Let’s face it — some people are good at public speaking and some are not.

I…am not.

Angelo Carter — moderator for our 10 a.m. CMEpalooza Fall session entitled Why Did My Grant Request Get Rejected? and subject of our most recent moderator interview — is. It’s a pleasure just to listen to him talk, even moreso when he’s talking about some of his best and worst experiences in CME (that, ladies and gentlemen, is what is known as a segue. Please hold your applause.)

Check out our conversation below and feel free to skip over the parts where I’m speaking. At the very least, be sure to listen to the section where Angelo describes a time when one of his superiors described his numbers supporting the value of CME as “hocus pocus.” It’s a great example of taking a potentially negative experience and turning it into something positive in the long term.

10. It’s the same cost whether one person from your organization attends or 50 people from your organization attend: nothing.

9. Dude, have you seen our agenda? I mean, c’mon…

8. Tell your boss you won’t be in because you’re watching CMEpalooza Fall at home. Spend the day curled up on the couch with your laptop, pajamas, and a cup of fair-trade, locally roasted, recently ground, French-pressed coffee (or watch from your office in a suit with a cup of crappy Keurig coffee if that’s what floats your boat.)

7. So we can tell our sponsors that lots of people watched (hey – at least I’m being honest.)

6. Three words: CME. Pecha. Kucha. Or is that five words? Is it one word for each letter since CME is an acronym? Five words: C. M. E. Pecha. Kucha. Forget it, let’s move on…

5. No sessions with “QI” in the title. Look, by no means am I poo-pooing the QI movement currently sweeping CME nation, but it does seem like we go through phases where a certain subject is the “hot topic” of the moment and we get one session after another about it at the various conferences we go to. A few years ago it was REMS. More recently it was the Sunshine Act. Now it’s QI. When Scott and I were putting together the agenda, we purposely stayed away from any QI-centric sessions, just to give people a bit of a break.

4. The scuttlebutt around the water cooler has it that Scott will be doing a how-to demo of the “Nae Nae” during one of the sessions. I can’t comment on the accuracy of this report or predict during which session it might happen, but I recommend watching them all just in case.

3. Get a new perspective on common issues. Are you frustrated with your faculty? Annoyed with the grant review process? Confused by millennials? Clueless about patient education? Bored with Moore’s outcome levels? Stumped by grand rounds? CMEpalooza Fall will touch on each of these topics and, hopefully, bring some fresh ideas for you to put into practice.

2. Because it’s gonna be good. I promise.

1. Have I mentioned it’s free?

In the “one take” land of CMEpalooza, there are no do-overs. When we make a mistake, we just go with it. It’s kind of our thing. Everything may not always be polished and flawless, but that’s what (at least we hope), makes us a bit more real.

You’ll see what I mean in our latest moderator interview when I continually butcher our moderator’s name. So sit back, grab yourself a box of Goobers, and enjoy “The Best and Worst of… Annette Donawa.”

Dr. Donawa will be moderating the anchor session of CMEpalooza Fall, entitled “Grand Rounds in the 21st Century: Fixing the Historical Model.” The session is being sponsored by Paradigm Medical Communications. It’s a session that came about as a result of learner comments from our Spring session, so don’t think we don’t listen to you!