For the last interview of our “10 Years in 10 Minutes” series, I had a chance to talk with Scott Bradbury, Vice President of Education at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, who was part of the panel for our Tech Tools We Can’t Live Without session in the fall of 2014. While I was happy for an opportunity to catch up with Scott, I rewatched the session with some trepidation. I honestly could not remember what “tech tools” each of the panelists discussed and had some concern that 10 years on, one of them might have made a recommendation equivalent to “Betamax is the wave of the future!!” I should note that around this same period of time, I did a presentation where I recommended people start using Screenr, Google+ Hangouts On-Air, and SlideShare. The first two no longer exist and few people still use the third one. You can understand my concern.

Fortunately, the panel for our “Tech Tools” session was much more knowledgeable than I, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the tools recommended during the session are still in use today. For his part, Scott focused on a small little tool that some of you techy types may have heard of before called YouTube. It’s done a little better than Screenr over the past 10 years.

Join Scott and I as we talk about what he’s been up to in his role with the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, his experience with the early days of CMEpalooza, and a more modern tech tool that he can’t live with out. I managed to keep this one much closer to the 10 minute mark, so a pat on the back for me.

As a welcome back treat to all who attended the Alliance Industry Summit earlier in the week, we have the next edition of our 10 Years in 10 Minutes interview series for you today. For this episode, our guest is old longtime friend of CMEpalooza, Karen Roy, CEO and co-founder of infograph-ed.

Karen is such a pleasure to talk to that I lost track of time, and this ended up being closer to 10 years in 15 minutes. My apologies in advance for not closely adhering to a self-imposed arbitrary time limit that was established mostly so we could have a clever title. It’s well worth it, I promise.

So, come for Karen’s thoughts on how the topic of her original CMEpalooza Fall session on publishing CME outcomes has evolved over the past 10 years, but stay for the cheesesteak discussion at the end, including one truly horrifying revelation. (note from Scott: I know that Derek thinks Karen’s admission is the truly horrifying revelation, but I was more shocked by Derek’s tidbit. People have gotten seriously hurt for that faux pas!)

You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers. Let’s get to it.

I have two kids and my short term memory is entirely used up on soccer and school schedules. Can you remind me again when and where CMEpalooza Trivia Night is?
CMEpalooza Trivia Night is the second night of the Alliance Industry Summit (AIS), which is Tuesday, September 17. The event will be held from 6-7:30 pm ET at the Philadelphia Free Library’s Central Branch (1901 Vine St, Philadelphia, PA 19103), Skyline Room. There will be someone in the library’s lobby to show you how to get up to the event. You can find more details here. Please note that you do not have to be a registered AIS attendee to come; all are welcome.

One of my favorite things about CMEpalooza is your liberal stance on registration. I assume I don’t need to register for CMEpalooza Trivia Night either, right? 
Er, well, you don’t have to register, but it would be helpful if you did, primarily to give us a sense of overall expected attendance. To help us out, we have created a very short registration form that you can access by clicking this link. We will be plying everyone with a variety of Philly-themed snacks and drinks, and there is nothing worse than 15 lbs. of leftover scrapple in your fridge. So please register so we know how much will be enough.

How many rounds of questions are there going to be? I have an 8 p.m. reservation at Zahav, and I don’t want to be late.
There will be five rounds of questions for a total of 28 questions. Why 28 questions? I…don’t know, but that’s the amount we have. The categories are:

• Round 1: Questions from AIS Day 1 (plus one pop culture question)
• Round 2: Questions from AIS Day 2 – Morning (plus one pop culture question)
• Round 3: Jason O’Grady Tribute Questions – CMEpalooza Trivia Night is being held in honor of Jason O’Grady, and this round of questions will all be based on some of his favorite things from the world of music, cinema, art, and more.
• Round 4: Questions from AIS Day 2 – Afternoon (plus one pop culture question)
• Round 5: CME Wildcard! (plus one pop culture question)

How much does it cost to attend this event? I am not sure how much change I have between my couch cushions right now.
Surely you know us better than this. There is no charge to attend CMEpalooza Trivia Night. All snacks and beverages will be offered gratis. Not only that, but we’ll be giving away $1,000 in cash prizes to the smartest people with the fastest fingers. So basically, pay nothing, eat free food, and walk away with a Bennie or two in your pocket for using your brain. Not too shabby.

