Here at CMEpalooza headquarters, we take our internship program seriously. Only the best and the brightest from Grand Lakes University (home of business tycoon Thornton Melon) pass through these hallways.

We expect a lot from our interns, putting them in charge of important tasks such as “Make sure Derek isn’t wearing his shirt inside-out again.” They do vital research as well, such as their current project, “Set the clocks in Derek’s office 5 minutes forward every day and then document how long it takes him to figure out something is awry.”

No one takes advantage of free labor quite like we do.

Alas, our interns don’t always have all of the answers. Case in point — when I asked them for ideas for our Spring Sponsor event, the room turned quieter than the Warnick household when reruns of Alice come on TV (Derek loves his Vic Tayback).

So seeing as I was getting no help from “the kids,” I was thrilled to see an email from a medical writer colleague of mine, Carrie Noriega, arrive in my inbox.

General paraphrasing here — “It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to be able to contribute an idea to CMEpalooza. Is there anything — please — that I can do to help you out?”

Far be it for me to dash someone’s dreams, I took Carrie up on her offer, asking her to come up with an idea for our Spring sponsor event.

Admittedly, she initially struggled to come up with something as her first two ideas (brutal honesty coming) sucked. But the third try was jusssttt on the right side of mediocre – hey, we don’t set the bar too high here – and we ran with it.

And with a small seed of an idea, CMEpalooza Pursuit blossomed.

As always, there are prizes for those who successfully enter our Spring Sponsor event. We’re giving out $500 worth of Amazon gift cards to randomly selected entrants – a $100 grand prize, 5 $50 second prizes, and 6 $25 third prizes.

Here are the rules of CMEpalooza Pursuit:

1. Call up the Sponsor page on the CMEpalooza website. You’ll need this for reference purposes to access our Sponsor’s websites.

2. Download the CMEpalooza Pursuit question form by clicking on this link.

You’ll see that questions are divided into categories that will be familiar to anyone who has ever played Trivial Pursuit – Geography, Entertainment, History, Arts & Literature, Science & Nature, and Sports & Leisure. There are three questions within each category, the answers to which can all be found on the sponsoring company website.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to answer every question – just one per category. If you want to be the teacher’s pet, of course, you can answer every question, though you get no formal extra credit, just that all over warm feeling for a job well done.

3. Download the CMEpalooza Pursuit answer form by clicking on this link. This is where you will enter in your answers – remember, only one answer is required per category. I promise that none of the questions are tricky or difficult. If it takes you more than 10 minutes to complete the entire challenge, you are doing something wrong.

4. Email me your completed answer form. It’s scott@medcasewriter.com. All completed forms will be entered into our drawing. One entry per person. Perhaps you make this a company-wise challenge and have your entire team enter individually. Perhaps you keep this a secret so that your chances of winning improve. Whatever. Just make sure that your entry is submitted by the deadline of midnight ET on Thursday, April 6.

That’s about it. Now if you’ll excuse me, they just finished installing an extra springboard at our company pool. Our interns are going to try to teach Derek how to do the Triple Lindy.

As a Jewish kid who grew up in the Northeast, I spent many a summer at overnight camp. Best time of my life. You get to play sports all day, eat as much sugar cereal as you want at breakfast (another bowl of Cocoa Krispies? Don’t mind if I do), and, of course, no parents telling you what to do for 8 whole weeks!

I understand that a lot of you – well, probably just about all of you – don’t get the beauty of overnight camp. I have tried explaining to my Irish Catholic wife many times how overnight camp is great for both kids and parents (another glass of wine with dinner out on a random Wednesday night? Don’t mind if I do), but I don’t know that she totally gets it.

Overnight camp was where I learned how to make a bed with hospital corners (and shoot a rifle – yes, they had a rifle range for 9-year-olds back in those days. Can you imagine?), where I found out what it means to be independent (it’s awesome), and, of course, where I kissed my first girl (thank you Maggie Cohen).

(Coming back around to make this relevant…slowly…wait for it…)

Every morning at overnight camp, we would have an assembly where one of the camp directors would tell everyone very briefly what important things were happening outside of our little world – ie, did the Phillies win last night? – and go over what sorts of activities were planned for that day. One of the things that stuck with me these many years later is his daily description.

