Attendance at RSNA 2016 grew by 4% over the 2015 edition of the conference, but it still fell shy of the mark set by the meeting in 2014.
Total final attendance at RSNA 2016 was 54,037, compared with 51,922 at RSNA 2015. The 2015 edition of the show saw a decline of 7.3% compared with RSNA 2014, when a total of 56,026 radiology professionals attended the meeting.
Total professional attendance at RSNA 2016 settled at 26,988 registrants, a number that included 1,813 people who attended only the RSNA's virtual meeting and did not travel to Chicago's McCormick Place in person. Total professional attendance was up slightly compared with professional attendance of 26,778 in 2015, a figure that included 1,327 individuals who attended only the virtual meeting that year; RSNA did not indicate how many virtual attendees were included in the 2014 figures. In all, 5,645 attendees from 98 countries attended the virtual meeting, where they received on-demand access to 90 sessions.
| Official RSNA attendance, 2012-2016 | |||||
| Attendee type | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
| Total | 53,778 | 54,008 | 56,026 | 51,922 | 54,037 |
| Professional | 26,154 | 26,569 | 28,807 | 26,778* | 26,988* |
In other facts and figures from RSNA 2016, the technical exhibition occupied 412,000 sq ft of space in McCormick Place and housed 663 exhibits, including 104 first-time exhibitors. The meeting pumped an estimated $131 million into Chicago's economy.
Notable features at RSNA 2016 included an "Eyes on Watson" interactive demonstration of IBM Watson's artificial intelligence technology, a Connections Center for RSNA attendees to learn about RSNA services, and a U.S. National Cancer Institute Perception Lab, where attendees could participate as volunteers in research on radiologist perception.
