Perhaps you, like me, are still struggling with the concept of a paperless future. Don’t get me wrong: As Editor-in-Chief of the cosmetic surgery journal with the largest circulation, I heartily welcome the opportunity to reach more subscribers in more places via our expanded online presence (http://www.aestheticsurgeryjournal.com). However, in a recent survey,1 readers told us that they still value having a print copy of Aesthetic Surgery Journal (ASJ) to hold in their hands and peruse cover-to-cover, the “old fashioned” way. I suspect many of us feel the same kind of attachment to our favorite professional meetings—whether regional, national, or international. We’re not ready to give them up—at least not yet. Granted, ours is an age in which convenience is a prized commodity. As the saying goes, “time is money.” Plastic surgeons with a concern for the bottom line (which is just about everyone these days) are looking for ways to minimize absence from their practices. Add to this the growing expense and exasperation of air travel and it’s easy to see why some claim that the days of live conferences and meetings for Continuing Medical Education (CME) may be numbered. Most of us already spend hours every week in front of our computers, they point out. Why not spend a little more in the pursuit of required CME? Technology is our fascination and its boundaries appear to be virtually limitless, so doesn’t it stand to reason that distance learning is poised to leave traditional live meetings in the dust? Perhaps we should start with a more basic question: Is distance learning as effective as actually being there? Unfortunately, much of the research on the effectiveness of distance learning is narrowly focused and not very useful. That’s because not all distance learning methods are the same, not all curricula are …