Thank you for taking the time to create a display of your research that we can utilize as an educational tool during our spring advocacy events in Washington, DC, April 28-30, 2019.  Our goal is to educate your elected representatives about medical imaging research and technology, both prior to, and during our annual Medical Imaging Technology Showcase. This is a guide for you to utilize as you think of the appropriate handheld technology, display or poster that depicts research taking place in your department.

As a member of the Council of Early Career Investigators in Imaging (CECI²), you will present a display that clearly and concisely illustrates impactful medical imaging research taking place in your department. You may choose to illustrate research you are directly engaged with, or research in your department that you are not engaged with, both are acceptable. The most important variable is that you are comfortable discussing the research with individuals who may have no scientific or medical background.

1. If you have questions specific to the content of your research poster, during this process, you can reach out to Rebecca Rakow-Penner, Chair of CECI² at: rrakowpenner@ucsd.edu or Jadranka Stojanovska, Co-Chair at: jstoanov@med.umich.edu.
2. If you have logistical questions about the process, please contact Emily Townley at: ETownley@acadrad.org. 

Poster/Printed Material/Handheld Technology Display Specifications:

Your display should be designed to be understood by a lay, non-scientific audience.

These specifications have been created by members of the Academy’s Council for Early Career Investigators in Imaging who have participated in past advocacy events, and who have been through this process first hand. Our primary audience on Capitol Hill is members of congressional staff who do not understand complicated medical terminology. Please keep both your display design and language simple. Our goal is to educate our lay audience about medical imaging and the research taking place in a way that they will fully understand. (If you have or know a child who is between the ages of 12-16, this is the demographic to imagine for your research display.)

Printed Material/Signage you wish to display should be:

• Full color.
• Size: 3’x 2’ (36” wide x 24” tall – horizontal). Academy staff will handle the printing of a poster to its proper size. All final posters/printed material need to be sent to us electronically by the due date of April 1, 2019. Each department will be billed up to $75 for printing material
• Type: .PDF, .PNG, .AI, or .PPT files. Preferably .PPT files should be saved in .PDF format for printing the appropriate size.

Research displayed on handheld technology should:

• Be displayed on a tablet or laptop that you bring with you.
• Have a high resolution.
• If possible, offer an interactive feature! (We have definitely seen that the more interactive your display is, the more people will stop and chat!)

Places Where Your Research Will be Displayed:

Research will be displayed or discussed in the following venues:

Monday evening:

• Your display will be a focal point at the Academy’s CIBR Networking Reception with industry, academia, and patient advocates. Each industry representative and academic researcher will vote on the research display they feel is most effective and impactful for this audience. The winner will receive an award at this reception. To view last year’s winning display click here.

Tuesday afternoon:

• You will have congressional visits scheduled for you by Martha Nolan. You will NOT bring your display materials to these meetings (security issues), but you can download them onto your iPad/handheld device, or simply discuss your research with the congressional staff or member with whom you meet. You are not restricted to discussing only the research on your materials. The meetings with your congressional office are an opportunity to introduce yourself as a researcher and illustrate to them the various research taking place in your department, how medical imaging impacts patient care, and why you feel medical imaging research is vital. This is more of a dialogue and will, we hope, initiate a long lasting relationship between you and your congressional office.

Tuesday evening:

• Your research display will also be highlighted during the Medical Imaging Technology Showcase on Tuesday evening. This event will include various displays such as; hands-on imaging technologies, research posters, and patient testimonials. Your role will be to either stand near your display or walk around the Showcase and introduce yourself to attendees, dependent on your level of comfort. This is a widely attended event, and you will be one of 28 CECI² members, amongst industry and patient advocates who, together, are discussing/showing various imaging technologies. Here is a link to a summary of our event last year: click here, and a link to the 2018 CECI² page. Click here.

Tips:

• The more imagery, the better. Text should be minimal. Your message should communicate quickly and easily.
• Use high-resolution images on printed material, if you have any (or pixilation will result,) to achieve the best quality print.

Your Audience:

• Most attendees will be Members of Congress, Hill staff, patient advocacy groups etc. without a technical or scientific background.
• Please make the information accessible to the general public. Please know that your materials may be sent back to you for feedback/editing and that this is a standard part of the process.
• Keep it simple.
• Use words no one will have to Google.
• If the research received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or another federal government agency, please include that information in the your display.

Deadline: TBD

• Drafts/Ideas/Proposals of your research display should be emailed in the appropriate format(s) to Casey Cappelletti, ccappelletti@acadrad.org by April 1 for review.
• The final deadline for submitting printed material is April 15, 2019.

Submission:

Please submit the .PDF, .PNG, .PPT or .AI file of your poster to Casey (ccappelletti@acadrad.org), or via Dropbox or Google Docs with a link sent to Casey for retrieval.