At CMEpalooza, we are nothing if not adaptable. So, when Ross Dworkin from Blue Grotto asked me on Friday if I would be able to add his presentation on the Sunshine Act to the agenda, my first thought was — sure, why not? (Actually, that’s not true. My first thought was “OK, if I add another half hour to the agenda, do I still have enough time to get the kids to Lego club and choir practice?” Surprisingly, life does not come to a halt for CMEpalooza…)

Especially since we don’t already have a presentation on the Sunshine Act — everyone’s favorite topic! — I’m happy to be able to accommodate Ross. Friday’s agenda now has one additional session, starting at 3 PM ET and wrapping up at 3:30 PM. More updates to come!

Someone raised an excellent question yesterday about ways for participants to interact during the CMEpalooza presentations. This is a good point since one of the weaknesses of a virtual conference is the lack of face-to-face interaction. In an effort to offset that loss of in-person communication, below are a few suggestions for interacting both with faculty and other participants of CMEpalooza.

3 Ways to Ask Presenters Questions 

1. By utilizing the Google+ Hangout Q&A  app that will be active during each presentation. It’s my preferred way for participants to ask questions since it’s the eaisiest for me to monitor. Below is a quick tutorial I put together on how to watch the presentations on the CMEpalooza website and ask questions using the Q&A app. The caveat here is that you need to have a Google+ account in order to ask questions this way (ignore what I say in the video about needing to only have a gmail account to use the Q&A app. I was wrong. You need a Google+ account.)
2. Send me a tweet (@theCMEguy) with your question and the #CMEpalooza hashtag. I’ll ask your question verbally to the presenter
3. Submit your question in the comment box on the CMEpalooza website. The question will not appear on the website but will be immediately emailed to me. I’ll ask your question verbally.

Interacting With Other Participants

For those interested in interacting with other participants during CMEpalooza, the best suggestion I can offer is to take to Twitter using the #CMEpalooza hashtag. The Twitter backchannel is a great way to recreate those hallway conversations we all find so valuable at live meetings. I frequently engage in twitter conversations with fellow participants during both live and virtual events and really have found them to be an invaluable resource. If you’re new to Twitter, maybe this would be a great time for you to give it a try. I will participate as I am able.

For a number of reasons — most of which are rather boring — I’ve decided to make the CMEpalooza website the main viewing area for the live streaming presentations next week (wait…next week? Next week?!? Already it’s next week?  Yikes.) What this means is that I’ve added a new page to the website, not-so-cleverly named “LIVE“, where participants can go to watch all the presentations as they’re happening. Previously, I had been instructing everyone to go to the CMEpalooza Google+ page to watch the presentations. This is still true and you can watch the presentations there if you wish, but after doing a little experimenting, I think having a dedicated webpage to watch the presentations will make for the easiest viewing experience.

Here are a few things to keep in mind for the live presentations:

• Each presentation is streamed separately. It is not one long streaming video throughout the day. When the first presentation is finished, the video feed you are watching will end. There will be a delay of a few minutes while I get the second presentation set-up. You will need to refresh your page to see the next video feed. Once you see it on your screen, just hit the play button again and wait for the presentation to start. We will try to start every presentation as close to the scheduled start time as possible. We will not start early, so if one presenter finishes early, we will wait for the scheduled time to start the next presentation.
• To send in questions during the presentations, click on the Q&A link that shows up at the bottom of the video. This will open the video in a new window that includes both the video and the ability to ask questions. You need to have a Google/Gmail login in order to ask questions.
• YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE A GOOGLE+ OR GMAIL ACCOUNT TO WATCH THE LIVE PRESENTATIONS (can you tell that’s the questionI get asked the most?)
• Yes, all the presentations will be archived for later viewing…unless I screw something up