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Poster Hints and Suggestions

boy with poster Poster sessions are increasingly used as a means of information transfer at professional meetings. Poster sessions allow an audience of individuals to review many presentations quickly, while at the same time providing the opportunity for an individual viewer to talk with selected authors whose projects are of particular interest. Poster materials should provide an introduction - an entry point to further discussion of the presenting author’s work and project results.

girl with poster For ease in transport and mounting, titles, text and figures are often printed onto regular paper and then glued or taped to individual pieces of backing materials, such as colored “poster board”. Cut slightly larger than your printed pages, such backing materials also provide a colorful “frame” for your work. The site where you will give your poster presentation will have bulletin boards with a cork surface on which you will mount your materials with tacks or push pins that you should bring with you for this purpose.(Architectural push pins are not permitted). Remember to lay out your poster carefully beforehand to assure that it will fit within the allotted space (42" high x 66" wide).Other hints:

Be concise. Provide the essence of your project, enough to whet someone’s appetite for more. Be there with your poster at your scheduled presentation time to answer any questions.
Use figures and graphics where possible. Remember, a picture is worth....
Use large type. The text and figure labels on a poster should be readable from a distance of three to six feet. Title and headings should be large to draw a viewer’s attention to the topic of your poster.
Arrange text and graphics in a logical order. It may helpful to number the sequence of various poster sections with 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. as an aid to the reader.
Be creative. Strive to make the viewer’s experience in reading your poster both intellectually and esthetically satisfying.

The following is an example of a poster format commonly seen at professional meetings (Remember, the bulletin board size is 42” x 66”):

Example diagram of a poster layout