FACHRS Conference Poster Presentations

Guidelines for preparing a poster presentation

A major benefit of the poster session is that the audience determines the speed at which the material is viewed. All of us have attended oral presentations where we have wished that a key slide or overhead had been left on a little longer. Reading poster sessions, delegates have time to study your research information at their own pace. Poster sessions are also more informal. Many attending oral presentations may have liked to ask a question but did not for one reason or another time constraints, intimidation by the audience or by the speaker, uncertainty of the appropriateness of the question. At a poster session, there is an opportunity not only to ask you quick questions, but also to develop conversations. The good design of a poster can maximize all these advantages. This means developing an intellectually organized, concise, structured and pointed presentation. It means visually arranging the elements to optimise your readers understanding. It also means excluding extraneous information. Most researchers have more information to present than can fit into a 15-minute oral presentation, or into a poster session, therefore a key planning decision is what to exclude, and what to incorporate. Usually, the individual sections of the poster (methods, results, etc.) should be placed on separate panels, with good visual spacing between sections. This white space contributes to eye flow and readability, and is a positive visual aesthetic, showing taste and style. A presenters research content will provide the major organising theme a description of the research or hypothesis, a discussion of your methods and why chosen, your findings and conclusions. Most often, then, the theme could be divided into sections that are organised around a generalized research presentation format title, abstract, introduction and problem, literature review, methods, results, discussion, implications and references. The posters main message must be easy to grasp. Therefore, the major poster design tool is effective text design. Text attributes of importance for posters include sentence and word length, sentence structure, degree of abstraction, and commonness of words. The ideal text for effective posters would contain short sentences, to-the-point words, simple sentence structures, a moderate or low degree of abstraction, and the use of common words, not jargon. These five text elements are critical for poster readability. Divide the content into purposeful sections; they will give each one a title or heading. Usually sections are labelled Abstract, Methods, Results, or Discussion. Headings for these sections should stand out from the body text. Headings give the ways to categorize and find information quickly. Typical headings such as Literature Review, Discussion, and References aid viewers in searching for particular areas. Section headings also serve to sequence the content and identify the visual flow. To draw and guide the eye, therefore, section heads should be bold, providing a powerful, organizing graphic element. Placement of the headings is another design decision. The most popular location is directly above the section, either centred or flush left. When a section heading is placed within the text as part of the first paragraph, it becomes less distinguishable as an organizing element, even if bold. While tolerable for subheadings, it is not good form to place section headings in the paragraphs.

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FACHRS Conference Poster Presentations

PRESENTER OPTIONS
As a poster presenter, you have an enhanced opportunity to explain your work to a targeted audience of intensely interested peers. A poster exhibit offers you flexibility in selecting the most effective technique to help your audience understand the research you are presenting and quickly grasp the principal findings. Appropriate techniques include:

POSTERS
The most popular format because you can prepare all the work beforehand and mount the presentation on the assigned presentation panel when you arrive. Your poster is your story board and can include Text, graphs, lists, photos, maps, & charts. You will need to source your own A3 mounting cards (see Mounting on a later page). You have a choice of up to four A3 cards presented either landscape or portrait.

TABLES
These can be more difficult for you to arrange and are more time consuming to set up when you arrive at the conference venue. Physical objects of interest, books, extracts that people can read. Make sure that each has an assigned place on the table and provide labels so that if moved they can be replaced in the correct position. A table will be provided and assigned to you by the conference organiser.

SET-UP
Posters Panels will be in a conveniently located room. A standard panel (30 ins wide x 8 foot tall) is provided. The background of the poster board is a neutral blue colour. It is your responsibility to provide means of attaching your poster information to the poster panel. To attach your display to the poster panel you cannot use push pins. Some of the display panels work well with Velcro -- you should bring along enough to mount your poster. You can use hook-type Velcro to attach the poster to the felt-covered surface of the poster panel. Velcro stickers are available from Art stores and Hardware stores (B&Q stock a good selection as will most supermarkets that cater for childrens projects). If you are not assigned one of the felt-covered surfaces poster panel then consider a product such as Blue-Tac. Note that you cannot use Blue-Tac on the felt-covered poster panels. If you need to use electrical equipment such as a computer or video player & monitor and require an electrical supply please bring your own 240 volt 13 Amp extension lead.

