What is a Poster

A poster is visual communication tool. An effective poster will get your main ideas across to many people and will assist you in engaging your colleagues in conversations. A well-designed poster will act as a source of information, be a conversation starter, promote your work, and summarize your work.

2. Using this Information

A well-designed poster will deliver a message, is highly visual, and is readable from 3-6 feet away. Unfortunately many posters suffer from problems that can easily be fixed such as: main points are hard to find, small text, poor graphics, and poor layout. These guidelines will take you through the process of creating a successful poster and give you a few examples.

3. Getting Started

? Start with an idea. Your idea (or concept) must be turned into a visual poster by using a clear message supported by a combination of text and images.
? Know your message: Have a clear image in your mind of the one thing you want your audience to learn and go home with.
? Focus on that one message throughout the poster. If a color or picture or image does not reinforce the message, delete it.
? Know your audience: Your target audience will determine the look and content of your poster presentation.
Who’s my Audience?

The audience should shape your poster . . .

(1) Specialists only. You can assume a high level of disciplinary knowledge, use jargon, and take other presentation shortcuts.
(2) Wide-ranging discipline. You can assume familiarity with the discipline in general, but there are so many sub-specialties that jargon is to be avoided and language simplified.
(3) Very general audience. You cannot assume familiarity with any discipline and must explain everything in the most basic terms.

However, there are three types of people in almost any audience . . . (Woolsey 1989)

(1) People in your field of specialization are likely to seek out and read your poster, even if it’s not very good.
(2) People in related fields might study your poster, if they can be “hooked” quickly. They are worth capturing, because they can have interesting insights and perspectives about your work.
(3) People in unrelated fields are not likely to read your entire poster, but might want to quickly read and glean the main points.

You want to – and can – satisfy them all!!

Write an abstract: An abstract is generally needed to get a poster accepted and a good abstract will serve as a starting outline for the poster. An abstract can also be illustrated with images that will go into the final poster.

Create a draft poster: Drafts, whether printed or done by hand, can help with the overall layout and design of the poster. Information can be edited, moved around, and verified before the final is done.

Displaying your poster: Before you arrive at the conference you need to verify the size of the available display space, have the necessary mounting materials with you such as double sided tape, push pins, or Velcro™, and mounting boards or form core. If your poster is going to be displayed at several events, you may wish to have it laminated to protect it.

Evaluate the outcome: How was the poster received? Did it make an impact? Was your message clear and understood by those who viewed it? Use what you learned in designing your next poster presentation.

4. Planning Your Poster

What’s my message?
* Say it again!
* You must be able to state your main point(s) or conclusion(s) succinctly.
* All visuals and text should relate to those points and conclusions.
How much room do I have?
* Determine specific size requirements.
This determines what you can fit …
What you’ll have to leave out …
And how things will be organized.
How much money do I have?
* Cardboard or foam core?
* High quality paper or not?
* Do it yourself or contract it out?
Set up some deadlines
* Especially important if the poster is multi-authored.
* Start with the due date and work back to create milestones.
* Remember to leave time for friendly review and editing.

5. Creating Your Poster

Who to Contact
All conference and class posters should be review, edited, and proofed by your instructor or mentor before sending them in for printing. When they are ready, either your instructor will forward them to Fran Rogers in bulk with the rest of your class or, if your poster is for a conference, you can send it directly via email ([email protected]). You can also deliver it in person on a USB thumb drive.
Remember: it may take up to 3 days to get your poster printed so please do not waiting until the last minute.

Layout
* Headings help readers find key sections – objectives, results, methods, conclusions, references, disclosures etc.
* Balance the placement of text and graphics.
* Use white space creatively to define flow of information.
* Don’t fight “reader gravity” that pulls eye from top to bottom, left to right.
* Good column formatting makes posters easier to read in a crowd.

Sizing
Class Displays:

Tri-fold (table top) display boards (which are available in the book store) are
36” X 48”. Each wing is 12” W X 36”H, with the center section being 24”W X 36”H. Your table top poster should not be any larger than 36”H X 48”W. Generally text and graphics do not look good when it is in a fold, so try to adjust your text boxes and graphics accordingly. As before, go to the pull down menu “file” and select “page setup” to adjust your posters size. Glue sticks (also available at the book store) work well to attach your poster to the display board.

Flat, foam core mounted posters are also popular. They are 30”H X 42”W. Foam core is
also available at the Bookstore and again, glue sticks work well for mounting.

Graphics
* Graphs communicate relationships quickly.
* Graphs should be simple and clean with a resolution of at least 1024 X 768 if possible.
* Stick to simple 2-D line graphs, bar charts, and (if you must) pie charts.
* Avoid 3-D graphs unless you’re displaying 3-D data.
* Be sure to follow text guidelines (below) for graphs.
* Use photos that help deliver your message.
* Use clip art – but not too much – to attract attention.

