A few years ago, I drove to Forbidden Drive in Fairmount Park – one of the jewels of the city of Philadelphia – to go for a run. I was in a bit of a hurry since my wife and I had plans later in the day, so rather than find a secure place for my car key fob, I stuck it in the unzipped hip pocket of my shorts, like an idiot. (note from Scott: Nah, this would be too easy. I’ll let it go.)

Reader, you will not be surprised to hear that that was a bad idea.

At some point during my 5-mile run, the fob bounced out of my pocket, never to be seen again, despite my best efforts to hunt for it. Not only was I tired from my run, not only was I even more tired from retracing my steps during my search, not only was I way behind schedule, but now I also had to call my wife and ask her to pick me up. And then I had to explain to her why she had to come pick me up.

Reader, you will not be surprised to hear that she was not impressed.

Here at CMEpalooza, we care about your educational needs. We care about your health. And we care about your keys bouncing out of your pockets. That’s why the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge is the perfect event. There’s no need to run and risk losing your keys, annoying your spouse/partner and missing your dinner reservation. Walking is totally fine*. You can walk fast (be careful!), or you can walk slow. It doesn’t matter, and we don’t care!

*Running is also fine but the owners of CMEpalooza cannot be held responsible for any keys, wallets, or phones that may be lost while participating in the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge.

Today is the start of the fifth CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge. Here are all the details you need to know.

• The challenge begins today (October 7) and will go until the end of the day on Sunday, October 13
• The challenge is to record at least 10,000 steps in one day. For each day during the challenge period that you record 10,000 steps, please send in a screenshot of your step-counting device with the number of recorded steps, either by email (thecmeguy@gmail.com) or text (267-666-0CME [0263]). Please include the following information:
  • Screenshot of number of steps
  • Date of steps
  • Name
  • Email
  • Physical mailing address (we need this to send you merch)
• For each day you achieve 10,000 steps and send in a screenshot, you will be entered into a random drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card (there are five gift cards; you cannot win more than one.) Winners will be drawn during the week of CMEpalooza Fall. You can send in each day individually or you can send them all in at once at the end. It doesn’t matter to me.
• The person who records and submits the most steps in one day wins a $250 Amazon gift card
• Everyone who enters even one day will receive some free CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge merch from Talem Health. We’re still finalizing what it will be, but it’s usually good stuff (but sadly, not likely a keychain for your car keys or key fob).

Thanks everyone and good luck!

CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge sponsored by:

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!)