Scientific Posters, Reimagined

Rob: If you've ever been to a medical congress or a society meeting, you know what a traditional scientific poster looks like. It's 36 by 48 inches on a poster board. Generally on the left hand side, you see an abstract, an introduction, and then it's followed by the methodology. Then on the right, you see the results, you see the conclusions, and of course, references and disclosures, maybe an author summary. 

So as medical communication specialists, we've basically relied on these traditional scientific posters for decades and decades. And it's probably for good reason. They've generally done a good job. There hasn't really been a reason to change them. And for a long time, they've really not changed at all. In recent years, though, with digital advancements and a global pandemic urging us into the virtual world, the traditional scientific poster has had a makeover. 

This is In Plain Cite, a podcast exploring the biggest questions and trends facing medical publication and communication professionals. This episode is generously sponsored by Avalere Health, and I'm your host, Rob Matheis, President and CEO of ISMPP.

Today, we're taking a look at the modern scientific poster. What changes have been made and why were they needed? Are these posters speaking to a new set of audiences? And can this evolution be effective while maintaining rigorous scientific standards? To help us answer these questions, we have with us today, Doreen Valentine. She's done a lot of thoughtful writing and speaking around the evolution of medical communications.

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Rob: Doreen, can you walk us through some of the innovations you've seen on more modern scientific posters? 

Doreen: Sure, that's a great question. I'll just list them. Um, the plain language summary is a really critical part of the poster innovation. Uh, devoting a whole column to almost a proverbial tearaway where, you know, a plain language summary or other main key communication points can be highlighted, it's a way for the reader to home right in on the key information. Um, other supplemental materials that are accessible behind QR codes, so it might be ‘Meet the Authors’ or get a better sense of a study design or additional methodology that doesn't have to crowd a poster, but can be part of the supplementary material behind a QR code. Iconography is another area, making use of the right color palettes and design. We talk about interactive posters. So these are PDFs that can be transformed using, you know, various digital capabilities to be interactive so that a reader or the audience can sort of tap into different modalities of visualization or touch or audio. Um, navigation tools in order to sort of enter into that poster more fully and really digest the information more fully. Augmented reality is another area that people have explored that really, you know, put on that pair of goggles and really enter into almost a 3D engagement with a poster. 

Rob: I'm smiling because I'm thinking about my graduate school days and how a poster used to look back in the day. And maybe I'm dating myself, but you know, my first poster was made out of 8.5” by 11” pieces of paper and just hung on a, on a cork board. So things have certainly evolved quite a bit. 

So let me ask you a question then, if we've been using these scientific posters for years and years, and if it's not broken, why fix it? Why do we want to look at different types of posters and trying to update the way posters look these days? 

Doreen: Yeah, well, I mean, this is all part of the art of scientific storytelling that I think is driving this. It's also in part driven by new tools and platforms for digital innovation. I want to bring up something that we discovered a few years ago. We, just informally, we were looking at poster halls and seeing, sort of, walls of blue and white really prevailed as you look down a corridor of posters, and just the simple things like thinking about design and color palettes to sort of differentiate the poster in the poster hall, I think has been, you know, really an important advance. And those are things that you don't need a lot of fancy digital platforms to achieve. 

Scientific data are by nature complex and specialized. So how can we distill the science to be more accessible to larger audiences? We recognize now that there's a larger audience interested in scientific data and we want to try to make that data more accessible and transparent for these broad ranges of audiences. 

Rob: Now, you used the word accessible a couple times there. I'm just wondering, so are we saying now that the target audience, if you will, for scientific posters is broader than your traditional health care provider? And can you talk more about that? 

Doreen: Yes, I think it is. I think that as scientific literacy and interest in science has grown, as well as patients themselves becoming more educated and eager for information about the, you know, diseases, disorders and conditions that are part of their lives, they strive to be engaged and involved and be informed about the things that impact their lives.

So I think we, in industry and in agency, whether it's large or small, we have a responsibility to try to distill those complex messages to forms that remain accurate, remain factual, remain evidence based and referenced, but become more accessible. 

Rob: You know, when I'm listening to you speak, I can't help but, you know, put together the fact that this is all very consistent with our transition as individuals publication professionals to medical communication professionals and, you know, how we have a broader responsibility now for making sure that the things that get produced actually get utilized in health care. 

