The exhibit hall of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual conference is always a sight to behold. Not only is there a unique mixture of imaging equipment and software, but there are booths and attendees from numerous countries in Europe, Asia, and Australia. It is the most international conference on my calendar.
The 2023 RSNA annual conference (#RSNA23) did not disappoint and there were four unexpected delights from the exhibit hall:
- Energy from attendees
- The return of VR
- A high-performance race car
- Toys
Positive Attendee Energy
The most unexpected delight from the RSNA23 exhibit hall was the energy in the building. It was palpable.
In the prior two years, the exhibit hall lacked energy. There was no buzz. It was almost like the industry was waiting for something. Yes, there were more attendees this year vs 2022, but it was not the size of the crowd that stood out, it was the energy. As I walked the aisles, I could see more smiling faces and more deal-making.
This was a very encouraging sign for 2024.
VR + Radiology Making a Comeback?
Back in 2018 one of the hottest technologies in the exhibit hall was Virtual + Augmented Reality. Almost every vendor has some form of this technology on display. It was fun to see people manipulating images and scans in thin air.
In 2021 and 2022, however, VR almost disappeared from the exhibit hall, but it made a comeback this year. I counted more than 10 booths that prominently featured VR technology including Luxsonic Imaging and MediView:
High-Performing Machines
The RSNA exhibit hall is always full of amazing, high-performance imaging machines. At the GE, Canon Medical Systems, Samsung, Philips, Siemens, and Shimadzu attendees are guaranteed to be treated to a dazzling buffet of x-ray, CT, and ultrasound machines.
This year there was one high-performance machine on display that was unlike any other.
The DataFirst booth featured an actual race car. President Beau Jones owns the vehicle which is custom-built in the UK. He races it in the Ginetta GT Racing series.
The car attracted a stead stream of booth visitors and admirers. Whenever I passed by their booth, there always seemed to be two or three people snapping pictures of it.
[Disclosure: DataFirst is a sponsor of Healthcare Scene, but not of this article]
Toys as Functional Props
An RSNA staple is the use of models to help demonstrate equipment. I don’t mean that the models were on stage talking about imaging equipment, I mean actually sitting or lying in the machine to help show how the device is used. I still do a double-take whenever I see this because it is so different than the focused Health IT conferences that we attend.
At RSNA23, however, AGFA that took a different approach. Instead of people, they used plush toys on their machines instead.
I couldn’t help but smile seeing Yoda on an X-ray machine and thinking about the poor clinician who had to read through almost 900 years of his medical record. I’m sure Hello Kitty has a smaller record since she doesn’t go into battle with a lightsaber.
These oversized toys helped the AGFA team stand out and added an element of humor to their booth. I can’t help but wonder if next year we will see customized versions of these plush toys that have actual anatomy on the inside so that it will show up in a scan.
[WARNING GEEK REFERENCE] It would be exceedingly cool if AGFA or someone else could use their machine to show us actual midichlorians.
I can’t wait for RSNA24!
