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How to Design a Winning Poster Presentation: Quick Guide with Examples & Templates

How are research posters like High School science fair projects? Quite similar, in fact.

Both are visual representations of a research project shared with peers, colleagues and academic faculty. But there’s a big difference: it’s all in professionalism and attention to detail. You can be sure that the students that thrived in science fairs are now creating fantastic research posters, but what is that extra element most people miss when designing a poster presentation?

This guide will teach tips and tricks for creating poster presentations for conferences, symposia, and more. Learn in-depth poster structure and design techniques to help create academic posters that have a lasting impact.

Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

• What is a Research Poster?

Why are Poster Presentations important?

Overall dimensions and orientation, separation into columns and sections, scientific, academic, or something else, a handout with supplemental and contact information, cohesiveness, design and readability, storytelling.

• Font Characteristics
• Color Pairing
• Data Visualization Dimensions
• Alignment, Margins, and White Space

Scientific/Academic Conference Poster Presentation

Digital research poster presentations, slidemodel poster presentation templates, how to make a research poster presentation step-by-step, considerations for printing poster presentations, how to present a research poster presentation, final words, what is a research poster .

Research posters are visual overviews of the most relevant information extracted from a research paper or analysis.   They are essential communication formats for sharing findings with peers and interested people in the field. Research posters can also effectively present material for other areas besides the sciences and STEM—for example, business and law.

You’ll be creating research posters regularly as an academic researcher, scientist, or grad student. You’ll have to present them at numerous functions and events. For example:

• Conference presentations
• Informational events
• Community centers

The research poster presentation is a comprehensive way to share data, information, and research results. Before the pandemic, the majority of research events were in person. During lockdown and beyond, virtual conferences and summits became the norm. Many researchers now create poster presentations that work in printed and digital formats.

Let’s look at why it’s crucial to spend time creating poster presentations for your research projects, research, analysis, and study papers.

Research posters represent you and your sponsor’s research 

Research papers and accompanying poster presentations are potent tools for representation and communication in your field of study. Well-performing poster presentations help scientists, researchers, and analysts grow their careers through grants and sponsorships.

When presenting a poster presentation for a sponsored research project, you’re representing the company that sponsored you. Your professionalism, demeanor, and capacity for creating impactful poster presentations call attention to other interested sponsors, spreading your impact in the field.

Research posters demonstrate expertise and growth

Presenting research posters at conferences, summits, and graduate grading events shows your expertise and knowledge in your field of study. The way your poster presentation looks and delivers, plus your performance while presenting the work, is judged by your viewers regardless of whether it’s an officially judged panel.

Recurring visitors to research conferences and symposia will see you and your poster presentations evolve. Improve your impact by creating a great poster presentation every time by paying attention to detail in the poster design and in your oral presentation. Practice your public speaking skills alongside the design techniques for even more impact.

Poster presentations create and maintain collaborations

Every time you participate in a research poster conference, you create meaningful connections with people in your field, industry or community. Not only do research posters showcase information about current data in different areas, but they also bring people together with similar interests. Countless collaboration projects between different research teams started after discussing poster details during coffee breaks.

An effective research poster template deepens your peer’s understanding of a topic by highlighting research, data, and conclusions. This information can help other researchers and analysts with their work. As a research poster presenter, you’re given the opportunity for both teaching and learning while sharing ideas with peers and colleagues.

Anatomy of a Winning Poster Presentation

Do you want your research poster to perform well?  Following the standard layout and adding a few personal touches will help attendees know how to read your poster and get the most out of your information. 

The overall size of your research poster ultimately depends on the dimensions of the provided space at the conference or research poster gallery. The poster orientation can be horizontal or vertical, with horizontal being the most common.  In general, research posters measure 48 x 36 inches or are an A0 paper size.

A virtual poster can be the same proportions as the printed research poster, but you have more leeway regarding the dimensions. Virtual research posters should fit on a screen with no need to scroll, with 1080p resolution as a standard these days. A horizontal presentation size is ideal for that.

A research poster presentation has a standard layout of 2–5 columns with 2–3 sections each. Typical structures say to separate the content into four sections; 1. A horizontal header 2. Introduction column, 3. Research/Work/Data column, and 4. Conclusion column. Each unit includes topics that relate to your poster’s objective.  Here’s a generalized outline for a poster presentation:

• Condensed Abstract 
• Objectives/Purpose
• Methodology
• Recommendations
• Implications
• Acknowledgments
• Contact Information 

The overview content you include in the units depends on your poster presentations’ theme, topic, industry, or field of research. A scientific or academic poster will include sections like hypothesis, methodology, and materials. A marketing analysis poster will include performance metrics and competitor analysis results.

There’s no way a poster can hold all the information included in your research paper or analysis report. The poster is an overview that invites the audience to want to find out more. That’s where supplement material comes in. Create a printed PDF handout or card with a QR code (created using a QR code generator ). Send the audience to the best online location for reading or downloading the complete paper.

What Makes a Poster Presentation Good and Effective? 

For your poster presentation to be effective and well-received, it needs to cover all the bases and be inviting to find out more. Stick to the standard layout suggestions and give it a unique look and feel. We’ve put together some of the most critical research poster-creation tips in the list below. Your poster presentation will perform as long as you check all the boxes.

The information you choose to include in the sections of your poster presentation needs to be cohesive. Train your editing eye and do a few revisions before presenting. The best way to look at it is to think of The Big Picture. Don’t get stuck on the details; your attendees won’t always know the background behind your research topic or why it’s important.

Be cohesive in how you word the titles, the length of the sections, the highlighting of the most important data, and how your oral presentation complements the printed—or virtual—poster.

The most important characteristic of your poster presentation is its readability and clarity. You need a poster presentation with a balanced design that’s easy to read at a distance of 1.5 meters or 4 feet. The font size and spacing must be clear and neat. All the content must suggest a visual flow for the viewer to follow.

That said, you don’t need to be a designer to add something special to your poster presentation. Once you have the standard—and recognized—columns and sections, add your special touch. These can be anything from colorful boxes for the section titles to an interesting but subtle background, images that catch the eye, and charts that inspire a more extended look. 

Storytelling is a presenting technique involving writing techniques to make information flow. Firstly, storytelling helps give your poster presentation a great introduction and an impactful conclusion. 

Think of storytelling as the invitation to listen or read more, as the glue that connects sections, making them flow from one to another. Storytelling is using stories in the oral presentation, for example, what your lab partner said when you discovered something interesting. If it makes your audience smile and nod, you’ve hit the mark. Storytelling is like giving a research presentation a dose of your personality, and it can help turning your data into opening stories .

Design Tips For Creating an Effective Research Poster Presentation

The section above briefly mentioned how important design is to your poster presentation’s effectiveness. We’ll look deeper into what you need to know when designing a poster presentation.

1. Font Characteristics

The typeface and size you choose are of great importance. Not only does the text need to be readable from two meters away, but it also needs to look and sit well on the poster. Stay away from calligraphic script typefaces, novelty typefaces, or typefaces with uniquely shaped letters.

Stick to the classics like a sans serif Helvetica, Lato, Open Sans, or Verdana. Avoid serif typefaces as they can be difficult to read from far away. Here are some standard text sizes to have on hand.

• Title: 85 pt
• Authors: 65 pt
• Headings: 36 pt
• Body Text: 24 pt
• Captions: 18 pt

If you feel too prone to use serif typefaces, work with a font pairing tool that helps you find a suitable solution – and intend those serif fonts for heading sections only. As a rule, never use more than 3 different typefaces in your design. To make it more dynamic, you can work with the same font using light, bold, and italic weights to put emphasis on the required areas.

2. Color Pairing

Using colors in your poster presentation design is a great way to grab the viewer’s attention. A color’s purpose is to help the viewer follow the data flow in your presentation, not distract. Don’t let the color take more importance than the information on your poster.

Choose one main color for the title and headlines and a similar color for the data visualizations. If you want to use more than one color, don’t create too much contrast between them. Try different tonalities of the same color and keep things balanced visually. Your color palette should have at most one main color and two accent colors.

Black text over a white background is standard practice for printed poster presentations, but for virtual presentations, try a very light gray instead of white and a very dark gray instead of black. Additionally, use variations of light color backgrounds and dark color text. Make sure it’s easy to read from two meters away or on a screen, depending on the context. We recommend ditching full white or full black tone usage as it hurts eyesight in the long term due to its intense contrast difference with the light ambiance.

3. Data Visualization Dimensions

Just like the text, your charts, graphs, and data visualizations must be easy to read and understand. Generally, if a person is interested in your research and has already read some of the text from two meters away, they’ll come closer to look at the charts and graphs. 

Fit data visualizations inside columns or let them span over two columns. Remove any unnecessary borders, lines, or labels to make them easier to read at a glance. Use a flat design without shadows or 3D characteristics. The text in legends and captions should stay within the chart size and not overflow into the margins. Use a unified text size of 18px for all your data visualizations.

4. Alignment, Margins, and White Space

Finally, the last design tip for creating an impressive and memorable poster presentation is to be mindful of the layout’s alignment, margins, and white space. Create text boxes to help keep everything aligned. They allow you to resize, adapt, and align the content along a margin or grid.

Take advantage of the white space created by borders and margins between sections. Don’t crowd them with a busy background or unattractive color.

Calculate margins considering a print format. It is a good practice in case the poster presentation ends up becoming in physical format, as you won’t need to downscale your entire design (affecting text readability in the process) to preserve information.