“We have a bevy, a plethora, a cornucopia, perhaps even a mélange of activities for everyone today…”

Since I work with words, I always liked that, and it stuck with me.

(Making the connection…soon…almost…here we go…)

One of the most enjoyable things about putting together the agenda for our biannual CMEpalooza events is coming up with groups of potential faculty members. Both Derek and I have been around the CME circles for long enough that we know a goodly number of folks in the industry, and yet there are always plenty of new names and faces we are introduced to through CMEpalooza. I always look forward to building new relationships and tapping into the brainpower of a broader community as we prepare and produce our live broadcasts.

We presented our Spring agenda last week, which boasts both a bevy of sessions and a plethora of talented panelists. We made some modifications to our agenda development process this spring, and while it put a bit more of the burden onto Derek and I during the development process, we think it’ll be worth it when you join us on Wednesday, April 19. You’ll be exposed to a cornucopia of new ideas and hopefully be provided with a mélange of building blocks to improve your day-to-day experience as a CME professional.

You bring the S’mores, and I’ll provide the left-handed smoke shifter (and if you get that obscure overnight camp reference, you let me know).

Quick show of hands: Who would like to read another one of my rants about people who continue to write “CMEpalooza” incorrectly (you know who you are, by the way)?

OK…OK, nobody.

Who would like to read 5,000 words from Scott breaking down all the sessions in the CMEpalooza archive into an NCAA March Madness-style bracket, complete with a final CMEpalooza Session National Champion?

OK…OK, I see one guy in the back with his hand rai-…no…no, he was just scratching his nose.

And who would like me to just get to the agenda?

That’s what I thought. Let’s get right to the agenda then. Below is the (mostly) final agenda for CMEpalooza Spring. We might have a few edits or updates between now and April 19, but this is pretty much it. We’re really thrilled with our lineup and think it will be our best CMEpalooza, yet. Onward!

9 a.m. ET
Breakfast Session Sponsored by Prova Education
Topic and Speakers TBA

10 a.m. ET
Straight from the Horse’s Mouth: Learning Preferences of Healthcare Providers
How can we be sure that we are providing our audience with the best formats for learning? This session will provide answers to all our burning questions around how HCPs learn through an engaging interview with a well-respected family physician. He is a prolific educator and has advised many CME providers on the development of certified education. The interview will discuss different formats used in CME that are engaging to a HCP audience and how learners prefer to receive their education. This will then be tied to the type of data we as CME providers can glean from these different educational formats.

Moderator
Amanda Glazar, PhD, CHCP, Director, Medical Education, Kynectiv

Panelist
Paul Doghramji, MD, Family Physician, Collegeville Family Practice

11 a.m. ET
Two Scoops of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Please!
CME activities have become too vanilla. Redundancy abounds and it has become more and more difficult to differentiate one program from another. What does it take to be truly innovative? What are groups doing to separate themselves from the masses? This panel of commercial supporters will discuss what they look for in a grant proposal, the elements that make an activity stand out from the crowd, and provide examples of innovation in education that they have funded recently. Learn how to turn your vanilla program into two scoops of chocolate chip cookie dough!

Moderator
Karen Roy, MSc, Principal and Co-founder, infograph-ed, LLC, Principal, Ardgillan Group, LLC

Panelists
Angelo Carter, PharmD, Director, Grant Officer, Global Medical Grants and Research Collaborations, Pfizer
Helen Kostarides, Consultant, Medical Education Grants – Oncology, Lilly Grant Office, Eli Lilly and Company
Greselda Butler, CHCP, Senior Manager, Grants and Contributions, Otsuka America Pharmaceutical Inc.

Noon ET
Lunchtime Session Sponsored by Genentech
Forays into the Four “A’s”: Promoting Systems-Based Changes in CME
After the identification of a system-based educational gap, providers are typically challenged with Activating, Advancing, Aspiring toward and/or Allocating resources to help address and close that gap. This is the reason why The Expanded Learning Model for Systems (TELMS) was developed to serve as adjunct to existing learning models. In this session, provider representatives will provide examples of specific initiatives that tackled one or more of these challenges in a system-based setting and offer suggestions on how to avoid potential pitfalls that can trip up similarly proposed initiatives.

