The first time that Derek and I kicked around the idea of having our community submit abstracts to us for potential inclusion in the CMEpalooza Spring agenda maybe 6 or 7 years ago, there was no grand plan that this would be the permanent path forward. In fact, I’m fairly certain that after our first or second try, we temporarily shelved the idea because there simply weren’t enough people willing to step forward and try something bold.

Our initial plan was that the abstract submission process would give us a little bit of a break from having to come up with ideas for sessions twice a year. The reality was that we ended up with maybe 3 or 4 viable ideas that we’d then need to supplant with whatever else we were able to cobble together. Don’t get me wrong, everything always worked out just fine (and often, though I’m biased, better than fine) but it wasn’t exactly executed the way we drew things up. We were Norman Dale putting everyone in place to run the Picket Fence, only to watch Ollie dribble the ball off his foot, have it ricochet to Jimmy Chitwood, who then promptly hit the jumper at the buzzer for the win. The final score was all that mattered, though getting there took some doing (note from Derek: While Norman Dale was the head boys basketball coach of Hickory High in Hoosiers, it was drunken assistant coach Shooter who ran the Picket Fence. Scott got caught watching the paint dry on this one.)

After benching the abstract submission process for a year or two, we eventually circled back to it because, well, coming up with an agenda on our own twice a year was hard. And yes, slowly but surely, people began to get it. A CMEpalooza abstract is not your traditional meeting abstract. First of all, you don’t have to have a fully formed concept or title. You may have some “TBA” panelists joining you. You don’t need to list learning objectives, or experience levels, or expected outcomes. Yet though we ask for very little, we often get quite a lot.

Our longest abstract submission this spring clocked in at a whopping 386 words. That’s not an abstract, that’s a senior year English thesis! But it was funny and creative and really interesting so, yes, it made the cut.

We’re proud to unveil the working agenda for CMEpalooza Spring this morning. There are still some Ts to be dotted and Is to be crossed (strike that… reverse it), but the gist of things is here. I am not entirely sure what some of these sessions are going to look like or how our panelists are going to pull things together, but it’s those unknowns that we hope makes CMEpalooza something to look forward to. If you like NPR shows, or Ted Lasso, or Disney rides, we’ll be riffing off of each of those this spring. If you like always hot topics such as outcomes design, or the future of AI in CME, or the dreaded “another year of overcoming funding challenges,” we’ve got that as well.

Whatever else you have to do this morning as you celebrate Leap Day, please take a minute to peruse our Spring agenda and put a circle around every “can’t miss session” (again, I’m biased, but that should be all of them). We’ll see you on Wednesday, April 24.

Over the always-frenetic President’s Day weekend (my Martin Van Buren costume slayed – sadly, no photos), Derek and I spent hours poring over the abstracts that were submitted for CMEpalooza Spring. I remember the first year we piloted the abstract submission process, we were simply crossing our fingers that we would get enough people sending in proposals so that we could fill out the agenda. I think there was actually one year early on where we had to supplement the submissions with a few ideas of our own.

These days, as we’ve continued to build our footprint in our little community, it’s not quite so nerve-wracking. That doesn’t mean I don’t get the annual panicked “Why do we only have five submissions? It’s the day before the submission deadline!” text message from Derek. I usually ignore him until, about 12 hours later, the next text comes in. “Oh, I guess people were waiting until the last day to submit something. They are coming in now.”

Every. Single. Time.

After another year of weighing the merits of submitted proposals, I’d love to tell you that there is a magic formula to winning our hearts. Sadly, the one absolute, stone-cold lock format — a CMEpalooza musical — once again was not mentioned in a single one of the abstracts that were submitted for the Spring 2024 meeting. That means that you will likely again get a plea from Derek next year for anyone willing to be bold enough to show off their pipes. But other than that, as I review the abstracts that were selected for inclusion in our Spring agenda, there are few consistent patterns to be found.

Some approved session descriptions were very long. We’re talking 500+ words. Some were very short. We’re talking less than 100 words.

Some had fully fleshed out titles, panelists, and topics. Some were more vague — “I’ll figure out who else to invite eventually.”

Some were rifts on popular shows or movies, although “I want to do a session where I dress up as Fonzie and recite the ACCME’s Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. Ayyyyy!” was not selected this year. Some went the more traditional rapid fire roundtable route.

There were some topics that were repeated in multiple selections. This is one of the trickier areas since we have a limited agenda. While we know that we may want to include something on a specific “hot topic,” we will usually only pick one session to avoid redundancy. This year, it was artificial intelligence and its role in accredited education, which you will certainly hear about in our Spring event. In previous years, it was quality improvement or social media or “why I have the best/worst boss in the world.”

Neither Derek nor I like saying “no” to anyone who takes the time to submit an abstract for CMEpalooza Spring (note from Derek: I hate it.) And often, we will take ideas from rejected abstracts and circle back around in the Fall in some capacity to either cover a similar topics or pull parties from specific proposals into other sessions. So if you got a “Sorry, but no” email from us, it’s not necessarily the end. It may just be that we’re holding onto your topic for a later event.

It’ll be a week or so until we get the formal agenda up on our website for the whole world to see, but I think that everyone will be excited about the topics and formats we have in store. If the abstracts we approved are any indication, this is going to be a lot of fun. Right, Potsie?

Real conversation in the Kober household over the weekend

WIFE: So what are we doing for Valentine’s Day this year? I know that you usually keep all of your incredibly romantic gestures a secret, but do you at least have any hints for me?

ME: Nope, no hints. You’ll have to guess.

WIFE: Are you taking me on another island vacation? You know how much I hate the cold.

ME: Nope. Better.

WIFE: OMG. Do we have reservations at that award-winning restaurant that everyone says is impossible to get into? I saw photos on the ‘gram. It looks amazing!

ME: Nope. Better.

WIFE: Please, please tell me you got me that new Tesla I’ve been dreaming about. I know I have been dropping subtle hints these last few weeks, but I didn’t know if you were paying attention or not. You are amazing!

ME: I am amazing, but it’s not the Tesla. It’s better.

WIFE: OK, now I am really stumped. Not a vacation, not a romantic dinner, not a new car. What could possibly top all of those?

ME: We are going to spend the night snuggling on the couch reading through the abstracts that are submitted for CMEpalooza Spring.

(Door slams)

I guess some people just don’t appreciate how much Derek and I are looking forward to the bountiful and creative ideas that are brewing from you, our loyal audience.

I had many, many conversations (OK, maybe 2 or 3) at last week’s Alliance conference with people who were extremely excited to submit their abstract for CMEpalooza Spring because, “Oh my God, oh my God, I have such a great idea! You guys are going to love it!”

I had many, many conversations (OK, maybe 2 or 3) at last week’s Alliance conference with people who were mildly motivated to submit their abstract for CMEpalooza Spring “if only I could come up with an idea.”

I had many, many people (this one is really many) who scampered the other way when they saw me coming their way so that they didn’t have to admit they hadn’t thought about an idea for a CMEpalooza abstract yet.

No matter which of these groups you fall into, you still have until Cupid runs out of arrows on Wednesday evening to submit your abstract for consideration. I am sure I can win back my wife once she sees how innovative and creative our community can be. Who needs a day on the beach, a filet mignon (medium rare), or a new Muskmobile when you can have a 100-word description of “CME: The Musical”?

Click here to submit your abstract for CMEpalooza Spring