The CMEpalooza Fall agenda: coming soon! We promise.

A number of years ago – oh, let’s say…20 – in that blissful period of my life that came after I was married but before any kids arrived on the scene (and yet I still thought I was sooooo busy. What innocent times.), my wife had a job managing a youth choir that involved a tour and concert series in Eugene, OR. I went along as a chaperone and to provide a helping hand with one of my few areas of expertise — picking up moderately heavy objects and setting them back down again in a different location. I also played basketball during my free time with the three boys who were in the choir. It wasn’t a very hard job and I was paid accordingly (exactly $0)

One afternoon, the group took a side trip to a massive bookstore near the University of Oregon campus. Anyone who knows me at all knows that visiting a new bookstore is definitely my jam and this one did not disappoint (No, I don’t remember the name of it. No, it’s not Powell’s. I said I don’t remember, leave me alone.). On our return trip to the dorm where we were staying, two junior high school-aged girls sitting in front of me on the bus were chattering away about the books they bought and how much they loved reading fantasy & science fiction novels. They went on and on about it.

Eventually, one of them looked back and saw me leafing through my recent purchases. She asked what I had bought at the store and I showed her my new copies of The Claw of the Conciliator and The Sword of the Lictor from Gene Wolfe’s epic The Book of the New Sun series. She looked surprised when I showed her and blurted out, “Wait – you like reading fantasy novels, too??”

I do, yes. I like reading lots of different genres and her question legitimately confused me. I responded honestly and asked why she was surprised that I did.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “Most grown-ups think fantasy books are silly.”

Ay, there’s the rub. Most grown-ups think fantasy books are silly. It was a few years later when I finally read-up on the literary fiction versus genre fiction debate and learned that “book shaming” was a thing. In a nutshell, serious adults should read literary fiction with complex themes and obtuse plots while genre fiction, with its detectives and spaceships and dragons is, well, silly.

It turns out that I like silly things. I like silly things because they are fun, but I also like silly things because they can present complex ideas in creative ways. At CMEpalooza, we fully support trying silly things, like a CME version of The Masked Singer, or a whiskey-swilling detective dedicated to maintaining accreditation compliance, or an 80’s movies themed Outcomes session, or a trivia competition combining CME and pop culture facts.

Outwardly, these may seem like purely silly ideas, but there is always a purpose and reason behind the formats we choose. We try these ideas because when something really clicks, it can be a sublime leaning experience for participants. We realize that not every format is going to click with every learner and that’s OK. If you are not enjoying the format of a particular session, it’s OK to turn it off. It won’t hurt our feelings. When we try new formats, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. It is interesting, though, how often the sessions that receive the most complaints are also the sessions that receive the most compliments.

We hope to be announcing the agenda for CMEpalooza Fall relatively soon and, yes, we will once again be trying a new idea or two. We don’t know how well they will work, but we hope you won’t judge these fantasy books by their cover and give them a try.

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainty.”

Erich Fromm

Hey gang, it’s your pal Derek here. Feels like it has been a while since I posted anything on the ol’ palooza blog. How’s your summer going? If the weather where you are has been anything like it’s been in Philadelphia, you have probably been spending the majority of your time inside like me basking in the A/C. I think weather like this can best be summed up by the lyrics of modern-day minstrel Rob Thomas from his 1999 ballad Smooth, which opens with Rob crooning the poetic words:

“Man, it’s a hot one.”

Truer words were never spoken, Rob.

Speaking of modern-day minstrels, few people realize what a lovely singing voice CMEpalooza’s own Scott Kober has. He is far too modest to ever say anything about it, but I once heard him bring down the house with his 1 am version of Firehouse’s Love of a Lifetime in the JW Marriott Orlando hotel lobby bar at the Alliance conference a few years ago (note from Scott: Derek’s memory is failing him. It was The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News in San Francisco). That alone was worth the cost of the registration fee. I recommend asking Scott to sing a little something the next time you see him. Sometimes it takes a little encouragement to build up his confidence, so don’t feel bad about nagging him constantly to do it.

But let’s get back to the main point of this post: finding more opportunities for sitting comfortably indoors in the A/C. Lucky for you, we have a CMEpalooza Spotlight session with our friends at Daiichi Sankyo coming up on Thursday, which gives you another opportunity to bask in the coolness of the indoors. Here are the details:

CMEpalooza Spotlight. Thursday, July 22. 11 am ET. You watch it here.

Heeding the advice of Rob Thomas in the parting words of Smooth — “Let’s not forget about it” — I recommend adding the CMEpalooza Spotlight to your calendar now. Hope to see you all there!