First of all, let me apologize for the noise issues that may have interrupted your work day yesterday. I told Derek that the 5000 watt speakers he had “found in the trash” after a Metallica concert in 1994 would be a bit much for our CMEpalooza Pursuit (Master Edition) prize drawing festivities yesterday, but does the guy ever listen to a word I say?

(This is what we call a rhetorical question, people – the answer is obviously “No” [note from Derek: once he told me he thought St. Anger was “good” I just stopped listening to everything else.])

But just in case you happened to miss the very loud announcement of our winners,  here are the lucky folks who each collected a $100 Amazon gift card thanks to their successful completion of our Sponsor event:

• Amanda Doughty, MLS — Medical Librarian & Clinical Education Specialist (CME), Eastern Connecticut Health Network
• Jackie Farley — Educational Project Coordinator, Center for Continuing Education, University of Nebraska Medical Center
• Ron Murray, Ed.D, CHCP, FACEHP, CBiol, MRSB, PGCE — Independent CPD/CME Professional
• Vanessa Gray, MHA, CMP, CHCP — Director of Continuing Medical Education, Des Moines University
• Christina Casanova — Manager, Development Support, PeerView Institute for Medical Education

Congrats to them all. And for anyone interested in the answers to our clues, here is the answer key for you.

I have gotten a number of inquiries over the last few days about some of the clues in our CMEpalooza Pursuit sponsor event that launched on Monday, specifically about those in our “A Day in the Life of Derek Warnick category.” Basically, people are questioning the veracity of the story line behind the clues.

I’m here to clear things up once and for all today — yes, with unquestioned certainty, everything in our clues is absolutely true. Neither Derek nor I would ever create fictitious whimsy to deceive our audience. That would just be mean.

Not sure what I’m talking about? Well then maybe you should set time aside these next few days to complete your entry forms (CMEpalooza Pursuit is an excellent activity to pursue while keeping one eye on March Madness). The details were all in Monday’s blog post announcing our event, but here are the highlights for you once again.

Here is how you play CMEpalooza Pursuit (Master Edition):

1. Download these forms. This includes an answer sheet along with all of the categories and clues.
2. Call up the CMEpalooza Sponsor page. This is where you’ll be able to find links to all of the companies that are part of this game. I can promise you that none of the correct answers are layered very deep in each organization’s website – it should take you no more than one (and in rare cases, two) clicks to find each answer.
3. There are eight CMEpalooza Pursuit (Master Edition) categories. A successful entry includes one correct answer from every category.
4. Because there are at least three companies in each category, you can submit up to three unique entries. That would give you three entries into our prize drawing. But submitting one or two completed entries is also fine.
5. Send along your completed entry forms to me via email at scott@excaliburmeded.com. You have one week — the entry deadline is 9 am ET on Monday, March 21. We’ll have the prize drawing in a super secret location (ie, my kitchen) that afternoon and notify our winners soon thereafter.

Let’s get this out of the way first – we have A LOT of sponsors for CMEpalooza Spring. Twenty-nine to be exact. It’s not that either Derek or I are complaining — well, at least not much — but more sponsors means more work for us to deliver what we promise everyone.

For Derek, that means 13 company-specific haikus are on the way (3 Gold sponsors, 10 silver sponsors) and 8 more devoted to each individual session. It’s a good thing he took that poetry-writing seminar last month (note from Derek: grumble grumble grumble…I mean, each one is sure to be an award winner!)

For me, that means digging into the websites of all 29 of these companies to come up with clues for our special sponsor event. It’s really the one chance I get each spring and fall to see what the CME community is up to, and I can assure you that there is some very cool work being done right now. Hopefully, some of you will agree with me as you do your research into this week.

Yes, indeed, we’re back with a very special version of CMEpalooza Pursuit (Master Edition). Why the Master Edition? Well, instead of sticking to the traditional Trivial Pursuit categories, or even those included in one of their many, many special versions, I created my own categories this time. A lot of them center on my own personal interests (Tennis, Philadelphia, On Your Plate) while others are quirky and random (Crime of the Century, A Day in the Life of Derek Warnick). Hopefully you’ll find this experience both informative and entertaining.

And of course, we’re not asking you to play along simply for your own edification. There are cash prizes involved. For starters, all correct entries will be entered into our prize drawing for 1 of 5 $100 Amazon gift cards. And new this year, all correct entries will also be entered into the “Play at Home” sweepstakes as part of our 3 pm ET CMEpalooza Spring session, “CMEpalooza Feud,” where you can win $250. If those two opportunities don’t make you tell your neighbors to “Turn down that blasted rock music so I can focus!”, I don’t know what will.

Here is how you play CMEpalooza Pursuit (Master Edition):

1. Download these forms. This includes an answer sheet along with all of the categories and clues.
2. Call up the CMEpalooza Sponsor page. This is where you’ll be able to find links to all of the companies that are part of this game. I can promise you that none of the correct answers are layered very deep in each organization’s website – it should take you no more than one (and in rare cases, two) clicks to find each answer.
3. There are eight CMEpalooza Pursuit (Master Edition) categories. A successful entry includes one correct answer from every category.
4. Because there are at least three companies in each category, you can submit up to three unique entries. That would give you three entries into our prize drawing. But submitting one or two completed entries is also fine.
5. Send along your completed entry forms to me via email at scott@excaliburmeded.com. You have one week — the entry deadline is 9 am ET on Monday, March 21. We’ll have the prize drawing in a super secret location (ie, my kitchen) that afternoon and notify our winners soon thereafter.

That’s about it. I think I hear Derek knocking on my door asking if he can take shortcuts with the haikus this year. No, no you can’t. (Note from Derek: Dang it!)