Wednesday, November 10 2010

Poster PresentationsStay Focused | Get Visual | Keep it Structured CAPS/GRC/RWJF

Goals of the Poster

✤ Inform readers about your work

✤ Advertise your work

✤ Start a conversation!

Bad Posters

✤ Difficult to tell the main point

✤ Very small text

✤ Poor charts & pictures

✤ Badly organized

Focus

✤ A poster should be narrowly focused - try to carve a single message from your research.

Visual

✤ It’s better for people to see your research on a poster than it is for them to read it. This is because most academic conference attendees are illiterate.

Structure

✤ A poster needs to be organized in two different ways: visually and narratively.

✤ Visually there should be a clear connection from one part of the poster to the next.

✤ Narratively, there should be a logical flow of ideas in the text, charts, and pictures of the paper.

Important First Questions

✤ How much space do you have?

✤ Poster size limitations can vary from 3 x 4 feet, or 5 x 6 feet.

Important First Questions

✤ How much money do you have?

✤ It can get expensive printing a huge poster. Will it all be in color? Will it be glossy? Where will you print it?

Important Questions

✤ Who is your audience?

✤ Don’t waste the time of professionals in your field by explaining basics

✤ But don’t confuse interested amateurs when presenting to them.

Frame Your Message

✤ Get rid of any details that are not directly relevant to the main message of the poster. They only take up space, and no one will remember them.

Layout

✤ Columnar Layout. Decide what to emphasize.

Headings

✤ Each heading is like a newspaper headline. Someone should be able to read it and get an idea of what the rest says.

Charts

✤ Make charts with good contrast with the background - and with an easy to see relationship.

Good or Bad?

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Good or Bad? Good or Bad?

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Good or Bad?

Good or Bad?

Good or Bad?

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Good or Bad?