A few months before every iteration of CMEpalooza, Derek and I organize a brainstorming session in a secret location a few miles off the Amalfi Coast. It’s in a cave. Underwater. You’d never find it in a million years.

But I digress.

Our agenda during this session is rigorous – we each bring mounds of spreadsheets, cases of 5-Hour Energy shots, and enough technological might to power a small country (like Liechtenstein, for example). By the end of the day, we’re both exhausted, but during these powwows, we’ve always managed to accomplish what we intended to and put in motion the plans for our next event.

Subsequently over the course of the next few months, things start coming together. Emails are sent, invitations are proffered, negotiations are carefully massaged with agents, sponsors, and all of the major networks. It’s a full-time job (and yes, we have other full-time jobs, too)

I won’t lie – planning for this fall was perhaps the toughest challenge yet. With a variety of new session formats and twice as many faculty as we’ve ever had for a previous Palooza, there were a lot of bumps to overcome.

But overcome we did. Overcome we did.

And so without further ado…

(Clearing throat) Hear ye, hear ye… On behalf of the esteemed CMEpalooza planning committee, we are proud to present the agenda for CMEpalooza Fall 2016 (click the link, dummy).

You’ll be hearing more about each of our sessions in the coming weeks, including what we were thinking when we chose the topic and format, who the people are that you’ll see in front of the camera, and all the way that things might (but won’t) blow up in our faces.

Needless to say, we’re excited about the Fall meeting. It could either be really cool and interesting, or it could totally blow up in our faces (but it won’t).

Just in case though, I’m going to start pushing #Liechtenstexit.

Yes, all has been quiet on the CMEpalooza front, but never fear! Our minions have been hard at work behind the scenes starting preparations for CMEpalooza Fall (coming Wednesday, October 19! Save the date now!). Here’s a clip of them I filmed earlier today:

The agenda is starting to round into shape and I think this is going to be the most fascinating ‘palooza we have ever had, with all sorts of new formats and topics being tackled. I won’t go into too much detail at this point as we are still firming up final topics and faculty, but I can say that we will be doing another CME Puntua Lortu and it is open for anyone to submit an abstract to present. I’ll take your questions in order:

1. What is a Puntua Lortu? It is our version of a Pecha Kucha. You can read more details about the format and the name here. My fake Basque grandfather implores you.
2. No really, what is it? Sigh. It’s a presentation format where you get 20 slides, 20 seconds per slide, and the slides automatically advance. You can see some fantastic examples from CMEpalooza Spring 2016 and Fall 2015.
3. What do you need from me? If you are interested in presenting a Puntua Lortu at CMEpalooza Fall, we need you to submit an abstract here.
4. If I submit an abstract, am I guaranteed a slot in the CMEpalooza Puntua Lortu? No. We have five open slots, and we will review all the abstracts and pick the five we are most interested in. That said, we typically don’t get a lot of proposed sessions for this format, so unless a cavalry of brave CME soldiers appears on the horizon, if you put in a proposal, your chances are reasonably good. But no promises.
5. What topic should I present on? Anything related to CME. The more creative the better.

We ask that all CME Putua Lortu abstracts be submitted by July 1. After that, we’ll review them and let you know if your abstract has been accepted for a presentation at CMEpalooza Fall. If you have any questions about the format or the abstract process, feel free to ask them in the comments or to send me an email.

Click here to submit a CME Puntua Lortu abstract.

Hi there! How’s it going? Everything good? Great, great. Did you watch any of the CMEpalooza Spring sessions? You did? Excellent. What did you think? Pretty good? Not bad for free, eh? A couple techy issues? Yeah, I know. Sorry about that. It happens sometimes. Live by the internet, die by the internet.

Anyhoo, did you take our survey when you were done? No? You need the link? Just click here. What’s that? Why should you take it? I’m glad you asked…

Top 5 Reasons You Should Complete the CMEpalooza Survey

5. We read them, we really do. They’re very helpful to us when we’re trying to come up with new topics, look for ways to improve CMEpalooza, and find bad jokes. Here’s one we received last week:

Why did the cow cross the road? To go to the mooooovies.

Ugh. Maybe we should move on to #4…

4. This is my little girl’s new kitty Pepe. Look at how cute he is.

If you don’t take the survey, we have to give Pepe back. Seems like an odd clause for the adoption center to add to the contract, but what are you gonna do?

3. It’s the only way we can really know the demographics of our audience. We don’t require registration, and I don’t think we ever will, so this is the only way we know what types of organizations are watching, what sessions you’re watching, if you’re watching with others, etc.

2. If you take the survey, Scott will drive to your house and sing you a song from his extensive catalog of late-80’s/early-90’s R&B hits. He does a particularly compelling version of Bell Biv Devoe’s Poison, complete with dance moves. It’s wild.

1. You might win an Amazon gift card. You won’t be able to buy a new 4K Ultra HD TV with it, but you will have enough to buy a paperback copy of Susan Cain’s book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. Read into that what you will…

We’ll leave the survey open until the end of the day Friday. If you haven’t taken it yet and you watched at least some of CMEpalooza Spring, please consider doing so. We’d greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY!