(Blows into microphone)

Testing…testing. Is this on? Can you hear me? Sibilance, sibilance…

OK, good. We’re back.

Yes indeed, after taking our usual post-Spring Palooza break (if only to prove to our families that their argument of “You love CMEpalooza more than you love us!!” isn’t true. Well, not entirely true), we figured it was time to rev up the old blog once again to let everyone in on what has been going on in the last few months.

First, Derek and I had our usual multi-day planning retreat at a secret island known only to locals and their second cousins where we poured over spreadsheets, survey data, demographic information, and prime numbers greater than 11 to come up with ideas for our Fall meeting. The only photo we were allowed to take is below — it comes from one of our working lunches. I’m not sure what happened to Derek’s salad – it looks like something Picasso would draw. I am fairly sure he kept eating after snapping this surreptitious photo (the island we were on prizes their secrecy and wants no one to know its existence outside of very special guests like us).

Fortunately, we were able to put down our forks long enough to come up with our usual cadre of ideas that, we promise you, will never ever be found on the agendas of other industry events. Sometime in the next few weeks, we’ll announce the availability of the first draft of our Fall agenda. There will be clowns, balloons, and maybe even a dunk tank at the site of the announcement. We’re working on it.

Second, did I mention that CMEpalooza Fall is taking place on Wednesday, Oct. 22? I don’t think I did. Well, it is. So mark your calendars please for a Professional Development day from 9 am-5 pm ET on Wednesday, Oct. 22. We promise it’ll be worth it.

Third, there is plenty to write about that has been happening in the CME circles in recent weeks, which we’ll get to eventually, but we’re also hoping to get a few nudges from our audience. That means that our Ask Us Anything hotline is officially back up and running again. This is where you get the chance to anonymously share your professional and/or personal issues (Derek is dying to offer his summer wardrobe tips) and we’ll provide our authoritative advice. But we can’t offer input if you don’t ask for any, so please, click here to Ask Us Anything.

 

Thanks to everyone who participated in our most recent events – the CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge last week and the CMEpalooza Scavenger Hunt during Wednesday’s live broadcasts. Here are the results:

CMEpalooza STEPtacular Challenge
We had a nice group of participants and a first-time winner of the grand prize, which was nice to see (no offense to the winners from past years).

Before we move on to the winners, a very special thank you to Talem Health for sponsoring the STEPtacular Challenge, again.

And now…onto the winners!

Winners of the STEPtacular drawing: $50 Amazon gift card  (one entry for each daily screenshot showing over 10,000 steps)

1. Riaz Baxamusa, CHCP, FACEHP, MBA, Associate Director, IME Grants, Astellas Pharma
2. Amanda Glazar, PhD, CHCP, FACEHP, President, Alpine Group Consultants
3. Heather Rossi, PhD, Scientific Writer and Editor
4. Greg Salinas, PhD, FACEHP, President, CE Outcomes, LLC
5. Amanda Jamrogiewicz, CHCP, Senior Director, Educational Strategy, US HealthConnect, Inc.

Winner of $250 Amazon gift card for most steps in one day
Vanessa Gray, Director of Continuing Medical Education at Des Moines University, wins for the first time with 32,064 steps, which I think is appropriate since she narrowly lost out to Riaz Baxamusa during the last challenge in our closest competition ever. Congrats Vanessa!

CMEpalooza Scavenger Hunt
Nearly 150 people successfully spelunked on the website of our event sponsor, Academy for Continued Healthcare Learning, to find the “hidden” CMEpalooza logo. There were five winners chosen in our random prize drawing, each of whom will receive a $100 Amazon gift card. Here are the lucky ones:

• Sandra Hannaford, Medical Editor, Vindico Medical Education
• Camille Ledoux, Science and Medical Writer
• Deborah Mitchell, CME Specialist, Northwestern Medicine
• Martha Russell, CHCP, Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives, ASHP
• Jennifer Epler, Biomedical Writer and Editor

As a service to the CME community (and bored people everywhere), we asked each entrant what current show they were binge watching. Here were the most popular responses in case you are looking to try out something new this weekend:

• The Residence
• Severance
• White Lotus
• The Pitt
• Bosch: Legacy
• Love on the Spectrum
• Black Mirror
• Paradise
• The Last of Us

Yes, yes, I know that I am interrupting the rapt attention you are paying to today’s CMEpalooza broadcasts. Just humor me for one minute with a brief announcement.

Thanks to the generous support of our event sponsor, the Academy for Continued Healthcare Learning (ACHL), we’re rolling out a special CMEpalooza Scavenger Hunt during the day of our live broadcasts (that’s today).

Here is how it works:

1. Go the ACHL website
2. “Scavenge” for the CMEpalooza logo located somewhere on their homepage
3. Click on it
4. Something special will happen (OK, it’s not really that “special,” but something will happen)
5. Follow the prompts to complete your entry into our contest

We’ll be giving away ten (10) $50 Amazon gift cards as prizes. That’s a pretty good reward for 2-3 minutes of your time, don’t cha’ think?