First things first. If you were hiding under a rock last week (side note: who came up with this expression? Hiding under a rock. No one hides under a rock. If you tried to hide under a rock, you would be dead. Dumb.) or not paying attention because you were too busy binging HBO’s Perry Mason (fantastic), you may have missed our release of the 2020 CMEpalooza Fall agenda. I think we have a number of really great sessions, but then I always think that, so you should check it out yourself.

And speaking of really great sessions, the CMEpalooza archive has been updated to include all of the sessions from CMEpalooza Spring (note from Scott: Never let it be said that Derek doesn’t work quickly. It’s only been, oh, 4 months since the Spring event). It is crazy how many sessions are in the archive now. I could count them all up and tell you exactly how many there are, but…I don’t feel like it. Let’s just go with an official designation of “a lot.”

For a visual representation of the amount of sessions Scott and I have produced, here is a collage of pictures of Scott or me from every session.

Because it is hilarious, each of these pictures is a screenshot of when Scott or I first appears on screen. A few things I noticed:

• Scott has his eyes closed at least five times. I have no idea why, but it made me LOL each time.
• I have my mouth hanging open in multiple pics. Not sure if I started talking too early or if I’m just staring dumbly into the camera like Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
• Scott changes shirts in between sessions way more often than I realized. He is the the Lady Gaga of CMEpalooza.
• I wore the same shirt for four different paloozas. I was mortified as I went through the pictures and realized it (“Oh no, not the same shirt again!”)

So, be sure to join us for CMEpalooza Fall on Wednesday, October 14 and find out if I break out the same shirt for a fifth palooza and count Scott’s wardrobe changes. It’s fun for the whole family.

Being a child of the ’80s, there are few things that I enjoy more than a good hair metal power ballad. The spandex, the hair, the guitar solos, the five-second screech — it all combines into a ball of cheesy goodness. Let’s do a quick Top 5 Hair Metal Power Ballads, shall we?

(In case you are baffled by the term “hair metal,” I think this picture of the band Poison sums it up pretty well.)

5. Guns N’ Roses – Patience

4. Skid Row – I Remember You

3. Whitesnake – Here I Go Again

2. Poison – Every Rose Has Its Thorn

1. Warrant – Heaven

The key with any top notch power ballad is to not let the plaintive wailing turn into whining. Nobody likes a whiner. White Lion’s When the Children Cry is a prime example of wailing turning to whining. It has the hair, the clothes, the soaring guitar riffs — but when the chorus kicks in, lead singer Mike Tramp’s vocals remind me of when my kids were little and cried about going to bed. It’s a little like nails on a chalkboard.

In an effort to avoid becoming the White Lion of the CME world, I’d like to offer a very cordial and pleasant reminder that today is the last day for you to recommend a program manager for our Program Managers: We Get the Job Done! session at CMEpalooza Fall on October 14. We have had a nice response so far, but welcome anyone else who has someone you would like to suggest. Just follow this link to read about it and complete the form.

And if anyone has a favorite power ballad you would like to add to my list above, please feel free to let me know in the comments. I know there are some closet Stryper, Winger, and Kix fans out there. Put on your acid-washed jean jacket with the Mötley Crüe patch and join in!

 

The planning for CMEpalooza Fall on Wednesday, October 14 is well underway, and to the amazement of the entire CMEpalooza staff, I manged to finalize the moderators for all of the sessions I am running before Scott finalized his. This is truly a momentous occasion as it is perhaps the first time it has happened since the very first palooza Scott and I did back in the fall of 2014.  For those of you wondering if we really make this a competition, I tell you the same thing I tell my wife whenever she asks me the same question: Everything is a competition. Sometimes I just don’t tell you.

(note from Scott: I actually have had my moderators in place for 6 weeks. I just didn’t say anything to Derek. The guy needed a win. I am tired of hearing the same story over and over about how his 7th-grade basketball team won the state CYO championship).

One of the sessions I am particularly excited about is one that comes directly from a suggestion we received on our most recent post-CMEpalooza survey: Program Managers: We Get the Job Done! As you can probably infer from the title, the session will be focused on providing participants with a number of program management tips, best practices, workflows, etc., that program managers (heretofore abbreviated to “PMs” for convenience. Also because I’m never sure if it should be “program” or “project” manager, and this covers both bases) of all levels can utilize.

Christina Hosmer-Gallo, Senior Vice President of Educational Development at Med Learning Group, will be moderating the session, and we are hoping to have a panel of experienced program managers joining in on the conversation. Here is our current conundrum: PMs are often the behind-the-scenes kinds of folks who don’t get a lot of exposure to the broader CME community. So we don’t really know a lot of the ones who are really, really good at what they do (and preferably aren’t camera shy).

So what’s the solution? Well, you are, my good friend. As part of the process for putting the panel together, Christina and I would love to get some recommendations from the CME community for PMs you have worked with who would potentially be a good fit for this session. It can be someone you have worked with in a partnership, someone who works for your organization, or someone you talked to at a conference and thought was really smart. Or you can recommend yourself — we don’t mind!

You can use the form below to submit your recommendation. We will leave it up for a week and make the deadline the end of the day on Monday, July 27. We will take another week to review the recommendations and then reach out to the individuals we think will make the best panel (our goal is to have a panel of 3 or 4). Make sense?

If for any reason you prefer to email me rather than fill out the form below, you can send your recommendation to thecmeguy@gmail.com.