There are different tools that you can use to make a poster presentation. Presenters who are familiar with Microsoft Office prefer to use PowerPoint. You can learn how to make a poster in PowerPoint here.

Poster Presentation Examples

Before you start creating a poster presentation, look at some examples of real research posters. Get inspired and get creative.

Research poster presentations printed and mounted on a board look like the one in the image below. The presenter stands to the side, ready to share the information with visitors as they walk up to the panels.

With more and more conferences staying virtual or hybrid, the digital poster presentation is here to stay. Take a look at examples from a poster session at the OHSU School of Medicine .

Use SlideModel templates to help you create a winning poster presentation with PowerPoint and Google Slides. These poster PPT templates will get you off on the right foot. Mix and match tables and data visualizations from other poster slide templates to create your ideal layout according to the standard guidelines.

If you need a quick method to create a presentation deck to talk about your research poster at conferences, check out our Slides AI presentation maker. A tool in which you add the topic, curate the outline, select a design, and let AI do the work for you.

1. One-pager Scientific Poster Template for PowerPoint

A PowerPoint template tailored to make your poster presentations an easy-to-craft process. Meet our One-Pager Scientific Poster Slide Template, entirely editable to your preferences and with ample room to accommodate graphs, data charts, and much more.

Use This Template

2. Eisenhower Matrix Slides Template for PowerPoint

An Eisenhower Matrix is a powerful tool to represent priorities, classifying work according to urgency and importance. Presenters can use this 2×2 matrix in poster presentations to expose the effort required for the research process, as it also helps to communicate strategy planning.

3. OSMG Framework PowerPoint Template

Finally, we recommend presenters check our OSMG Framework PowerPoint template, as it is an ideal tool for representing a business plan: its goals, strategies, and measures for success. Expose complex processes in a simplified manner by adding this template to your poster presentation.

Remember these three words when making your research poster presentation: develop, design, and present. These are the three main actions toward a successful poster presentation. 

The section below will take you on a step-by-step journey to create your next poster presentation.

Step 1: Define the purpose and audience of your poster presentation

Before making a poster presentation design, you’ll need to plan first. Here are some questions to answer at this point:

• Are they in your field? 
• Do they know about your research topic? 
• What can they get from your research?
• Will you print it?
• Is it for a virtual conference?

Step 2: Make an outline

With a clear purpose and strategy, it’s time to collect the most important information from your research paper, analysis, or documentation. Make a content dump and then select the most interesting information. Use the content to draft an outline.

Outlines help formulate the overall structure better than going straight into designing the poster. Mimic the standard poster structure in your outline using section headlines as separators. Go further and separate the content into the columns they’ll be placed in.

Step 3: Write the content

Write or rewrite the content for the sections in your poster presentation. Use the text in your research paper as a base, but summarize it to be more succinct in what you share. 

Don’t forget to write a catchy title that presents the problem and your findings in a clear way. Likewise, craft the headlines for the sections in a similar tone as the title, creating consistency in the message. Include subtle transitions between sections to help follow the flow of information in order.

Avoid copying/pasting entire sections of the research paper on which the poster is based. Opt for the storytelling approach, so the delivered message results are interesting for your audience. 

Step 4: Put it all together visually

This entire guide on how to design a research poster presentation is the perfect resource to help you with this step. Follow all the tips and guidelines and have an unforgettable poster presentation.

Moving on, here’s how to design a research poster presentation with PowerPoint Templates . Open a new project and size it to the standard 48 x 36 inches. Using the outline, map out the sections on the empty canvas. Add a text box for each title, headline, and body text. Piece by piece, add the content into their corresponding text box.

Transform the text information visually, make bullet points, and place the content in tables and timelines. Make your text visual to avoid chunky text blocks that no one will have time to read. Make sure all text sizes are coherent for all headings, body texts, image captions, etc. Double-check for spacing and text box formatting.

Next, add or create data visualizations, images, or diagrams. Align everything into columns and sections, making sure there’s no overflow. Add captions and legends to the visualizations, and check the color contrast with colleagues and friends. Ask for feedback and progress to the last step.

Step 5: Last touches

Time to check the final touches on your poster presentation design. Here’s a checklist to help finalize your research poster before sending it to printers or the virtual summit rep.

• Check the resolution of all visual elements in your poster design. Zoom to 100 or 200% to see if the images pixelate. Avoid this problem by using vector design elements and high-resolution images.
• Ensure that charts and graphs are easy to read and don’t look crowded.
• Analyze the visual hierarchy. Is there a visual flow through the title, introduction, data, and conclusion?
• Take a step back and check if it’s legible from a distance. Is there enough white space for the content to breathe?
• Does the design look inviting and interesting?

An often neglected topic arises when we need to print our designs for any exhibition purpose. Since A0 is a hard-to-manage format for most printers, these poster presentations result in heftier charges for the user. Instead, you can opt to work your design in two A1 sheets, which also becomes more manageable for transportation. Create seamless borders for the section on which the poster sheets should meet, or work with a white background.

Paper weight options should be over 200 gsm to avoid unwanted damage during the printing process due to heavy ink usage. If possible, laminate your print or stick it to photographic paper – this shall protect your work from spills.

Finally, always run a test print. Gray tints may not be printed as clearly as you see them on screen (this is due to the RGB to CMYK conversion process). Other differences can be appreciated when working with ink jet plotters vs. laser printers. Give yourself enough room to maneuver last-minute design changes.

Presenting a research poster is a big step in the poster presentation cycle. Your poster presentation might or might not be judged by faculty or peers. But knowing what judges look for will help you prepare for the design and oral presentation, regardless of whether you receive a grade for your work or if it’s business related. Likewise, the same principles apply when presenting at an in-person or virtual summit.

The opening statement

Part of presenting a research poster is welcoming the viewer to your small personal area in the sea of poster presentations. You’ll need an opening statement to pitch your research poster and get the viewers’ attention.

Draft a 2 to 3-sentence pitch that covers the most important points:

• What the research is
• Why was it conducted
• What the results say

From that opening statement, you’re ready to continue with the oral presentation for the benefit of your attendees.

The oral presentation

During the oral presentation, share the information on the poster while conversing with the interested public. Practice many times before the event. Structure the oral presentation as conversation points, and use the poster’s visual flow as support. Make eye contact with your audience as you speak, but don’t make them uncomfortable.

Pro Tip: In a conference or summit, if people show up to your poster area after you’ve started presenting it to another group, finish and then address the new visitors.

QA Sessions 

When you’ve finished the oral presentation, offer the audience a chance to ask questions. You can tell them before starting the presentation that you’ll be holding a QA session at the end. Doing so will prevent interruptions as you’re speaking.

If presenting to one or two people, be flexible and answer questions as you review all the sections on your poster.

Supplemental Material

If your audience is interested in learning more, you can offer another content type, further imprinting the information in their minds. Some ideas include; printed copies of your research paper, links to a website, a digital experience of your poster, a thesis PDF, or data spreadsheets.

Your audience will want to contact you for further conversations; include contact details in your supplemental material. If you don’t offer anything else, at least have business cards.

Even though conferences have changed, the research poster’s importance hasn’t diminished. Now, instead of simply creating a printed poster presentation, you can also make it for digital platforms. The final output will depend on the conference and its requirements.

This guide covered all the essential information you need to know for creating impactful poster presentations, from design, structure and layout tips to oral presentation techniques to engage your audience better . 

Before your next poster session, bookmark and review this guide to help you design a winning poster presentation every time. 

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How to Create a Research Poster

• Poster Basics
• Design Tips
• Logos & Images

What is a Research Poster?

Posters are widely used in the academic community, and most conferences include poster presentations in their program.  Research posters summarize information or research concisely and attractively to help publicize it and generate discussion. 

The poster is usually a mixture of a brief text mixed with tables, graphs, pictures, and other presentation formats. At a conference, the researcher stands by the poster display while other participants can come and view the presentation and interact with the author.

What Makes a Good Poster?

• Important information should be readable from about 10 feet away
• Title is short and draws interest
• Word count of about 300 to 800 words
• Text is clear and to the point
• Use of bullets, numbering, and headlines make it easy to read
• Effective use of graphics, color and fonts
• Consistent and clean layout
• Includes acknowledgments, your name and institutional affiliation

A Sample of a Well Designed Poster

View this poster example in a web browser .  

Image credit: Poster Session Tips by [email protected], via Penn State

Where do I begin?

Answer these three questions:.

• What is the most important/interesting/astounding finding from my research project?
• How can I visually share my research with conference attendees? Should I use charts, graphs, photos, images?
• What kind of information can I convey during my talk that will complement my poster?

What software can I use to make a poster?

A popular, easy-to-use option. It is part of Microsoft Office package and is available on the library computers in rooms LC337 and LC336. ( Advice for creating a poster with PowerPoint ).

Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign

Feature-rich professional software that is good for posters including lots of high-resolution images, but they are more complex and expensive.  NYU Faculty, Staff, and Students can access and download the Adobe Creative Suite .

Open Source Alternatives 

• OpenOffice is the free alternative to MS Office (Impress is its PowerPoint alternative).
• Inkscape and Gimp are alternatives to Adobe products.
• For charts and diagrams try Gliffy or Lovely Charts .
• A complete list of free graphics software .

A Sample of a Poorly Designed Poster

View this bad poster example in a browser.

