The sponsorship prospectus for CMEpalooza 2016 is officially done and ready for public consumption (by which I mean, I made a PDF and put it on the Sponsor tab). There are 3 different primary levels of sponsorship – Gold, Silver, and Bronze – as well as a few other opportunities to consider. We always hope that we provide value to our sponsors, and the feedback we have gotten from past sponsors has always been good.

But don’t just take my word for it.

Here are some 100% REAL (wink wink) comments from past sponsors who benefited from sponsoring a past Palooza:

Director of CME from a really big pharmaceutical company: “We were getting a lot of grief from the public for the pricing of our drugs, but once the world found out we were a sponsor of CMEpalooza, it was like some magic floodgate of positive vibes opened up for us. You guys saved us. Thank you Scott and Derek!”

President of an extremely well respected medical education company: “We were on the verge of insolvency – couldn’t get a grant approved to save our lives. Once we signed on as a sponsor of CMEpalooza, it was like some sort of magic floodgate opened and we had a record year financially. You guys saved us. Thank you Scott and Derek!”

CEO of a really prominent online educational platform developer: “The morale and creativity within the walls of our company were trickling to a crawl. It got so bad that we were talking about doing a fax blast (!) to our partners asking them for ideas that could help us. Once we aligned ourselves with CMEpalooza and saw how innovative and creative you guys are, it was like some magic floodgate opened and we came up with all kinds of cool ideas. You guys saved us. Thank you Scott and Derek!”

Former assistant project manager at a global technology company: “I tried to convince my boss (who I hated) that it would be a smart business decision to sponsor CMEpalooza. She said no. Her boss happened to be standing outside her door at the time she voiced her decision. She got fired for rejecting such an obviously brilliant suggestion. Guess who the boss is now, sister? You guys saved my career. Thank you Derek and Scott!”

So really, with all of the lives we’ve changed and businesses we have saved, doesn’t a 2016 sponsorship make business sense for your organization as well? You can check out the various sponsorship packages on the Sponsor tab and then make your decision. Contacting me is easy (no faxes please).

You like data? We got data. Below is our CMEpalooza Fall 2015 infographic summarizing some of the key takeaways from the meeting. Two highlights for me:

1. This was easily our most successful program in terms of participants/viewers. For the first time, we had a session with more than 200 live viewers (Why Did My Grant Request Get Rejected?) and every session but one had more than 200 combined live and archive viewers. Additionally, approximately 20% of the 84 participants who completed our survey watched CMEpalooza Fall with at least one other person, so the actual number of viewers is likely higher. For perspective, the highest amount of viewers I had for a session during the inaugural CMEpalooza was 50. The low was 10.
2. I continue to be honored and humbled by the kind and flattering comments on our post-activity survey, but two in particular made me happy. The comments were from two small, nonprofit organizations, thanking us for the free education provided by CMEpalooza, since it is often a struggle for them to budget funds for CPD for their staff. This is the reason I started CMEpalooza, and it is why Scott and I continue to do it.

As always, I’d like to give the creative geniuses at infograph-ed a big thank you for putting together the infographic for us. It’s you’re looking for a cool and unique way to display information, I recommend popping over to their website and checking out what they have to offer.

And lastly, a quick reminder that we are now accepting abstracts for CMEpalooza Spring 2016. Click here for more details. Due date is February 1, so don’t wait too long!

 

We’re back! Did you miss us? No? I’ll rephrase: Did you miss me? Yes? Awww, thanks!

Anyway, I’m here to announce two things (drumroll…)

1. CMEpalooza Spring is going to be held on April 6, 2016
2. The opening of the CMEpalooza Spring abstract submission process is going to be…now (deadline is Feb. 1)

As you may recall from last year, CMEpalooza Spring is a bit different than CMEpalooza Fall in that instead of Scott and me picking the agenda, we let you pick the agenda. We do that through an open abstract process where anyone is welcome to submit their idea for a CMEpalooza Spring session and then we post all the abstracts online and ask the CME/CE community to choose the five sessions they are most interested in. We had over 800 votes last year and we’re hoping for even more this year!

How do you submit an abstract for CMEpalooza Spring you ask? Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezee. It’s only takes 5 steps:

1. Come up with an good great amazing idea
2. Go here and complete the form
3. Make yourself a cup of coffee. I recommend using an AeroPress. If you’re going to use a Keurig, I suggest just boiling water and adding brown food coloring. Pretty much the same thing.
4. Twiddle thumbs
5. Click the submit button

And you’re done!

I should add that, based on the success of the CME Pecha Kucha at CMEpalooza Fall, we are planning to bring it back for CMEpalooza Spring. We’ll have a separate application process for that, which we’ll announce later on, so keep that in mind while you’re brainstorming abstract ideas.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to let Scott or I know. Below is a picture of our new intern triaging all of the CMEpalooza questions that flood in every day. He’s waiting for your call/email now!