Poster Presentations: Planning the Content

Professor Brian Ford-LloydUniversity Graduate School

What is a poster for?

Some posters give you a lot of information

Some posters give you some information, but maybe only to those who are already in the know

Other posters have a big take-home message

While others don’t seem to tell you anything – maybe just purely decorative?

Outline

In this session we will cover: PowerPoint as a medium for poster

presentations Content of your poster Presentation of your poster How poster sessions operate Designing the outline of your poster

Some (of many) useful web sites

http://colinpurrington.com/tips/academic/posterdesign

http://www.cns.cornell.edu/documents/ScientificPosters.pdf

http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/posterpres.html

http://www.makesigns.com/tutorials/poster-design-layout.aspx

Poster design in PowerPoint

Posters are designed as a single slide Go into File- Page Setup Set size as 594mm x 841mm (A1) or 841mm x

1189mm (A0) Consider the orientation Consider the layout, design and colour scheme You might use a picture relevant to your work as a

background

Poster design in PowerPoint

Text can be typed directly in or cut and paste from existing documents

Import charts/tables/diagrams Print the poster out at A4: the text should still

be readable at this size– Some possible font sizes?

Powerpoint

Single slide - go into slide setup and set size and orientation

Think about overall design Colour scheme Background - can use images relevant to

work

Text can be developed in MS Word and then pasted into the poster as a text box

Figures and Tables can be done in the same way

Font size should allow printed version as A4 sheet to still be readable

Colour?

http://www.vischeck.com/vischeck/vischeckImage.php

When choosing colours for your poster, using 2-3 colours will give the best look. Too many colours make it look chaotic and unprofessional, but having no colour makes it boring and plain. But what about colour vision impairment – try Vischeck?

Title: 80 ptAuthors: 54 ptSubheadings: 36 ptBody text: 24 ptCaptions: 18pt

Font size?

Poster design

Eye-catching - good use of colour Easy to read at a distance of 1 to 2 m Minimise text, maximise meaningful graphics Use logical/clear sequence

Poster content - General

Focused topic - decide on the take home message (conclusions)

Design the poster round the take home message Choose data that are needed to make the desired points

conclusively Decide which methods are key to understanding the data Select the background information that is essential to:

– Understand the system– Understand the question that is being asked

Poster content Above all else, know your audience Don’t baffle your audience thinking you are

showing how clever you are Is your audience

– The general public?– Intelligent academics from across the

University?– Specialists who work specifically in your

area? Being able to tell the general public about your

research and therefore why you are doing it is important to achieve impact

Poster Content - Introduction and References

Use bullet points Separate each bullet

point with space Cut down factual

content to minimum Illustrate the subject

with a picture if possible Provide key references

Poster content - Methods

Methods should be presented in cartoon version rather than text if possible

Poster content - Results

Decide how the data can be presented most clearly - with greatest visual clarity

tables, figures, photographs Aim for the Table or Figure to be understandable with

a minimum of explanation - annotate a picture or graph with simple labels - do not overload a figure legend.

Avoid duplication between graphics and text Organise results by subheadings or subsections

related to a question or conclusion

Presenting your poster in the conference session Look friendly Have your photo on your poster Introduce yourself to anyone who

looks interested Be prepared with additional

information and answers to background information

Provide A4 sheet copy of your poster

Questions?Then two activities:- Sketch out your own poster- Judge other posters

Brainstorm about your poster

Take home message Data/facts/interpretation to support take home

message Method(s) to generate data/facts Background information/introduction Title Images Make a cartoon version of your poster

Share your ideas

Is the message clear? Do you understand the technical terms? Can you see why the work was done? Does the idea interest you? Does the conclusion seem to represent

progress? Do the proposed graphics help?

Are you planning to enter the next GS Annual Poster Conference? Do you want to win prizes and go on to

national poster conference events? Check out what you think is good and bad

about previous posters

Examples of Posters

Look at some posters from previous Graduate School Poster Conferences http://www.flickr.com/photos/70731382@N

04/sets/72157628148020865/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/70731382@N04/sets/72157630343425552/

Judge posters from a previous GS annual poster conference Judge on content

– Best and worst Judge on presentation

– Best and worst

Judging criteria used at last UGS Poster Conference This is an example of a judging criteria Look at the different aspects of the grid Style/content/presenter