How to Prepare a Good Poster Presentation for an Academic Event?

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Poster presentations are an excellent way for researchers to share their scientific findings and display their works in a short period of time, while saving time but enriching the event program. Many researchers rely on poster presentations to share their insights with their audience. As such, posters have been a common sight at scientific conferences for years — despite the glaring limitations of the paper medium.

Posters should be considered a snapshot of your work intended to engage colleagues in a dialog about the work, or, if you are not present, to be a summary that will encourage the reader to want to learn more.

The researcher is typically available to give a short presentation and answer any questions, while the poster serves as a visual aid and a communication tool. Preparation of an effective poster is critical to the poster presentation’s success. The purpose of the poster is to serve as a summary and an advertisement of the work that supplements the researcher’s presentation.

HOW TO PREPARE A GOOD POSTER?

The poster could be thought of as an illustrated version of the abstract with visual displays of data and small blocks of text that explain the project and support the data. An effective poster can engage colleagues, start conversations, help foster collaborations and help researchers network. During a poster presentation session, the audience will be looking for a clear snapshot of the project so a good poster is focused on single message, uses graphics and images to tell the story, and is well-organized and sequenced.

An ineffective poster often has a main point that is hard to find, text that is too small, poor graphics, poor organization and other problems. The research and the results will only appear to be as interesting and noteworthy as the quality of the poster. Therefore, while posters can be an important way to disseminate research findings, they must be prepared correctly and then presented appropriately.

POSTER DESIGN TIPS

1. If you prefer to use Microsoft PowerPoint to design your posters, be sure to begin by setting the page size to your final poster size. Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop are other design options which are rather sophisticated than PowerPoint.
2. Use large text (For example; your text should be at least 18–24 pt; headings 30–60 pt; title larger than 72pt.)
3. Do not use more than 2–3 font styles total
4. Use fonts that are easy to read
5. Avoid jagged edges: left-justify text within text boxes or fully justify blocks of text
6. Avoid too much text (no more than 800 words max) and undefined technical jargon (depending upon your potential audience)
7. Choose colors carefully and pay attention to contrast. If in doubt, dark print on light background is best. Remember — some colorblind people cannot distinguish between red and green.
8. Organize and align your content with columns, sections, headings, and blocks of text
9. White space is important to increase visual appeal and readability (this is the “empty” space between sections, columns, headings, blocks of text, and graphics).
10. Selectively incorporate charts, graphs, photographs, key quotations from primary sources, maps, and other graphics that support the theme of your poster. It is best to avoid using tables of data.
11. Avoid fuzzy images; make sure all graphics are high-resolution (at least 300ppi) and easily visible
12. Edit your poster carefully for typographical or grammatical mistakes and image quality before the final print-out

Erkan OGULGANMIS Works in MEETINGHAND Online Solutions Co. as Business Development & Sales Manager.

Article Source meetinghand.com