We’re thrilled to announce the second Gold-level sponsor for CMEpalooza Spring, Intelligent Medical Decisions, Inc. They join our previously announced gold sponsor, ArcheMedX, both as top-level sponsors of our spring event as well as new sponsors to CMEpalooza in general. You can get all of the details about Intelligent Medical Decisions, Inc., along with the other current sponsors of CMEpalooza Spring, on our Sponsors page. It’s already a great cross-section of the CME community.

Because of the perks that come with a gold-level sponsorship of our event (namely, the ability to work with Derek and I to develop a specially sponsored session), we are putting the lid on the top level of sponsorship for CMEpalooza Spring. So if it’s something you were considering for the Spring, well, talk to us and we’ll see what we can creatively come up with. Or lock in a gold-level sponsorship for the Fall, which is definitely still available. Lower tiers of sponsorship (Silver and Bronze) are both still available as well for the Spring event.

Stay tuned in the next few days for information about more sponsors of CMEpalooza. If it’s something you are considering, this is a great time to climb aboard. With the abstract selection process opening up in mere hours, we expect a lot of traffic on the CMEpalooza website (and hence, widespread exposure to the CME community).

If you are interested in joining as a sponsor of CMEpalooza Spring or Fall (or both), you can get all of the information on the Sponsor tab of our website.

 

With the clock ticking toward the deadline for submission of CMEpalooza Spring abstracts (it’s Friday, in case you just crawled out from under a snowball), Derek and I have been fielding a veritable barrage of questions (at least 5) from interested parties. To make it easier on everyone, here are some rapid-fire responses:

When is CMEpalooza Spring again?

Wednesday, April 8. Starts at 9 a.m. ET, ends at 5 p.m. ET.

How do I submit an abstract?

Click here for the online submission form

Is (insert your idea here) a good idea for a proposed session?

That’s really not our call. We are not determining the agenda (more on that below). If you think your proposed session is going to be of interest to the broader CME community, then it is probably a good idea. If you don’t, it probably isn’t. This ain’t rocket science.

So wait, if you two aren’t deciding which sessions are approved, who is?

Everyone else. Once the abstract submission closes on Friday, we’ll be putting up descriptions of each proposed session on the CMEpalooza website and allowing everyone to vote for their favorite 5 sessions. The voting window will last for 1 week. The sessions that get the most votes will be included in the Spring lineup. It’s as simple as that.

C’mon, you don’t expect me to believe that you two are going to manipulate the results. 

This isn’t Stalin-era Russia. CMEpalooza is a Democracy. Power to the people.

Can’t you just tell me if you like my idea?

No

Please?

No

OK, fine. But do you have any general suggestions?

I suppose we’ll allow that.

1. Creativity with content and organization of your proposed session is STRONGLY encouraged. While we are not disallowing any proposed session or design, obviously, we’d love sessions that are interesting, fresh, and engaging.

2. Co-presenters are welcome and encouraged. You can have up to four co-presenters, in addition to yourself.

3. Use the abstract submission form to sell your idea. You are going to need to attract the mouse clicks of our community, so feel free to use really cool marketing language in your proposal. We’re not going to be editing these unless your spelling and grammar is really egregious.

Thanks. So if I follow those suggestions, will you approve my session?

I will hurt you.

It was the last session of the day at last week’s ACEHP conference, deep in the early evening as the clock ticked toward 7 p.m. Maybe 15, maybe 20 people were in the room. Everyone else? Maybe at the bar, maybe in their rooms, maybe even already eating dinner.

Yet for the small group of us who stuck it out (I’m no hero here, by the way. I napped from 3-4 p.m. thank you very much), it was about as energizing a dynamic as you’ll find at a live conference. People from different professional sectors within CE — providers and grantors, writers and accreditation specialists, it really ran the gamut — talking through common case study scenarios. Everyone offered their input and viewpoints, running through the pros and cons of the tough decisions that need to be made every day in our world.

No one in the room was looking at their phones or checking their emails. They were all in the moment.

It’s what education is all about. While there are certainly other outstanding sessions each year at the annual Alliance conference (including my annual favorite session with Carol Havens, who controls a room like few other speakers I have ever seen), it’s the real-life discussions that make the education resonate. It’s what we strive for as professional educators — how can we reach learners in a manner that will really matter to them in their day-to-day world of patient care?

And it’s exactly the type of thing we’re striving for with CMEpalooza.

Admittedly, we’re taking a chance with our approach for the spring extravaganza. The program is only going to be as good as the abstracts that come our way. Derek and I have been poking and prodding to try to get people to think creatively, and yes, there are many who have promised they are putting something together to submit. We know the drill — the deadline for submissions is Jan. 30 (get all the info here). The majority of submissions will come in on Jan. 30. At 11:59. Pacific Time. And that’s OK.

As you think about a possible abstract for CMEpalooza Spring, think about the session I described earlier. It was hardly fancy — just a few simple real-world situations being discussed by a handful of folks who probably didn’t even know each other, at least not well. But fancy doesn’t mean ineffective. In fact, the simplest sessions are often the most effective.