Stephanie R. Taylor CS 441 April 4, 2013 Stephanies Guide to
Designing a Scientific Poster
Slide 2
Outline Getting Started PowerPoint Designing and Adding Content
Layout (general layout, what to include) Graphics (e.g. Matlab
figures, bitmaps) Fonts (What size?) Printing (Language Resource
Center in Lovejoy) Presenting the Poster (its a dialog) Additional
Resources
Slide 3
My Favorite Form of Publication A poster allows you to share
your work with the scientific community Get the main ideas across
to others Spark discussions with potential collaborators A poster
is a hybrid form Less detailed than a paper More detailed than a
talk A poster presentation is INTERACTIVE. When you are creating
your poster, think about how you will describe your work
Slide 4
Getting Started Getting the size right Check the conference
website for size and other guidelines Common size is 3ft (height)
by 4ft (width) 3ft tall is what you want if printing at LRC
PowerPoint 2007 Easy way to get the right size is to download the
blank poster from LRCs website
Slide 5
Process Determine the template Determine the story Put the
figures, titles, references, and equations in Then refine the
layout and add necessary text
Slide 6
In addition to content, include Title Author list (this is like
a paper, so chances are, your advisors name should be included) The
fact that the project is associated with CS 441 Colby logo (I use
the seal) References to works cited (but this list should be
small)
Slide 7
Slide 8
Content Tell a story, e.g. Circadian clocks are complex
multi-oscillators. Phase adjustments to intercellular signals allow
them to synchronize. We want to understand what intracellular
components are important for this behavior and we want our
multi-oscillator models to be smaller. So, we developed a new model
reduction technique and applied it to a model. The results were
good over many runs of the reduction. The results at the single
oscillator level were excellent. The acid test was forming a
multi-oscillator model and examining the population-level
behaviors. It passed. Focus on 2 or 3 main points. Create figures
for them and design the layout around the figures. Make the
take-home message explicit Write it on the poster Put it into the
title
Slide 9
Slide 10
Content and Layout Make sure your story follows an expected
pattern, e.g. Motivation Method Experiment/Application Results
Discussion Separate the main sections visually, e.g. 3 column
layout Box the subsections In PowerPoint 2003, it is helpful to put
this on the master slide
Slide 11
Layout Balancing Text and Graphics I aim for 50/50 but that
isnt a universal rule. DYA Equations Pay attention to your audience
Font should be at least 24pt Fonts Use a readable font (I like
Verdana ) Title (~80 pt) Subtitles (~60 pt) Figure Captions (24-30
pt) Text (24-30 pt) References and Acknowledgements (18-24 pt)
Slide 12
Slide 13
Graphics Make sure you have sufficient resolution A good rule
of thumb is never to increase the size of a graphic (e.g. a bitmap)
once you have inserted it into the poster make sure it is big
enough before you save it as a bitmap. To copy a figure from a pdf,
first zoom in as much as you can on the pdf. Advice from LRC: To
include an image on your poster, do NOT 'copy and paste'. You must
save the image to your computer, then use the 'insert > picture'
option to import it into Powerpoint. Figures ALWAYS LABEL YOUR
AXES! Generally, aim for at least 7 wide figures (this is a
heuristic based on my own work)
Slide 14
Slide 15
Importing Figures from Matlab Get the Matlab figure at the
desired size and appearance, then save it as a picture (.jpg) Make
the fonts as large as they can be while fitting everything in the
figure (aim for 14 or higher, but this wont always work) For data
that are simple time traces, consider using thicker (2pt)
lines
Slide 16
Slide 17
Refining the Layout Do your best to make the whitespace look
evenly distributed throughout the poster Do your best to make the
graphics evenly distributed throughout the poster Get the level of
detail correct Someone reading the poster should be able to get the
main picture without your help But it is NOT a paper and details
not immediately relevant to the story should be left out
Slide 18 picture' option to import it into Powerpoint. No solid
colored backgrounds allowed (no more than 1/3 poster can have color
on it) 48 hours to print You never know when the hordes will
descend upon the printer, so PRINT EARLY (1 week ahead of
time).">
