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Editorial |
1 From the Department of Radiology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1008. Received May 12, 2006; accepted June 5. Address correspondence to the author (e-mail: klink{at}wfubmc.edu).
Three years ago, the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) embarked on a pilot project to introduce electronic education exhibits and scientific posters in lieu of the traditional backboard panel displays at the RSNA Annual Meeting and Scientific Assembly. The presentation system software developed for this project, although still a work in progress, has generated much discussion as well as controversy, and feelings run high as to whether this new format for exhibit and poster display is a blessing or a curse.
As the past chairman of the RSNA Education Exhibits Committee, I was involved with the planning and implementation of the pilot project and with the development of the software application to support it. Now that we have had some experience with the system and have collected input from meeting attendees, I thought it appropriate to review (a) the background for the development of the presentation system software up through the 2005 Annual Meeting, and (b) the pros and cons of the present system as reported by authors and attendees.
Background
Work on an electronic presentation system began approximately in 2002. The project was initiated partly because other societies had already begun to feature electronic exhibits at their meetings. However, the primary impetus was the recognition that education exhibits are valuable educational resources that should be available to RSNA members beyond the week of the annual meeting. The implementation of electronic exhibits was envisioned as one component of a more encompassing online RSNA educational network.
To that end, and after much discussion and investigation, it was concluded that commercially available exhibit display software would not meet the needs of the RSNA. It was decided that the presentation software (referred to as the digital presentation system [DPS]) would need to be developed by RSNA staff (specifically, the Information Systems group). After 2 years of work, the first public launch of the DPS occurred with the scientific posters and education exhibits for the 2004 Annual Meeting.
For the 2004 education exhibits, any author could choose the electronic format (ie, DPS) to prepare his or her exhibit; however, authors in two subspecialty areas were required to do so as part of the pilot project. During this first year, authors of electronic exhibits had the choice of building their exhibits with the presentation editor in the DPS or uploading their Microsoft PowerPoint or Macromedia Flash presentations into the system. Most authors opted for the latter method because they were familiar with these programs or because they had difficulty in using the built-in presentation editor to add video, audio, and print-ready media to their exhibits.
For the 2005 Annual Meeting, the DPS was modified to address some problems identified in the 2004 electronic exhibits. Authors’ heavy reliance on PowerPoint presentations yielded open-ended exhibits, with some being simply uploaded lectures and others being too long (several exhibits contained over 100 frames), which made them cumbersome to absorb and slow to download for viewing. RSNA staff refined the DPS software to correct these problems and some of the difficulties reported by authors who used the built-in presentation editor. The exhibit templates in the presentation editor were given subsections to help organize and partially standardize the exhibit content. Some size restrictions were implemented. A software subroutine was also incorporated that was designed to convert PowerPoint slides into viewable "frames" that could be accessed by meeting attendees through the DPS software. Unfortunately, problems that were not identified during beta testing arose as authors from around the world began to use the conversion subroutines, and unforeseen formatting problems had to be corrected by ad hoc programming modifications.
For RSNA 2006, input from poster and exhibit authors collected during open forums at RSNA 2005 is being used by RSNA staff to further improve and refine the DPS. These programming changes will ensure smooth, accurate conversions from PowerPoint-prepared content to the DPS viewer program and will make the built-in presentation editor an attractive, easy-to-use alternative.
Pros and Cons
The pros and cons of electronic exhibits were discussed at great length before and continually during the development and refinement of the DPS. We welcomed input from all members and conducted five separate surveys of different "stakeholder" groups, including meeting attendees using the electronic system, attendees viewing the traditional backboard panel exhibits, authors, reviewers, and RadioGraphics subspecialty panelists. We believed this information gathering was essential if we were to meet the educational demands of a diverse membership and modify the presentation software accordingly. There were no great surprises from the survey results. Informal discussions and unsolicited comments indicated some differences between academicians and private practitioners, as well as differences in opinions and expectations based on respondent age, as one might expect.
Of the 321 attendees who used the DPS and completed the user’s survey, 75% thought the electronic format was a more effective learning tool compared with the traditional backboard panel format. In a separate survey of 278 randomly selected attendees reviewing backboard panel exhibits, 43% preferred the electronic format, compared with 46% who preferred the backboard format.
Of the arguments against electronic exhibits, certainly the most common complaint was loss of social interaction while viewing the electronic posters and exhibits. Many meeting attendees see the backboard panel exhibits as a gathering place for colleagues with similar interests: a place to meet, socialize, and discuss exhibits. A close second most common complaint was the inability to scan exhibits quickly for subject matter and quality and to discover by chance an interesting exhibit. Some respondents were concerned about the adverse impact that electronic presentation might have for individual authors or for the annual meeting as a whole. Some thought that a backboard panel exhibit gets more exposure than an electronic one and that such loss of exposure might discourage members from submitting their work to the RSNA annual meeting. Others feared that electronic exhibits would encourage a virtual meeting; that is, members would not come to the actual meeting to present an exhibit because their exhibits could be submitted electronically and remain online after the meeting. Meeting registration and abstract submission rates for 2006 have not borne out this fear.
On the pro side, electronic exhibits allow for longer-term availability online, subject to author approval. Exhibits can not only be available to members after the meeting, but they can be integrated into other RSNA education programs, including those that support maintenance of certification, again subject to author approval. Electronic presentation allows authors greater flexibility and creativity, especially in this era of three-dimensional and ciné imaging. Also, the electronic exhibit viewing areas are seen as a much more comfortable and less fatiguing learning environment, away from the noise and distractions in the backboard panel areas.
Electronic exhibits have certain other advantages for RSNA committee members, RadioGraphics panelists, and exhibit authors. If all or most exhibits were electronic, the abstract submission requirements could be changed so that authors would be required to include a subselection of the material to be presented. In this way, the RSNA Education Exhibits Committee members who review the proffered exhibit abstracts would be better able to judge the likely quality of the final product and to select the best teaching exhibits, thereby improving the overall quality of the material exhibited at the annual meeting.
In addition, the electronic format might facilitate the judging of exhibits at the annual meeting. The review of all education exhibits by both the Exhibit Awards committee and by the RadioGraphics subspecialty panels is a very time-consuming process. These wonderful volunteers usually spend the first 3 days of the annual meeting reading through all the exhibits. This process could be avoided and these volunteers could actually attend educational and scientific sessions, if electronic exhibits were available for online review before the opening of the meeting. Such preview, of course, is possible only with the online presentation system.
Finally, authors’ costs of producing an exhibit for the RSNA annual meeting might be reduced with an electronic format. The costs and time commitment associated with presenting a backboard panel poster or exhibit at the RSNA are a consideration in the minds of many authors, who struggle to balance the expenses of their projects. Expenses are incurred not just in the materials and preparation of the actual exhibit, but also in travel and hotel accommodations. These expenses especially affect non–North American authors, who currently account for over 50% of the exhibits selected for display at the annual meeting.
Conclusions
The DPS is a work in progress, and we are still evaluating the role of electronic exhibits and posters at the annual meeting and as part of the educational resources of the RSNA. The RSNA staff and committee members take member input very seriously. Based on both the positive and negative input on electronic exhibits and posters, we have modified planning for electronic exhibits, as well as our original commitment to and timetable for total implementation. I suspect that such modifications will continue to be the case, as we strive to meet the requests of our members while respecting and supporting the exhibit authors and volunteer reviewers.
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