A Sample Poster for the Undergraduate Conference Prepared in PowerPoint:
Title Entered in a Banner Text Box Using 80 pt Book Antiqua
A. Student Name (Just A. Professor, sponsor), Dept. of 54 pt Arial
1
A poster is an ideal medium
for a presentation, if one
places a priority on contact
time and discussion over
audience size. (major heading
text box, 48 pt Book Antiqua)
In a typical poster session, the presenter
sets up his/her poster and stands by it for at
least an hour to answer questions posed by
visitors to the poster. This direct period of
contact can be extended to indirect contact
if presenters are offered the opportunity to
leave their posters up for the full session,
over as much as three hours, even in their
absence. This enables those interested in
the presentation to visit the poster and gain
from it.
This is in contrast to a typical oral
session, in which the presenter has 10
minutes to make his/her presentation,
usually followed by 5 minutes more for
audience questions. However, the oral
presenter has the advantage of giving
his/her presentation to a captive audience
of many people all at the same time.
This PowerPoint file is intended to help
the prospective poster presenter organize
the layout of his/her presentation, with the
template of a poster that can be modified
easily to suit each presenter’s needs. It is
intended to be printed on a single sheet of
rollup paper, but can also be the basis for
printing out individual sections onto tiled
sheets of paper.
(body text box, Arial 36)
2
A successful poster requires careful thought given to a layout that
provides to each visitor guidance in navigating through the
presentation. (major heading text box, 48 pt Book Antiqua)
4
Make your presentation
interactive. (major heading
text box, 48 pt Book Antiqua)
1. It is divided into several sections that identify the major components of the presentation. These
include:
a. a title banner giving the title, name(s) of the presenter(s) and faculty sponsor, plus the
sponsoring department; and
b. a number of panels each comprising a major heading text box plus any combination of
body text boxes and/or graphics objects (photos, drawings).
2. Here are some considerations in creating panels.
a. Panels should have numbers that suggest the logical order in which to review each panel.
b. Sections to be included in panels may to be determined by discipline-specific formats for
communicating ideas, e.g., Intro, Methods, Results, Conclusions.
c. However, presenters are urged to remember that a poster often works better if it is treated
as a multimedia exercise, that summarizes, emphasizes, and illustrates, rather than as
a written report printed out on a really BIG piece of paper.
3. One PowerPoint slide is used to create the poster. It is set up to represent to scale the layout of
one 3’x 4’ poster, corresponding to the dimensions of the cardboard poster boards that will be
provided at each poster location during the poster session. When saved as a pdf file, without
scaling, this file can then be submitted by the student’s faculty sponsor to Print Services for
printing on the wide-format printer inkjet printer as a 3’x4’ rollup.
4. The font sizes recommended throughout this template are designed to be readable by a person
standing 4 feet from the poster. Other choices should be tested against this standard.
1. This file can be printed from a traditional
printer if scaled to fit 8.5 x 11” paper.
Such printouts will produce handout
copies of your poster for your visitors to
take with them. Consider including
contact information, such as an email
address, so that your visitors can get in
touch with you after the poster session
with questions for further discussion.
2. Be sure to indicate where your work will
likely take you next, to give some
indication of your extended thinking
about the project. One approach is to
finish with a set of unanswered
questions.
3. Include a brief listing of scholarly
references to cite sources that helped
inform your work or to provide additional
reading for your visitors. And be sure to
credit your benefactors!
(body text box, Arial 36)
(body text box, Arial 36)
3
Graphics are essential to some kinds of presentations. They are best prepared in other programs, and then
inserted into the poster sized to their final dimensions. (major heading text box, 48 pt Book Antiqua)
Such programs include Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Corel Draw and PhotoPaint, and Deneba Canvas, as well as proprietary software bundled
with most digital cameras. You will achieve the best results with vector-based artwork or 300 dpi for bitmapped images. (body text box, Arial 36)