academic tasks - posters - presentation

8/10/2019 Academic Tasks - Posters - Presentation

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Writing and Designing a

Poster Presentation

Student Development ServicesWriting Support Centre

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Posters can be an effective and efficient way to communicate your research to a wide audience.



Outline

Writing Your Poster

Designing Your Poster

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This presentation will discuss writing the text for a poster, and some of the issues around designing a poster; however, some of the issues surrounding writing a poster also impact its design.



Writing the Poster

Two Goals of a Poster:

1- Capture the audience

2- Inform the audience

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When considering the text to include in a poster you must consider the purpose behind a poster. The first goal is to capture the attention of your audience. Nobody will learn anything about your

research if they just walk on by. Once you’ve captured the attention of your audience, you need to communicate the content of you poster as clearly and efficiently as possible.



Capture the Audience

Audience wants to be interested

Your job is to make them interested:

Use concise and descriptive headings

Colourful pictures and diagrams

White space is good

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In most cases, your poster will be presented to a keen audience. They are interested in the topic, but it is your job to make them interested. The way you present your text will encourage people

to look deeper at the rest of your poster.

To start, using short descriptive headings allows people to scan the overall content of your poster very quickly. An entire poster comprised of text is fairly intimidating and will only be read by a

few diehard observers. On the design end of things, use colourful pictures and diagrams to lure in your audience, and don’t feel that you need to cram each square-inch of your poster with

information. Effective use of white space will make your poster easier on the eyes.



Capture the Audience

: Try to get ONE point across

More like newspaper writing than academic writing

You have 10 seconds to convey your point

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On the first read through a poster, your audience will not be able to understand all the many intricacies of your study. Many people will not give your poster any more than this one quick

readthrough, so it is important to make it count. Think of the one point you want to communicate to your audience and focus your poster around communicating this one message. Use the title

and main headings to get this point across. Vague headings like “Introduction” or “Methods” do not give this first read a good indication of what your poster is about.

In many ways, writing a poster is similar to writing a newspaper article. The majority of the information should be upfront, so that anyone who stops reading early on still gets the main idea.

Details that follow should just fill in the main ideas you have introduced.



Inform the Audience

Who is the audience?Non-experts: Need more background

Experts: Use buzz words to attract attention

Posters are often starting points to detailed discussions

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Before considering how to communicate the bulk of your content, you must consider who your primary audience is. Most conferences have attendees with diverse backgrounds, and you should

consider whether you are targeting experts in your field or trying to reach as many individuals as possible. When targeting non-experts, make sure that you give sufficient background material.

In these cases, it is especially important to only communicate one main idea, otherwise the message of your research will likely be forgotten. With experts in your field, you may give more

information, but you will need to lure them to your poster. Making the key buzz words of your research as prevalent as possible will be all that is need to attract these people. You may give more

information, but remember that a poster can launch more detailed discussions covering specific content that need not be covered in as much detail on your poster.



Content

Four sections in one or two sentences each

Hypotheses/Objectives/Main GoalsResearch Method

Results

Implications

Use additional text only to support claims

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One method for presenting the material involves summarizing each section of your study into a couple of sentences that are then supported by details which are presented less prominently.



Abstracts

Sometimes required, sometimes forbidden

Some people just like to read the abstract

Keep it short, keep it small

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Different people have different opinions about abstracts on posters. Some people feel they are a waste of space, but I have seen many people that like to just read the abstract of a poster, skim

the images and move on. To be on the safe side, include a concise abstract that is easy to find, but doesn’t take up too much space.



Designing Your Poster

Be as objective as possible

Step away from your research and look at your poster

Why would you stop to read it?

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When designing your poster, it is important to be as objective as possible. Take a step away from the content that you have been slav ing over for days, weeks or months and consider the way it

is presented to a naïve audience.



Timing

Only start designing when you are satisfied with the

content

Give yourself lots of time (a week or more)

Read the instructions carefully

Consider the final dimensions early

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You should only start designing once you are satisfied with the content. While it is helpful to consider how the material will be presented when you are developing the content, thinking too much

about the content while designing can cause major design problems (e.g. adding a paragraph of text to the introduction after the poster is almost done may put things out of order). When

designing a poster, give yourself lots of time. While it is possible to do the layout for a poster in a day, you will probably feel rushed and unsatisfied with the finished product.

Conferences often give fairly specific expectations for posters. Read these instructions carefully. Perhaps most importantly, consider how much space you will be given. It can be quite

embarrassing to arrive at a conference with a poster that is too big for the space you are given.



Technical Issues

Use software you are comfortable with

Most common: Powerpoint, Adobe Illustrator

New software will take time to learn

Consider converting into .pdf

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Unless you have lots of time, you should use software that you are comfortable with. You may have a vision of how you’d like your poster to look, but you should be aware of what is possible

with the tools you have. After the poster is completed, you may want to consider converting the final file into a high-quality .pdf. This should make printing easier, and will ensure that you can

open the file from many different computers.



Images

Use only high-quality images

Some images may look okay on screen, but look poor

when printed

Fewer big images are better than many small ones

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High quality images are a necessity. Some images may look fine on the screen, but when they get printed they look pixelated and off-colour. It is also important to consider the number of

images you are including on your poster. It is usually better to give the audience a few, large high-quali ty pictures than many small ones.



Readability

Sans-seriffed fonts usually look better

E.g. Arial, Helvetica

Use a strongly contrasting colour scheme

Should be readable from 3 metres away

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Sans-serif fonts (i.e. fonts without the embellishments on the end like Times New Roman) usually look better on posters.

It is important to consider your colour scheme. Make the text contrast with the background as much as possible, but also consider how pleasant the overall scheme is. Your poster should be

readable from at least 3 metres away.



Font Sizes

100+ pt. for Titles36+ pt. for Headings

24+ pt. for Text

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Consider these font sizes as a starting point when designing your poster. Bigger is usually better, but also consider leaving white space.



At The Conference

Use a poster tube

Bring an electronic copy

Consider giving handouts

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At the conference, it is essential to use a poster tube. An elastic band may allow for easy transport, but it won’t protect your poster from the rain. It is also important to bring an electronic copy

of your poster in case of the worst-case scenario. Finally, at the conference, giving handouts (perhaps miniature printouts of your poster) may help people remember your research.

In the end, there is no one way to create a poster. Give yourself lots of time, look at many samples and try to make the design of your poster fit with the content.

academic tasks - posters - presentation

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