Presentation skills designing posters for academic conferences

Dr Inma Andrés

Student Programmes Manager

PRESENTATION

SKILLS:

Designing posters

for academic

conferences

Brunel University London

First questions

• What is the most important/interesting/astounding finding

from my research project?

• How can I visually share my research with conference

attendees? Should I use charts, graphs, photos, images?

• What kind of information can I convey during my talk that

will complement my poster?

Designing posters for academic conferences 5


4 What’s

• What is your objective?

• What do you want to show on the poster?

• What do you want your listeners to find/learn/take?

• What do you want them to do?

6 Designing posters for academic conferences


Objective: Explain to the person next to you the

purpose of your presentation and ask him or her for

feedback

8

• Is it clear?

• Did it grab your attention?

• Is it too general or too specific?

• Would you like to listen more?

Designing posters for academic conferences


It should content:

• Introduction

• Materials and methods

• Results

• Conclusions

• Citations (short list)

• Acknowledgements



The poster should have: 01 March 2016

11

Graphics

Text Space


Conte

nt


Do you know your audience?

• What do they already know?

• What are their attitudes toward your topic or proposal?

• How interested are they in your topic?

• What are their needs?

01 March 2016



Know your audience

Specialist Audience

• Experts in same related field

• They will have a high level of understanding of your

subject

• It's ok to use jargon and technical terms on poster



Related Audience

• Specialist in related / overlapping field

• Familiar with the generalities of your discipline

• Be wary of specialist jargon - avoid where possible

15

Know your audience



Know your audience

General Audience

• Can only assume general level knowledge

• No familiarity with discipline or your subject area

• Avoid use a jargon-basic descriptions only



Size

Title:

• A2 poster: 32pt – 64pt.



Main text:




Authors: clarify author-institution.

References and captions: smaller font.

01 March 2016



Text

300-500 words

Structure

• Open the presentation with something interesting and

attention

• Set your topic and determine the major points

• Properly use transitions

• Create a concise conclusion or summary



Colour

21

• Try to create a ‘visual

sequence’

• No need to fill every cm –

white space is good

• Two/three main colours

• Be consistent e.g. use one

colour for all headings

Red & Green



How to manage the layout?

23

Properly use transitions



Good visual balance

24

Horizontal Symmetry Horizontal & Vertical Symmetry

Diagonal Symmetry Asymmetry



Charts

26

• Think carefully about how you format them

• Keep them simple, enlarge the text and thicken the lines

• Make sure the background has good contrast



How to make successful my poster design

• Important information should be readable from about 10 feet away

• Title is short and draws interest

• Text is clear and to the point

• Use of bullets, numbering and headlines makes it easy to read

• Effective use of graphics, colour and fonts

• Consistent and clean layout

• Includes acknowledgments, your name and your department

Enthusiasm & Passion


Brunel University London 29

Successful

Presentations

Know

Know

Know

Know

Four Cornerstones Method


Brunel University London 31

Other Workshops


• PRESENTATION SKILLS: Creating posters in

PowerPoint

• PRESENTATION SKILLS: Oral presentations

Any Questions? [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Presentations & Public Speaking

Presentation skills designing posters for academic conferences