It was another banner day of education for CMEpalooza on Wednesday, with a whirlwind of top-notch education during our Spring event that our audience gobbled up like Cookie Monster with a sleeve of Thin Mints. While there were the usual minor technology glitches (note from Derek: me and Poll Everywhere are not friends at the moment), our faculty was able to seamlessly weather the storm and persevere. We want to thank everyone who participated and contributed to another great day.

And, boy, there were a lot of you who joined us. On the 10-year anniversary of our first live event, CMEpalooza smashed all of our previous attendance records by, well, a lot (please hold as I do the calculations on my fingers and toes).

We had 1,668 people who viewed at least one of our CMEpalooza Spring sessions yesterday, which is a whopping 35.1% increase from our previous record set in Fall 2023. Once again, Derek and I are humbled by the support that we continue to get from the CME community. I don’t know that I’ve met 1,668 people in my entire life, so to see that number of learners showing up on a single day in our online metrics is pretty amazing.

For those of you who missed any of the live presentations, or if you simply want to go back and watch something again (a perfect date night could absolutely involve getting cozy on the couch to Be Curious, Not Judgmental of Your Data with a couple pints of grog), all full recordings of the CMEpalooza Fall sessions are now available for the low, low price of $0. Derek will put them in the session archives once he’s done with his day job.

Thanks again to everyone who tuned in. We’ll be back again in October with CMEpalooza Fall and will pass along news shortly of an additional amazing and very special event later in the year (it’s called building suspense).

Until then, be well everyone.

Sadly, the Food Network stars were unable to attend this morning’s carnival-like event where we drew the winners of the CMEpalooza Gets Chopped sponsor event. Something about a “missing” appearance fee in their contracts — prima donnas.

Nonetheless, indeed, we had balloons, elephants, and funnel cake galore for the thousands of revelers who packed our corporate headquarters for this exciting moment. So without further ado, here are our winners, each of whom received a $100 Amazon gift card.

• Courtney Samples — Continuing Medical Education Coordinator, Legacy Health
• Audrie Tornow — Managing Partner, Excalibur Medical Education
• Cindy Chung — Program Manager, American Society of Clinical Oncology
• Georgeanne Ledgerwood — Medical Librarian/Medical Education Specialist, Accredited Continuing Education, Wellspan Health
• Tori Moser — Education Specialist, Faith Regional Health Services

In addition to these individual winners, we also awarded our first-ever corporate prize to Global Education Group (a $250 Amazon gift card) for having the most successful entries in our event. I am sure everyone will spend their winnings wisely on household staples like toilet paper and shampoo.

Congratulations to our champions.

If you’ve ever watched the Food Network show Chopped, you are likely familiar with the show formula. They set the clock for 20 or 30 minutes depending on the round, have the chefs “open” their basket of ingredients, and then cooking immediately begins. If that sounds hard, it is, though there are a few helpful nudges that aren’t disclosed to viewers (ie, ovens are preheated, a pot of water is put on boil at every station, contestants are given a tutorial on equipment before the show, etc.) (note from Derek: way to ruin the magic, Scott. Geez.).

Still, without fail on every episode, there are always chefs shown scrambling at the last second to plate their dishes before time expires (3…2…1…hands up!). I imagine some of this is constructed by the post-production team to add drama, but I’m also sure that a lot of contestants truly are working until the last second.

Well, with our special Spring sponsor event — CMEpalooza Gets Chopped — we are indeed getting down to those final seconds on the clock. All entries are due to me (scott@excaliburmeded.com) by 5 pm ET today. A few things to keep in mind as you furiously rush to do your research and send in your answer forms – this information was all included in our event announcement on Monday but is worth a revisit:

1. Did you know that there are prizes? OK, maybe we’re not giving out a life-changing $10,000 but we will be disbursing five $100 Amazon gift cards to individuals who successfully submit an entry and are selected in our prize drawing. Our special “10th Anniversary” bonus pool will distribute an additional $250 to the organization with the most completed entries.
2. You can submit up to three entries, but for each entry you need to answer questions about different sponsors. We’ve got 31 current sponsors of CMEpalooza Spring, so there are plenty of options for you.
3. Answers to all of the clues can typically either be found on the sponsor’s homepage or are one click away. I have not yet received any complaints that “this clue was too hard,” so presumably, people are finding all of the answers.
4. As always, one of our sponsors made an announcement after the clue sheet was published that changed one of the clue answers. You won’t even notice it, but believe me, this happens every year.

I think that’s about it. Now hurry to pull your entries together – the clock is most definitely ticking.

(Reminder from Derek: As one event comes to a close, another gets ready to begin. The CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge, sponsored by Talem Health, will kickoff on Monday, April 15. More details to come soon!)