Last Friday, I was flipping channels and stumbled across The Godfather Epic on HBO. This is the version where they recut The Godfather I & II to run as a single film in chronological order along with a extra scenes cut from the originals. A young Vito Corleone was just being placed in quarantine on Ellis Island, and I was hooked. Three hours later, I had barely moved and was screaming at Sonny Corleone not to stop at the tollbooth. Alas, it was the end for both of us: Sonny stopped and was gunned down, and I headed to bed way too late. What a great, great movie(s).

You know what’s not a great movie? The Godfather III. The same people were back in charge, but Francis Ford Coppola made the fatal mistake of casting his daughter, Sofia, in a key role. She, unfortunately, was awful and the entire movie suffered because of it. The lesson here is that your next movie is only as good as the people you have in it.

This brings me back to CMEpalooza. We need your abstracts for CMEpalooza Spring and we need them today. It doesn’t matter how many times Scott and I have done this and how good the past versions have been — the next version of CMEpalooza will only be as good as the people we have in it. And we want it to be good!

This is the last day we will accept submission. So, one last time:

To submit and abstract for CMEpalooza Spring, click here.

To submit a PechaKucha abstract for CMEpalooza Spring, click here.

Leave an abstract. Take the cannoli.

 

 

 

Hey, guess what? It’s my birthday today.

You know what you can get me for my birthday? That’s right — you can submit an abstract for CMEpalooza Spring today instead of waiting for the last day like everyone else.

Or you can wait for the last day like everyone else.

I guess it doesn’t matter.

Just remember that abstracts for both regular presentations and for the Pecha Kucha-type session are due by the end of the day on Monday, February 1. The next morning (that would be Tuesday, February 2), we’ll open things up for public voting on the submitted sessions.

Submissions are slowly rolling in, and we spoke to lots of folks who said they were working on something (you know who you are), so we’re hoping to at least match last year’s mark of 30 submissions. Only six days to go!

(If you don’t want to give me an abstract submission for my birthday, I’d also like The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, a new watch, and a 1983 powder blue Mike Schmidt jersey from Mitchell & Ness. It’s glorious.)

 

 

You’re all in for a special treat today (no, it’s not ice cream). I’m going to let you in on the creative process Scott and I go through when we’re planning CMEpalooza. Below is a paraphrased version of how we decided to do a Pecha Kucha during the last CMEpalooza Fall. Feel free to try and replicate our brainstorming process in your own professional life.

Me: We should do a Pecha Kucha during CMEpalooza Fall.

Scott: I have no idea what that is.

Me: 20 slides, 20 seconds per slide, auto-advancing.

Scott: Sounds dumb.

Me: It will be great.

Scott: Whatevs.

End scene. Of course, I was right and it was great and you should all immediately go and watch it now, if you haven’t already done so.

In all seriousness, we did get a lot of feedback that people enjoyed the Pecha Kucha format and would love to see it again. So, your wish is our command — we’re doing a Pecha Kucha at CMEpalooza Spring! Here are some of the details:

• Go here to submit a Pecha Kucha abstract. This is not to be confused with an abstract for a regular CMEpalooza Spring session, which can also be submitted today, tomorrow, or next week.
• Submissions are due by the end of the day on February 1. Same deadline for the regular abstracts.
• What is a Pecha Kucha? Go here for more details on the format.
• We’re leaving the topic open ended. It should relate to CPD/CME, but otherwise, it’s up to you.
• As with everything palooza-related, the process is fluid. We plan to have five presentations during the Pecha Kucha. If we get more than five submissions, we’ll do a similar crowdsourcing process as we are doing with the regular CMEpalooza Spring submissions.

If you have never done a Pecha Kucha presentation before — and I’m guessing most of you reading this have not — I encourage you to challenge yourself and give it a try. It’s not easy, but I think most of the presenters from the CMEpalooza Fall Pecha Kucha would agree that the experience of preparing and presenting a Pecha Kucha was an interesting and rewarding experience. If you have any questions about, please feel free to reach out to me.