to. In that special 35-40 minute session, we’ll be talking about “Innovations in CE: A Supporter’s Perspective on Using RFPs to Enhance Public Health.” This is our first-ever Spotlight with a supporter team, and I think it’ll provide an interesting perspective on some of the inner workings of a grant team during a time of crisis (ie, COVID). We’ll remind you more about this special broadcast as the date gets closer, but it’s probably good to set this time aside now since it’s going to be 95 degrees that morning and your air conditioning is probably going to be on the fritz.

Anything else you want to announce, Derek? (note from Derek: Nope.) (note from Scott: Derek is like the color guy from Major League. That’s why he gets paid the big bucks)