Image Credit: Critique by Better Posters

• Next: Design Tips >>
• Last Updated: Jul 11, 2023 5:09 PM
• URL: https://guides.nyu.edu/posters

Poster Presentations

Steps for creating a poster presentation.

Making a poster presentation (or a research poster) can be daunting without proper guidance. This guide will walk you through the steps to take to make a professional and effective poster presentation.

The poster will concisely sum up the author's original research and present findings in visually pleasing fashion with minimal text. Posters tend to include images like charts, graphs, photos or illustrations.

1. Find a Powerpoint template

To get started, find a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation template.

• There are different types of templates depending on the subject. Be sure to choose one that best fits what you are trying to get across in the poster.
• A Villanova University branded PowerPoint template
• You can also insert Villanova branded graphics from the Office of University Communication and Marketing. 

Next, make sure to use an appropriate sized template.

• The most common and standard size for a poster is 36"x 48" . The Student Research Symposium lists 36"x 48"  as the proper size.
• Be sure to check any requirements announced by the conference at which the poster is being presented. Some conferences may accept larger or smaller sized posters.
• To check the dimensions in PowerPoint go to Design  -->  Slide Size  -->  Custom Size

• 2. Organize content

Most posters will contain the type of information that you would find in a journal abstract. Sections on the poster will be  organized into blocks that usually include:

• Introduction
• Methodology
• Section headings
• Charts or figures with data
• Conclusions
• Less text is more when it comes to posters. Aim for getting your word count under 800 words or less.
• Avoid copying and pasting sections of your research into the poster. Be sure to make an attempt to cut down on the words and focus more on providing important findings from your research to visually convey your results.
• It is a good rule of thumb to highlight the most important findings in your research and find ways to present the results in a visual or compelling fashion.
• Consider using bullet points or lists over using a straight paragraph of text in the poster.

Most viewers will not read your entire poster in detail. So try to help viewers understand its basic message by looking at the title, abstract or introduction, section headings, figures, and conclusions.

• 3. Visual aspect

Because the visual aspect of a poster is critical, it is important to use appropriate fonts and sizes .

• Use a font size that can be read from a distance.
• Choose a font that is easy to read like Helvetica or Arial.
• Use bold or underlined text for section headings.
• Keep the font consistent throughout the poster, and use the same size for section headings.
• The rule of thumb for font size is - Title as 72pt, Headings as 48 pt, Figures as 30 pt, and Body text as 28pt.
• 4. Using images

Use your own images

• Make your life easier and decide to use your own images in the poster such as photographs, charts, infographics, tables and other graphics that you created on your own.
• Adobe Express

Find freely available images

Consider using freely available images, like those licensed as  Creative Commons , or those in the  public domain . You don't need to request permission for these images but you still need to give the creator credit.

Most images are free of copyright (Creative Commons CC license) and do not require an attribution. Avoid using the sponsored images from Shutterstock that may come with fees & license restrictions.

Search for images with a Creative Commons license. If you want to alter the image or use it for commercial purposes, specify those types of licenses in your search criteria.

A specialized search within Flickr for images with Creative Commons licenses. Search results can be filtered by the type of license, such as commercial use and modifications.

A database of freely available media, including public domain and Creative Commons.

Narrow your results by "usage rights." Specify that you want images that are free to use.

Images with "no known copyright restrictions" from the archives of cultural institutions.

Images of works owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Filter results by "Public Domain Artworks" or check for a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) icon below the image.

• 5. Citing information

If referencing another person's work, you need to acknowledge citing it. Be sure to check whether your poster session expects formal citation and if there is a preferred style required. If there is no standard required, be consistent with formatting within the poster.

See the Falvey Library Frequently Used Style Guide for examples of APA, MLA and Chicago Styles.

By using photographs or images in your poster that you did not create, you should follow appropriate copyright requirements for use of the images.

Citing visuals in a poster means creating a label with the citation and permissions. 

For example, the basic format for images found on the web in APA style is as follows: Last Name, First Initial. (Year, Month Day of Publication). Title of image.  Title of Website.  URL

APA example for image from website

Figure 1.  Stahl, K. (2022, August 25). Library essentials [digital image]. Falvey Library .  https://blog.library.villanova.edu/2022/08/26/welcome-back-cats-heres-your-falvey-library-essentials-guide/ . 

• 6. Export PDF

Before exporting the file be sure to:

• Check for spelling errors and other mistakes.
• Check the dimensions and image used in the poster to make sure they do not become blurry or pixelated when viewed at 100%. Remember, when printed to scale, any blurriness will be apparent on the poster at full scale.

Make the PDF

In Windows, save the PowerPoint slide as a PDF and select standard size

On Macs, select Print --> Scale to fit paper --> Save as PDF.

Printing the poster

If presenting a poster at the Student Research Symposium , check their website for the most current guidance about printing on campus through iPRINT.

Otherwise, if presenting a poster at a conference outside of the University, check with your professor or look for a professional printing service like Poster Ninja, Staples or Kinkos.

• 1. Find a PowerPoint template

Suggested ebooks from the Falvey Library Catalog 

Better posters : plan, design and present an academic poster.

Zen Faulkes

Pelagic Publishing. 2021

Designing Science Presentations : A Visual Guide to Figures, Papers, Slides, Posters, and More

Matt Carter

Elsevier Science & Technology, 2013

Academic posters : A textual and visual metadiscourse analysis

Larissa D’Angelo

Peter Lang GmbH, 2016

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Preparing and Presenting Effective Research Posters

Associated data.

APPENDIX A.2. Comparison of Research Papers, Presentations, and Posters—Contents.

Posters are a common way to present results of a statistical analysis, program evaluation, or other project at professional conferences. Often, researchers fail to recognize the unique nature of the format, which is a hybrid of a published paper and an oral presentation. This methods note demonstrates how to design research posters to convey study objectives, methods, findings, and implications effectively to varied professional audiences.

A review of existing literature on research communication and poster design is used to identify and demonstrate important considerations for poster content and layout. Guidelines on how to write about statistical methods, results, and statistical significance are illustrated with samples of ineffective writing annotated to point out weaknesses, accompanied by concrete examples and explanations of improved presentation. A comparison of the content and format of papers, speeches, and posters is also provided.

Each component of a research poster about a quantitative analysis should be adapted to the audience and format, with complex statistical results translated into simplified charts, tables, and bulleted text to convey findings as part of a clear, focused story line.

Conclusions

Effective research posters should be designed around two or three key findings with accompanying handouts and narrative description to supply additional technical detail and encourage dialog with poster viewers.

An assortment of posters is a common way to present research results to viewers at a professional conference. Too often, however, researchers treat posters as poor cousins to oral presentations or published papers, failing to recognize the opportunity to convey their findings while interacting with individual viewers. By neglecting to adapt detailed paragraphs and statistical tables into text bullets and charts, they make it harder for their audience to quickly grasp the key points of the poster. By simply posting pages from the paper, they risk having people merely skim their work while standing in the conference hall. By failing to devise narrative descriptions of their poster, they overlook the chance to learn from conversations with their audience.

Even researchers who adapt their paper into a well-designed poster often forget to address the range of substantive and statistical training of their viewers. This step is essential for those presenting to nonresearchers but also pertains when addressing interdisciplinary research audiences. Studies of policymakers ( DiFranza and the Staff of the Advocacy Institute 1996 ; Sorian and Baugh 2002 ) have demonstrated the importance of making it readily apparent how research findings apply to real-world issues rather than imposing on readers to translate statistical findings themselves.

This methods note is intended to help researchers avoid such pitfalls as they create posters for professional conferences. The first section describes objectives of research posters. The second shows how to describe statistical results to viewers with varied levels of statistical training, and the third provides guidelines on the contents and organization of the poster. Later sections address how to prepare a narrative and handouts to accompany a research poster. Because researchers often present the same results as published research papers, spoken conference presentations, and posters, Appendix A compares similarities and differences in the content, format, and audience interaction of these three modes of presenting research results. Although the focus of this note is on presentation of quantitative research results, many of the guidelines about how to prepare and present posters apply equally well to qualitative studies.

WHAT IS A RESEARCH POSTER?

Preparing a poster involves not only creating pages to be mounted in a conference hall, but also writing an associated narrative and handouts, and anticipating the questions you are likely to encounter during the session. Each of these elements should be adapted to the audience, which may include people with different levels of familiarity with your topic and methods ( Nelson et al. 2002 ; Beilenson 2004 ). For example, the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association draws academics who conduct complex statistical analyses along with practitioners, program planners, policymakers, and journalists who typically do not.

Posters are a hybrid form—more detailed than a speech but less than a paper, more interactive than either ( Appendix A ). In a speech, you (the presenter) determine the focus of the presentation, but in a poster session, the viewers drive that focus. Different people will ask about different facets of your research. Some might do policy work or research on a similar topic or with related data or methods. Others will have ideas about how to apply or extend your work, raising new questions or suggesting different contrasts, ways of classifying data, or presenting results. Beilenson (2004) describes the experience of giving a poster as a dialogue between you and your viewers.

By the end of an active poster session, you may have learned as much from your viewers as they have from you, especially if the topic, methods, or audience are new to you. For instance, at David Snowdon's first poster presentation on educational attainment and longevity using data from The Nun Study, another researcher returned several times to talk with Snowdon, eventually suggesting that he extend his research to focus on Alzheimer's disease, which led to an important new direction in his research ( Snowdon 2001 ). In addition, presenting a poster provides excellent practice in explaining quickly and clearly why your project is important and what your findings mean—a useful skill to apply when revising a speech or paper on the same topic.

