What is a poster for?
Poster Presentations:
Planning the Content
Professor Brian Ford-Lloyd
University Graduate School
Some posters give you a lot of
information
Some posters give you some
information, but maybe only to those
who are already in the know
Other posters have a big take-home
message
While others don’t seem to tell you
anything – maybe just purely
decorative?
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
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-designlayout.aspx
Poster design in PowerPoint
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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
Poster design in PowerPoint
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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?
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Powerpoint
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Single slide - go into slide setup and set size and
orientation
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Think about overall design Colour scheme
Background - can use images relevant to
work
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Text can be developed in MS Word and then
pasted into the poster as a text box
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Figures and Tables can be done in the same way
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Font size should allow printed version as A4
sheet to still be readable
Colour?
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/visc
heck/vischeckImage.php
Font size?
Title: 80 pt
Authors: 54 pt
Subheadings: 36 pt
Body text: 24 pt
Captions: 18pt
Poster design
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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
Poster content - General
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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
Poster content
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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
Poster Content - Introduction and
References
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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
Poster content - Methods
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Methods should be presented in cartoon version rather than text
if possible
Poster content - Results
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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
Presenting your poster in the
conference session
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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
Questions?
Then two activities:
- Sketch out your own
poster
- Judge other posters
Brainstorm about your poster
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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
Share your ideas
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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?
Are you planning to enter the next
GS Annual Poster Conference?
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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
Examples of Posters
Look at some posters from previous
Graduate School Poster Conferences
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/70731382@N
04/sets/72157628148020865/
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/70731382@N
04/sets/72157630343425552/
Judge posters from a previous GS
annual poster conference
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Judge on content
– Best and worst
 Judge on presentation
– Best and worst
Judging criteria used at last UGS
Poster Conference
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This is an example of a judging criteria
 Look at the different aspects of the grid
 Style/content/presenter