Scientific Storytelling Expert Blog

How much does it cost to visually improve, rework, or redesign a scientific slide deck?

April 23, 2023/in Scientific slide decks /by Stefan Wolf

Because we’re so often asked about the costs of editing an existing scientific slide deck, this article will explain exactly how we calculate them. It’s best demonstrated with a sample slide showing the differences between a fix-up, redesign, redraw, and visual storytelling-treatment. This “input slide,” provided by a client, already contains all the content arranged in a table. We’ll show how the content of this one slide can be presented using a variety of methods. You’ll find the costs of these four options for this example in an infographic at the end of the article. Read more

What makes a powerful infographic

April 6, 2023/in Illustrations & infographics, Medical congresses & conferences, Medical affairs & medical marketing /by Alexander Roeder

In the article “The Power of Infographics”, we showed that infographics are excellent and versatile tools for medical affairs teams because they get to the point, spark conversation, and help you reach more people in your target audience.

In this article, we give the 7 key ingredients for infographics with the power to educate HCPs and your medical affairs team while giving them a lasting impression of the story behind your data. Read more

How to create a convincing investor-pitch slide deck

March 20, 2023/in Medical affairs & medical marketing, Scientific slide decks, Medical congresses & conferences /by Anja Kloss, PhD

In a pitch to potential investors, biotech companies have to get to the point when explaining their ideas and concepts. The slides accompanying the pitch need to clearly and concisely underline the key information and support the oral presenter. A well-designed slide deck with carefully selected, easily understandable content wins half the battle for the success of an excellent business idea.

But how to create a sophisticated and visually interesting slide deck that captivates your audience? Read more

Medical booth animation that adds value

February 21, 2023/in Medical congresses & conferences, Medical animation and explainer videos /by Colin Korell

Animated videos run in almost every pharma congress booth, from 3D MoA and MoD videos, to 2D clinical study explainer videos. An effective congress booth video should first draw people to your booth. But keeping them there takes more than “just” eye-catching visuals.

Any video at your booth should be didactically powered for your target audience and the information you want to share with them. Read more

From industry expert theater to KOL symposium: slide decks for congresses

February 9, 2023/in Scientific slide decks, Medical congresses & conferences /by Colin Korell

Sessions are why HCPs attend congresses. One of the main ways to support sessions, such as a KOL symposium, an industry expert theater, or the announcement of clinical trial results, is with a solid presentation. This can make all the difference in capturing the attention of healthcare professionals (HCPs). A well-structured and visually appealing presentation can help support the session and effectively communicate complex information. Read more

Planning ahead for outstanding medical congress materials

January 30, 2023/in Medical congresses & conferences /by Colin Korell

Congresses and conferences are a crucial platform for medical affairs to share their latest research and engage with HCPs. To make the most of these opportunities, it’s essential to plan for creating congress materials that will effectively communicate your messages and leave a lasting impression on your audience. In this article, we will give you a roadmap for planning your materials for conferences, whether infographics, medical animation, or presentations. Read more

Do-it-yourself or delegate? The question of creating a scientific slide deck

January 18, 2023/in Scientific slide decks, Medical affairs & medical marketing, Medical learning & training, eLearning & engaging activities /by Stefan Wolf

If you work in pharma, you know slide decks are the mainstay of scientific communication. They allow companies to relay complex medical ideas in ways that are digestible and easy to understand. Making a basic slide deck is relatively easy. PowerPoint is user-friendly, and pharma companies have robust scientific knowledge in-house. So why would anyone outsource their scientific slide decks to a visual storytelling agency? Here are some points to consider when you need to decide if it’s better to develop a slide deck yourself or it’s better to work with an external agency. Read more

10 steps for powerful infographics

November 21, 2022/in Illustrations & infographics, Medical congresses & conferences, Medical affairs & medical marketing /by Alexander Roeder

Creating an informative yet engaging medical infographic is not easy. If it were, pharma companies wouldn’t invest in our knowledge and experience in developing them. But even though making great infographics isn’t easy, that doesn’t mean it needs to be complicated.

Here are 10 steps we use at CAST PHARMA to develop infographics that meet client needs and engage target audiences. Read more

How to improve an existing knowledge base slide deck?

October 10, 2022/in Medical affairs & medical marketing, Medical learning & training, Scientific slide decks, Medical congresses & conferences /by Stefan Wolf

In today’s case study, we’ll look at a very typical case: editing and improving an existing slide deck. This slide deck is intended to serve as a knowledge base for self-study. Read more

The power of infographics

October 4, 2022/in Illustrations & infographics, Medical affairs & medical marketing /by Alexander Roeder

When training your medical affairs team, you face several challenges to getting them on board. To show them the ropes, you need relevant and complete materials. These materials need to be easy to understand for your team and their respective target audience, whether health care professionals (HCPs), key opinion leaders (KOLs), or patients. The materials should facilitate conversations with the target audience. And you should be able to easily reuse and adapt them. Checking all these boxes, infographics can be your mainstay on the voyage from training to launch! Read more

Educating or impressing? For the right effect, choose the right visual approach

September 22, 2022/in Medical congresses & conferences, Medical affairs & medical marketing, Medical animation and explainer videos /by Eva Anne Rentzsch

Working in pharma, you use visual aids every day to talk about the latest developments in medical science. Maybe you’re explaining a disease’s pathophysiology and potential therapeutic targets to a physician. Maybe you’re presenting a new therapeutic’s mechanism of action to a group of key opinion leaders. Or maybe you’re training your MSLs to share the results of a recently published phase III trial. Read more

Understanding science – the difference between a graphic design agency and a visual storytelling agency

September 25, 2022/in eLearning & engaging activities, Scientific slide decks, About CAST PHARMA, Medical congresses & conferences, Medical affairs & medical marketing, Medical learning & training, Medical animation and explainer videos /by Lisa Hartung, PhD

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most complex and highly regulated industries in the world. So, to communicate effectively with stakeholders like patients and doctors, it’s important that the message comes across clearly and accurately. We want to set the record straight and show what a graphic design agency and a visual storytelling agency can do for the pharmaceutical industry and which partner understands the science behind your products best. Read more

Why onboarding a team is like a dance class

August 16, 2022/in Illustrations & infographics, Medical learning & training, Medical animation and explainer videos, eLearning & engaging activities, Scientific slide decks /by Julia Reinhard, PhD

Imagine going to a dance class and not knowing anyone. You feel completely out of place. You’re struggling to learn the steps, keep up with the music, and avoid collisions with other dancers. Everyone else in the room knows each other already. They are all moving in unison while you are still trying to figure out what to do with your feet. This is how many new employees feel when they join a company.
Read more

The power of humor: why it matters in scientific communication

August 1, 2022/in Medical affairs & medical marketing, Medical learning & training, Medical animation and explainer videos, eLearning & engaging activities /by Anita Kunert

Humor in scientific communication? Like bad knock-knock jokes about tyrosine kinases? You might think humor undermines scientific credibility. Or that it’s inappropriate in communication about serious medical conditions. But interestingly, science as well as experience with hundreds of films, slide decks, and activities tell us otherwise. Read more

Cloud-based explainer video tools versus a visual storytelling agency: which one is right for you?

July 13, 2022/in Medical affairs & medical marketing, Medical learning & training, Medical animation and explainer videos, Medical congresses & conferences /by Eva Anne Rentzsch

Whether you’re a pharma marketing manager or medical communications manager, every day you need to package information attractively for your target audience. Explainer videos can have an enormous impact. But who will write the storyboard? Who will animate the video? And why can’t you just do it yourself with some cheap software? Why bother explaining everything to an agency? Read more