WRITING FOR A VARIED PROFESSIONAL AUDIENCE

Audiences at professional conferences vary considerably in their substantive and methodological backgrounds. Some will be experts on your topic but not your methods, some will be experts on your methods but not your topic, and most will fall somewhere in between. In addition, advances in research methods imply that even researchers who received cutting-edge methodological training 10 or 20 years ago might not be conversant with the latest approaches. As you design your poster, provide enough background on both the topic and the methods to convey the purpose, findings, and implications of your research to the expected range of readers.

Telling a Simple, Clear Story

Write so your audience can understand why your work is of interest to them, providing them with a clear take-home message that they can grasp in the few minutes they will spend at your poster. Experts in communications and poster design recommend planning your poster around two to three key points that you want your audience to walk away with, then designing the title, charts, and text to emphasize those points ( Briscoe 1996 ; Nelson et al. 2002 ; Beilenson 2004 ). Start by introducing the two or three key questions you have decided will be the focus of your poster, and then provide a brief overview of data and methods before presenting the evidence to answer those questions. Close with a summary of your findings and their implications for research and policy.

A 2001 survey of government policymakers showed that they prefer summaries of research to be written so they can immediately see how the findings relate to issues currently facing their constituencies, without wading through a formal research paper ( Sorian and Baugh 2002 ). Complaints that surfaced about many research reports included that they were “too long, dense, or detailed,” or “too theoretical, technical, or jargony.” On average, respondents said they read only about a quarter of the research material they receive for detail, skim about half of it, and never get to the rest.

To ensure that your poster is one viewers will read, understand, and remember, present your analyses to match the issues and questions of concern to them, rather than making readers translate your statistical results to fit their interests ( DiFranza and the Staff of the Advocacy Institute 1996 ; Nelson et al. 2002 ). Often, their questions will affect how you code your data, specify your model, or design your intervention and evaluation, so plan ahead by familiarizing yourself with your audience's interests and likely applications of your study findings. In an academic journal article, you might report parameter estimates and standard errors for each independent variable in your regression model. In the poster version, emphasize findings for specific program design features, demographic, or geographic groups, using straightforward means of presenting effect size and statistical significance; see “Describing Numeric Patterns and Contrasts” and “Presenting Statistical Test Results” below.

The following sections offer guidelines on how to present statistical findings on posters, accompanied by examples of “poor” and “better” descriptions—samples of ineffective writing annotated to point out weaknesses, accompanied by concrete examples and explanations of improved presentation. These ideas are illustrated with results from a multilevel analysis of disenrollment from the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP; Phillips et al. 2004 ). I chose that paper to show how to prepare a poster about a sophisticated quantitative analysis of a topic of interest to HSR readers, and because I was a collaborator in that study, which was presented in the three formats compared here—as a paper, a speech, and a poster.

Explaining Statistical Methods

Beilenson (2004) and Briscoe (1996) suggest keeping your description of data and methods brief, providing enough information for viewers to follow the story line and evaluate your approach. Avoid cluttering the poster with too much technical detail or obscuring key findings with excessive jargon. For readers interested in additional methodological information, provide a handout and a citation to the pertinent research paper.

As you write about statistical methods or other technical issues, relate them to the specific concepts you study. Provide synonyms for technical and statistical terminology, remembering that many conferences of interest to policy researchers draw people from a range of disciplines. Even with a quantitatively sophisticated audience, don't assume that people will know the equivalent vocabulary used in other fields. A few years ago, the journal Medical Care published an article whose sole purpose was to compare statistical terminology across various disciplines involved in health services research so that people could understand one another ( Maciejewski et al. 2002 ). After you define the term you plan to use, mention the synonyms from the various fields represented in your audience.

Consider whether acronyms are necessary on your poster. Avoid them if they are not familiar to the field or would be used only once or twice on your poster. If you use acronyms, spell them out at first usage, even those that are common in health services research such as “HEDIS®”(Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set) or “HLM”(hierarchical linear model).

Poor: “We use logistic regression and a discrete-time hazards specification to assess relative hazards of SCHIP disenrollment, with plan level as our key independent variable.” Comment: Terms like “discrete-time hazards specification” may be confusing to readers without training in those methods, which are relatively new on the scene. Also the meaning of “SCHIP” or “plan level” may be unfamiliar to some readers unless defined earlier on the poster.

Better: “Chances of disenrollment from the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) vary by amount of time enrolled, so we used hazards models (also known as event history analysis or survival analysis) to correct for those differences when estimating disenrollment patterns for SCHIP plans for different income levels.” Comment: This version clarifies the terms and concepts, naming the statistical method and its synonyms, and providing a sense of why this type of analysis is needed.

To explain a statistical method or assumption, paraphrase technical terms and illustrate how the analytic approach applies to your particular research question and data:

Poor : “The data structure can be formulated as a two-level hierarchical linear model, with families (the level-1 unit of analysis) nested within counties (the level-2 unit of analysis).” Comment: Although this description would be fine for readers used to working with this type of statistical model, those who aren't conversant with those methods may be confused by terminology such as “level-1” and “unit of analysis.”

Better: “The data have a hierarchical (or multilevel) structure, with families clustered within counties.” Comment: By replacing “nested” with the more familiar “clustered,” identifying the specific concepts for the two levels of analysis, and mentioning that “hierarchical” and “multilevel” refer to the same type of analytic structure, this description relates the generic class of statistical model to this particular study.

Presenting Results with Charts

Charts are often the preferred way to convey numeric patterns, quickly revealing the relative sizes of groups, comparative levels of some outcome, or directions of trends ( Briscoe 1996 ; Tufte 2001 ; Nelson et al. 2002 ). As Beilenson puts it, “let your figures do the talking,” reducing the need for long text descriptions or complex tables with lots of tiny numbers. For example, create a pie chart to present sample composition, use a simple bar chart to show how the dependent variable varies across subgroups, or use line charts or clustered bar charts to illustrate the net effects of nonlinear specifications or interactions among independent variables ( Miller 2005 ). Charts that include confidence intervals around point estimates are a quick and effective way to present effect size, direction, and statistical significance. For multivariate analyses, consider presenting only the results for the main variables of interest, listing the other variables in the model in a footnote and including complex statistical tables in a handout.

Provide each chart with a title (in large type) that explains the topic of that chart. A rhetorical question or summary of the main finding can be very effective. Accompany each chart with a few annotations that succinctly describe the patterns in that chart. Although each chart page should be self-explanatory, be judicious: Tufte (2001) cautions against encumbering your charts with too much “nondata ink”—excessive labeling or superfluous features such as arrows and labels on individual data points. Strive for a balance between guiding your readers through the findings and maintaining a clean, uncluttered poster. Use chart types that are familiar to your expected audience. Finally, remember that you can flesh out descriptions of charts and tables in your script rather than including all the details on the poster itself; see “Narrative to Accompany a Poster.”

Describing Numeric Patterns and Contrasts

As you describe patterns or numeric contrasts, whether from simple calculations or complex statistical models, explain both the direction and magnitude of the association. Incorporate the concepts under study and the units of measurement rather than simply reporting coefficients (β's) ( Friedman 1990 ; Miller 2005 ).

Poor: “Number of enrolled children in the family is correlated with disenrollment.” Comment: Neither the direction nor the size of the association is apparent.

Poor [version #2]: “The log-hazard of disenrollment for one-child families was 0.316.” Comment: Most readers find it easier to assess the size and direction from hazards ratios (a form of relative risk) instead of log-hazards (log-relative risks, the β's from a hazards model).

Better: “Families with only one child enrolled in the program were about 1.4 times as likely as larger families to disenroll.” Comment: This version explains the association between number of children and disenrollment without requiring viewers to exponentiate the log-hazard in their heads to assess the size and direction of that association. It also explicitly identifies the group against which one-child families are compared in the model.

Presenting Statistical Test Results

On your poster, use an approach to presenting statistical significance that keeps the focus on your results, not on the arithmetic needed to conduct inferential statistical tests. Replace standard errors or test statistics with confidence intervals, p- values, or symbols, or use formatting such as boldface, italics, or a contrasting color to denote statistically significant findings ( Davis 1997 ; Miller 2005 ). Include the detailed statistical results in handouts for later perusal.

To illustrate these recommendations, Figures 1 and ​ and2 2 demonstrate how to divide results from a complex, multilevel model across several poster pages, using charts and bullets in lieu of the detailed statistical table from the scientific paper ( Table 1 ; Phillips et al. 2004 ). Following experts' advice to focus on one or two key points, these charts emphasize the findings from the final model (Model 5) rather than also discussing each of the fixed- and random-effects specifications from the paper.

Presenting Complex Statistical Results Graphically

Text Summary of Additional Statistical Results

Multilevel Discrete-Time Hazards Models of Disenrollment from SCHIP, New Jersey, January 1998–April 2000

Source : Phillips et al. (2004) .

SCHIP, State Children's Health Insurance Program; LRH, log relative-hazard; SE, standard error.

