What Is a Poster Presentation?

In order to save yourself some time, we would recommend you to copy all the information into the separate folder on your computer as well as create a Word document with the text you are going to edit for your presentation. Use the following questions to help you edit the content of your poster:

• what is my main purpose: present the results, get people to talk about my research, find the sponsors for further research or discuss the finding with other scholars?
• what type of readers with be attending the conference and what is their level of expertise?
• what should I focus more on: a brief summary of some part of information described in details?
• where will my poster be displayed: a conference, university halls or elsewhere?
• are there any specific guideline to adhere to in the process? If yes, what limits and requirements I have to take care of (word limit, materials to include, size of the poster)?

Once you have answered these questions, you will get a better understanding of the poster you are supposed to prepare and things you have to focus on more.

Once you have all the general information sorted out, it is time for you to create a plan for your presentation. Write down basic things you need to include, creating a plan our outline. You will also be able to use this plan further on while presenting your poster, so spend some time to create a cohesive and logical structure. This way, you will not have to skip back and forth and will be able to easily present the poster at the conference.

Once you are done with planning, you may begin writing the text for your poster. And while some students think that it is enough just to copy and paste some information from their research paper, this is not the smartest decision. Your poster should be easy to read and all those long and complicated sentences just don’t help. So if you have time, sit down and rewrite them to make them more eligible.

The structure of your poster should be similar to your research paper, however, you may revise it in the process:

1. Headline (the title of the research paper or the rephrased version of the presentation title);
2. Introduction (or abstract), depending on your academic level
3. Background information and literature review (you can mention a scholar that inspired your research)
4. Research question set for this particular work;
5. Description of the methods and approaches;
6. Results of the research and how they correlate with the research question;
7. Recommendations for further research (if applicable)
8. Contact information, if you would like further discussions or are looking for funding.

It might also be smart to make a small section and create a referencing sample for your presentation. This way, people who would like to address you poster in their work will be able to use it.

If you have been looking for some creative poster presentation ideas, you may probably found tons of samples with bright design and vivid colors, creative structure and all the tiny details you adore, however, let us warn you: unless you are majoring in Arts or Design, the creative approach might not be the best idea. So while working on the layout and design, pay attention to:

• font. It should be easy to read and reproduce on various computers. Avoid using more than 2 fonts in one poster, moreover, we strongly recommend you to use 1 font choosing the Bold option for your headings.
• font size. This largely depends on the poster size, but generally, your title should be somewhere between 72-120 pt., while you body text may vary from 18 to 42 pt. depending on the amount of text you are going to include.
• alignment. Please remember, that you should not use center-aligned text in the academic poster as it is hard to read and looks unprofessional.
• colors. While there are colors that will work for any poster (blue, beige, grey) you may also add some bright spots with colors that are traditional or might be symbolic for your field (e.g., green is often associated with ecological systems, whereas red might be used by medicine or social workers).
• diagrams. If you export your graphs from other applications, make sure they have a transparent background and have a legend next to them.

And while there is no specific rule about this, we would recommend you to avoid using UPPERCASE, unless you are mentioning any abbreviation.

Remember that you have to print your poster at least 3 days before the conference as you may need to make some amendments. So the earlier you have it, the more chances you have to make any changes. Check the requirements and criteria of acceptance for the conference to learn about the material you can use. While the paper is the cheapest option, you may well consider industrial anti-wrinkle fabrics or plastic.

If you have any large chunks of information you could not fit into the poster, make sure to print some handout for people interested in your research.

Congratulations! Once you have made it all the way to the conference, try not to panic and keep calm. Stand next to your poster and do not jump at every person approaching you. Give them at least 30 seconds to read the poster before reaching out to them engaging them in the discussion. If you have noticed their interest, offer the handout for further reading.