When I twisted Derek’s arm last summer to convince him to go after sponsors for our fall event, I had to pretend I was full of confidence. “Of course we’ll get people to sponsor this. We’re cool, we’re hip, we’re trendy, and besides, people like us.” Once I set aside the Stuart Smalley routine (random Saturday Night Live reference), I had to admit the truth. I really didn’t know. The few other people I told about the plan to try to sell sponsorships were dubious, even if they didn’t come right out to say it.

But then one sponsor signed on. And another. And another. We ended up with 10 sponsors and even came up with a few wrinkles along the way to add value to each sponsorship. There was information on our website, regular mentions on social media, and then brief shout-outs prior to the start of each of the live CMEpalooza Fall sessions (still archived for viewing here, by the way).

When we talked to our sponsors after the fall event ended, they all seemed pleased with the value they received. I’m not even sure they knew what to expect, but the traffic we were able to generate to the CMEpalooza website and the eyes and ears we had on our event hopefully meant a valuable trickle down to our sponsors. And it’s not like we were charging a king’s ransom either.

So we’re trying again in 2015, and adding in a few new wrinkles from the get-go. You can check out our Sponsorship prospectus on the Sponsor tab. You can also check out a cool infographic (from infograph-ed) that was produced to illustrate some of the key data points from the fall event.

Derek and I will be trolling the hallways in Dallas, er, Grapevine, during the upcoming ACEHP meeting and we’ll of course be happy to answer any questions about anything CMEpalooza. Derek will be writing in the next few days to whet your appetite for our Thursday afternoon session, Hangin’ with Mr. Google, which will certainly touch on CMEpalooza (along with other things).

But you don’t even have to wait until then if your company is interested in sponsoring CMEpalooza Spring, Fall, or both. You can be a sponsor today by filing out the form at the back of the prospectus. The earlier you sign up, the sooner and the more you’ll be recognized via our various social media channels. Maybe we’ll even create a secret hallway handshake for our early-bird sponsors. Because we’re cool, we’re hip, and… well, you know the rest.

Both Derek and I have the good (usually) fortune of being parents to young children. As any parent will tell you, one of the most rewarding and interesting experiences is watching your son or daughter develop their own personalities, their own interests, and their own identity.

While CMEpalooza doesn’t cry, complain, or beg to “Stay up just another 15 minutes, PLLLLEEEAASSSEEE,” watching as this new endeavor slowly matures and evolves has its own set of rewards. What started as an idea Derek thought up while eating his Count Chocula one morning has grown from a “do-it-myself-and-let’s-see-if-anyone-really-notices” thing to an event that is eagerly anticipated and guaranteed to reach a broad swath of the CME community.

So for those wondering if CMEpalooza Spring and Fall are happening again, yes, of course they are. The dates were released last week – Wednesday, April 8 and Wednesday, October 21. We’ve sent in our application to make these federal holidays so that everyone can enjoy the festivities without having to worry about pesky work getting in the way, but you might want to put a grueling all-day meeting into your calendars just in case the wheels of government move more slowly than we hope.

Here is what we have in store for our centerpiece Spring extravaganza (note: CMEpalooza Spring is different than CMEpalooza Fall. This is actually our second CMEpalooza Spring, though it was only called “CMEpalooza” the first time around because no one anticipated it would last long enough to have multiple versions).

What is staying the same:

1. CMEpalooza Spring will continue to be free for our learning audience. This won’t change. Ever.
2. We’ll still use Google Hangout On Air as our delivery platform, giving learners the ability to watch every session both in real time and upon its conclusion at their leisure.
3. You’ll see presenters from a range of backgrounds and professional settings offering their thoughts and insights into our evolving world.

What is changing:

1. It’s one day instead of two. Easier for the moderators and less of a hassle for learners
2. The abstract application process has more defined guidelines. Last year, if you wanted in, you were in. We’re going to be a little more selective this year.
3. The agenda is going to be crowdsourced by the CME/CE community. Unlike CMEpalooza Fall, Big Brothers (Derek and I) will not be deciding the topics and speakers.