Figure 1 uses a chart (also from the paper) to present the net effects of a complicated set of interactions between two family-level traits (race and SCHIP plan) and a cross-level interaction between race of the family and county physician racial composition. The title is a rhetorical question that identifies the issue addressed in the chart, and the annotations explain the pattern. The chart version substantially reduces the amount of time viewers need to understand the main take-home point, averting the need to mentally sum and exponentiate several coefficients from the table.

Figure 2 uses bulleted text to summarize other key results from the model, translating log-relative hazards into hazards ratios and interpreting them with minimal reliance on jargon. The results for family race, SCHIP plan, and county physician racial composition are not repeated in Figure 2 , averting the common problem of interpreting main effect coefficients and interaction coefficients without reference to one another.

Alternatively, replace the text summary shown in Figure 2 with Table 2 —a simplified version of Table 1 which presents only the results for Model 5, replaces log-relative hazards with hazards ratios, reports associated confidence intervals in lieu of standard errors, and uses boldface to denote statistical significance. (On a color slide, use a contrasting color in lieu of bold.)

Relative Risks of SCHIP Disenrollment for Other * Family and County Characteristics, New Jersey, January 1998–April 2000

Statistically significant associations are shown in bold.

Based on hierarchical linear model controlling for months enrolled, months-squared, race, SCHIP plan, county physician racial composition, and all variables shown here. Scaled deviance =30,895. Random effects estimate for between-county variance =0.005 (standard error =0.006). SCHIP, State Children's Health Insurance Program; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval.

CONTENTS AND ORGANIZATION OF A POSTER

Research posters are organized like scientific papers, with separate pages devoted to the objectives and background, data and methods, results, and conclusions ( Briscoe 1996 ). Readers view the posters at their own pace and at close range; thus you can include more detail than in slides for a speech (see Appendix A for a detailed comparison of content and format of papers, speeches, and posters). Don't simply post pages from the scientific paper, which are far too text-heavy for a poster. Adapt them, replacing long paragraphs and complex tables with bulleted text, charts, and simple tables ( Briscoe 1996 ; Beilenson 2004 ). Fink (1995) provides useful guidelines for writing text bullets to convey research results. Use presentation software such as PowerPoint to create your pages or adapt them from related slides, facilitating good page layout with generous type size, bullets, and page titles. Such software also makes it easy to create matching handouts (see “Handouts”).

The “W's” (who, what, when, where, why) are an effective way to organize the elements of a poster.

• In the introductory section, describe what you are studying, why it is important, and how your analysis will add to the existing literature in the field.
• In the data and methods section of a statistical analysis, list when, where, who, and how the data were collected, how many cases were involved, and how the data were analyzed. For other types of interventions or program evaluations, list who, when, where, and how many, along with how the project was implemented and assessed.
• In the results section, present what you found.
• In the conclusion, return to what you found and how it can be used to inform programs or policies related to the issue.

Number and Layout of Pages

To determine how many pages you have to work with, find out the dimensions of your assigned space. A 4′ × 8′ bulletin board accommodates the equivalent of about twenty 8.5″ × 11″ pages, but be selective—no poster can capture the full detail of a large series of multivariate models. A trifold presentation board (3′ high by 4′ wide) will hold roughly a dozen pages, organized into three panels ( Appendix B ). Breaking the arrangement into vertical sections allows viewers to read each section standing in one place while following the conventions of reading left-to-right and top-to-bottom ( Briscoe 1996 ).

• At the top of the poster, put an informative title in a large, readable type size. On a 4′ × 8′ bulletin board, there should also be room for an institutional logo.

Suggested Layout for a 4′ × 8′ poster.

• In the left-hand panel, set the stage for the research question, conveying why the topic is of policy interest, summarizing major empirical or theoretical work on related topics, and stating your hypotheses or project aims, and explaining how your work fills in gaps in previous analyses.
• In the middle panel, briefly describe your data source, variables, and methods, then present results in tables or charts accompanied by text annotations. Diagrams, maps, and photographs are very effective for conveying issues difficult to capture succinctly in words ( Miller 2005 ), and to help readers envision the context. A schematic diagram of relationships among variables can be useful for illustrating causal order. Likewise, a diagram can be a succinct way to convey timing of different components of a longitudinal study or the nested structure of a multilevel dataset.
• In the right-hand panel, summarize your findings and relate them back to the research question or project aims, discuss strengths and limitations of your approach, identify research, practice, or policy implications, and suggest directions for future research.

Figure 3 (adapted from Beilenson 2004 ) shows a suggested layout for a 4′ × 8′ bulletin board, designed to be created using software such as Pagemaker that generates a single-sheet presentation; Appendix C shows a complete poster version of the Phillips et al. (2004) multilevel analysis of SCHIP disenrollment. If hardware or budget constraints preclude making a single-sheet poster, a similar configuration can be created using standard 8.5″ × 11″ pages in place of the individual tables, charts, or blocks of text shown in Figure 3 .

Find out well in advance how the posters are to be mounted so you can bring the appropriate supplies. If the room is set up for table-top presentations, tri-fold poster boards are essential because you won't have anything to attach a flat poster board or pages to. If you have been assigned a bulletin board, bring push-pins or a staple gun.

Regardless of whether you will be mounting your poster at the conference or ahead of time, plan how the pages are to be arranged. Experiment with different page arrangements on a table marked with the dimensions of your overall poster. Once you have a final layout, number the backs of the pages or draw a rough sketch to work from as you arrange the pages on the board. If you must pin pages to a bulletin board at the conference venue, allow ample time to make them level and evenly spaced.

Other Design Considerations

A few other issues to keep in mind as you design your poster. Write a short, specific title that fits in large type size on the title banner of your poster. The title will be potential readers' first glimpse of your poster, so make it inviting and easy to read from a distance—at least 40-point type, ideally larger. Beilenson (2004) advises embedding your key finding in the title so viewers don't have to dig through the abstract or concluding page to understand the purpose and conclusions of your work. A caution: If you report a numeric finding in your title, keep in mind that readers may latch onto it as a “factoid” to summarize your conclusions, so select and phrase it carefully ( McDonough 2000 ).

Use at least 14-point type for the body of the poster text. As Briscoe (1996) points out, “many in your audience have reached the bifocal age” and all of them will read your poster while standing, hence long paragraphs in small type will not be appreciated! Make judicious use of color. Use a clear, white, or pastel for the background, with black or another dark color for most text, and a bright, contrasting shade to emphasize key points or to identify statistically significant results ( Davis 1997 ).

NARRATIVE TO ACCOMPANY A POSTER

Prepare a brief oral synopsis of the purpose, findings, and implications of your work to say to interested parties as they pause to read your poster. Keep it short—a few sentences that highlight what you are studying, a couple of key findings, and why they are important. Design your overview as a “sound byte” that captures your main points in a succinct and compelling fashion ( Beilenson 2004 ). After hearing your introduction, listeners will either nod and move along or comment on some aspect of your work that intrigues them. You can then tailor additional discussion to individual listeners, adjusting the focus and amount of detail to suit their interests. Gesture at the relevant pages as you make each point, stating the purpose of each chart or table and explaining its layout before describing the numeric findings; see Miller (2005) for guidelines on how to explain tables and charts to a live audience. Briscoe (1996) points out that these mini-scripts are opportunities for you to fill in details of your story line, allowing you to keep the pages themselves simple and uncluttered.

Prepare short answers to likely questions about various aspects of your work, such as why it is important from a policy or research perspective, or descriptions of data, methods, and specific results. Think of these as little modules from an overall speech—concise descriptions of particular elements of your study that you can choose among in response to questions that arise. Beilenson (2004) also recommends developing a few questions to ask your viewers, inquiring about their reactions to your findings, ideas for additional questions, or names of others working on the topic.

Practice your poster presentation in front of a test audience acquainted with the interests and statistical proficiency of your expected viewers. Ideally, your critic should not be too familiar with your work: A fresh set of eyes and ears is more likely to identify potential points of confusion than someone who is jaded from working closely with the material while writing the paper or drafting the poster ( Beilenson 2004 ). Ask your reviewer to identify elements that are unclear, flag jargon to be paraphrased or defined, and recommend changes to improve clarity ( Miller 2005 ). Have them critique your oral presentation as well as the contents and layout of the poster.

Prepare handouts to distribute to interested viewers. These can be produced from slides created in presentation software, printed several to a page along with a cover page containing the abstract and your contact information. Or package an executive summary or abstract with a few key tables or charts. Handouts provide access to the more detailed literature review, data and methods, full set of results, and citations without requiring viewers to read all of that information from the poster ( Beilenson 2004 ; Miller 2005 ). Although you also can bring copies of the complete paper, it is easier on both you and your viewers if you collect business cards or addresses and mail the paper later.

The quality and effectiveness of research posters at professional conferences is often compromised by authors' failure to take into account the unique nature of such presentations. One common error is posting numerous statistical tables and long paragraphs from a research paper—an approach that overwhelms viewers with too much detail for this type of format and presumes familiarity with advanced statistical techniques. Following recommendations from the literature on research communication and poster design, this paper shows how to focus each poster on a few key points, using charts and text bullets to convey results as part of a clear, straightforward story line, and supplementing with handouts and an oral overview.

Another frequent mistake is treating posters as a one-way means of communication. Unlike published papers, poster sessions are live presentations; unlike speeches, they allow for extended conversation with viewers. This note explains how to create an oral synopsis of the project, short modular descriptions of poster elements, and questions to encourage dialog. By following these guidelines, researchers can substantially improve their conference posters as vehicles to disseminate findings to varied research and policy audiences.

