Timing is Everything

This past week, we have had record cold temperatures and windchills in my hometown of Philadelphia, PA. How cold? This cold:

IMG_0286

That’s cold. I, however, was nowhere close to frigid Philly. With prescient timing, I was vacationing in sunny El Salvador (yes, El Salvador) where temps were just a tad warmer.

IMG_0307

It was obvious from the various Facebook postings from my friends and family back home that the weather was absolutely miserable and nasty and causing everyone major stress. Did that stop me from making fun of them and posting pictures like this?

IMG_0305

or this

IMG_0315

on my Facebook page? No. No it did not. I’m not a particularly nice person.

But, as the title of this posts suggests, timing is everything, and while my vacation timing was spot on as far as the weather is concerned, it was absolutely horrible for all things related to CMEpalooza. We had some major developments while I was away — most notably the release of the CMEpalooza Spring agenda — and Scott did an excellent job of keeping everyone abreast of all the goings on. I don’t want to rehash everything from the past week, but if I may, here are three quick bullet points I’d like to add.

  • I am thrilled with the final Spring agenda and thought the entire voting process worked out fabulously. I truly believe this will be the best palooza yet. But…a little part of me isn’t happy. I hate the fact that people took the time and energy to think of an idea and submit an abstract and we had to tell them no. I think that every single one of the abstracts submitted had merit and the potential to provide a valuable educational experience and deserved to be part of the agenda. Logistically, it just isn’t possible or practical to include everything and while I accept that, I still don’t like it. So, for all of you who submitted an abstract that was not chosen for the agenda — from the bottom of my heart: thank you and I’m sorry.
  • We have a new logo!!! (Did you notice?? It’s subtle, but if you look again at the top of the page, I think you might catch it.) Just for kicks, here’s another version of it:
    vertical
    Fist-bumps to Karen and Bhaval over at infograph-ed for working with us on it and coming up with a design that really catches the spirit of CMEpalooza. I love it! If you haven’t already, make sure you check out their profile on our sponsor page.
  • And speaking of sponsors (Yes! Nailed the segue!), we have three additional sponsors for CMEpalooza Spring. Decision Simulation and Forefront Collaborative are both Bronze-level sponsors — and both sponsoring for the first time — and Imedex is back again for a second round as a Silver-level sponsor. A huge thanks to all!

 

Behold! Our Spring Agenda

Our phones have been ringing off the hook, our email inbox filled to capacity days ago, and now they have even started camping out on the doorstep of our headquarters (now up to 16 stories and 550 full-time employees).

Everyone has the same question — “When will we see the official CMEpalooza Spring agenda?”

The wait ends now. Additional details on each session can be found on the Spring tab, but here is the nitty gritty.

CMEpalooza Spring
Wednesday, April 8
All times Eastern (so do the math if you live elsewhere)

9-10 a.m.
Gold Sponsor Session (Sponsored by Intelligent Medical Decisions)
10-11 a.m. 
Let the Sun Shine In: Perspectives and Insights on the Implementation of the Physician Payment Sunshine Act
11 a.m.-noon 
Secrets of CME Outcome Assessment…Revealed
Noon-1 p.m.
Gold Sponsor Session (Sponsored by ArcheMedX)
1-1:30 p.m. 
Achieving Level 7 Outcomes: A MEC Perspective
1:30-2 p.m.
5 Tips to Make You a Survey Measurement Rock Star
2-3 p.m. 
Revamping the Satellite Symposium: Enriching the Learner Experience
3-4 p.m. 
Style and Substance:  The Evolution of Content Presentation in Medical Education
4-5 p.m.
Why We Matter: Successful Strategies for Demonstrating the Value of CE within Your Own Organization

And Now… A Word for Our Sponsors

We hope to have the agenda for CMEpalooza Spring ready for public unveiling in the next few days (probably Monday), but in the meantime, we wanted to give everyone an update on the other important component of our event — namely, our sponsors.

For those of you who have been living under a Fraggle Rock for the last year (“Dance your cares away, worries for another day…”), this is our second time accepting sponsors for CMEpalooza, and we’re thrilled that so many folks in the CME community recognize the value of attaching their names to our event. We especially love those who post and tweet their love for us on social media — since we do most of our promotion through free online platforms, we’re always happy when others help us spread the word to their networks.

There are currently 9 sponsors whose information can be found on the Sponsor tab of our website, including our 3 newest bronze-level sponsors — CME Outfitters, Global Academy for Medical Education and PlatformQ (all first-time supporters). Here is the full list, as of Feb. 11:

Gold Level Sponsors

Bronze Level Sponsors