Poster Presentations: Planning the Content

1. What is a poster for? Poster Presentations: Planning the Content Professor Brian Ford-Lloyd University Graduate School

2. Some posters give you a lot of information

3. Some posters give you some information, but maybe only to those who are already in the know

4. Other posters have a big take-home message

5. While others don’t seem to tell you anything – maybe just purely decorative?

6. Outline In this session we will cover: • PowerPoint as a medium for poster presentations • Content of your poster • Presentation of your poster • How poster sessions operate • Designing the outline of your poster

7. Some (of many) useful web sites http://www.cns.cornell.edu/documents/ScientificPosters.pdf http://colinpurrington.com/tips/academic/posterdesign http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/posterpres.html http://www.makesigns.com/tutorials/poster-design-layout.aspx

8. Poster design in PowerPoint • Posters are designed as a single slide • Go into File- Page Setup • Set size as 594mm x 841mm (A1) or 841mm x 1189mm (A0) • Consider the orientation • Consider the layout, design and colour scheme • You might use a picture relevant to your work as a background

9. Poster design in PowerPoint • Text can be typed directly in or cut and paste from existing documents • Import charts/tables/diagrams • Print the poster out at A4: the text should still be readable at this size • Some possible font sizes?

10. Powerpoint • Single slide - go into slide setup and set size and orientation • Think about overall design Colour scheme • Background - can use images relevant to work • Text can be developed in MS Word and then pasted into the poster as a text box • Figures and Tables can be done in the same way • Font size should allow printed version as A4 sheet to still be readable

11. Colour?

12. When choosing colours for your poster, using 2-3 colours will give the best look. Too many colours make it look chaotic and unprofessional, but having no colour makes it boring and plain. But what about colour vision impairment – try Vischeck? http://www.vischeck.com/vischeck/vischeckImage.php

13. Font size? • Title: 80 pt • Authors: 54 pt • Subheadings: 36 pt • Body text: 24 pt • Captions: 18pt

14. Poster design • Eye-catching - good use of colour • Easy to read at a distance of 1 to 2 m • Minimise text, maximise meaningful graphics • Use logical/clear sequence

15. Poster content - General • Focused topic - decide on the take home message (conclusions) • Design the poster round the take home message • Choose data that are needed to make the desired points conclusively • Decide which methods are key to understanding the data • Select the background information that is essential to: • Understand the system • Understand the question that is being asked

16. Poster content • Above all else, know your audience • Don’t baffle your audience thinking you are showing how clever you are • Is your audience • The general public? • Intelligent academics from across the University? • Specialists who work specifically in your area? • Being able to tell the general public about your research and therefore why you are doing it is important to achieve impact

17. Poster Content - Introduction and References • Use bullet points • Separate each bullet point with space • Cut down factual content to minimum • Illustrate the subject with a picture if possible • Provide key references

18. Poster content - Methods • Methods should be presented in cartoon version rather than text if possible

19. Poster content - Results • Decide how the data can be presented most clearly - with greatest visual clarity • tables, figures, photographs • Aim for the Table or Figure to be understandable with a minimum of explanation - annotate a picture or graph with simple labels - do not overload a figure legend. • Avoid duplication between graphics and text • Organise results by subheadings or subsections related to a question or conclusion

20. Presenting your poster in the conference session • Look friendly • Have your photo on your poster • Introduce yourself to anyone who looks interested • Be prepared with additional information and answers to background information • Provide A4 sheet copy of your poster

21. Questions?Then two activities:- Sketch out your own poster- Judge other posters

22. Brainstorm about your poster • Take home message • Data/facts/interpretation to support take home message • Method(s) to generate data/facts • Background information/introduction • Title • Images • Make a cartoon version of your poster

23. Share your ideas • Is the message clear? • Do you understand the technical terms? • Can you see why the work was done? • Does the idea interest you? • Does the conclusion seem to represent progress? • Do the proposed graphics help?

24. Are you planning to enter the next GS Annual Poster Conference? • Do you want to win prizes and go on to national poster conference events? • Check out what you think is good and bad about previous posters

25. Examples of Posters

26. Look at some posters from previous Graduate School Poster Conferences • http://www.flickr.com/photos/70731382@N04/sets/72157628148020865/ • http://www.flickr.com/photos/70731382@N04/sets/72157630343425552/

27. Judge posters from a previous GS annual poster conference • Judge on content • Best and worst • Judge on presentation • Best and worst

28. Judging criteria used at last UGS Poster Conference • This is an example of a judging criteria • Look at the different aspects of the grid • Style/content/presenter