1.
Do not use all capital letters for the title
2.
Do not put your text or pictures right to the edge of the page because they may get cut off when printed.
3.
Do not make your text a color that is too similar to the background color.
4.
Do not make your text or visuals too small.
5.
Edit your work - Be concise
6.
Size your poster correctly. a.
In Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 Choose File<Page Setup
In Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Click the Design Tab and then Page Setup b.
Select Custom and then enter the size you want your poster c.
The Medical School and CILT has paper up to 42” wide; your poster can be wider or longer than this in the other direction d.
Sign and Design has paper up to 36” wide; your poster can be wider or longer than this in the other direction e.
If you want you poster laminated Sign and Design has lamination rolls that are 42” wide. If you have your poster printed on 42” wide paper you will need to trim it down to at least 40” (38” is preferred) in order for it to fit in their laminator. f.
If you are planning on having your poster session laminated you should consider having it printed at Sign and Design. That way if the poster should wrinkle or get damaged in the laminator Sign and Design would be able to reprint the file.
7.
Do not forget that computer monitor colors are NOT the same as the colors that will print. Colors may also very between printers.
8.
Do not use textured backgrounds because it makes text hard to read.
9.
Do not use dark background colors and light text because it is hard to read.
10.
Do not put shadows behind your text in a color similar to the text color because it will look blurry and be hard to read.

11.
When burning the file to a CD or saving it on a disk it is a good idea to also save font files and images. a.
Some computers have different fonts then others so there is a chance that the person printing your poster may not have the same fonts that you used in your poster session. If you send the font files the printer will be able to install them on his/her computer and you won’t have to worry about font substitutions. b.
It is a good idea to include all of the individual image files (jpegs, tiffs, bmp, etc) . That way if one or more of the images do not print correctly the printer has access to the original images and it will be easier for him/her to fix the problem.
12.
Be careful when using photographs or graphics off of the Internet. Internet images are typically small and low quality. They will often become pixilated
(blurry or jagged) when printed.
13.
When pasting text from Word or PowerPoint into a Poster Session Template in
PowerPoint 2003 use Edit<Paste Special<Unformatted Text. In PowerPoint 2007 select the Home Tab then click the down arrow under Paste and choose Paste
Special. Then select Unformatted Text from the Paste Special dialogue box. This will keep the style, size, color, etc of the Poster Session Template.