Guidelines For Effective Poster Presentations
Guidelines For Effective Poster Presentations
Guidelines For Effective Poster Presentations
Congratulations on having your poster accepted for presentation at this years Conference.
Below you will find a set of guidelines for preparing and presenting your poster. Much of the advice
will already be familiar to you. However, please do read through the guidelines carefully to ensure
that you give the viewer the best opportunity to appreciate your presentation.
Presenting a Poster
The Palimpsests Conference runs across two days, with parallel sessions throughout. On each day,
at least one of these sessions will be a Poster/Exhibition session. At these sessions presenters are
expected to stand by their poster in order to discuss their research with viewers. And, of course, the
presentations will be on display continuously for Conference participants to visit.
Dont forget the power of graphics. The proportion of text and graphics should be about 60%-40%.
2. Your posters structure can present an argument related to your researchthat is, its structure
may echo a paper presentation. In this case, the elements (paragraphs) of your poster should be:
o An element that indicates the topic, context, research question, and central idea (thesis) of
the poster.
o Three or so elements, each of which explains/defends the central idea (thesis).
o A conclusion that places your presentation in a wider context (of your on-going research, of
the significance of your research, etc.).
Dont forget the power of graphics. The proportion of text and graphics should be about 60%-40%.
You can find web pages that give metric and non-metric measurements for all paper sizes. Also,
there are computer graphic programs that will enable you to compose text and graphics in most of
these sizes. You should be able to print A4 elements through your department. However, you will
probably have to go through your University print shop to produce A0, A1, A2 and A3 sized elements.
If you do that, you may want to laminate the poster as well.
If you choose option #3 above (a poster composed of a pleasing arrangement of A3 and/or A4
frames), you may want to mount each element on a suitably coloured card. Lamination and mounting
on card are finishing touches that can enhance your presentation.
Design Tips
**Please note, these guidelines draw on a number of guidelines available through the internet.
We are especially indebted to posting by
Geography for the New Undergraduate
(http://www.hope.ac.uk/gnu/GNUbackup/stuhelp/poster.html)
Chemical and Process engineering at University of Newcastle Upon Tyne
(http://lorien.ncl.ac.uk/ming/Dept/Tips/present/posters.htm)
St Cloud State University Student Research Colloquium 2002
(http://www.stcloudstate.edu/~research/poster_guidelines.htm)