CHECKLIST FOR PREPARING AND PRESENTING AN EFFECTIVE RESEARCH POSTERS

• Design poster to focus on two or three key points.
• Adapt materials to suit expected viewers' knowledge of your topic and methods.
• Design questions to meet their interests and expected applications of your work.
• Paraphrase descriptions of complex statistical methods.
• Spell out acronyms if used.
• Replace large detailed tables with charts or small, simplified tables.
• Accompany tables or charts with bulleted annotations of major findings.
• Describe direction and magnitude of associations.
• Use confidence intervals, p -values, symbols, or formatting to denote statistical significance.

Layout and Format

• Organize the poster into background, data and methods, results, and study implications.
• Divide the material into vertical sections on the poster.
• Use at least 14-point type in the body of your poster, at least 40-point for the title.

Narrative Description

• Rehearse a three to four sentence overview of your research objectives and main findings.
• Summary of key studies and gaps in existing literature
• Data and methods
• Each table, chart, or set of bulleted results
• Research, policy, and practice implications
• Solicit their input on your findings
• Develop additional questions for later analysis
• Identify other researchers in the field
• Prepare handouts to distribute to interested viewers.
• Print slides from presentation software, several to a page.
• Or package an executive summary or abstract with a few key tables or charts.
• Include an abstract and contact information.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Ellen Idler, Julie Phillips, Deborah Carr, Diane (Deedee) Davis, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this work.

Supplementary Material

The following supplementary material for this article is available online:

APPENDIX A.1. Comparison of Research Papers, Presentations, and Posters—Materials and Audience Interaction.

Suggested Layout for a Tri-Fold Presentation Board.

Example Research Poster of Phillips et al. 2004 Study.

• Beilenson J. Developing Effective Poster Presentations. Gerontology News. 2004; 32 (9):6–9. [ Google Scholar ]
• Briscoe MH. Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A Guide to Better Posters, Presentations, and Publications. 2. New York: Springer-Verlag; 1996. [ Google Scholar ]
• Davis M. Scientific Papers and Presentations. New York: Academic Press; 1997. [ Google Scholar ]
• DiFranza JR. A Researcher's Guide to Effective Dissemination of Policy-Related Research. Princeton, NJ: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; 1996. the Staff of the Advocacy Institute, with Assistance from the Center for Strategic Communications. [ Google Scholar ]
• Fink A. How to Report on Surveys. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications; 1995. [ Google Scholar ]
• Friedman GD. Be Kind to Your Reader. American Journal of Epidemiology. 1990; 132 (4):591–3. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Maciejewski ML, Diehr P, Smith MA, Hebert P. Common Methodological Terms in Health Services Research and Their Symptoms. Medical Care. 2002; 40 :477–84. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• McDonough J. Experiencing Politics: A Legislator's Stories of Government and Health Care. Berkeley: University of California Press; 2000. [ Google Scholar ]
• Miller JE. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis. Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing and Publishing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 2005. [ Google Scholar ]
• Nelson DE, Brownson RC, Remington PL, Parvanta C, editors. Communicating Public Health Information Effectively: A Guide for Practitioners. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; 2002. [ Google Scholar ]
• Phillips JA, Miller JE, Cantor JC, Gaboda D. Context or Composition. What Explains Variation in SCHIP Disenrollment? Health Services Research. 2004; 39 (4, part I):865–8. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Snowdon D. Aging with Grace: What the Nun Study Teaches Us about Leading Longer, Healthier, and More Meaningful Lives. New York: Bantam Books; 2001. [ Google Scholar ]
• Sorian R, Baugh T. Power of Information Closing the Gap between Research and Policy. Health Affairs. 2002; 21 (2):264–73. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Tufte ER. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. 2. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press; 2001. [ Google Scholar ]

• Library Pages

How to Create a Poster Presentation

Getting started, poster design best practices.

• Don't be too wordy! Keep text concise and clear.
• Organization is key. Think about what you want to say first and then carefully consider layout.
• Consider your audience. What will they have questions about? What do you want them to learn from your poster?
• Make sure your title is descriptive and large enough to be readable from far away.
• Think about image and font sizes so the poster is readable from 5-8 feet away.
• Use headings, bullets, and graphics to break up text.
• Make sure your images and graphics have contrast so they pop on the page.
• Think about including contact information for those who want more information.
• Remember, your poster will read left to right just like a page.

Example Posters (Click arrow to scroll through)

Award Categories

This year posters will be judged in two categories:

Most Visually Appealing Poster Description: A visually appealing poster can be judged based on the following criteria:

• Do visuals enhance poster content? Is it eye-catching?
• Are the components of the poster balanced across the space?
• Easy to read, pleasing-on-the-eye font/ color scheme choices? Is text error-free?
• Are photographs, graphs, tables, and other graphics creative?  

Best Articulation of Career Development Through Internship Description: In this category, we are looking for the poster to show how the internship impacted the student’s career path and development of career competencies.

• Poster provides clear description of the internship including student’s responsibilities/accomplishments
• Poster clearly identifies career readiness skills and how they were strengthened through internship
• Poster articulates student’s next steps and career goals
• Poster showcases internship in dynamic way such as “day-in-the-life”

Poster Template

This template will help you get started. Just download this and add your content to the boxes using PowerPoint. Be sure to keep the box sizes the same so that the poster will print properly.

Need Access to PowerPoint?

Because of the ease of importing images, formatting text boxes, and making slides with extra-large dimensions, many people use PowerPoint for creating posters. For this project, please use the PowerPoint template on this page for your poster. BC students can download PowerPoint for free . You are only allowed one download per computer. If you have received a new computer since your first download, you can re-download it on your new device. For any other technical assistance or if installation does not work, please connect directly with BC Information Technology Services by either calling (617-552-4357) or visiting the IT Help Desk located in O’Neill Library, 3rd floor. For those on or close to campus this summer, you can also use the Library computers that house all softwares.

Microsoft Office @ BC

• Last Updated: Feb 7, 2023 11:38 AM

Poster Presentations

• Getting Started
• Creating Posters
• Organizing Content
• Adding Images
• Poster Templates
• Printing Posters
• Presenting Posters

Common Elements 

Traditional academic posters include the following elements:

• Introduction
• Materials and Methodology
• Conclusions
• Works Cited
• Acknowledgments

Design Tips

• Remove unnecessary text. Describe main points succinctly.
• Title should be around 85-120 points.
• Body text should be anywhere between 24 and 36 points.
• Use headings to organize content. Double your body text size for any headings. 
• For readability, use consistent font in a high contrasting color (e.g. black font on white background).
• Include visuals that illustrate points from the research.
• Use white/negative space to create a clean, streamlined design.
• Consider using a color palette generator to identify complementary colors.

Example Research Posters

• Example Posters with Critique Created by Hess et al. at NC State University.

Content on this page was adapted from the University of Michigan Library's guide, " Designing Presentation & Research Posters with Illustrator ." 

Organize Content Symmetrically

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How to Prepare for a Poster Session

• Introduction to Poster Sessions
• Components of a Poster Presentation
• Designing Your Poster
• Printing Your Poster
• Archiving Your Poster
• Additional Resources

Components of a Poster Session

Presentation.

Prior to the poster session, you should prepare and practice a 1-2 minute "elevator pitch" or "lightning talk" about your research project. In preparing for your presentation, think about how much information can reasonably be conveyed in 1-2 minutes. Since your poster already contains a lot of information, your presentation should aim to complement and highlight the information on the poster, not repeat it. Present information that provides context for the information on your poster, while following the organizational structure of the poster. 

One simple approach is to think about a unique experience or insight that adds a human element to your research. What makes your project interesting? How did you become involved in this work to begin with? A brief anecdote may be useful, and can serve as a way to catch people's attention and get them interested in learning more about your research.

In preparing your presentation, it's important to think about your anticipated audience. Are you presenting at a conference likely to be attended by specialists in your field, or are you presenting at a multidisciplinary event that will be attended by people with different backgrounds and levels of expertise? In either case, a good rule of thumb is to minimize your use of jargon or overly technical language, and this is particularly important for events that will draw a more general audience. Try practicing your presentation for a friend who doesn't have any background in your area of research. If they find your presentation difficult to follow, this is a good indicator that you should work on simplifying your language to make the information more accessible. 

Finally, think about what sorts of questions people may have for you. If you are able to practice in front of someone, encourage them to ask you questions about your research. And don't worry if you don't know the answer to someone's question. Thank them for your question, and offer to the follow up with them later after you've had some time to think it over. 

While your presentation is arguably the most important element of a poster presentation, the poster itself is generally what catches people's attention. This portion of the guide discusses the role that your poster plays in presenting your research. For information about formatting and designing your poster, see the Designing Your Poster page . 

The role of the poster is to provide a visual outline of your research project. It should not aim to represent the project in full detail. It may be helpful to think of your poster as a highlight reel of your research project. It is important to strike a balance between including enough information so that the poster is informative, while avoiding including too much information as this can make your poster difficult for people to take in, or create information overload. Aim to strike a balance between text and visuals. The question of what types of visuals are appropriate will depend on the details of your project, but some possibilities are data visualizations (e.g. charts or graphs) or photographs. 

The best approach may be to think of your poster as a visual aid for your presentation. So in preparing your poster, consider what you can cover in your presentation, and how this might be enhanced by visual material that you can include on the poster. What might it be useful to refer to on your poster in the course of giving your presentation? Visuals are especially useful when they can convey information that is difficult to express with text alone. 