PLANNING & ORGANISATION

Planning is crucial if you do not want to be afflicted by the 'headless chicken' syndrome. There are several stages in planning a presentation. Gathering the information First, ask yourself the following questions. What is the objective of my research? Has someone done the work before? If they have, does my work complement or enhance or is it new? How have I gone about the study, what have I done? Why did I follow this particular route of investigation? What are the principles governing the methods that I am using? What assumptions did I make and what were my justifications? What problems did I encounter? What results did I obtain? Have I solved any problems encountered? What have I found out? Are the analyses sound?

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You should focus on the introduction, methods, results and discussion, summary, and references. Make a small-scale sketch of your poster presentation on an A4 piece of white paper. Emphasize the points you want to stress in your poster. Think of headlines, text, charts, graphs, illustrations, photos, etc. Incorporate these ideas into your sketch. Remember depending upon your chosen presentation you may have 2 x A3, 3 x A3 or 4 x A3 pages for your final presentation layout. The poster should flow from left to right and top to bottom. A suggested layout is as follows: Title of presentation and full name of author(s) - centred across top Objectives - upper left Conclusions - upper right Graphs, lists, photos, and other visuals - remainder of the panel Organizing this information at the top allows the audience to conveniently and quickly grasp the value of your work. If using a display table then books, sample work or other appropriate things to communicate your message can be displayed following the same overall story line Do not layout objects in a haphazard way; the viewing of objects should flow in a natural way. It is essential to provide labels that not only identify the object but permit any item to be replaced in its correct position if handled by a delegate.

SIMPLICITY
Dont crowd too much information into the presentation; concentrate on two or three main points. Highlight trends and comparisons with simplified charts, graphs and diagrams. Make key points in the legends of figures or tables. Use text cautiously and make sure it is easily understood by the audience. In fact, outlines of important points often work better than paragraph-style text. Use abbreviations and acronyms sparingly. Avoid overwhelming your audience with too many numbers, words and/or complicated graphs. Remember, most people will read or study your poster while you are away; make certain the message is clear and simple. Make sure that your visuals including text can be read from a distance of three feet.

COLOUR
Your poster presentation should use sheets of A3 size paper or card, normally white. If you want a particular background colour, you may but ensure that you use contrasting colours where appropriate in charts, graphs, and diagrams. Permanent felt-tipped colour markers can be used for adding colour to posters prepared with black text and line art. Computer graphics generated by colour ink jet and laser printers provide the best impact.

USING PHOTOGRAPHS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Photographs can be a positive element in your message. Care should be taken to have the photograph enlarged for clear viewing and labelled. Today, with colour copying, photographs can be incorporated into the poster effortlessly. If actual photographic paper is used, a matte finish is recommended. This non-glossy surface will be more readily perceived by the audience. If the photograph is printed on copy paper, it should be mounted on heavy background paper such as matte photo paper to keep the edges of the print flat. In either case, the photograph should be labelled and described, and any key elements highlighted either in the caption or onto the photograph itself using direction lines.

MAPS
Maps can and should be used if they add information. They should be big enough to be conveniently viewed, and the labelling should be appropriate to the final image. Too much extraneous text will clutter the map, and not enough labelling encourages ambiguity. The

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testing of maps with colleagues or friends before finally incorporating them into the poster is the best way to make certain they communicate the message you want.

LETTERING
All lettering must be easily read from a minimum distance of 3 feet. Use a bold or semi bold typeface (font) for headings and labels to add weight (blackness) to the type, thus enhancing readability of your headings or labels. Lettering for subheads and figure captions should be larger than content font size, but smaller than the font size used for the main heading. This font should also be bold or semi bold in weight. Avoid fonts with thin strokes--such fonts reduce readability. Text in upper and lower case letters is more readable than ALL CAPITALS. However, capitals for titles, headings, and labels are acceptable. Some word processors can format text for SMALL CAPS that provide taller first characters. What is the best size of type to use? For the title, plan on using finished type that is at least 1 inch high. Working with a word processor select 72 point, however differing fonts will provide differing physical measurements. The lettering for authors names, sponsoring institution, and address should be at least 3/4 inch high. Major headings should be at least 1/2 inch high (48 point). All other type should be at least 1/4 inch high (18-22 point). Remember, your poster must be readable from a distance of at least 3 feet.