Doreen: You know, one of, one of the really wonderful opportunities that I've had in my career was to be part of a summer immersion workshop at the Alan Alda School for Communicating Science. And it really resonated with me, this basic principle about distilling the scientific story. The traditional scientist unloads with a lot of details and then ends with a take home message. And what I learned and what really stuck with me was inverting that, to introduce a scientific concept and data with what it's all about and how it matters to healthcare and to patients. So leading with the take home message and then providing all of those details. It, it's a way to sort of introduce complex topics to audiences in a way that's memorable for them and in a way that also cuts to the chase, if you will, without a lot of extraneous details that can cloud the understanding. So I think that those are some of the most important things that we should all strive for. 

You know, I think one of the things that we do have to address is skepticism among some scientists. This traditional model of leading with the details is very entrenched. So I think that there's more that we can do to sort of push, push this evolution to get, uh, more and more scientific communities comfortable with the ‘distill the message’ approach. 

Rob: So you're reading my mind. I was going to start asking you next a little bit more about just, are people taking to these new types of posters? So for our listeners who are trying to maybe bring modern posters into their companies or to their organizations, is it a challenge, do you think, from a legal compliance point of view? Are there challenges that our listeners may be facing and how can they address them? 

Doreen: So the process of a poster, putting together for a scientific congress, a peer reviewed scientific congress, we are all following best practices in publications, GPP, good publication practices, ICMJE, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors criteria, as well as other guidelines. And it's important that as posters evolve, that we still stay true to the guidelines of compliance and good practices that we've always followed. And I'm delighted that, that the compliance piece of this has traveled along with innovation. You know, we still strive to be fair and balanced. So, as you think about these better poster formats, it's also important to remember a fair and balanced approach to communicating information, safety and efficacy components as well as other components to the story. 

Rob: Yeah, it does make sense and it gets back to, you know, a lot of the things we've been talking about at our various ISMPP meetings around getting back to the fundamentals and making sure that as we start to evolve new types of deliverables that we really stay true to our basic principles of fair balance and things of that nature. 

I'm wondering though, along those lines, if we have these new poster formats and there's more visualization and more opportunity to kind of hone in on a message, do you think there's concerns that there's cherry picking or things of that nature that could be happening?

Doreen: I think it's important to raise this as something to be mindful of, but I think there are, you know, ways to ensure that cherry picking does not take place. It's, you know, a matter of in the process that a team follows during execution of a congress poster that we engage with our colleagues in medical policy and compliance, in the legal department, as well as the guidelines of the congress and the professional societies.

The adage, sometimes less is more, can apply to a poster. A traditional poster tries to crowd as, as many, text, bullets and figures as possible. I've seen posters where, you know, I've had to say, hey, this is better suited to the supplement of a manuscript because they want to get all of it out on that poster. We want to make our data as accessible as possible, but also follow commitments to publish whether the data study outcomes are positive or negative. It's still important for health care providers and for patients and for communities at large for us to be transparent with our data. You know, adhere to the basic principles and they will carry us far.

Rob: Makes sense. And this is all great, Doreen. Uh, one last question for you. Uh, our listeners out there are wondering what they can do different starting tomorrow if they're still using very traditional posters. Um, is there something you'd recommend that they do when they get to the office? 

Doreen: Well, I think having an imagination and just the interest in advancing the poster to its next possibility is something that is a great starting place. I also think planning is really critical because some of these innovations may be inexpensive and just taking a little bit of imagination to get you there. Others will require some sort of an investment, some resources, you know, something like an interactive PDF poster with navigability, with pop outs, it's, you know, with the right technology and the right talent to do it, it's not that difficult, but it does come with a budget. 

So planning in advance for, you know, realizing the goals of these enhanced posters is important, but I can say from my experience that it actually can be a good return on investment if we want to think about it in that way. I mean, that return on investment could be something like 700 fold more QR codes at a congress than you would have had with the same, you know, traditional poster without those capabilities. 

Rob: Yeah, this is all great advice and it's been a really good chat Doreen, I've really enjoyed uh, talking through different types of poster formats and ways that people can perhaps update the way they produce the posters.

Um, thank you so much for joining us today and for being a guest on our, our program. 

Doreen: It's been a pleasure, Rob. Thank you very much. 

Rob: Well, that's us for today. Thank you all for listening. Please take a minute to subscribe to In Plain Cite on your favorite podcast app. Share with your colleagues and rate our show highly if you like what you heard today.

In Plain Cite is a production of ISMPP, the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals. This episode is generously sponsored by Avalere Health. 

Our production partner is CitizenRacecar. Our producer and editor is Hajar Eldass. Post production by Alex Brouwer. Publication and promotion by Candice Chantalou.

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