The need for continuing education has never been more evident than at this point in history where hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 continue to climb despite vaccines being readily available and the lead news story in healthcare focusing on the pleas of health officials for people to stop ingesting animal dewormer as part of their treatment plans. Our role as continuing healthcare education professionals is an important one for the overall health of the people on this planet we all live on, and we owe it to them to stay at the top of our game.

With that rather heavy opening in mind (note from Scott: I felt like I was about to get an enema – lighten up Francis), we are extremely pleased to announce the release of the CMEpalooza Fall 2021 agenda! Our goal with this agenda was to focus on feedback we have received from all of you and develop sessions that will provide you with useful information that you can use in your daily work life. Education to help us do what we do a little better. We all have different roles in this industry, but we hope that everyone will be able to find a little something in the agenda that is helpful.

Here is a direct link to the agenda. We hope to see all of you on October 13!

As usual, there may be some tweaks and updates to the agenda along the way. In particular, we would like to put out a call for panelists for the Tech Tools for the CME Professional session. 

Scott here. Yes, this is one of those times where we know the kind of session we want but we’re not exactly sure who the best people would be to serve as our panelists. What we’re looking for is people who like technology and use a variety of interesting and/or unusual online tools/apps to make their professional and personal lives easier. We did this session 7 years ago – it’s essentially a chance for you to play “show and tell” with our audience. For instance, someone told me last week about this app where you can scan the bar codes of various things you eat and it keeps track of your daily intake of the good and bad things you body does/does not need. More work that I’m probably interested in, but sounded cool nonetheless. Maybe you have some tools you started to use professionally now that we’re living in a virtual world that you would like to share with our community. That’s also great. If this sounds intriguing, or even if you want to recommend someone, fill out the form below and I’ll be in touch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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