Presenting your at as a poster

Dr Mehdi Barghchi

Postgraduate Researcher Development (PGRD)

Student Development (SD)

Condensing your research into 300 words

Aims of the next hour:

to sharpen the focus of your poster presentation;

to clarify the key message to be conveyed;

to identify key elements to include in communicating that message.

Condensing your research into 300 words

What is your key message?

Which are the key elements needed to convey that message?

What will add interest?

What will add authority?

What will add originality?

Individual reflectionWorking alone, think about the focus of your thesis and

then the focus of your poster.

Write a paragraph around these prompts:

1. The focus of my thesis is on…..2. By undertaking this research I hope to find out/show….3. This work is important because… 4. The aspect of my work on which I will focus in the poster

presentation is…5. The key message I wish to convey through the

presentation is…

Communicating your message (1)Which aspect(s) of your message would be most

likely to engage the audience?

Try to identify up to 3 key points of interest. Can you rank these in order of interest? i.e.,

Most interesting point:

Second most interesting point:

Third most interesting point:

Communicating your message (2)

1. What is original about your work?

2. What are the practical implications of your work?

Poster samples from

Festival of Postgraduate Research 2010

http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/sd/pgrd/events

Sub-headings and structureDiscussion: How does a poster presentation differ from an oral

presentation or a written article?

What are the implications of this for structuring the presentation/organisation of the text?

Is there a place for a conclusion? Does it have to be at the end?

Are there any particular considerations with regard to the language you use?

Individual task:

Name and Title:

On a large piece of paper, write your name and the title of your poster presentation. (Giving due consideration to the notes made so far)

Headings (and sub-headings):

Draw up on that paper a list of Headings (and) sub-headings you might want to use in order to draw attention to key points on your poster.

Leave a large gap between subheadings

The story so far…Thus far you have:

identified the aspect of your work on which you wish to focus in the poster;

clarified your key message;

created a framework of sub-headings around which to build your text.

We now need to add meat to the bones!

Task

Under each sub-heading identify BRIEFLY what you can include (1-3 points) to add interest/authority/originality, e.g, quotes, statistics, brief reference to other research etc.

Engage your neighbour! Give your paper to the person sitting next to you.

Read each other’s and spend 5 minutes asking each other questions or clarifying anything that is not clear.

Be careful to keep a note of any questions asked as these may well be the sort of questions you will deal with again at the Festival.

And finally…

Now or soon after the session, use the paper to help you to write your ideas up into a coherent piece of text (around 300 words).

First-draft it quickly – you will be able to refine and tweak it later if you need to.

Summary of key points Keep to one key message in your poster

Try to identify the most interesting points

Plan for the most effective use of sub-headings

Avoid jargon/over-specialised/technical language

Be systematic in identifying the elements that will add interest/authority/originality and build these in around the framework provided by the sub-headings

Try to pre-empt and prepare for likely questions

Write your first draft soon after the session and amend it later.

Communication

More training

http://www2.le.ac.uk/uol/offices/ssds/sd/pgrd

Please book for these sessions in advance