One item that Scott didn’t mention in his kick-off 10 Years in 10 Minutes interview with Daniel Guinee earlier in the week is that the subjects for this current round of interviews all participated in the first CMEpalooza Fall in 2014. While the original CMEpalooza was technically the previous spring, CMEpalooza Fall 2014 seems like the first “real” CMEpalooza. It’s the first one where we went with the same all-panel format that we still use today, and it’s the first one of which Scott was a part (I’ll refrain from my usual snarky comments).

For the next interview in our “10 Years in 10 Minutes” series, I had the pleasure of talking with Lawrence Sherman, the moderator for the first CMEpalooza Fall session, The Future of CME: What Will CME/CPD Look Like in 5-10 Years? Lawrence refers to himself as a “medical education futurist” in his LinkedIn bio, which made him the perfect moderator for this session (and also because he’s really good at moderating, which also makes us look good. Sometimes we know what we’re doing.).

It’s always a fun time chatting with Lawrence, and we even got to gab about some baseball at the end. Check out our conversation below.

 

We have a greyhound named Bardot. A popular myth about greyhounds is that they are high-energy dogs that need tons of exercise. That is false. While they are super fast, they are also incredibly lazy. They are the world’s fastest couch potatoes. They are basically just giant cats. Whenever I take Bardot for a walk, there is usually an initial burst of enthusiasm, but it quickly degrades into an annoyingly slow pace with frequent stops to sniff anything and everything of interest. Needless to say, this gives me plenty of time to listen to podcasts.

Over the weekend, I was listening to a podcast while walking Bardot that included a Gen-X host and a Millennial interviewee. The Gen-Xer made a joke about Millennials, to which the Millennial responded, “You guys used to put tinfoil on your rabbit ear antennas because you thought it improved the reception.”

“Hey!” I thought to myself, “We used to put tinfoil on our rabbit ears. What does he mean by ‘thought it improved the reception?’”

When I returned home, I did a quick google search for “does tinfoil on rabbit ears help” and…it does not. This is embarrassing.

Until the age of 12, I lived in the southern part of Delaware, affectionately referred to as “slower lower.” My Grandpa Warnick and Aunt Mary Kathryn still lived on the farm where my dad grew up, and we would frequently spend our Saturdays there helping out with various chores (picking lima beans, baling hay, tending animals, etc.) Once the work was done, we would all gather in the family room of the farmhouse for dinner. Since there wasn’t a table big enough for everyone to sit at, we usually would just spread throughout the room and eat off of TV trays. (note from Scott: Derek should explain here what a “TV tray” is since it is another Gen-X relic. It’s basically a standup version of an airplane tray table. It’s only slightly better than eating off your lap)

On the TV, we would watch NASCAR (We rooted for Bobby Allison [he was a Christian man] and frowned at Richard Petty [he cussed and smoked cigars]. I am not making any of this up.), The Lawrence Welk Show, and Hee Haw, often in that order. To this day, I was certain the only reason we got any kind of TV reception in that part of the country was because Grandpa Warnick had the foresight to cover the tips of the TV antenna with tin foil. I have been living a lie for 40 years.

My very first job in CME was at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia in the early 2000s. The Internet was advancing beyond its toddler phase, and more and more organizations–TJU included–were adapting on the fly to utilize this untapped resource. One of my first big projects at TJU was to turn our CME webpage from nonexistent to useful for our learners. Overall, I think I did a pretty good job with it, but I definitely had a couple tinfoil-on-the-antenna ideas that, in hindsight, were not nearly as helpful as I thought they would be at the time.

For instance, I thought it would be an amazing idea if we recorded all of our grand rounds sessions and posted the raw video on our website for people to watch. It was not. I also thought that people would love sitting in front of their desktop computers reading 15-20 page journal articles in PDF format instead of settling into a comfy chair with a hardcopy journal in hand. They did not.

The funny thing is, it’s 20 years later and I am still seeing these types of antiquated CME programs. Live symposia that are recorded and converted into online programs with little additional formatting. Journal articles or monographs that are posted online in big blocks of text or not optimized for mobile devices. While the intent is valid, there is little actual value added.

If you ever find yourself stuck in a rut with CME program design and needing a spark to modernize, may I humbly suggest that you head on over to the CMEpalooza Archive? (note from Scott: Did anyone else read on and on and on wondering what the heck this all has to do with CMEpalooza? I’m glad Derek finally got here — well, sort of glad). We have an entire section of the archive that focuses specifically on educational design, with more than 40 different sessions to choose from, all free. Hopefully you can find something there that will help you get rid of the tinfoil and throw away the rabbit ears for good.

A 100% accurate, not-at-all-made-up text exchange between Scott and I.

Derek: OK, the CMEpalooza Fall agenda is in pretty good shape. We still have a couple sessions that will need some updating over the next few weeks, but we can at least give everyone a pretty good idea of what to expect. I think we can go ahead and release it tomorrow. What do you think?

Scott: 

Derek: Hello? Anyone there?

Scott:

Derek: Hello? Scott? You there? Kind of important. Could use your opinion.

Scott: Sorry, sorry. Cell reception is a little spotty here in Italy.

Derek: Wait, what? Italy? What the heck are you doing in Italy? It’s agenda release time! No vacations, remember? We’re all supposed to be focused on the agenda — no distractions.

Scott: No, no, it’s all good. I’m totally focused on the agenda. I’ve been thinking about it all day. Look, here’s a picture my wife took of me deep in thought.

 

 

 

 

Derek: That is a picture of Pierce Brosnan drinking a glass of wine.

Scott: No, it’s me thinking about the agenda in Italy. A common mistake, though. People get us mixed up all the time. (note from Scott: just like people commonly confuse Derek with Patrick Dempsey. We all have our cross to bear)

Derek: Right. Anyway, what are your thoughts on the CMEpalooza Fall agenda? OK to send it out tomorrow?

Scott: I think the agenda is as fine as the glass of pinot grigio I am sipping in that picture.

Derek: Super. I’ll handle it from here. Go back to your deep thinking/wine sipping.

Scott: You got this, buddy!

While Scott is out touring around Italy, I’m here to announce the working agenda for CMEpalooza Fall 2024, There are still a few details needed to round out the final agenda, but you can see that we have tried to put together a program with a little something for everyone. We have traditional topics, original topics, and mystery topics. We have old TV shows (This is Your Life), old music (The Clash), and old party games (spin the bottle). We have old faces, new faces, and faces yet to be determined.

Though you may be distracted this morning by watching the hammer throw, sabre fencing, canoe slalom, or whatever Summer Olympic events are currently on, please take a moment to check out the Fall agenda and mark it on your calendar. We’ll see you on Wednesday, October 16!