We held our prize drawing for CMEpalooza Bingo!! this morning. It was quite the event – you may have seen it on your local news channel. We hired the legendary Wink Martindale to be our Master of Ceremonies and brought in one of those giant wire barrels to spin around with all of our winning entries.

It was drizzling outside a bit, but I still estimate we had somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 attendees for the event – certainly way way more than any other promotional drawing that has ever been held in the United States in the last 100 years. I won’t believe any photos you may have that prove otherwise.

Anyway, here are our winners:

GRAND PRIZE ($100 Amazon gift card)

• Ellen F. Simes, Simes Consulting

SECOND PRIZES ($50 Amazon gift cards)

• Karin Pearson, Tufts University School of Medicine
• Amanda Glazar, Kynectiv
• Sara Brykalski, ACHL
• Lindsey Schneider, Minnesota Medical Association

THIRD PRIZES ($25 Amazon gift cards)

• Sandy Mardant, A.D.A.M.
• Betty Riggs, PharmApprise Consulting
• Bonnie J. Bixler, Penn State College of Medicine
• Melissa Hicks, Patient Advocate
• Danielle DuFour, Bellin Health Systems, Inc.
• Joanne Wise, University at Albany School of Public Health
• Kristi J. English, MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Stacy A. Snyder, Penn State College of Medicine

For anyone who may be interested in all of the answers to our game board, you can find them by clicking on this link. Thanks again to everyone who participated!

Quick reminder that the entry window for CMEpalooza Bingo!! closes tomorrow (Wednesday) at 3:45 p.m. Here is a link to the various forms you will need to play. It’s 5 minutes (at most) and it’s free money – what more do you want?

Here is what others have said about CMEpalooza Bingo!! so far this year:

“It’s the most fun you can have with your clothes on. It’s probably pretty fun with your clothes off too, but I didn’t try that since I’m at work and all. Maybe next year.”

“I had no idea of all of the interesting work the CMEpalooza Fall sponsors are doing. They truly are the best of the best.”

“We turned this into a huge family gathering. Me, my husband, my 3 kids, my mother-in-law, my aunt Sally, and our pet Felix cat all sat down and played CMEpalooza Bingo!! for hours. We couldn’t get enough. Thanks Scott and Derek!”

See, it’s not just me who wants you to play CMEpalooza Bingo!! The general public is basically begging you to let your hair down and have some fun. SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!

Derek loves it when I give away our hard-earned money (or is it hardly earned money? I get confused sometimes).

But our CMEpalooza sponsor events are always a personal highlight. Yes, it’s nice to be the giver of good news to our winners, and it’s even kinda fun to put together the contest materials. But I also appreciate being forced to take time away from the day-to-day to see the varied kind of work that our sponsors are doing and to get my creative juices flowing.

Let’s face it – we all get stuck in a professional rut from time to time, churning out the same ideas over and over. Consider our Fall sponsor event your chance to take some time to do some professional research and maybe even win some money at the same time.

Starting today, CMEpalooza Bingo!! is back for the second consecutive year. We’re giving away $500 in Amazon gift cards (there are 13 total prizes — first prize is $100 with other prizes of $50 and $25). To win, you simply need to do some very simple research about a handful of our CMEpalooza Fall sponsors.

The rules are simple.

• There are a few documents you’ll need to download and/or print out — The bingo card, the question sheet, and the answer form. Don’t worry – we’ve compiled these into one document that you can print out or download. You can get everything you need by clicking on this link. If you want the CMEpalooza Bingo!! Answer Form as a Word document you can write on, we’ve got that right here for you.
• On the bingo card, you’ll see that each CMEpalooza Fall sponsor has been assigned a specific slot (there are a few slots with ’80 Trivia on there to fill out the card – you’ll have to excuse my odd tastes in some cases). Each slot has coordinates listed in the upper left-hand corner. This is important to note as you are filling out the Answer Form.
• To get the answer to the questions, you’ll probably need to visit some of our sponsor websites. You can find direct links to all of them on the CMEpalooza Fall sponsor page.
• We’re not cruel, so we won’t make you complete the entire card. Simply make one Bingo by answering 5 questions that complete either a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal line (just like, you know, as in a Bingo game). Feel free to visit any additional sponsor sites if you really want to, but it’s not mandatory.
• Fill out the Answer Form and return it to me via email (scott@medcasewriter.com) by our deadline of Wednesday, October 11 at 3:45 p.m. Why 3:45 p.m.? I have no idea. Roll with me people.

We had a really good response to CMEpalooza Bingo!! last fall, but let’s face it, the CME community ain’t that big. If you successfully complete and submit a finished game card to me, your chances of winning are pretty good.

The answers to all of these questions can be found very easily on every one of the Sponsors sites. I didn’t come up with questions that will require a deep search – pretty much everything is 1 click away, at most. It takes, in all honesty, 5 minutes to complete a game board.

So get cracking.