When the first one came, I ignored it. Same with the second, and third, and fourth. But when the requests filled up my inbox and the hashtag #5minuteswithderek started trending on Twitter, I could deprive his fans no longer.

And so here it is… your “5 Minutes With Derek Warnick.”

Among the things you’ll learn:

• Why he refused the award when People magazine told him he has been voted America’s Sexiest Man in 2011
• How he maintains his status as a chess grandmaster despite a full-time job and family
• What he has in common with President Obama

OK, you won’t learn any of those things. But it’s probably just because he doesn’t like talking about them. What will you learn then? You’ll have to watch.

It’s always nice when our CMEpalooza Spring participants dress up for their on-screen appearances. It’s even better when they fly in a stylist from Milan, employ a wardrobe coach to overhaul their closets, and spend thousands of dollars on sparkly new jewelry. Not that the latest victim (er, subject) of our “5 Minutes with…” series did any of that, but those of you who know Karen Roy will have to agree that she is the most stylish of our moderators yet. Apologies to everyone else who was vying for the crown.

Karen, who is Principal of the Ardgillan Group and a CMEpalooza 3-timer, is moderating our 3 p.m. ET session entitled “Style and Substance:  The Evolution of Content Presentation in Medical Education.” A few fun things you’ll learn during the course of our 5 minute-ish interview:

• How close the world came to “Good morning, Miss Karen. I’ve got to go poop!”
• Why we’re innovative in designing education and measuring outcomes, but stagnant in organizing and presenting content
• The accent? It’s fake

Oh, and that’s a root beer in my hands folks! Though we’d be happy to have a sponsor come along who wants to have an “Official Beer of CMEpalooza.” I am sure we could come up with a very inexpensive arrangement.

The CMEpalooza Spring countdown is into the single digits (9 days from today!), which means that our presenters are starting to get serious thinking about their sessions. Derek and I aren’t meanies who require slides weeks and months in advance. Not that either of us has created a presentation on a plane the day before the event — no, of course not, not us — but we recognize that it happens sometimes. To other people. Not us. No, of course not.

Nonetheless, we are always impressed with those presentation teams who get their acts together weeks in advance and start coming up with a semi-formal agenda. One of those teams — our 3 p.m. ET session focused on Style and Substance:  The Evolution of Content Presentation in Medical Education — is asking for input from our prospective viewing audience to help guide their session.

If you can please take a few minutes to click on the following link — www.infograph-ed.com/palooza-presentation.html, you’ll be asked to review a few potential presentation components and complete a quick quiz. Consider it your personal favor to us for the day.