Our crack team at CMEpalooza headquarters woke up to a flurry of emails this morning that all essentially said the same thing – “I really, really, really (really) want to play CMEpalooza Bingo!! but I just haven’t found the time. Can’t we have until Friday afternoon?”

Usually, my response to these sorts of things is short and succinct.

“No.”

I mean, c’mon people, there are deadlines for a reason. I hate those emails you get that claim “Deadline extended!” because they mean that the deadline was always going to be extended and the time you took rushing to meet the initial deadline has now been wasted.

Don’t get me started.

But perhaps because I still have gleeful visions of Derek as a Sixers halftime dancer, I’m in a good mood today, so we’re extending the deadline to play CMEpalooza Bingo!! until tomorrow (Friday, September 23) at 8:13 p.m. ET. Why did I choose such a random time? Because I have that power.

As a reminder, we’re giving away $500 in Amazon gift cards for those who successfully enter (there are 13 total prizes — first prize is $100 with other prizes of $50 and $25). It takes, in all honesty, 5 minutes to complete a game board.

Here once again are the rules:

• 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 CMEpalooza slots to fill out the card). 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 the new and improved deadline

I promise that this is the one and only deadline extension. The hopper closes on Friday night.

You may have noticed that the blog has been somewhat quiet in the early parts of September. We’re sorry.

I’ve been busy running through a battery of preliminary tests with our presenters for CMEpalooza Fall and getting some other work done. Derek, meanwhile, has been furiously practicing his tryout routine round the clock in the hopes of fulfilling his lifelong dream of being one of the “Sixers Dancers” – you know, the guys and girls who entertain the fans between timeouts and at halftime of NBA games. This is going to be the year, Warnick – we believe in you!

Never fear though – the silence is ending… NOW! We recognize that the days are dangerously dwindling and that CMEpalooza Fall is right around the corner on Wednesday, October 19.

What we’ll be doing here in the next few weeks as you complete your CMEpalooza Bingo!! gameboard (due this Friday) is to give insight into a few of the more unique sessions we have on the agenda this year.

A few weeks back, I dragged a very retro basketball jersey out of the bowels of my closet to record a somewhat meandering video with Derek where we discussed each of the sessions on the Fall agenda, but honestly, I don’t know that we did some of the sessions justice between all of our “Er”s and “Hmmm”s, so I thought it be a better use of your time to read through some of the explanations.

Today, I’ll be explaining the concept behind our 3 p.m. ET session entitled “Common/Not-So-Common Case Conundrums in CME.” This session is being sponsored by CME Matters, one of the Silver sponsors of CMEpalooza Fall.

Here is how this session is going to work:

1. We have recruited 2 teams of awesome faculty. Each team has a moderator and 2 panelists. One team is comprised of people who work for medical education companies, a second team of people who work in the hospital setting.
2. The moderator for each panel is — under cloak and dagger — developing a robust case study focused on a scenario that offers a variety of real-life challenges for those of us who wrangle with CME on a daily basis. I won’t give away any secrets regarding the specific focus of each case, partially because the cases haven’t yet been written, but also because I was the kid at school who loved knowing secrets about everyone.
3. The day before this session goes live, each scenario will be unleashed upon both the unknowing panelists and you, our prospective audience members. Why the day before? Well, I wanted to put a little bit of time pressure on our panelists so that it more adequately mirrored real life, but I also didn’t want to hijack them with a total surprise on the day of CMEpalooza Fall. Hopefully this is a reasonable compromise.We’ll post the scenarios on this site at the same time our panelists get them in case you want a sneak peak at the kinds of issues each panel will be talking about. Don’t worry if you don’t read them before the session though – each moderator will review their case prior to their team’s live discussion.
4. In the session, panelists will talk about how they would address the various issues raised within the case, discussing the pros and cons of various approaches. It’s the kind of tangible, real-world education that I always like best, and hopefully our audience will be able to pull some golden nuggets of information for their proverbial use.
5. If there is time at the end, Derek will show off the tumbling routine that caps his tryout. Good stuff.

 

Admit it – when you attend live events, there is nothing more fun than picking up one of those game cards at the registration desk that require you to visit a certain number of sponsors, engage in mindless chitchat as you feign interest in their organization, and then politely ask for a stamp to complete your card so you can enter to win an outdated iPad from 2012 (maybe still in the box, maybe “slightly used”).

Wait, you don’t enjoy that? It’s not fun counting the seconds until it’s polite to excuse yourself from uncomfortable sales pitches? Huh, I had no idea.

Here at CMEpalooza headquarters, where we start every day with the Pledge of Allegiance (yes, we all remember the words), we’re all about making our audience comfortable while encouraging them to learn something and perhaps have a little fun in the process.

That’s why today we’re happy to announce the debut of CMEpalooza Bingo!!, our latest creative salvo to bring joy into your days and free money into your wallets. No awkward conversations, no minutes wasted waiting for stamps or stickers from exhibitors — just a little solo research on your own time to learn a little about the sponsors for CMEpalooza Fall (reminder: broadcasting live on Wednesday, October 19).

Here is how CMEpalooza Bingo!! works:

• 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 CMEpalooza slots to fill out the card). 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 Wednesday, September 21

I know what you’re saying right about now – “This seems like a lot of work. Why should I bother?”

First of all, we promise that it’s not a lot of work. The answers to all of these questions can be found very easily on every one of the Sponsors sites. We didn’t come up with questions that will require a deep search – pretty much everything is 1 click away, at most.

Second, there are prizes! Lots and lots of glorious prizes! There will be 13 winners in all – 8 people will win a $25 Amazon gift card, 4 people will win a $50 Amazon gift card, and 1 lucky individual will win a $100 Amazon gift card! Everyone who successfully completes and returns a CMEpalooza Bingo!! card to me by the deadline will be entered in our random drawing for these prizes. If we get a lot of entries, we may even do the drawing live via Google Hangout. We’ll see.

Now back to my fine-tuning my fantasy football roster for week 1.