In the ECR 2026 entrance hall, a towering sculpture of Athena, the Greek goddess of reason and wisdom, welcomed attendees; behind her, the venue’s polySTAGE, a staging installation made up of 52 LED panels, beckoned with an immersive atmosphere of ancient Greek architecture and mythological figures.

The European Congress of Radiology (ECR) is the world’s largest gathering in the medical imaging field, drawing upwards of 20,000 attendees every year. Organized by the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and held annually at Austria Convention Center Vienna, the 2026 edition explored the theme “Rays of Knowledge” through artistic interpretations of Greek mythology. In the entrance hall, a towering sculpture of Athena, the Greek goddess of reason and wisdom, welcomed attendees; behind her, the venue’s polySTAGE, a staging installation made up of 52 LED panels, beckoned with projections of ancient Greek architecture and mythological figures.

ECR carried the theme throughout other spaces and programming, hitting a crescendo at the opening ceremony, “LIGHT,” which presented short films, speeches, and live performances from the Vienna Art Orchestra, Neue Wiener Stimmen Choir, and others against a backdrop of Greek art and architecture.

It’s an example of how events are ratcheting up the attendee experience — and why venues are investing in technology that allows them to do it with ease. “Conferences are increasingly becoming holistically staged events that allow participants to immerse themselves,” said Susanne Baumann-Söllner of Austra Center Vienna. “I am convinced that the conferences of the future will develop precisely in this direction and that immersive conferences will become the new standard.”

That points to why ACV added the polySTAGE — billed as the largest kinetic LED stage in events — to its facility in 2023. The structure spans nearly 4,000 square feet of LED surface area, almost half of which consists of movable LED modules. PolySTAGE “ensures maximum visual impact regardless of lighting conditions and makes it possible to transform spaces emotionally,” Baumann-Söllner said, “through colors, moods, scene changes and dynamic content in real time.”

With scientific information now available through so many different channels, ECR Executive Director Peter Baierl said, offering a compelling reason for attendees to travel to the congress is essential. Creating a new immersive world every year, he said, “transforms the event into a unique shared experience that goes far beyond the scientific program itself.”

“The intention,” Baierl said, “is to create a strong emotional connection, build anticipation, maximize audience engagement, and ensure that each edition of ECR feels fresh, memorable, and unlike anything attendees have experienced before.” The plan seems to be working — attendance at ECR has increased every year, with the most recent attracting 22,418 participants.

Research shows that when participants have an emotional response during the learning experience, they are more likely to retain information. “This consistent, visual, and immersive approach makes the conference tangible in every respect and has a profound emotional impact on attendees,” Baumann-Söllner said. “Scientific content that is experienced with all the senses — and here I am referring, for example, to immersive exhibition concepts, digital poster exhibitions, or even presentations that, thanks to perfect LED technology and staging, are more akin to a cinema screening than a conventional PowerPoint — can simply be conveyed in a far more lasting and comprehensible way. Through this experience, participants also gain a deeper understanding of the content.”

Jennifer N. Dienst is senior editor at Convene

Read about how ESR used the same technology to execute their “Planet Radiology” vision at their 2025 annual meeting.