Therapeutic experts typically gather at congresses to present and discuss research findings, often through the medium of a scientific poster. Poster viewership is an important metric to monitor data dissemination. However, poster sessions are typically short and are held in a crowded exhibit hall where hundreds of posters are vying for attendees’ attention. The ICON global medical communications group worked with a large pharmaceutical company to identify ways to engage the congress audience and expand the impact of their scientific presentations at a large international meeting.

To ‘stand out from the crowd’, ICON developed an innovative infographic style poster utilizing striking graphics to attract the audience’s attention and clearly and succinctly communicate key data. In addition, eye-catching links to downloadable plain language summaries (PLSs) were added to this infographic poster as well as three standard posters to improve the reader’s experience and facilitate data dissemination to congress attendees who may not be well-versed in the disease state.

In this case study, quick response (QR) codes were used to monitor downloads of the infographic poster and PLSs; results were compared across posters as well as to poster downloads from the same congress from the previous year.

The number of times the QR code was scanned increased by almost 400% for the infographic poster compared to standard posters from the three previous years; downloads were also higher than the standard posters at the same meeting. Downloads of standard posters with PLSs also increased by about 250% compared to standard posters without PLSs from the previous year. This case study was completed just prior to the advent of virtual congresses due to the COVID19 pandemic; the insights gained remain valid and likely even more important in an online-only setting.