some loudly sing songs
to provide motivation
we write you haikus

back on the street this
October twenty-second
it’s Palooza Fall

it’s no Rocky Run
but STEPtacular Challenge
will get you moving

9 AM ET — Changing Minds, Changing Habits: Education that Goes Beyond the Facts

ch-ch-ch-changes
time may change minds (and habits)
but we can’t trace time

10 AM ET — Grant Anatomy 101: Dissecting A Grant Proposal

unlike Grey’s there’s no
McDreamy or McSteamy
just a LoPresti

11 AM ET — One Step Over the Line? What’s Right, What’s Wrong, and What Falls Into the Grey Area of Accredited CE

check out this session
for the nitty gritty of
accreditation

Noon — Social Listening Success Story: Amplifying Engagement and Uncovering Insights

some success stories
show social listening sows
stronger strategy

1 PM ET — Taking a Clinical Trials Approach to Outcomes Design

don’t touch that dial
outcomes designed by trial
will make you smile

2 PM ET — Time Well Spent: Optimizing Educational Events with Circadian Rhythm Science

the circadian
rhythm is gonna get you
unless you plan well

3 PM ET — The CE Bill of Rights: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Fair Balance

let’s all hope that no
constitutional scholars
read this mixed title

4 PM ET — Got Questions? Research Has Answers

research vampires
suck up research, but never
generate research

Sponsors

it’s a proven fact
that palooza sponsors have
a higher IQ

Gold

can’t escape Medscape
ubiquitous CME
they are everywhere

new name for this group
it’s Kaplan Medical Ed
KME for short

to no one’s surprise
MLG is back again
welcome back old friends

Silver

with space or no space
AcademicCME
is one of our faves

one key to haikus
creative name editing
like CE Concepts

Daiichi Sankyo
our favorite pharma sponsor
don’t tell the others

DKBmed has
an eye for innovation
and nose CME

GLC is known
for their ability to
combine brains and Braun

everybody knows
a group that’s called Healio
click the link to go

HMP has more
accreditations than we
have silver sponsors

best Pearl Jam lyric
is not about Jeremy
it’s “I’m still Medlive!”

you can get prime ed
from silver sponsor Pri-Med
give it a try, Ned.

In the song Mr. November by The National, Matt Berninger sings:

I wish that I believed in fate. I wish I didn’t sleep so late.
I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders.
I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders.
I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders.

While the song is ostensibly about Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, I love the imagery it creates of the down-on-his luck middle-aged ex-jock reminiscing about his glory days of old (something I would never do, especially not in a blog post for all to read.) It might be hard times now, but you should have seen me back in high school. I was something then! I was somebody! I just need another chance!

Today is the start of the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge, sponsored once again by Talem Health. Whether you’re an ex-athlete looking to reclaim glory or a couch potato looking for a good reason to get out of the house, all our welcome to join and participate. Here are all the details you need to know.

• The challenge begins today (Monday, October 13) and will go until the end of the day on Sunday, October 19
• 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 this sweet YETI water bottle, courtesy of Talem Health.
  

Thanks everyone and good luck!

CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge sponsored by:

We have had a number of new subscribers to the blog over the past couple of weeks (I’m not sure why. Maybe our billboard advertising campaign is finally paying off?), so I thought this might be a good time to review some of the core tenets of CMEpalooza as a courtesy to those of you who are new to the program or may have simply forgotten. In order to do so, we first need to talk about the Ship of Theseus.

The Ship of Theseus (a.k.a. Theseus’s Paradox) is a thought experiment about, to quote Wikipedia, “whether an object is the same object after having all of its original components replaced over time.” If I have a boat and, over time, I have replaced the rudder, the sail, the deck, the anchor, etc., is it still the same boat? If not, when did it stop being the same boat? (Before I am accused of once again making an obscure reference to something I read in a book recently, I’d like to clarify that my first exposure to the Ship of Theseus was through a podcast called The Rights to Ricky Sanchez which is, of course, a Philadelphia 76ers themed podcast. Apologies to all you Thomas Hobbes podcast fans out there.)

The Ship of Theseus paradox is relevant here because, in order to conduct this thought experiment, we must first break down the object under consideration into its essential components that could theoretically be replaced. What makes the object the object? What makes CMEpalooza CMEpalooza?

There are three core tenets of CMEpalooza:

1. It should be educational, but fun
2. It should be easy to access
3. It should be free

These are the rock-solid pillars of CMEpalooza that have held it up ever since the first palooza in March of 2014. We have other traditional elements that have become synonymous with CMEpalooza, such as:

• Scott’s biannual sponsor event/game, which will be coming next week
• The CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge (sponsored by Talem Health), which will take place the week of October 13
• My CMEpalooza Haiku blog post, coming October 15, unless I get a wicked case of writer’s block, which is always a possibility

But you can remove all three of these elements, and CMEpalooza will still be CMEpalooza.

CMEpalooza will always be fun, easy, and free. We have had different faculty, different topics, different formats, and a different platform. but because those three core tenets remain, the Ship of CMEpaloozeus sails on.