With the clock ticking toward the deadline for submission of CMEpalooza Spring abstracts (it’s Friday, in case you just crawled out from under a snowball), Derek and I have been fielding a veritable barrage of questions (at least 5) from interested parties. To make it easier on everyone, here are some rapid-fire responses:

When is CMEpalooza Spring again?

Wednesday, April 8. Starts at 9 a.m. ET, ends at 5 p.m. ET.

How do I submit an abstract?

Click here for the online submission form

Is (insert your idea here) a good idea for a proposed session?

That’s really not our call. We are not determining the agenda (more on that below). If you think your proposed session is going to be of interest to the broader CME community, then it is probably a good idea. If you don’t, it probably isn’t. This ain’t rocket science.

So wait, if you two aren’t deciding which sessions are approved, who is?

Everyone else. Once the abstract submission closes on Friday, we’ll be putting up descriptions of each proposed session on the CMEpalooza website and allowing everyone to vote for their favorite 5 sessions. The voting window will last for 1 week. The sessions that get the most votes will be included in the Spring lineup. It’s as simple as that.

C’mon, you don’t expect me to believe that you two are going to manipulate the results. 

This isn’t Stalin-era Russia. CMEpalooza is a Democracy. Power to the people.

Can’t you just tell me if you like my idea?

No

Please?

No

OK, fine. But do you have any general suggestions?

I suppose we’ll allow that.

1. Creativity with content and organization of your proposed session is STRONGLY encouraged. While we are not disallowing any proposed session or design, obviously, we’d love sessions that are interesting, fresh, and engaging.

2. Co-presenters are welcome and encouraged. You can have up to four co-presenters, in addition to yourself.

3. Use the abstract submission form to sell your idea. You are going to need to attract the mouse clicks of our community, so feel free to use really cool marketing language in your proposal. We’re not going to be editing these unless your spelling and grammar is really egregious.

Thanks. So if I follow those suggestions, will you approve my session?

I will hurt you.

Despite the pending snowpocalypse in the northeast corridor of the country, CMEpalooza rolls on! We’re delighted to announce our first two sponsors for CMEpalooza Spring: CMEology, a bronze sponsor and returning sponsor from the Fall palooza; and ArcheMedX, a newcomer who I’m thrilled to announce will be a gold sponsor.

We will be working with ArcheMedX over the next few weeks to put together a lunchtime session for CMEpalooza Spring and will announce the details once they are finalized. I encourage you to visit our Sponsors page and check out the videos for both CMEology (Estimating Health Care Cost Savings from an Educational Intervention to Prevent Bleeding-Related Complications: The Outcomes Impact Analysis Model) and ArcheMedX (Natural Learning Actions Explanatory Video for CE Professionals). Interesting stuff from both!

Anyone interested in joining these two as a sponsor of CMEpalooza Spring or Fall (or both) can get all of the information on the Sponsor tab of our website.

Also, a reminder that abstracts for CMEpalooza Spring are due on Friday. Go submit now!

I WANT YOU

TO SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT FOR CMEPALOOZA SPRING!

 

Yes, I know the paper I’m holding says “CMEpalooza Fall”; just work with me here. It’s all I had when I was forced against my will to enter the PlatformQ photo booth at the Alliance conference last week (Lies. I entered willingly. Scott refused and I think we’re all the better for it.) Anyhoo, happy Friday y’all! (Philadelphians, that’s Texan for “youse”. Pittsburghians, “yinz”.) You have one week to submit an abstract for CMEpalooza Spring. One of us may have told a few people the due date was January 31 when, in fact, it is actually January 30. I don’t think it’s important to dwell on the details of which one of us screwed up (hint: his name rhymes with Eric Yornick), but here is the link for submitting. Go do it now!