So I took a trip down Ol’ Memory Lane last night and called up the very first live online broadcast I ever moderated/produced, even before the days of CMEpalooza. This was way way back in 2013, so only eight years ago, but it honestly seems like much farther in the distant past. It’s kinda cool that you can still dial this up on YouTube. One of the big reasons that Derek and I initially used Google Hangouts On Air and now StreamYard as our platform is that it links directly to YouTube, so archiving things takes exactly zero effort. Which is a great thing for lazy people. Not that we’re lazy… OK, maybe we are sometimes.
Anyway, what struck me while watching this – besides the fact that I had more hair — is how little has changed in the look and feel of what we’re doing with some of our live online broadcasts. Yes, I know that some providers will create really fancy set designs and bring faculty in studio (or at least they used to), but most of what I see these days really looks and feels quite similar to what you see here from the earliest days of live, online CME.
Certainly, we’ve advanced in a few ways. For one, we can actually ask and receive responses to Audience Response Questions now. In 2013, that wasn’t really possible — or if it was, it was beyond my brainpower to figure out. I think we did get some live questions from the audience later in this series through YouTube comments, but obviously that’s common these days. Secondly, we’ve largely been able to thankfully ditch those clunky headsets. Audio and video quality is much more predictable, though still not perfect.
Otherwise, though, not much has changed. You still have physicians participating from their very crowded offices, or homes, or hotel rooms. You still have slides and cases and discussions. You still have the little squares of everyone on video. You still have faculty who don’t look at their cameras.
Good times all around.
With that nostalgia behind me, let’s turn to something more important – today’s deadline for the submission of your Cluedo Palooza forms. I get it, you inherited oodles of money from your oil baron Uncle Cletus, but still, couldn’t you use a $100 Amazon gift card? We’re giving away 5 of them. And it’s not like your chances of winning are miniscule – they are actually pretty darn good (though no promises). So set aside 15 minutes or so today over your lunch break and learn a little.
CMEPALOOZA 