(Trumpets blare)

Hear ye, hear ye! By the order of King Scott and Derek (our Fool), it has been decreed that voting for CMEpalooza Spring abstracts is officially open.

Our apologies in advance to residents of both Iowa and New Hampshire – we recognize that that the nation has pandered to you because of the extra value of your votes in the presidential primaries, but here in the democracy that is CMEpalooza, everyone gets to vote at precisely the same time. Funny how that can work so well.

We received 16 submissions for our Spring meeting from faces both old and new, so thank you for everyone who took the time to come up with creative ideas for potential sessions. As always, it’s an interesting mix of topics and concepts.

You can view descriptions of all of the submitted abstracts on our Poll page.

Here is how the voting process works.

1. When you open up the Poll page, you’ll first see the poll with all of the abstracts that are available. Scroll down until you get to the first session listing.
2. Take a close read through all of the sessions. Be sure to rub your chin and say, “Hmm… interesting” a few times as you peruse the options.
3. Come up with your top 5 session choices that you’d like to see on the agenda for CMEpalooza Spring
4. Scroll back to the top of the page where we have the poll itself
5. Vote for your faves

It’s really quite simple. Even someone who supports Donald Trump can figure it out (sorry, I couldn’t resist).

But anyway, voting will remain open for one full week, closing at 9 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Feb. 9. You can only vote once per device. The sessions that get the most votes will be included on the CMEpalooza Spring agenda. No delegates, no recalls, no controversy.

For those of you wondering about the voting for our Pecha Kucha session, so as to avoid confusion, we’ll keep you in suspense for another week before unleashing our plan to select participants for that session.

Let the jousting begin!

Last Friday, I was flipping channels and stumbled across The Godfather Epic on HBO. This is the version where they recut The Godfather I & II to run as a single film in chronological order along with a extra scenes cut from the originals. A young Vito Corleone was just being placed in quarantine on Ellis Island, and I was hooked. Three hours later, I had barely moved and was screaming at Sonny Corleone not to stop at the tollbooth. Alas, it was the end for both of us: Sonny stopped and was gunned down, and I headed to bed way too late. What a great, great movie(s).

You know what’s not a great movie? The Godfather III. The same people were back in charge, but Francis Ford Coppola made the fatal mistake of casting his daughter, Sofia, in a key role. She, unfortunately, was awful and the entire movie suffered because of it. The lesson here is that your next movie is only as good as the people you have in it.

This brings me back to CMEpalooza. We need your abstracts for CMEpalooza Spring and we need them today. It doesn’t matter how many times Scott and I have done this and how good the past versions have been — the next version of CMEpalooza will only be as good as the people we have in it. And we want it to be good!

This is the last day we will accept submission. So, one last time:

To submit and abstract for CMEpalooza Spring, click here.

To submit a PechaKucha abstract for CMEpalooza Spring, click here.

Leave an abstract. Take the cannoli.

 

 

 

I know I don’t have to but I will remind you anyway because Derek told me I had to – CMEpalooza abstracts are due on Monday (that’s Feb. 1). The portal closes at midnight. Yes, there is actually a ceremony with court jesters and trumpeteers. This year, we’ve gone all out to hire a special guest celebrity to formally “close the portal.” You’ll have to show up at the secret location to find out who is it and what he/she is going to be wearing. I’m betting on something by Balenciaga.

But that’s not really what this post is about. It’s about tying things that bug me to something related to CMEpalooza. So here goes:

1. “If everyone in this room gave $20, we’d far exceed our goal.” This is such a cliched guilt trip for donations. You know what, if the rich guy in the corner gave $20,000, no one else would have to give a cent, you’d meet your goal, and I’d be happy. On that note, if every single person reading this post submitted a CMEpalooza abstract on Monday, we’d have at least, I figure, 5 or 6 abstracts. So get cracking, Sparky.
2. “Oh, I’m sorry, am I blocking your view?” Yes, Mom of the Year candidate, I understand that you got here 30 minutes early to get a front row seat and you feel the need to stand up during today’s production so that the angle of your phone is perfect to capture Little Anna’s moment of glory. BUT I CAN’T FRIGGING SEE! So either you sit your butt down right now or you get an elbow to the back of your head. Your choice. On that note, I’ll save everyone reading this post a front row seat at both our Spring and Fall events. See? Everybody wins with CMEpalooza!
3. “Wait, it’s due today? I don’t remember seeing an email about that.” I’m sorry, perhaps I should have put a flier in the mail and stapled it to your forehead. You got not 1, not 2, and not even 3 reminders about the deadline (that would make 4 reminders, I suppose). The deadline is today. No extensions. I know you’re busy. As my dad would say, “Tough.” On that note, we don’t play games like some other meetings where the deadline isn’t really a deadline and year after year there are “special circumstances” that warrant an extension. You really only have until midnight on Monday (that’s February 1) to go to the Presenter portal and submit your abstract.

End of rant. Continue with your day.