COPY FOR TEXT

Keep your text in short, concise, legible statements; minimize complete sentences and paragraphs. A few summary statements are encouraged. Use a typewriter or word processor to prepare your text copy. Make sure that the type is very black--some word processors/printers generate gray copy that reproduces poorly. Use Serif fonts such as Times New Roman or Times for text. Sans Serif fonts such as Courier or Helvetica or Letter Gothic are much harder to read. If you are preparing hand written information use print (not script) and keep your writing neat & legible. Format your copy line spacing 1.5 line with a character font having letters at least 1/4 inch tall (preferably larger) and readable from a distance of 3 feet. This is an example of 1.5 line spacing.

MOUNTING
You will need to mount your presentation on A3 card or A3 size paper that will be in turn mounted onto your assigned poster panel at the conference. You may use up to a maximum of 4 x A3 cards. Some of the best paper to use for mounting is A3 Card which is available in a variety of colours from Art shops. If you produce your work on A4 pages you can mount the pages onto the A3 card. If you have a wide-body printer you can print directly onto A3 card or paper. If you are hand writing then you can also write direct onto the A3 poster. However, the advantage of using A4 pages is that any mistakes can be restricted to one page that can be replaced, rather than replacing the complete A3 page. If printing directly to card do not use very heavy (thick) card as your printer may not be able to feed the paper through its mechanism. You should plan on leaving at least 1 inch of white space around your A3 poster. Make sure that you keep your poster sections small enough to fit into a carrier of some sort. To mount smaller A4 pages on the A3 card use a spray adhesive, available from art supply stores or clear sticky tape. Alternatively use Velcro stickers available from Art stores and Hardware stores (B&Q stock a good selection as will most supermarkets that cater for childrens projects).

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There are special Portfolio cases that can be purchased if you plan to exhibit regularly. On no account should you roll your presentation as it will curl and be impossible to present in a pleasing way.

MISCELLANEOUS
It is always a good idea to bring along a few tools for last-minute problems that pop up. Scissors, liquid paper, and a marking pen should be considered. Youll find that a measuring tape comes in handy when trying to make sure the artwork is properly mounted on the poster board. Portfolio cases or a suitcase are great ways to carry your poster to the meeting since it offers ample protection, alternatively you may wish to protect your poster pieces during transportation by using an envelope made out of corrugated cardboard or similar material. Be sure to seal the ends of the envelope with tape. Remember do not roll your presentation into a cylinder. Bring a small supply of personal cards or other form of identification to hand out at your poster session. This is a quick way of distributing your name and address to interested attendees. Have a sign-up pad available to record the names and addresses of individuals wanting more information. You can also use the pad to write down any interesting comments from delegates. It is also a good idea to have a supply of handouts available.

TEXT SIZE EXAMPLES

18 Point

36 Point

72 Point

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Lastly a few pointers about trying to Jazz up a presentation, does it work?

CLIPART
Only use clipart if it adds interest to the poster display and emphasises the subject matter. Otherwise, all it does is distract attention from the focus of the presentation. When planning & building your presentation clip art can also be 'dangerous' as you may spend more time searching for appropriate images and resizing them than concentrating on the content.

CHECK YOUR SPELLING

There is nothing more amusing or annoying than spelling mistakes on public display, especially if they are on the title page. Spelling mistakes give the impression that you have not put in the effort; are careless; not bothered; and not worthy of high assessment scores.

ARRANGEMENT
Arrangement of your poster components should appear smooth & naturally flow from page to page. This is important if you are preparing sections of the poster on A4 sized paper before sticking them onto mounting boards or display stands. Remember that you are using posters to tell a story about what you have done and achieved. As in report writing, the way you arrange the sections should follow the 'storyline'. sometimes it can be helpful if you provide cut-outs of arrows to direct attention to the sequence of the presentation, but be careful that your presentation does not end up too complex

REVIEW, REVIEW AND REVIEW

Do make draft versions of your poster sections and check them for mistakes, legibility and inconsistency in style. Dont be afraid to try different layout arrangements and ask your partner, friends, colleagues or even your next door neighbour for their 'honest' opinions. If they dont get it ask them why do not assume your presentation is obvious!
Don Dickson Revised 30 January 2010 Acknowledgements The sources of information used to compile this document were the following. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Newcastle University School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials Radiological Engineering & Marketing, GE Healthcare, Chalfont St Giles

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