Moderator
John Ruggiero, PhD, Associate Director, Genentech U.S. Medical Affairs, Learning & Clinical Integration

Panelists
Donna Harris, Senior Director, US/Global Education, Med-IQ, LLC
Caroline O. Robinson, PhD, Senior Director of Learning and Analytics, Prime Education
Linda Gracie-King, Managing Partner/Co-Founder, Axis Medical Education
Matthew Frese, General Manager, MedLearningGroup
Rob Braun, Senior Director, Medscape Education
Pamela Peters, PhD, Director of Quality and Strategy, Medscape Education

1 p.m. ET
Networking with the Best of Them: How to Make Friends and Influence People
As we work to develop educational interventions that encourage our clinician learners to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams, it is pXXXrudent that we also do this within our own organizations. Within most of our organizations, networking intra-departmentally and cross-departmentally is critical, as is doing so between CE providers, industry, and other stakeholders. As such, we have all witnessed the fruit borne out when networking has been optimized and the stank of when it has not. This session will provide useful tips from seasoned CE professionals on how to make friends and influence people as we all strive to implement better CE/CPD.

Panelists
Monique Johnson, MD, CHCP, Director, Medical Affairs, Imedex
Susan Yarbrough, CHCP, Director, Continuing Professional Development, Imedex
Allison Kickel, CHCP, Senior Director, Business Development, Imedex

2 p.m. ET
What is Data Visualization and How Can I Apply It?
Is there any room for improvement in how you present data and information in a succinct and digestible fashion? For most if not all of us, the answer is YES! Providers and supporters can all benefit from the use and understanding of Data Visualization (“data viz”) techniques and tools. Visual processing plays a large role in how human beings experience the world, and the integration of visual messages that are easily interpreted with minimal cognitive stress can tremendously help in message communication. In this moderated panel, we will review some basic data viz concepts and techniques, review case studies and hear from different stakeholders in the CEHP community who have benefited from the use of data viz in their communications.

Moderator
Anne Roc, PhD, Senior Medical Director, PlatformQ Health Education

Panelists
Bhaval Shah, PhD, Principal (Creative) and Co-founder, infograph-ed, LLC
Julia Shklovskaya, MPA, Senior Manager, Independent Medical Education and Medical External Affairs, Takeda Pharmaceuticals
Lauren Welch, MA, Vice President, Outcomes and Accreditation, Med Learning Group

3 p.m. ET
Is That Compliant? Separating Fact from Fiction in Accredited CME
Can the supporter have a copy of the participant list from the program? Does the medical director who sits in the office next to mine qualify as a non-biased reviewer to resolve a conflict of interest? Can this faculty member with a conflict of interest disclosure 3 pages long serve as the course chair? What if the answer to these questions was “Yes, yes, and yes,” but at the same time “Probably not a good idea”? There is an incredible amount of misperception and misunderstanding about what does and does not comply with ACCME criteria. Much of this may be due to fear of rules that do not exist and an understandable abundance of caution. This session will explore some of the difficult-to-answer questions in CME compliance and provide clarity between what is compliant, non-compliant, and compliant-but-a-bad-idea.

Moderator
Michael Baffuto, CHCP, President, Integrity Continuing Education

Panelists
Brooke Taylor, Assistant Dean for Continuing Medical Education, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine
Mindi Daiga, MBA, VP, CME Compliance and Operations, Pri-Med
Beth Brillinger, CHCP, Director of Accreditation, CME Outfitters, LLC

4 p.m. ET
Celebrating Our Mistakes: A Retrospective Analysis of “What Went Wrong”
We celebrate our successes in work and in life – applying for awards, highlighting our breakthroughs in grant proposals – that all help us get through the day. But it’s often in our failures that we learn the most that adapt our approaches for the future. This case-based session will retrospectively examine several “failures” of our team of presenters, providing insight into why these initiatives failed and what they and others can learn from those failures.

Moderator
Scott Bradbury, Director of E-Learning, American Academy of Pediatrics

Panelists
Mary Ales, Executive Director, Interstate Postgraduate Medical Association
Erica Klopp, Director, Continuing Education, Reading Health System
Ellen L. Cohen, Cert.Ed., Dip.Ed., CHCP, Director, CME Accreditation & Maintenance of Certification at American College of Cardiology