Good morning, everyone. Trust the process and get those CMEpalooza abstract submissions in today!

Go here if you are looking for the form to submit your abstract.

Good luck to all!

Like me, I am sure you get annoyed when you open your morning inbox and see another email reminding you that “The deadline for submitting an abstract for Meeting XYZ is next week. Don’t miss your opportunity to share your knowledge with colleagues and further your career!”

So no, this isn’t a post to remind you one last time that the deadline for submitting an abstract for CMEpalooza Spring is tomorrow (even though, well, yes, it is. Derek is counting on you).

Today, I’ll be telling you about something of potentially monumental importance both to you and the organization you represent — sponsorship opportunities for CMEpalooza! Whoo-hoo!

OK, OK, settle down now. That’s enough whoo-hooing for one day. You’ll hurt yourself if this goes on any longer.

Since we introduced sponsorship opportunities prior to CMEpalooza III (it’s Super Bowl week, so Roman numerals are acceptable), more than 40 companies have come aboard to support one or more of our events. Every year, we tweak the goodies offered to sponsors, especially at the higher levels. Our initial batch of sponsors for CMEpalooza XI (that’s this year’s Spring meeting) were put up last week, but there are still many opportunities available at every sponsorship level.

Here are some little known facts about a CMEpalooza sponsorship:

1. You can have a session of your very own. That’s right, if you want to take the ultimate leap into a Gold sponsorship, you get the honor of working with Derek and I to plan your very own CMEpalooza session. Now I know what you are thinking – “In what world is working with Derek and you considered to be a ‘honor?'” OK, OK, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but at least it’ll be less painful than a mortgage/rent payment! I had a conversation with a colleague last week who works with a prior Gold sponsor. She told me, “We were going to do it again, but we didn’t have any good ideas for a session.” Hogwash, I tell you, hogwash! We have lots of ideas. They might not be good ideas, but they are ideas. We’ll figure something out.
2. Derek will write you a haiku. You all know how much I love CMEpalooza haiku. I have written about it before. It’s one of Derek’s favorite blog posts. He cozies up on the sofa with a giant bag of Cheetos, gets that orange cheese dust all over his keyboard, and bangs out what the New York Times literature reviewer calls, “Eh, something.” For the first time this year, all Silver and Gold sponsors of CMEpalooza get your very own customized haiku written by the esteemed Mr. Warnick. He is extremely excited about this opportunity to further advance his pathetic — I mean, poetic — career.
3. You will get tremendous exposure. Whenever sponsorship time rolls around, we always get the question of, “But, why sir, why?” Look, I can’t promise you that your company’s revenues will double if you decide to sponsor CMEpaloooza (though if they do, I will take full credit). But I can tell you that we have a lot of people read our blog (nearly 500 subscribers who get an email with every post as well as those who simply come to the website every hour), view our sessions (a record 644 unique visitors watched 1 or more sessions in CMEpalooza X last fall), and participate in our special sponsor events like CMEpalooza Bingo!! or CMEpalooza Pursuit!!. For some reason, people seem to like us, and by extension, they will like you if you sign up to be one of our sponsors.
4. You will have money left over to buy many, many “4 for $4” deals at Wendy’s. While I haven’t actually been to a Wendy’s since, I don’t know, the 10th grade, I won’t argue that their food is expensive (whether or not it is actually good, well, you can be the judge). The point is, CMEpalooza sponsorships aren’t terribly expensive. They start at the low, low price of $600. You probably have that much in your couch cushions right now! OK, maybe you don’t (but if you do, seriously, lift up those cushions more than once a decade). Regardless, you get the point.

If I’ve done enough to convince you to climb aboard the Sponsorship train, well, bully for me. Just send me an email with some very basic info, and we’ll get the process started. If you remain on the fence and want more info, you can check out the full Sponsorship prospectus. If you are laughing uproariously at this post’s shameless plug, the Pit of Despair is just over yonder.

ABSTRACTS FOR CMEpalooza SPRING ARE DUE FEBRUARY 1!
Click here to go to the abstract submission form (bottom of the page)

As I’ve mentioned here numerous times before, my personality definitely leans towards the introverted side of the social spectrum. Over the years, I’ve gotten pretty good at repressing my natural inclinations to avoid human interaction, especially when attending things such as the Alliance conference.

Shockingly, I have found that I even sort of like talking to people… sometimes… and that people, maybe, kind of like talking to me? I don’t know, that might be pushing it, but I have found that it’s helpful for me to take little breaks of solitude during the day in order to recharge. This, however, can lead to things like this:

This, of course, leads to a follow-up question that I know you all are asking right now: Does this mean Scott is the extrovert of the CMEpalooza team??

The answer is yes.

Even more incredible to believe is that not only is he the extrovert of CMEpalooza, he is also our optimist. Stunning revelations, I know, but true! I’m the one who after two years of doing CMEpalooza informed Scott that this was probably our apex and it was all downhill from here. I’m the one who assumed no one would ever want to be a sponsor of our events. And I’m the one who every year assumes no one will submit an abstract to present at CMEpalooza Spring.

(Side note: My pessimism should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever watched a Sixers game with me. I love them, but always anticipate failure and defeat.)

To my delight, I talked with several people at the Alliance conference who said they were planning to submit an abstract for this year’s CMEpalooza Spring. Yay! I’m always thrilled that people still enjoy the palooza and want to participate.

(Do I think most of the people I talked to about submitting an abstract will change their mind and never do it?…NO!…I mean, no, I do not…but…I mean…ok, yes, I do, but ignore me…)

One of the questions that came up during these conversations is, “What topics are other people considering abstracts for?” To help answer that, I put together a list of the abstract titles from some of the people I talked with at the conference. I don’t want to give away too much, so I’ve not included their last names, but I think it will help give you an idea of what’s under consideration:

Donald T (politician/businessman, Washington DC) – Building a Wall Between Good and Bad Education
Joel E (basketball player, Philadelphia) – Learning to Trust the Process and Other Meeting Planning Tips 
Bruce W (entrepreneur, Gotham) – Unmasking the Learning Myths That Drive Me Batty
Cardi B (musician, Bronx) – I Like It!: True Confessions of an Accreditation Fanatic
Tom B (football player, Boston) – Deflating Expectations About Winning Grant Requests
Nancy P (politician, Washington DC) – Saying No: Advice for Negotiating with Difficult Faculty
Daenerys T of House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, The Unburnt (Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Protector of the Realm, Lady Regent of the Seven Kingdoms, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons) – How to Train a Dragon: No, Seriously, That’s It…I Will Teach You How to Train a Frickin’ Dragon

And just in case the reminder at the top wasn’t enough, please remember that abstracts for CMEpalooza Spring are due on Friday.

Click here to go to the abstract submission form