I realized after I registered for the conference that the Monday night of AIS coincides with a Monday Night Football game in which the Philadelphia Eagles are playing. Am I in danger of being attacked by a roaming pack of rabid Eagles fans if I am a fan of another football team?
Probably not, but we offer no guarantees. Just to be on the safe side, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• The reputation of Eagles fans is overblown. We’re really not as bad as the national media loves to make us. Yes, we booed Santa that one time, but that was back in the 60s, and he totally deserved it. Seriously, get over it.
• The official greeting of one Eagles fan to another is “Go Birds!” If you want to go undercover as an Eagles fan, nothing will blow your cover faster than nodding your head at another fan and greeting them with “Go Eagles.”
• There is an Eagles fight song. If you are anywhere near a bar on Monday night, you are going to hear it. You might as well learn it and sing along. It’s fun.

What or who is a “jawn”? 
Siiiiiiiiiiigh. “Jawn” is a regional slang word — mostly used in Philly, though I’m told it can also be found in surrounding regions — that is best defined as a replacement for a person, place, thing, or event that you don’t need to give a specific name to. For example, “I went to the store to buy the new Jordan’s, but those jawns were too expensive.” Or, “I went to the AIS reception, and that jawn was crazy.” It’s important to note that merely knowing the definition of jawn is likely still not enough for you to be able to use it in conversation without sounding like an idiot. You also need to have a certain attitude or coolness factor to use it properly. My son uses it in casual conversation without a second thought. I have attempted to use it multiple times, with each attempt met by disapproving head shakes from my kids. “Please never do that again,” my daughter told me the last time.

What or who is “wiz wit”?
Oh good, I was hoping we would get to this. We need to have a talk about cheesesteaks. Let’s just get it all out in the open right here. (note from Scott: Nothing gets a Philadelphian riled up more than a conversation about cheesesteaks. I am probably going to disagree with everything that Derek says here.)

• “Wiz wit” is the proper way to have your cheesesteak prepared. “Wiz” means you would like Cheese Whiz (I don’t know why whiz/wiz are spelled differently) and “wit” means you would like it with fried onions (I don’t know why with/wit are spelled differently.) Yes, I said Cheese Whiz. Go ahead and turn up your nose at it, but it is unequivocally the best cheese for your cheesesteak. American cheese is fine and provolone is, well, bad in my opinion, but neither give you the gooey goodness of good old Cheese Whiz. If only John Kerry had asked for my opinion before making a fool of himself and tanking his presidential aspirations by ordering a cheesesteak with Swiss cheese during a trip to Philly in 2003.
• Please, please, please don’t go to Pat’s or Geno’s for your cheesesteak (note: they are directly across the street from each other so it’s easy to avoid them both.) They get all the name recognition, and both are perfectly mediocre. There are so many better option throughout the city: Dalessandro’s (my favorite), John’s Roast Pork, Tony Luke’s, Ishkabibble’s, Jim’s, Angelo’s, Max’s, and more. Shoot, you can go to any corner bodega in the city and get a pretty good cheesesteak. There’s no need to give Pat’s and Geno’s any additional business.
• Cheesesteaks are good. A roast pork sandwich (especially one with broccoli rabe and sharp provolone) is better. I said what I said.
• If you are really feeling adventurous, you can try a Philly Taco. It is not, as you might expect, an actual taco. No, a Philly Taco is a jumbo slice of Lorenzo’s pizza wrapped around a Jim’s cheesesteak, conveniently located only a block away from each other. I have never tried a Philly Taco as my crazy dietary restrictions prevent me from consuming 10,000 calories at one meal. It’s no wonder we have three university health systems within city limits.
• (note from Scott: OK, this wasn’t an bad as I was expecting. Only one major quibble — Cheese Whiz is terrible, and most of the places Derek lists here as “better options” won’t even offer it as a choice. The rest of Derek’s suggestions are acceptable, although if you are older than 25 years and it’s earlier than 1 a.m., I’d suggest avoiding the Philly Taco.) (note from Derek: No surprise that Scott is anti-Cheese Whiz. For the record, I double-checked and only John’s Roast Pork doesn’t offer Cheese Whiz as an option. No regrets.)