Challenging Cases, Enhanced Poster Presentations Increase Access, Educational Opportunities

To expand the scope of the research presented at TCT 2011, conference organizers have added several new features to this year’s poster session on Tuesday, November 8. One highlight will be the new Challenging Cases section, which offers an opportunity for researchers to present complex cases in poster form using not only a conventional poster board but also a laptop to display video of their cases.

Complex cases now as posters

“Case demonstrations with discussion are one of our most successful educational tools and are very popular with attendees,” said Colleen Whelan, director of CME program development at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) in New York. “Due to the record number of submissions that we received, we decided to add this new aspect to TCT to allow more cases to be shown.”

There will be approximately 120 Challenging Cases, Whelan noted. Shown as posters (separate from the roughly 650 poster abstracts), these will be grouped according to a broad range of topics and will include presentations on coronary, congenital, valvular, endovascular and structural procedures.

Q&A with Key Opinion Leaders

For the first time this year, poster abstract presentations will include a moderated session, said Johnnie White, CMP, executive director of meetings and educational services at CRF. “During the session, a panel of key opinion leaders will walk around to selected posters and ask probing questions of the presenters and help put the presentations in context,” he explained.

According to White, a camera will follow the moderators as they move from poster to poster, allowing attendees to watch the questions and answers in real time on two large screens at the center of the room.

White added that TCT organizers will survey attendees’ reactions to the new features and evaluate whether further enhancements are warranted at future conferences.

The poster session takes place Tuesday morning in Hall D from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.