Text
* Use phrases rather than full sentences.
* Use an active voice.
* Avoid jargon (depends somewhat on your audience).
* Use easy to read fonts for all text.
* Text should be large – 36 to 48 points (or more) for titles and author’s name; 24 point for text.
* Text in figures should also be large.
* Title can be up to two inches tall.

Colors
* Use a light color background and dark letters for contrast.
* Try to avoid dark backgrounds with light letters – can be tiring to read.
* Stick to a theme of 2-3 colors, if possible.
* Overly bright colors will attract attention, but wear out readers’ eyes.
* Beware of complimentary colors such as red & green. These are often very hard to read if used side by side.

Software Tools
* PowerPoint has proved to be the best day to day program for printing posters
since it is a presentation orientated application. Text and graphics will be
accepted in any application the college supports, but the final will generally be
printed in a PowerPoint format.
* Adobe Illustrator and Quark are even better for creating posters, but are far more
complex to use. Posters done in Adobe Illustrator and Quark will need to be
saved as a PDF for printing purposes.
* Adobe Photoshop is great for manipulating images.

Edit & Evaluate
* Edit! Proof! Edit! Proof! Edit! To reduce text.
* If it’s not relevant to your message, remove it!
* Have colleagues comment on drafts. Print a small proof version and circulate for
comments, or hang a full-size draft with pens and invite them to critique.
* Evaluate your work.
* Are your objective and main message obvious?
* Will readers be able to contact you?

Production Time
* Please allow one week for production during heavy production times. This will allow for proofs, corrections, and final printing. Three days is normal turn around time for printing.

6. Presenting Your Poster

* Mailing tubes are available from Media Services for shipping posters. Due to the number of people attending some major conferences, 3 or more posters may be required for each tube.
* Posters can also be FedEx’ed to your hotel if you are out of town at a conference.
* Arrive early at the display site.
* Unless you’re confident the organizers will have proper supplies, bring a
poster hanging kit with you.
* Hang your poster square and neat.
* Bring copies of a handout for your readers. It should include a miniature version of
your poster and more detailed information about your work, in an illustrated narrative form. Consider doing this on an 11×17-inch sheet of paper, folded in half. This allows three pages of information, in addition to the miniature of your poster. You want people to remember you and your work!
* Put handouts, business cards, reprints nearby – on a table or in an envelope hung
with the poster.
* Restock supplies periodically, if poster is up for long.
* Consider leaving a pen and pad inviting comments from viewers.
* Make sure you’re at your poster during your assigned presentation slot.
* Have a 3-5 minute presentation prepared for people who ask you to walk them
through the poster.
* When making such a presentation, don’t read the poster. Instead, give the big
picture, explain why the problem is important, and use the graphics to illustrate
and support your key points.
8. Resources for Poster Presenters

You may view sample posters at Media Services.
Please call ahead. X-2890.

Internet Sites

Designing the Scientific Poster (excellent site)

http://www.kmeverson.org/design.html

Plan-Design-Review-Print-Present: A Guide for Creating Posters (another excellent site)

http://www.nuigalway.ie/remedi/poster/index.html

George Hess & Leon Liegel Effective Poster Presentation Site
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/ Updated 2013

Kathryn Tosney’s Effective Poster Presentation Site
http://www.bio.miami.edu/ktosney/file/PosterHome.html Updated 2011

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics

http://www.siam.org/meetings/guidelines/poster.php

Edward Tufte’s Web Site (focus on visualizing data)

http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/,

Books and Articles
Block, Steven M. 1996. Do’s and don’ts of poster presentations. Biophysical Journal 71: 3527-3529.

Briscoe, Mary Helen. 1996. Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A Guide to Better Posters, Presentations, and Publications. Springer, New York.

Davis, Martha. 1997. Scientific Papers and Presentations. Academic Press, New York.

Gosling, Peter J. 1999. Scientist’s Guide to Poster Presentations. Kluwer Academic Press, New York.

Harms, Michael. 1995. How to prepare a poster presentation. Physiotheraphy 81(5): 276.

Hess, George R. and Elizabeth N. Brooks. 1998. The class poster conference as a teaching tool. Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education 27: 155-158.

Liegel, Leon H. and Delbert Thompson. 1989. Poster presentations for scientific meetings. Journal of Agronomic Education 18: 69-75.

Nicol, Adelheid A. M. and Penny M. Pexman. 2003. Displaying your findings: a practical guide for creating figures, posters, and presentations. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.

Teixeira, Art. 1997. Preparing posters for technical presentations. Resource 4(4): 15-16.

Tufte, Edward. 1983. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Graphics Press, Cheshire, CT.

Tufte, Edward. 1995. Envisioning Information. Graphics Press, Cheshire, CT.

Tufte, Edward. 1997. Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative. Graphics Press, Cheshire, CT.

Wheildon, Colin. 1995. Type and Layout. Strathmoor Press, Berkeley, CA.

Woolsey, J.D. 1989. Combating poster fatigue: How to use visual grammar and analysis to effect better visual communication. Trends in Neurosciences 12: 325-332.