The sponsorship prospectus for CMEpalooza 2016 is officially done and ready for public consumption (by which I mean, I made a PDF and put it on the Sponsor tab). There are 3 different primary levels of sponsorship – Gold, Silver, and Bronze – as well as a few other opportunities to consider. We always hope that we provide value to our sponsors, and the feedback we have gotten from past sponsors has always been good.

But don’t just take my word for it.

Here are some 100% REAL (wink wink) comments from past sponsors who benefited from sponsoring a past Palooza:

Director of CME from a really big pharmaceutical company: “We were getting a lot of grief from the public for the pricing of our drugs, but once the world found out we were a sponsor of CMEpalooza, it was like some magic floodgate of positive vibes opened up for us. You guys saved us. Thank you Scott and Derek!”

President of an extremely well respected medical education company: “We were on the verge of insolvency – couldn’t get a grant approved to save our lives. Once we signed on as a sponsor of CMEpalooza, it was like some sort of magic floodgate opened and we had a record year financially. You guys saved us. Thank you Scott and Derek!”

CEO of a really prominent online educational platform developer: “The morale and creativity within the walls of our company were trickling to a crawl. It got so bad that we were talking about doing a fax blast (!) to our partners asking them for ideas that could help us. Once we aligned ourselves with CMEpalooza and saw how innovative and creative you guys are, it was like some magic floodgate opened and we came up with all kinds of cool ideas. You guys saved us. Thank you Scott and Derek!”

Former assistant project manager at a global technology company: “I tried to convince my boss (who I hated) that it would be a smart business decision to sponsor CMEpalooza. She said no. Her boss happened to be standing outside her door at the time she voiced her decision. She got fired for rejecting such an obviously brilliant suggestion. Guess who the boss is now, sister? You guys saved my career. Thank you Derek and Scott!”

So really, with all of the lives we’ve changed and businesses we have saved, doesn’t a 2016 sponsorship make business sense for your organization as well? You can check out the various sponsorship packages on the Sponsor tab and then make your decision. Contacting me is easy (no faxes please).

You may remember last summer that we launched a new offering called “CMEpalooza Company Spotlight.” No, you say, you don’t remember? For shame, pilgrim, for shame!

OK, OK, I’ll forgive you this time and provide a quick refresher. The CMEpalooza Company Spotlight was launched as an opportunity for MECCs/universities/providers/etc. to take advantage of the CMEpalooza brand and our built-in audience to get out information about all of the cool and innovative things your organization is doing. You can check out the pilot we did with Educational Measures on the Spotlight tab of our website.

In a nutshell, here is how these Spotlights work:

1. You go to this link and complete the form expressing interest in being a “spotlighted” company (alas, these are not free, but really, how many new Ferraris do you need for your garage?)
2. We work with you to come up with a focus for your spotlight. Seeing as we are an external audience of sorts, hopefully we’ll be able to help you come up with issues that our broader Palooza audience would be interested in learning about. The last thing anyone wants is a snoozer presentation.
3. You can have up to 4 people from your organization participate as panelists. You can create slides if you want. We’re flexible.
4. We’ll schedule a time for your 30 minute spotlight. We’re planning on holding these from noon-12:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday afternoons. How many will we schedule? No idea. Could be 1, could be 10. Won’t be 500.
5. We’ll use our social media channels to build interest and an audience. I will “moderate” the session based on a jointly agreed-upon discussion guide that highlights the value of your organization/company and is of prospective interest to our viewers.
6. As with all CMEpalooza sessions, anyone can watch live. For free. Anyone can watch after the broadcast is over. For free. As an added bonus, you can take the video and embed it onto your website if you want. We’ll have a special tab set up on the CMEpalooza website so that people can watch these easily on our site whenever they want.

I’m embarrassed for Derek that he spent hours coming up with this concept only to see it gain momentum at about the same rate as the new Justine Bateman workout video. It’s not pretty seeing a grown man cry (though it can sometimes be funny).

Anyway, feel free to reach out to either of us if you have any questions or want more information. We need the entertainment.

We know. The minutes are ticking by slowly. It’s agonizing. Tick, tick, tick…

Alas, while we have many powers at CMEpalooza headquarters (Derek leads a Sound of Music singalong today at 3 p.m. in the lobby), we can’t control the flow of time. So you’ll just have to wait until 9 a.m. ET tomorrow (Wednesday, Oct. 21) to get your full dose of education.

In the meantime, though, several of our panels have put together materials you can devour in advance of their discussion which might better inform the discussion and any possible questions that come from the audience.

Here is a compilation:

Best Practices in Faculty Management – Tips and tricks to get you ready for our 9 a.m. ET session, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want, But You Can Get What You Need (From Faculty)”

Generational Shift in the Physician Workforce: What Are the Implications for CME – The folks at Clinical Care Options put this whitepaper together earlier in the year. It’s a great introduction to our 11 a.m. ET session, “Preparing for Tomorrow’s Learners… Today”

Slides and Suggested Readings on the Evolution of Grand Rounds – The panel for our session at 3 p.m. ET entitled “Grand Rounds in the 21st Century: Fixing the Historical Model” put together a whole slew of materials to get interested individuals up to speed on the issues they’ll be discussing.