My son Drew is just starting the 7^th grade and has a fantastic teacher – Mr. Leonard. Mr. Leonard challenges his students, expects great things from them, and makes himself available when they struggle. On the first day of school, the first thing he taught everyone was the proper way to shake hands. That’s awesome.

This morning, Drew told me about the writing assignment Mr. Leonard had given the class a few days before. They were supposed to write about an epiphany they had recently experienced. He showed me the title of his epiphany-based paper: The Day I Discovered My Dad Was Good at Basketball. I was flattered, though, I would have been more so if he hadn’t used the past tense in his title. I’m a foot taller than that kid and I can still take him! What does he mean was good?!? That’s it – I’m getting my high-tops on. LET’S GO! RIGHT NOW! YOU AND ME, KID! MAKE-IT-TAKE-IT FIRST ONE TO 10!!!

Sorry, sorry…where was I? Right, epiphanies. A couple years ago, I had an epiphany of my own while covertly using Google Hangouts On-Air to record and stream Lawrence Sherman’s presentation at the Alliance conference so a colleague overseas could watch. Fast forward a few years (and a name change from Google Hangouts On-Air to YouTube Live) and we are now on our 6^th(!) iteration of the result of that epiphany – CMEpalooza. That is wild.

Anytime you do a conference this many times, there is a danger of it becoming stagnant and repetitive. It’s not easy to come up with new ideas, topics, and formats. That’s why Scott and I are particularly proud of the agenda for this version of CMEpalooza. We really tried to push the envelope and come up with a wide range of formats to keep things interesting. There’s a little something for everyone. We’ve got CE experts engaging in casual conversations. We’ve got our very own Jamie and Adam to bust some CME myths. One session is basically a reality TV program with our panelists only given 24 hours notice to resolve some common and not-so-common case conundrums in CME. And of course, we’re bringing back our CME Puntua Lortu for another round to close out the day. If you have never stuck around long enough to watch the previous Puntua Lortus, I highly recommend you do this time. They’re a lot of fun.

We also sprinkled in a few traditional panel sessions, though I have to say I’m a little disappointed that only one person caught the literary reference in the title of my The Brief, Wondrous Life of a Grant Request session. Mr. Leonard would be very disappointed in all of you.

So, if you haven’t already marked your calendar for CMEpalooza on October 19, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR please do so now. Watch all the sessions or watch a few, but however much you decide to watch, just remember what my Grandpa Warnick always said: You can pick your friends and you can pick your sessions, but you can’t pick your friends’ sessions (unless you’re watching with your friends and it’s your computer and you’re in control of picking the sessions you watch, which ruins my entire closing sentence. Thanks. Thanks a lot.)

We held our prize drawing for CMEpalooza Bingo!! this morning in a top secret location witnessed by representatives from the table next to us at the neighborhood coffee shop. It was fraught was tension and caused quite a bit of excitement – there may or may not have been a latte spilled on the floor while selecting our grand prize winner (I am bound to secrecy).

Congratulations to all of the winners. They are:

Grand Prize Winner: $100 Amazon Gift Card

• Jena Williams – Provider Education Coordinator, Office of the Medical Director, Washington State Department of Labor & Industries

$50 Amazon Gift Cards Winners

• Ron Murray – Freelance CPD/CME Professional
• Sandy Mardant – Continuing Education Manager, A.D.A.M.
• Janice G. Richards – Richards Professional Development
• Sally Cook – Compliance & Assessment Manager, Education Department, American College of Radiology

$25 Amazon Gift Card Winners

• Anita Misra-Press – Freelance Medical Writer
• Michèle Gagnon – Director, Education & Strategy, liV Medical Communication & Training Agency
• Joanne Wise – Center for Public Health Continuing Education, University at Albany, School of Public Health
• Karin Pearson – Director, Tufts University School of Medicine, Office of Continuing Education
• Amanda Kaczerski – Director, Education Development, Academy for Continued Healthcare Learning
• Kristi J. English – Program Manager, Academic Affairs, Department of CME/Conference Management, MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Bonnie J Bixler – Director, Continuing Education, Penn State College of Medicine
• Donna M. Stout – Continuing Education Program Specialist, Department of Education, Lehigh Valley Health Network

Our winners have all been contacted via email and will be receiving their prizes shortly.

I know what everyone else is whining – “How come I didn’t win?” Well, either you didn’t play (shame on you) or you simply weren’t fortunate enough to have your number drawn (you had lots of company). I am sure we will come up with another creative contest next spring, so you’ll have another chance in the future.

One of these weekends, we’ll give our crack staff at CMEpalooza headquarters the weekend off to enjoy the fall colors and reunite with their families. This simply wasn’t one of those weekends.

Far surpassing Derek’s prediction of zero entries (he’s both an introvert and a pessimist), we had close to 300 successful entries into our inaugural contest (we’re admittedly using the phrase “close to” somewhat liberally here).

Judging by the messages we got from those who completed their entry forms – one eager beaver filled out the entire Bingo board – it was a fun diversion from work that even helped them learn something about some of our sponsors. If you missed out on the fun but have a burning desire to find out the answers, we’ve got a handy answer key for you right here.

We’ll be having our prize drawing on Wednesday, where we’ll be divvying up $500 in Amazon gift cards to 13 of our successful entrants (one $100 winner, four $50 winners, and eight $25 winners). We’ll announce the winners in this space, and also contact them privately via email.