Here is how the abstract process is going to work:

1. If you are interested in leading a session for CMEpalooza Spring, click on the “Presenter” tab. That will take you to our online submission process. Creativity and innovation are strongly encouraged. We like to think that CMEpalooza is an out-of-the-box meeting so we are hoping for out-of-the-box sessions. There are full details on the “Presenter” page to give you a better sense of what we are looking for.
2. Abstracts can be submitted until midnight on Friday, January 30.
3. We will post details on all of the submitted abstracts somewhere on the website and open up voting on the agenda. You will be able to pick the top 4 or 5 sessions you’d like to be included in CMEpalooza Spring. The abstracts that get the most votes will get onto the agenda. Simple.
4. We’ll contact those individuals who make the cut and put together the official schedule (and, obviously, we’ll make the announcement to the world via a Fox prime-time special right in the middle of American Idol)

Now it’s up to you. Think about what you’ve seen with the first year of CMEpalooza. Think about the Google Hangout platform and how it may be best utilized. Think about online education you’ve previously been a part of planning and how you can take the best of what you’ve worked on and put it into action.

We got comments and feedback from many of you on ways we can improve the experience, but our program is only as good as our presenters. We’ll post some more tips and hints in the coming weeks to try to get your creative juices flowing, and for those going to Dallas for the ACEHP meeting, we’ll be around (and don’t miss our session, Hanging with Mr. Google (On Air) Thursday at 1:15 p.m.) to answer questions and drum up excitement.

And now back to yelling at someone for hitting their sister.

In the months leading up to CMEpalooza Fall, we were often asked, “How many people attended the inaugural spring CMEpalooza? And how many do you expect at this one?”

Our answers? “We’re really not sure.” And, “We’re really not sure.”

So much for a data-driven industry.

This time around, however, we have a much better handle on these sorts of things. And 7 hours of education later (with a few days to decompress and let the numbers sink in), we’re happy to report the following:

• The CMEpalooza website attracted 449 unique visitors and 3,042 page views on the day of the event, both daily records for the site.
• There were between 64 and 103 live viewers at any given time for our 7 sessions (note: one viewer can sometimes equal greater than one participant. See first bullet point under the survey data description below). The most viewed live panel was our “Have We Forgotten About the Content in Continuing Medical Education?” session. On average, the live audience for CMEpalooza was about double what we saw for the spring event.
• According to YouTube, there have been 1,343 views of our sessions. Currently, the most viewed session is “The Future of CME: What Will CME/CPD Look Like in 5-10 Years?”
• Since we announced the date and format of CMEpalooza Fall on May 13, we had 10,388 page views to this website. Some days (namely, the weekends), we only had 10-20 folks who came to the site, while most weekdays, especially when new content was made available, we ranged between 50-150 page views.

In addition to this raw data, we also received completed surveys from 116 individuals (thank you to all of them). If you didn’t complete one, there is still time. Go here.

Here is what we learned so far:

• Of the survey cohort, the majority (90%) watched CMEpalooza alone, although there were several large groups, some with as many as 25 individuals who gathered to marvel at the wisdom of our panelists.
• Our audience was diverse, with 38% from medical education companies, 12% from both hospitals and medical schools, 8% from both industry and medical associations/foundations, 7% from medical specialty societies, and 16% from the mysterious “other” category
• People gave us a lot of feedback about CMEpalooza Fall, such as:

I think it would be nice to have some presentations on the nuts and bolts of things, like QI – maybe the project manager who actually worked through the QI project and not the CEO or Dean who just oversaw the process. (Our response: Yes, always good to remember that people in the trenches have lots to teach as well)

I think this is a great initiative — steep climb to make changes in entrenched system (Our response: The more we do it, the easier the climb)

Can’t afford to attend in person meetings for CME education/providers so this is so welcome and appreciated! (Our response: The “free” thing is good for sure)

CMEpalooza Fall is AWESOME (Our response: With a capital ‘A’)

Need more controversy! How about a debate next year? (Our response: Next year? There is going to be a next year? Well, OK, if you insist)

I love eggs (Our response: We love bacon)

Number of times the word “love” was used in feedback for CMEpalooza Fall: 8 (Our response: You’re pretty OK, too!)

As with any robust data set, there are many ways these numbers can be cut up and presented, and we’ll likely do some cutting to get a better handle on our audience as we attempt to build on our success for next year (wait, next year? There’s going to be a next year? OK, fine, fine).