The Zig Zag World of a CMEpalooza Sponsorship

I had one of the stranger CMEpalooza-related conversations of my life over the weekend. I was in one of those interminable zig zag lines where you go back and forth…back and forth…back and forth…only to get to what looks like the end of the line but then find that you are merely getting dumped into another zig zag maze. It’s a psychological horror show, and yet we often voluntarily subject ourselves to it over and over again. The amusement park, passport control in the airport, ordering food at the ballpark — I can’t imagine how much time I have wasted in line just this past month!

Anyway, as I was zigging and zagging in one direction on Sunday, a man with his wife, adult daughter, and grandkids was zigging and zagging the other way. After we had passed each other maybe, I dunno, 10 or 11 times, the man stopped me to ask “I keep looking at your shirt and wondering, what is the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge? It looks pretty awesome.”

Now before you think I am some sort of celebrity that gets recognized in public everywhere I go (that would be Derek – he is the Taylor Swift of Chestnut Hill) I should back up for a second and acknowledge that I was wearing my Spring 2025 CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge (sponsored by Talem Health) t-shirt. I know I have mentioned this before, but these t-shirts are super comfortable and quite breathable on a hot summer day. If you don’t have one, you should totally enter this Fall’s STEPtacular Challenge and get one. Did I mention that they are free to everyone who enters?

Anyway, I knew I had about 30 seconds to respond to this kind gentleman’s question before we zigged and zagged out of earshot. So I started with Part 1.

CMEpalooza is a biannual online conference that I co-produce. It is geared to people who plan and create continuing education programs for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.

“So CMEpalooza is for doctors?” he asked, seemingly familiar with the healthcare world (I’m guessing he was a physician, though I don’t know for sure). “It’s a way for them to get CME credits?”

No, not exactly. CMEpalooza is for the people who develop the programs through which doctors and other providers can get credits. People in academic centers, who work for associations, medical education companies, pharma folks – people like that.

I zigged. He zagged. Five minutes later, the conversation continued.

“So what about this STEPtacular Challenge?” he inquired. “What’s that all about?”

It’s this event we hold a week or so before each of our live broadcast days. You just have to send us a screenshot of whatever app you use to count your steps. Any day you reach 10,000 steps or more, you can enter. We give away a few hundred dollars worth of prizes. It’s open to anyone who wants to enter. Win or lose, you get one of these amazingly comfortable t-shirts just for entering.

I zigged. He zagged. Five minutes later, the conversation continued.

“So what I hear you saying is that I could have turned on my step counter the moment I stepped into this $@%#-ing zig zag line and I would have gotten enough steps in to enter? How do you afford all of these prizes?”

(Turns around to show back of the t-shirt)

You see how it says ‘Sponsored by Talem Health?’ They sponsor the STEPtacular Challenge every year and provide the financial support to allow it to happen. We have lots of great sponsors of CMEpalooza — they are one of them.

(Whispering to his daughter, who it seemed was also a healthcare provider) “Maybe we should check out this CMEpalooza thing. Assuming we ever get to the end of this $@%#-ing zig zag line.”

Becoming a sponsor of CMEpalooza doesn’t require jumping through hoops, filling out endless forms, or yes, zig zagging through another interminable line. I mean, there are currently 28 sponsors of CMEpalooza Fall, and they certainly are all too busy to waste time with any of that. No pressure or anything, but if you want to have any chance of being as popular as Derek is in Chestnut Hill, you might want to consider joining them as a CMEpalooza sponsor.

If you want to see what we currently have available for this Fall, you can check out our current Sponsorship prospectus (also available on our Sponsor tab). Our Fall sponsor event is coming up once the leaves start turning, and I am sure that Derek is already working on his haikus for our higher-level sponsors. I promise we’ll treat you right.