The final component of a successful poster presentation is a handout. While handouts are generally not required, they can be beneficial for a number of reasons. First, they provide you with more space with which you can convey additional information, information that may be important to convey, but not quite important enough to include on your poster. Handouts also serve as a way to help attendees remember you (so be sure to include your name and contact information!). 

In most cases you should limit your handout to a single sheet of paper which can contain information on both sides. On one side, consider including an image fo the poster. This will help attendees associate the handout with their interactions with you during the session. Color printing can be expensive, so it's alright to use a black and white image of the poster so long as it's clear and legible. You can always include a URL to a full color image of the poster online. In addition to supplementary information, you can use the handout to list URLs for your website, or any place online where people can learn more about your research. 

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Layout is where things go on your poster  

Once you have decided what sections and graphics you want to include on your poster, then you need to decide how to organize and arrange this information.

Sketch a layout for your poster on paper

Before you start working in a design program, do a rough sketch of the layout on paper.  You can take a picture of this sketch and upload it to your design program to use as a template.

Organize content in a logical manner so viewers can easily read your poster  

Arrange content in the order that people naturally read.  In English, we read left to right, top to bottom.

Put a banner with your title, authors and affiliations at the top of your poster.  Use titles and headings to guide your viewer.

Arrange content in 2-4 columns

Align columns, headings and graphics using the alignment features of your design program.

Distribute text and graphics evenly throughout the poster

Leave white space around the entire poster (margins) and between content, keeping spaces even.

Image Credit : Compiled from Hess, G.R., K. Tosney, and L. Liegel. 2014. Creating Effective Poster Presentations .

Create a color scheme with 2-3 colors

Create your own color scheme, or choose from amongst the hundreds of themes that others have created, in the free Adobe Color site: https://color.adobe.com .  These themes are accessible from within Adobe InDesign.  InDesign can also generate a custom color scheme based on the colors in an image that you have uploaded.

Use dark text on a light-colored background

Light text on a dark background is difficult to read.  Also consider color values (lightness vs. darkness) and contrast (perceived difference in color and brightness between two colors that are close to one another).  If font color is too similar to the background color, then it will be hard to read.

Do not use excessively bright colors

Bright colors may attract viewers to your poster, but they are often distracting and difficult to read.

Do not use patterns or gradients

Patterns and gradients look unprofessional and dated.

Consider people who have trouble differentiating colors

Many people have difficulty distinguishing colors from one another.  Do not use red and green next to one another because an inability to distinguish red from green is one of the most common forms of color vision deficiency. 

Types of Color Vision Deficiency

Image Credit : Joeybatt on Pixabay , modified for "You'll Be Amazed How People with Color Blindness See the World" Source : boredpanda

What fonts should I use?

Use 1-2 fonts consistently. 

Use sans serif fonts (e.g. Arial) for titles and headings.

Use serif fonts (e.g. Times New Roman) for text.

Do not use unusual fonts, such as Comic Sans.  Do not use word art.

Image Credit : S  ara-Ruth Wolkiewicz in "How to Use Typography in Your Marketing Design" Source : GetResponse

Image Credit : Vinicio Chanto in "Best Times New Roman Alternatives" Source : Slidebean

What size should the text be?

Font size depends on the size of your poster.  Here are some guidelines:

• Title: 80-120 point
• Names and affiliations: 60-90 point
• Headings: 44-80 point
• Text: 32-52 point

Graphics, such as charts, tables, graphs, figures and photographs, are an excellent way to impart information to your viewers.  The type of graphics that you use will depend on your audience and the message of your poster.

Create graphics that are easy-to-read and self-explanatory

Your graphics should be large enough that they can be read by a person standing a few feet away.  Do not make 3-dimensional charts or graphs because they can be difficult to read.

Give each graphic a title.  Clearly label charts, tables, graphs and photographs.

Think beyond the basic chart or graph, and consider how other data visualizations or infographics might help convey your message.

Create or edit graphics in a separate program or file, then import into your poster design program

For a list of design software available at Tufts for installation on personal or work computers, see Tufts Technology Services software page: https://it.tufts.edu/soft .

For a list of design software available on the Hirsh Health Science Library's computers, see our software page: https://hirshlibrary.tufts.edu/it-support/software .

I found an image online, can I use it on my poster?

Try not to use clip art or generic graphics.  Consult our image reuse tool to determine if you can use a graphic that you did not create: http://hirshlibrary.tufts.edu/research/image-reuse .

If you do use a graphic that you did not create, then you must cite it.

What resolution and format should my images be?

Use images with a resolution of 200-300 pixels per inch (ppi).

Use vector images for logos and illustrations.  Vector images do not lose their definition when you increase their size.  Raster images are used for photographs.  Raster images are composed of pixels, and therefore become blurry when you increase their size. 

• Vector formats: AI, SVG, EPS, PDF
• Raster formats: GIF, JPG, PNG, PSD, TIF

Image Credit : Carey Christie in "What is the Difference Between Vector and Raster Graphics" Source : Dever Designs

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Learn More About Poster Design

• Designing Conference Posters This site offers tips on writing content for each section of your poster, design dos and don'ts, and downloadable PowerPoint templates.
• F1000Research Looking for ideas? Browse the F1000Research poster repository, which accepts posters on research in the biomedical sciences. Posters are not peer-reviewed.
• PowerPoint Poster Templates Free, downloadable poster templates for PowerPoint.
• The Scientist's Guide to Poster Design Comprehensive guide on poster design, written by Kathryn Everson, an evolutionary biology PhD student at the University of Alaska.
• The Scientist: Poster Perfect Tips from researchers on designing and writing content for posters.
• Last Updated: Jan 11, 2024 12:00 PM
• URL: https://researchguides.library.tufts.edu/makeposter

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Presentation Portion of Poster Presentation

Poster presentations are one of the most common ways to disseminate information at meetings and conferences.  Poster presentations provide space for the researcher and audience to come together for discussion and Q&A. 

Below you will find information on how to give a successful poster presentation.

Effective Presentation Tips

Below you will find some tips and tricks to help make you an effective presenter. 

Eye Contact

Making eye contact is a great way to engage with your audience.  Eye contact should be no longer than 2-3 seconds per person.  Eye contact for much longer than that can begin to make the audience member feel uncomfortable.

Smiling lets attendees know you are happy to be there and that you are excited to talk with them about your project.

We all know that body language says a lot, so here are some things you should remember when giving your presentation.

• Stand with both feet on the floor, not with one foot crossed over the other. 
• Do not stand with your hands in your pockets, or with your arms crossed.
• Stand tall with confidence and own your space (remember you are the expert).  

Abbreviated Notes

Having a written set of notes or key points that you want to address can help prevent you from reading the poster. 

Speak Clearly

Sometimes when we get nervous we begin to talk fast and blur our words.  It is important that you make sure every word is distinct and clear. A great way to practice your speech is to say tongue twisters. 

Ten tiny tots tottered toward the shore

Literally literary. Literally literary.  Literally literary.

Sally soon saw that she should sew some sheets.

Avoid Fillers

Occasionally we pick up fillers that we are not aware of, such as um, like, well, etc. One way to get rid of fillers is to have a friend listen to your speech and every time you say a "filler" have that friend tap you on the arm or say your name.  This will bring the filler to light, then you can practice avoiding that filler.

Manage Anxiety

Many people get nervous when they are about to speak to a crowd of people.  Below are ways that you can manage your anxiety levels. 

• Practice, Practice, Practice - the more prepared you are the less nervous you will be.
• Recognize that anxiety is just a big shot of adrenalin.
• Take deep breaths before your presentation to calm you down. 

Giving an Effective Poster Presentation

Presention Help

Are feeling anxious about an upcoming speech or presentation? Do you worry about your audience being able to understand what you are saying? Are stumbling over how to organize a successful presentation?

If so, the Speech Communication Center can help you organize and deliver a dynamic, engaging, and organized presentation.  You can schedule a one-on-one consultation by clicking here .

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Planning a poster session in 2024

.Organising a poster session at a conference? Use these ideas to make your event a beneficial experience for all.

The basic concept for poster sessions may have originated in Europe in the 1900s. The diverse range of languages created the desire for conference delegates to absorb information at their own pace. While these sessions likely began as innovative, focused gatherings, they have evolved into a large and expected feature at most scientific conferences. Attending delegates expect to gain insight into their field and network with other researchers. And poster presenters (who are often early-career researchers ) hope to promote their research and gain feedback on it. 

But the resources available to researchers have changed a lot in the past 100 years. So, how can you plan an engaging poster session that belongs in the 21st century?

Poster sessions have turned into massive events with seemingly endless rows of material for delegates to scan through (Source: AGU ).

Ditch the boring poster templates

Arguably, the only people who benefit from old-fashioned, required templates at conferences are awards judges and those presenters who leave creating their posters until the very last minute. The rest of your attendees are hindered by this approach. Presenters lose their ability to be creative with layout and content, while interested viewers are bombarded by rows of identical posters. So ditch the boring templates, and if you’re concerned about presenters making a mess of their posters (or if you have required sections for a particular award), send them poster design tips instead.

