Crazy things happen when the CMEpalooza Company Spotlight turns on.

People lose their train of thought, reduced to bumbling idiots (or in Derek’s case, more of a bumbling idiot). They tell you about things they wouldn’t dare tell anyone at a cocktail party (“Um, what’s a CME?”). You just don’t know.

Now that we’ve piqued your interest, come join us at noon today for our inaugural company spotlight when we throw the team from Educational Measures under the microscope to learn about ways they are using their technologies to improve the delivery of CME in a variety of settings.

Just swing on over to the LIVE tab on the website to watch the live broadcast. As with our typical CMEpalooza sessions, you’ll be able to ask questions of our panelists during the broadcast and be dazzled with our fancy wardrobes.

Put down your grog of ale for a moment and listen up lads and lassies!

It’s taken a little bit longer than we had hoped, but Derek and I are thrilled to finally be able to present to everyone our CMEpalooza Fall agenda. We took into account feedback we had received from past Palooza participants and tried hard to come up with an interesting mix of topics and faculty. Needless to say, we are tickled with what we’ve been able to put together.

Here is what you’ll find on Wednesday, October 21:

• Six 1-hour panel sessions, with 1 more open lunchtime slot for a second Gold sponsor to join Genentech (if you are interested in becoming that second Gold sponsor, the details on how to do so are here)
• Lots of fresh faces to CMEpalooza. While there are a couple folks who will be back for a second or third time around, we’ve mostly tried to bring in new people with a new perspective on the world of CME. We’ve even got an international contingent (if you consider Canada to be international)
• Several new formats, including the inaugural CMEpalooza Pecha Kucha (what’s a Pecha Kucha, you ask? An exotic tropical fruit, perhaps?)
• Sessions aimed at folks who work in various settings, including hospitals and hospital systems, member associations, and more.

We’ll be checking in regularly over the next few months with updates on each session, video interviews, learner polls, and other cool things. In the meantime, we’re taking a nap.

As I am sure everyone remembers — or at least the 12 of you who tuned in — a few weeks ago we had a suspense-laden drawing to coincide with the launch of the latest addition to our online family, the CMEpalooza Company Spotlight. At the headquarters of Educational Measures — our winner — we’re told there were champagne corks a-popping, fireworks a-bursting, and high fives a-slapping (or was it just a muted “Oh goody”? I can’t keep these things straight).

Anyway, we’re excited to announce that we’ve agreed upon the date and time for the first of hopefully many Company Spotlights… Wednesday, June 24 from noon-12:30 p.m. ET.

I am sure a lot of you are scratching your heads wondering why exactly you’ll want to tune in and what exactly we’ll be talking about. And while I won’t give away too many secrets, as with all of the Company Spotlights we’ll hopefully be broadcasting (your organization can get one of your own by going here), the focus will be on the cool kinds of things our featured company is involved in. So for Educational Measures, you’ll probably hear about how audience response technology is evolving, the right way (and the wrong way) to take advantage of the technology they provide, and how they are changing to meet the shifting needs and wants of today’s learners.

Rest assured this is not a capabilities presentation. While there surely is a promotional element to it, our goal is to highlight the cool and interesting things Educational Measures is involved in and not to bore anyone with slides and numbers and company-speak. I’ll be moderating (Derek will probably be there in the background looking like a schlub, as usual) to make sure we touch upon topics that our community will be interested in hearing about. There will be opportunities for our audience to ask questions as well, just like in our other CMEpalooza events.

While we hope you can join us live, each Company Spotlight will also endure on our website, as well as YouTube for anyone who wants to check it out once the camera lights blinks red (ie, I hit the “End broadcast” button).

Wednesday, June 24. Noon ET. Tell your friends.