POSTERS
Posters are used, as an alternative to an oral report, to present the results of research at professional meetings. A group of authors will display their poster on walls or bulletin boards as part of a “poster session.” During the session, conference attendees wander through the posters. If a poster attracts their interest, the attendee will stop to examine the poster more closely and perhaps question the author who is required to be available (for that purpose) during designated times.
The author should be prepared for three types of people at a poster session. Most will give the poster only cursory attention and move on. They should be allowed to do so. Others may linger. It is appropriate to ask the lingerers “May I tell you about my poster (research)?” With an affirmative answer, the author responds with a prepared presentation which uses the poster as visual aids. This presentation is also useful for the attendee who asks the author; “Tell me about your work.” Other attendees may already be familiar with the material and wish to ask more in-depth questions. It is appropriate to bring and refer to more detailed information than was presented in the poster itself. Therefore, it is important to be available to your audience during the designated time and not distracted by others’ posters or by unrelated conversations with friends.
Poster sessions allow in-depth discussions between author and audience which are not possible during an oral presentation. Thus, this is an excellent opportunity for getting help and insights form others working in fields similar to your own as well as more general networking. In addition, the poster itself is a finished project which is easily displayed later at your home institution.
The disadvantage of a poster session is the lack of a captive audience. Only people whose interest is caught (either by the topic or the poster itself) will pay more than cursory attention to your efforts. Also, the format prohibits detailed explanations (which are saved for the one-on-one discussions). Therefore, this format is best suited for information which can be displayed visually, with a minimum of explanation.
Since the audience must be attracted to the poster, it needs to be visually appealing. Whenever possible, the information should be displayed pictorially (like slides in an oral presentation), with most words acting as captions. Attendees of poster sessions will not read detailed explanations and, instead, ask the author if they wish more information. Nevertheless, your thesis or results should be obvious so that even a person who spends only a couple of minutes at your display can come away with the main point.
Posters are usually constructed in pieces which can then be assembled by attaching them to the display. It is traditional to frame each piece of the poster by gluing it to a larger piece of colored paper. The colors can then be used to section the poster or give it cohesiveness. Creative use of color and design can be used to capture the attendee’s interest. However, the poster should be designed to capture interest in the topic of the poster, not the mental health of its author.
One essential piece of the poster is the title-author panel containing the poster title, authors and their affiliation. This should be the largest panel on the poster. It is generally best to keep the other panels about letter size so that they may be easily transported (the title panel can consist of several pieces put together at the time of the session for transport purposes). All material should be easily read from a couple of feet away. Therefore, very large fonts should be used on the title-author panel, and 14 pt or greater fonts elsewhere.
To check your poster, mark off the space available on the floor and arrange your panels as you plan to for the actual presentation. You should be able to read each panel when standing over your poster. You can then check the overall pattern and rearrange, add or subtract panels easily. Once you have decided how you panels will be arranged, you can then make a key to easily assemble the poster at you presentation. The panels can be numbered on the back to match more easily with the key.
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Poster Checklist stock oral presentation prepared each piece has about 1/2" colored border title-author panel large, title, authors, affiliation visually appealing neat, colorful, large print, minimal words thesis/conclusion obvious |