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Creating Effective Poster Presentations

Creating Effective Poster Presentations. Stuart Boon Centre for Academic Practice & Learning Enhancement. Outline. Purpose Content Design Construction Tips Summary. Purpose. Why use posters?. Purpose.

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Creating Effective Poster Presentations

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  1. Creating Effective Poster Presentations Stuart Boon Centre for Academic Practice & Learning Enhancement

  2. Outline • Purpose • Content • Design • Construction • Tips • Summary

  3. Purpose Why use posters?

  4. Purpose • To present a summary of research or scholarship in a format that is easily and widely accessible • To reach a large audience • To allow many people to report findings in a single session • To allow people with similar interests to meet and discuss detailed topics or ideas

  5. Purpose: Cognitive • The purpose of using a poster • On the Surface: • To inform • To communicate information and ideas to peer • Beneath the Surface: • To persuade or influence • To affect change in another’s understanding

  6. Purpose: Your Audience • Consider: • How can I best inform my audience? • What do I know about them? • What are they likely to respond to? • What do they need to learn from me? • How can I best speak to them? • What ‘language’ should I use? • How can I engage them?

  7. Content • Typical components of a poster: • Title • Author(s) - names & affiliations • Abstract or Summary - approach & main findings • Introduction • Materials & Methods - describing experimental or field research, background theory or historical overview • Results - key findings • Conclusions • Acknowledgements, References & Sources

  8. Content: Focus • Focus your content! • What is the one main point you want to make? • Use a statement, diagram or image that will grab your audience’s attention • Your audience will not likely approach if it is not clear what your topic or theme is from a “safe distance” (2 - 3 metres) - use less but bigger text • In most situations, your audience will have a limited time to view posters

  9. Design • Provide a neat, logical arrangement of text and graphics • Leave white space to provide structure and distinguish elements from each other • Consider: • Having a focal point for your poster • Using a striking overall design related to the topic • Attractive and effective use of colour • Keep proper contrast between background and text

  10. Design: Content Paths 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 2 3 1 2 3 1 4 5 7 8 6 7 6 5 4

  11. Design: Visual • Colour • use sparingly to emphasize, makedistinct, or connect information • Fonts • use large, simple fonts (24pt+) so that your text is readable from at least 2 metres • White Space • effective posters are spacious and easy to follow; adequate clear space will direct attention to key elements

  12. Design: Visual 2 • Balance • Provide a balance of text, graphics, and other visual elements (colour, white space, etc.) • 40% graphics is suggested • Guidelines • If you cannot avoid a complex design or a degree of clutter, try to provide guidelines such as arrows from one panel to another, or numbering your headings

  13. Construction • Software • Microsoft PowerPoint - highly recommended! • Adobe Photoshop or InDesign • CorelDraw or other ‘paint’ programs • Graphics / Images • Do not use compressed images (.jpg / .gif) • Use uncompressed TIFF (.tif) and the higher the resolution the better (300dpi+) • Printing • Who is printing your poster? The department, yourself or University Print Shop?

  14. Construction: Dots Per Inch

  15. Tips • Keep text to a minimum • For impact and to attract visitors • Huge blocks of tiny text attract people like dentists attract children -- that is… they don’t! • Don’t try to tell the whole story on your poster • Edit out extraneous and superficial material • Present only enough information and data to support your conclusions

  16. Tips: Handouts • Provide a handout for interested visitors • Include a summary of your poster • Title • Abstract • Key figures and findings • Include text, tables and graphics you weren’t able to include on your poster • Include your contact details • Name, address, phone, fax, e-mail, etc.

  17. Tips: At the conference • Transportation • How readily does your poster travel? • Roll up? Break down? Can you take it with you? • Tools for the conference • Tape - ordinary and double-sided • Velcro / Bluetac / Pushpins / String • Scissors • Pens or pencils

  18. Tips: Presentation • Presenting your poster • Arrive early! • Be prepared to chat and answer questions • Have your handouts ready • Dress appropriately for the venue

  19. Summary • Consider • What is your poster trying to achieve? • Who is your audience? • What content do you need to achieve your purpose and reach your audience? • What design / elements will work best for your purpose? • How are you going to construct it and get it printed? • What do you need on the day of the presentation?

  20. Thank you! For more information: Stuart Boon Centre for Academic Practice & Learning Enhancement Graham Hills Building, John Anderson Campus stuart.boon@strath.ac.uk

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