Poster presentation tips
People who are going to present posters should
carefully prepare and print their work before arriving to the conference. The
standard size of posters is A0, that is, 118.9 cm high x 84.1 cm wide, or 46.8
inches high x 33.1 inches wide. Larger posters are not acceptable. Slightly
smaller ones (as small as 110 cm high x 80 cm wide) can be accepted.
Notice that posters will be displayed in portrait
orientation, not landscape position. You should bring and mount you poster at the
scheduled time. The conference posters will be fastened to the display boards
using double face adhesive tape provided by the local organization. Your poster
may be printed in resistant matte paper, glossy paper, vinyl or wrinkle
resistant fabric. Heavy posters may be difficult to fasten. Don’t add any rigid
wooden or plastic staff to your poster, please.
A nice poster cannot be prepared the day before you
are supposed to present it. Allow plenty of time to prepare and produce your
poster. You will need to plan your content, design the layout, write and edit
it, organize production and printing. You must also be prepared to explain and
discuss your work at the conference.
Posters are an effective way of communicating
concisely, visually and attractively, and can be a powerful way of getting
information across. Academic posters should summarize research concisely and
attractively, to help publicize it and generate discussion. 
Posters can reach a wide audience as they may be
displayed for several hours or days, at the conference. An effective poster can
make a strong impact, so it's worth developing your poster planning skills.
Answer these three questions:
1. What is the most important/interesting/astounding
finding from my research project?
2. How can I visually share my research with
conference attendees? Should I use charts, graphs, photos, images?
3. What kind of information can I convey during my
talk that will complement my poster?
Since a poster must communicate so concisely, you
will need to spend some time identifying your key points. Decide what you need
to communicate, and how. What is your main message? What does your viewer need
to know? Identify the key points, always keeping your topic or task in mind. Once
you've decided on the main content, make a rough draft of the information you
need.
Like other types of academic writing, an academic
poster should be well organized, with clear headings and subheadings. Once
you've identified your main content and structure, you need to identify the
graphics and formatting which will communicate your message best. How will you
organize your content visually? How might you use color and type to enhance
visual impact?
A poster should be legible from about two meters,
and attract interest from about five meters. To be legible at a distance, the
main title should be around 70-100 pts, subheadings around 40 pts, body text
around 24 pts. Format headings and subheadings consistently. This helps
structure your information visually.
Aim for a word count of about 300 to 800 words. 300
words leave plenty of room for graphics, while 800 words would be more text
heavy. For clarity, use a sans-serif font like Arial or Helvetica. Make sure
there is good contrast between text and background.
Since
you are reporting on a piece of research,
your structure will be similar to a research paper. As described in
detail by Colin Purrington, conference poster "is a
big piece of paper" featuring an interesting "short title, an
introduction to
your burning question, an overview of your novel approach, your amazing
results", possibly shown in graphical form, "some insightful discussion
of
aforementioned results, a listing of previously published articles that
are
important to your research, and some brief acknowledgement of the
tremendous
assistance and financial support" provided by others (Purrington, C.B.
"Designing conference posters". Retrieved 27 March 2016, from
http://colinpurrington.com/tips/poster-design)
There are no rigid rules, but one usually uses the
following elements:

Title of your work: Should briefly convey the
interesting issue, drawing interest of by-passers
Author(s) name(s), Status (Student, Researcher,
Professor...), Institution(s)
Contact: E-mail(s) of the author(s)
Abstract: As highlited by Colin Purrington "Do not include an abstract on a poster. A
poster is an abstract of your research".
Introduction: Get the viewer interested in your
issue, hypothesis or "question while using the absolute minimum of background
information and definitions". "Unlike a manuscript, the introduction of a poster
is a wonderful place to put a photograph or illustration that communicates some
aspect of your research question" (Purrington,
C.B. "Designing conference posters". Retrieved 27 March 2016, from http://colinpurrington.com/tips/poster-design).
Materials, method, approach: Briefly describe what
you have done to address the questions presented in the introduction. You may
include relevant images here.
Results: This is usually the largest section of the
poster (except if you reached no results at all). Refrain, however, of writing
a long essay.
Discussion, conclusion: State your answer to the
initial questions, or whether your hypothesis was supported or otherwise. State
the relevance of your findings. Do not repeat what you have already written.
References: Main bibliographical references used in
your research (just a few ones).
Acknowledgments: People and institutions who helped
you to develop your research.
Try to provide a clear entry point for readers, and
a logical visual flow. Group related information. Use numbering or arrows if
linked content should be read in a particular order. Avoid either
oversimplifying (too little useful information) or overcomplicating (too much
information).
The poster is usually a mixture of a brief text
mixed with tables, graphs, pictures, and other presentation formats. Images may
be very important for visual communication. You should be aware that the
appearance of the images may be become very poor, when they are enlarged to the
poster printing size. You should select large images. If their printed size
will be around 25 cm (or 10 inches), they should have at least 1,500 pixels. Images,
tables, graphs and other visual aids should have their own short legends. 
At the scheduled time of poster presentation, you
will be asked to stand beside your poster, say a few words, and answer
questions. This allows people to discuss the content in a more informal setting
than during an oral presentation, which might have a very large audience. It is
also possible to have more detailed one to one discussions with the people who
are interested in your poster. It's a good idea to prepare handouts for people
to take away. You may also prepare a full written version of your paper,
uploading it to the conference site, so that those people who are interested in
your work can read it.
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