In the bowels of CMEpalooza history emerge the details – we first hired temporary help only to man the phones on the weekends before our events, then we taught our fearless crew a year later to multitask by adding in the need to respond to email.

This year, for the first time we are requiring that our temps ($15.01 per hour, just to stay one step ahead of you, California) perform three tasks with their usual aplomb – answering phones, responding to emails, and perusing Twitter conversations.

Just trying our best to stay up with the times.

As a service to our loyal community, we thought we’d share with you one of the dozens of CMEpalooza-related conversations that took place in the Twittersphere over the weekend to get you prepared for our Spring extravaganza on Wednesday, April 6.

As always, this is a transcript from a real* conversation that took place over the weekend.

(* = not real)

@EBW2005: My dad told me I could skip school on Wednesday if I watch CMEpalooza instead. I don’t even know what CMEpalooza is. Can someone help?

@CMEpalooza: We’re the premier online event for CME/CE professionals, with 7 hours of live broadcasts during our Spring event on April 6.

@EBW2005: What’s a CME/CE professional?

@CMEpalooza: We educate doctors, nurses, and other practicing healthcare professionals.

@EBW2005: Education is boring.

@CMEpalooza: Doesn’t have to be. We’ll show you ways some people are creating education that is a little more interesting. You can share what you learn with your teachers.

@EBW2005: How much does it cost to watch? My dad cut my allowance to $0.50 a week. He’s kind of a cheapskate.

@CMEpalooza: Good news for you then. CMEpalooza Spring is free. Always has been, always will be. You can save your allowance for something important, like candy.

@EBW2005: Candy messes with my braces. OK, so free. Free is good. How do I watch this CMEpalooza thing?

@CMEpalooza: Just go to the LIVE tab on our website starting at 10 a.m. ET. You can look at the agenda on our Spring tab. Every time a new session is ready to begin, go the LIVE tab and click the refresh button.

@EBW2005: What if I want to eat lunch or play a video game for, like, 12 consecutive hours? My dad would never know – he’s kind of clueless.

@CMEpalooza: That’s OK. Every CMEpalooza session gets archived as soon as it’s over on the Archive tab. You can come back and watch whatever session you want when it’s over.

@EBW2005: Are the archived sessions free, too?

@CMEpalooza: They are.

@EBW2005: Sounds like quite the money-making machine for you guys.

@CMEpalooza: We’ll ignore that comment.

@EBW2005: Hmm, I don’t know. They are supposed to be serving Pizza Boat in the cafeteria for lunch. You sure this CMEpalooza thing is worth it?

@CMEpalooza: Up to you. We’re all for the value of school, but you’ll learn a lot from our Spring event too. Maybe you can sell it to your teachers as an extra credit project.

@EBW2005: Fat chance of that. If it’s not about “preparing for the test,” they don’t care.

@CMEpalooza: In case it matters, there is no test with CMEpalooza. We have a survey, but it’s optional.

@EBW2005: OK, so free, check out the agenda, watch live or in the archives. Anything important I am missing?

@CMEpalooza: I don’t think so. You might want to watch a previous session from the Archives in advance to get a sense of what our sessions look like.

@EBW2005: That sounds like homework. I don’t do homework.

@CMEpalooza: You must be one of Warnick’s kids.

 

 

Heading down the homestretch of our final preparations for CMEpalooza Spring (it’s like, Wednesday, in case you forgot), we’re doubling up on the blog today by rolling out the last in our “Sneak Peek” presenter interviews. On this one, we check in on Monique Johnson, MD, from Imedex, who will be kicking things off in our Spring extravaganza at 10 a.m. ET.

Going first at a conference always brings with it challenges and opportunities – you usually have a more attentive audience that has not been worn down by session after session, but it’s also up to you to set the tone for the rest of the day. After talking with Monique and her co-presenter, CMEpalooza veteran Audrie Tornow from Paradigm Medical Communications, I think we’re in good hands.

What do you think of when you think of spring?

Baseball? Hot dogs? Apple pie?

Yes, maybe (more July 4th), and probably not (apple pie is so 20th century).

But what about CMEpalooza? Of course, our event is now a staple of the spring, and we’re fortunate that Genentech’s Caroline Robinson will be combining two of our favorite spring pastimes in her upcoming session How Strong is Your Bullpen?

Since Caroline’s session with Kathleen Moreo from PRIME Education is our Gold Sponsored lunch session, feel free to indulge in whatever springtime culinary favorite you’d like.

For a sneak peek of her session, check out Caroline’s video below.