Poster Presentations

1. Poster Presentations Poster Presentation Procedure Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

2. Poster presentations are an economically efficient way of conveying information • What is a poster “session”? • Science fair for grown ups • Why have poster sessions? • Efficiency! Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

3. What is the purpose of a poster presentation? • Overt – sharing of research • Covert – Networking! • Creating collegiality/connections among practitioners • Fishing for graduate students and post docs S.Zelov; Flickr Creative Commons Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

4. A successful poster presentation has three parts • Creating a Successful Poster • Preparing the “Presentation” • Knowing the Procedure Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

5. Posters are visual! The poster is a of your research. The audience is on the move, not sitting still. Thus, visual appeal is critically important. Balance TEXT and GRAPHICS. visual representation Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

6. Necessary Text Title + Affiliation Abstract (use all) Introduction Methods Results Discussion For IMRD, write a short text and bulleted points Critical Graphics Background image that matches theme of research All of or excerpt of survey/s or materials Graphs of key results Relevant photos Choose text and graphics carefully. Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

7. Layout should reflect the presenter’s purpose. • Overall layout of poster depends on what you want to convey to audience • What it most important? • What is most persuasive? • Great Website --http://www.writing.engr.psu.edu/posters.html Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

8. What is the process for creating a poster? • 3 or 4 “panel” design to plan poster • Use PowerPoint or Corel Draw • Sketch out by hand first • Set slide size in Page Set up for 44” x 36” (check with conference) • Lay out whole poster using text boxes with 15%-20% (or whole page) “view” • Enlarge to 25%-50% to work on individual parts • Save frequently! • Check whole poster for balance before printing • Print in CSE or Arch CIRCA labs for just $18.00!! Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

9. Present the Poster! • Yes, Virginia, there is still a “presentation”! But it’s… • Conversational in tone – “chatting” about your research where you are the expert YET… • Still a Dialogue – cannot hog the floor Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

10. Know your research well. • PRIME DIRECTIVE: • For each section of your work, be able to answer the wh-questions: who, what, when, why, where, how KNOW THY RESEARCH Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

11. Practice the Presentation! • Prepare and Practice a 60-120 second response to the killer* question: “So, tell me about your research”. One sentence each: • Topic + significance of topic • Research Question • Methods • Results • Discussion * the preeminent fishing question! Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

12. Topic, Significance and RQ can usually be stated in a single sentence. (Example adapted from PLoS Medicine, “The Promise of Prevention…”) Life expectancy varies hugely among social groups in the United States [TOPIC] and while there’s been a lot of research on psychosocial and health care determinants of these disparities, less research has investigated the role of modifiable risk factors [SIGNIFICANCE] -- so I wanted to examine the role of smoking, high blood pressure, elevated blood glucose, and adiposity on life expectancy [RESEARCH QUESTION]. Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

13. Method statement should include basics of design and population • We used eight subgroups of the US race–county combinations, referred to as the Eight Americas in a previous work,(see Table 1), extracting data from a 2005 US National Center for Health Statistics report. Then, we used modeling methods to estimate the effects of risk factor exposure on death rates and life expectancy [METHOD]. Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

14. Results statement is a synthesis of what is most important. • We found that effects on life expectancy of the risk factors were smallest in Asians and largest in Southern rural blacks but, overall, these risk factors reduced the life expectancy for men and women born in 2005 by 4.9 and 4.1 years, respectively. Also, if these four risk factors were reduced to optimal levels, disparities among the subgroups in deaths from cardiovascular diseases and diabetes and from cancers would be reduced by up to 80% and 50%, respectively.[RESULT]. Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

15. Discussion statement is a summary of strongest implication or application to field. These findings suggest that disparities in smoking, blood pressure, blood sugar, and adiposity among US racial and geographical subgroups explain a substantial proportion of the disparities in deaths from cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancers among these subgroups. The disparities in risk factor exposure also explain some of the disparities in life expectancy. There are other disparities we didn’t account for (salt intake and alcohol use, for example), but, overall, we feel that reduced exposure to preventable risk factors through the implementation of relevant policies and programs should reduce life expectancy and mortality disparities in the US and yield health benefits at a national scale [DISCUSSION]. Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

16. Plan for other open-ended questions. • What is most important/significant about your research? • What are the biggest limitations? • What should happen next? • How does this relate to the field? • Any practical applications? Prepare & Practice Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF

17. Follow the procedures for Poster Presentations • Bring 2-3 hard copies of whole paper • Bring 20-50 copies of handout with copy of poster on one side (color if you can afford it) and brief summary of project, research references, and contact info (name, affiliation, email, link to paper) on the other • Other material if applicable (copy of survey instrument, brochures, etc). • Stand next to poster and smile! Dr. Mickey S Schafer, CWOC, UF