Every so often when Derek and I chat, one of us will come up with a “Wouldn’t it be nice if…” idea.

“Hey Scott, wouldn’t it be nice if we could design a costume for a CMEpalooza mascot?”

“Hey Scott, wouldn’t it be nice if we required every one of our panelists to write a personal mission statement as a haiku?”

“Hey Scott, wouldn’t it be nice if I juggle during every CMEpalooza session just to change things up?”

Needless to say, Derek’s “Wouldn’t it be nice…” ideas typically don’t make it very far.

But we do have our rare moments of genius (OK, maybe not genius, but mild competence). Probably three years ago, one of us (probably me) suggested that it was perhaps time to update the CMEpalooza website. Since our humble beginnings, we have used the DIY site that Derek designed on his own. And to give credit where it’s due, it always functioned just fine. It was simple and basic, just like Derek (note from Derek: True.)

But it also looked like a DIY site, kinda like that ’74 Chevy Nova that is sitting in your garage with parts from, well, who knows because you can’t get the original panels, wheels, or upholstery. It works, but it sure ain’t pretty.

After poking around informally for a while, we finally took the plunge a few months ago and hired a local designer to give our site a quick tune-up. Nothing major that would require you to re-learn how to navigate around our site (I hate when companies do that), but just a few tweaks that would hopefully improve your overall CMEpalooza experience.

We’re happy to formally unveil the brand new CMEpalooza website today just in time for CMEpalooza Spring next week. You may note the cosmetic differences with fonts and colors, but there are some more substantive modifications as well. The biggest is that we created an archive for our blog, so if you want to go and see what Derek wrote about on the very first CMEpalooza post in October 2013, it’s easy to find. If you search hard enough, maybe you’ll even stumble upon an Easter Egg that will lead you to Derek’s old “Confessions of a Medical Educator” website (note from Derek: the first person to find the old blog post where I adapted Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” to vent about the state of CME wins a prize!)

We don’t think there are any glitches to the new site, but please do let us know if you find anything and we’ll get them fixed faster than you can say, “Donald Igwebuike.” Thanks everyone.

In a grand ceremony that included balloon animals, cotton candy, and carnival rides galore (my living room is a mess), on Friday we announced the winners of last week’s CMEpalooza Flash Mob!! sponsor event. Derek has asked that I present the winners in the style of an NBA public address announcers, so here goes nothing.

• From the College of Charleston, the Annenberg Assassin, No. 19, Melisssssaaaa Ketchum (Melissa is the Director of Continuing Education at Annenberg Center for Health Sciences)
• From Capella University, the Crooning CMEer, No. 31, Jessssssse Henrrrrrry (Jesse is a Consultant Learning at OhioHealth)
• From Rutgers University, the Freelance Firebomber, No. 00, Suzanne Buuu-jjjjara (Suzanne is a Freelance Medical Writer)
• From Grove City College, the Queen of Numbers, No. 3.1415, Annette Schwindddddd (Annette is the Director of Outcomes Assessment and Evaluation at Haymarket Medical Education)
• From the University of Texas, the Southern Belle, No. 12, Stephanieeeeee Stagggggggs (Stephanie is a Program Coordinator at Texas A&M University College of Medicine)

Each of these lucky folks won a $100 Amazon gift card for their efforts. Maybe they can use that money to erase the memory of my butchering their names here to satisfy Derek.

For anyone interested in seeing the full list of CMEpalooza Flash Mob!! questions and answers, just click here. I will admit that there was one small hiccup with the Silver sponsor competition where a question changed on the fly (basically, in the 48 hours between the time I wrote the question and launched the competition, the provider took down the activity I was referencing from their website as it had expired for credit. Whoopsies). Everyone who threw up their arms and said, “I have no idea” got full credit for that one.

 

As described on the blog earlier in the week, we’re rolling out a new Sponsor event this spring based on the “flash mob” concept. It’s called, in a touch of creative genius, CMEpalooza Flash Mob!!

Today is Day 3 of the event, where we’ll focus on the Bronze sponsors of CMEpalooza Spring. It’s now officially 9:30 am ET/6:30 am PT. Because this is the largest pool of sponsors, we’ll give you lots of time for this one, a whopping 6 hours. You are welcome! This means that today’s entry form will close at 3:30 pm ET/12:30 pm PT. That should be plenty of time to find a quiet place on your porch to crank up some John Tesh and dig into your research.

We have lots of Bronze sponsors – a whopping 20 of them – so while it would be nice if you took the time to visit lots of them and find out some information about the best and brightest in our world, we’re only requiring you to answer 50% correctly (that would be 10 for you non-math majors) to qualify for the prize drawing.

Here is how you play:

1. Click on this link to access today’s entry form
2. Call up our Sponsor tab in a different window – you’ll need the links on here to visit our Silver sponsors
3. All of the answers to today’s questions can be found within 1 or 2 clicks on each sponsor site. We didn’t choose any questions that were so obscure as to require excessive digging.
4. When you are done and satisfied with your answers, hit the submit button
5. If you got 10 questions right, you will be entered into our prize drawing at the end of the week, where you can win a $100 Amazon gift card (we’re giving away five of them)

That’s all there is to it. Good luck everyone. And… go!!