Another CMEpalooza is in the books (this was CMEpalooza XIX if you are scoring at home) and boy, it was definitely a historic day. Historic how, you ask? Well, let me tell you.

1. We set a new record for viewership. There were a whopping 1,090 of you who watched at least one CMEpalooza session yesterday. Derek and I were skeptical that we would ever top our numbers from April 2020 (the very beginning of COVID when CMEpalooza was about the only thing happening in the world), but it only took us three years to get there. Thanks to everyone who tuned in. (Note from Derek: a quick peek at the YouTube analytics this morning tells me that we had over 200 live viewers for every session (not counting the last session — see Scott’s note below.) That has never happened before.)
2. We had our first weather delay…and our first weather-related postponement. We’re all hearing so much about the ways that climate change is affecting weather patterns around the world, and we can now proudly (?) say that CMEpalooza is not immune to these challenges. Two of the panelists for our 4 p.m. ET session were under a tornado warning in the late afternoon, causing us to delay the start of the session by 15 minutes until the warning expired. But then 10 minutes after we revved things up, their phones did the whole boop-boop-boop emergency chime and they were told to shelter in place once again. We’re working on a new time/date for this session since it was a really cool (and important) presentation. We’ll keep you posted. And just in case you were worried, we’re told that our panelists are both fine – just a lot of wind and rain in south Florida yesterday.
3. Derek set a record for the quickest update of our session archives. OK, he didn’t (no Spring 2023 tab yet). This is just my way of giving him a subtle nudge (note from Derek: a valiant, yet ultimately futile,  attempt at guilt-tripping me into action. Good effort.) That said, if you go to our Spring 2023 agenda page, you can find all of the archives from yesterday’s sessions. Those are pretty much automatically set for us, so it doesn’t take much effort. Feel free to go in and watch any sessions you missed. One word of advice: Please don’t submit questions via our text line to a session you are watching in the archives and expect a live answer from our panel. They aren’t there anymore. It’s always a little weird, but this happens from time to time.

Before we leave you for a few weeks of tropical fun (the corporate jet is on the runway and the pilot is tapping his watch to hurry us along), I wanted to share a few final tidbits of feedback that we received yesterday. As always, these are real comments from our viewers.

Kudos to you both. CMEpalooza is the most valuable industry conference to me, hands down. I took notes. Yep, notes.

That was a great day of CMEpalooza right there

A huge thank you for your epic efforts in providing quality education for CME writers that is accessible all over the world.

Did Derek realize he had a piece of spinach stuck between his teeth all afternoon?

Yup, these are our people.

In case you were not able to tune into one of the many, many major networks who carried our prize drawing extravaganza this morning, here are the winners of “Liar Liar CMEpalooza Pants on Fire” sponsor event.

• Jeannine Creazzo, MLIS, MBA, AHIP, Director, Medical Library, Continuing Education, and Research, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset
• Dana Zook, Assistant Director, Program Development, Office of Chief Operating Officer, ASHP
• Cindy Davidson, Scientific Editor, Global Learning Collaborative
• Michelle Hu, PhD, Manager, Scientific Affairs, PRIME Education
• Jenni Binon, CME Analyst, Continuing Medical Education Office, Advocate Aurora Health

They each won a $100 Amazon gift card to blow on something totally frivolous and unnecessary. Thanks to everyone who participated in our sponsor event, and a hearty “Huzzah” to our winners. And if you didn’t win, surely you saw that we are giving away even more money this week. With our generosity, it’s amazing we still have enough left over to feed our families.

Psst. Hey you. Yeah, you, the one with the crumbs from your Cherry Pop-Tart on your chin (don’t worry, no one else has noticed).

I talked to your boss this morning and she told me you could take 30 minutes out of your busy day this morning to participate in our special sponsor event, ‘Liar Liar CMEpalooza Pants on Fire.’

You do know that entries close tomorrow (Friday, March 31) at 5 pm ET, right? And that if you play, you will have a very good chance to win one of five $100 Amazon gift cards we are giving away? I know you’ve been eying up a new pair of Air Pods.

So here’s what you do – go into your calendar and put down a meeting from 11-1130 am. Call it, “Million Dollar Idea” so it looks special and legit. No one is going to bother you, I promise.

And then at 11 am, just check out our post from Monday with all of the details you’ll need to play. You figure out the truths, you figure out the lies, and then you send me your winning entry forms. Easy peasy.

You’re welcome.