If you are dead-set on requesting a specific design, at least make it beneficial to those who will engage with it. Presenters want to get their work noticed and should be using their poster like an advertisement for attendees to come up and speak to them. Viewers want to be able to scan posters as they walk past, gain insights, and decide which bits of research they’d like to learn more about. How can you design your session to help them meet these goals? Well, you could follow the lead of Mike Morrison, a student from the University of Michigan. 

Mike provided an innovative take on the dusty old research poster template, and the video he created about his theory has prompted other researchers to think about how to reinvent the wheel. One conference even adopted his format as a required template for posters.

Consider if e-posters are the right choice for your conference

At one point in the past, an e-poster revolution was expected to sweep paper posters away. But the revolution never quite materialised. While e-posters are seen much more frequently now than when they emerged in the 90s, it doesn’t mean they’re always the right choice for your conference. Consider the following:

How many poster submissions do you have?

The size of your poster session impacts the feasibility of using e-posters. If every presenter will want their own space to stand and discuss their work with attendees, the cost and effort of using e-posters is unlikely to be worth the benefits for a large session. If you’re holding smaller, focused sessions, with presenters that rotate as the day progresses, e-posters can be an efficient way to reduce set-up times between sessions.

Do your poster presenters have far to travel?

For presenters, lugging a bulky poster board or transporting their paper poster without ruining it can be a big concern. Consider how far your presenters will be travelling and the transport issues they face. You can provide e-poster screens to make it easier on international delegates. If this is too complicated or out-of-scope for your event budget, you can also organise a sponsorship agreement with a local printing company and offer to print posters for people on-site (or deliver them on the day). 

Example of an interactive e-poster session displayed on touch-screen (Source: A GU ).

How will presenters and attendees want to interact with the posters? Using e-posters can offer presenters a wider variety of formatting options (like slideshow, video, or even expandable “more info” boxes). This functionality allows for unique poster presentations and can make the experience more engaging for attendees as well. Additionally, if you have the budget, providing a database of posters on a few “self-guided” touch screens can allow attendees to browse through posters and zoom in on areas of interest at their own pace. It’s also a handy space-saving technique if you don’t have room for a massive poster session in your venue.

Are you attempting to be a more sustainable conference ?

E-posters can be a good contributor to sustainability goals as they avoid creating heaps of paper waste.

E-posters are much more popular now, but many organisers choose to still offer physical printed poster sessions (while also making those posters available to access online). Or, like in Mike’s poster, researchers are including QR codes that allow others to view the poster along with more detailed information on their phones. There are multiple ways to take advantage of e-poster technology to improve your poster session experience. Just make sure you consider why and how you’ll use them before you invest the money and time required to pull it off.

Use an online system to collect and review poster submissions

Beyond providing the opportunity for e-posters, technology has revolutionised the way organisers are able to manage their conference submission and selection process. If you’re organising a large conference with hundreds of submissions (for both posters and presentations), it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Online abstract management software can provide an efficient way to stay on track. If you’re already using an online system to manage submissions for oral or panel presentations, you can use the same system to collect and review poster submissions. Using a uniform system lightens the workload for your organising team and makes the experience more friendly for delegates submitting in multiple formats.

Drive discussion in-person and online

A primary goal for presenters and delegates attending poster sessions is the potential to build a network and have valuable discussions surrounding their area of research. As an organiser, you can create and promote platforms that help your attendees achieve these goals. One way you can do this is by holding small, focused discussion groups or workshops after each poster session. If you organise your posters by topic, you can easily sort people into relevant groups for this type of activity. A group like this can provide a great way for people to continue relevant conversations from earlier. While also for them to meet new people in their area that they might have missed while looking around the poster reception.

Another way to promote discussion and create a more casual atmosphere is to include topic-specific pop-up poster sessions in various locations. Having a smaller number of posters in one area reduces the likelihood of your attendees feeling overwhelmed. Having a focused topic increases the likelihood that presenters and viewers engage with the research. Providing small drink and snack stations by these pop-up sessions during key times can also attract viewers, create a more casual vibe, and encourage people to hang around and chat longer.

Finally, the discussion doesn’t have to occur only in person. Regardless of your poster session set-up, you can create a virtual poster session using social media or your conference website. Encourage interested delegates to contribute to a digital poster session using specific a Twitter hashtag , and allow follow-up tweets about their work so that people can browse and discuss high-interest entries ahead of time. After the physical poster session, encourage attendees to continue their discussions online.

Help promote good poster session etiquette

“What happens in the poster session, stays in the poster session.” 

When it comes to scientific posters, online exposure isn’t always a good thing. For various reasons, some presenters may not be comfortable with their work being shared online. So if you’re planning a poster session, it’s good practice to hand out badges that presenters can tack above their posters to indicate their preferences. At the very least, include options for “no social media” and “no photos.” Then you can add badges for presenters who want to encourage photos or social media sharing of their work. You could even suggest that they include their Twitter handle alongside the “social media friendly” badge. 

Make sure to explain the meaning of these badges in any poster session rules and on signs. On that note, providing a general list of attendee and presenter tips for poster sessions is never a bad idea. Promoting etiquette and respect at the conference is a valuable part of your job. You can encourage attendees to help you with this.

Let delegates pick a winning poster

One effective way to foster engagement and creativity in your poster session is to offer a range of “people’s choice” awards. They ca be selected by your delegates. Use an online voting system and give attendees an easy way to pick their favourite posters. Then, offer a small reward for the winners of each category (or just bragging rights). Even if they don’t receive any large grants or awards, there are often gems among the poster presenters that could benefit from a bit of recognition. An award-winning poster should be like an ad to talk to the presenter, and to convince people the related research is worthy of a closer look. This competition can encourage presenters to think beyond their perspective on the research they’ve done, and consider their audience more carefully. 

For additional tips on organising a poster session…

Colin Purrington has a great list of things to consider in this post on his blog.

Stress the small details with this logistical list to use when planning your poster session.

Gemma Elliott

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How to: Poster Presentations: Parts of a Research Poster

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Always check your instructions when planning and designing your poster.

Your poster content should include about 3-4 pages of info (less than 1000 words). Edit your content down to focus on the central points you want to communicate to your audience.

Deciding what to include on your poster:

• Keep your audience in mind when planning what to include in your presentation.  Are you presenting at an academic conference, a scientific conference, to fellow students and faculty who may or may not be familiar with your subject area? If you are sharing your poster to a group that may not be familiar with your topic or field of study, stay away from using overly technical terms that not everyone will understand.

The following are typical headings/sections included on research posters. Only use the ones that make sense for your presentation.

Title - Your title should be clear and catchy. Not overly wordy, something to draw viewers over to your poster.

Author(s) - Author(s) name(s) should be displayed just below the title.

Introduction - A short summary of the question(s) that your research is exploring.

Materials/Methods  - What materials and/or methods did you use to investigate your topic?

Analysis  - A breakdown of your research topic/data.

Results   - A summation of your discoveries. 

Conclusions - A brief exploration of the implications of your results.

Citations - Citations for all unoriginal elements of your presentation! Use one citation style (ex: MLA, APA, etc.).

Acknowledgments - Acknowledge those who helped with your presentation - fellow classmates, colleagues, staff, professors, other professionals and any funding or other support. 

Contact/Further Information - Include your contact information so people can follow up with you after the presentation. Include your name, email address, affiliation and consider using a QR code for easy follow up.  

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Poster Presentation Design

Poster elements, poster sections, poster arrangement.

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The top 3 elements to include on a poster are:

• The Project Title Truthfully and succinctly indicate what your research project is about.  
• Your Project Information and Results Again, sharing your project with a broader audience is a main goal for poster presenting. Read the tips for "Poster Sections" below for specific details.  
• Your Contact Information At a minimum, this should include your name and a valid email address for you (the presenter). You may also want to consider including the name of your current university or business, job title, a phone number, etc. If you maintain a website for your research, a QR code or web address providing directions to the website would be appropriate. If your research project was funded by an organization or foundation, they should be acknowledged or thanked on the poster.

Like a research article or research paper, there are expectations that poster presentations include certain information, which may be organized in labeled sections if you choose.

Sections / Headings for Posters

Abstract / introduction-.

Length: 2 or 3 sentences. Many conferences will include the poster essay or abstract you submitted when proposing to present within the conference program or booklet. This means that the full abstract doesn't usually need to be placed on the poster itself. Additionally, the full abstract would likely be too much text for the audience to read during a poster presentation session. You will want to include the basic information of your study such as the research questions you were hoping to answer, your hypotheses, and even a very basic overview of results.

Length: A few bullet points or sentences, and/or images, graphs, charts, infographics. This section tells people the "how" of your research or study. "How" did you set up your study to research your questions and test your hypothesis? Did you use a common research method or did you try a different approach? Methods also tell the audience who or what you studied to find answers. So if for example you distributed a survey, include a breakdown of your sample group with information on the sample size and group makeup. If you are presenting on a literature review, you may choose to skip including a detailed methods section since the audience will be familiar with that research method and won't need much of an explanation.

Length: Images, graphs, charts, infographics and likely a few bullet points or sentences. The results section is typically one of the largest. This section presents your data and the answers the data presented to you. Each research project is different, so you will have to consider your project and results to determine which results are significant, and which are less important and can be left off. It is extremely important to present the results without bias or omitting important information. Do not present a false impression of your research! Even if you consider your study/method to be a "failure" or all your hypotheses were wrong, it is ok! You learned something from the study you conducted, and that is what is important and what should be presented on the poster. Present results data honestly and fully. 

Discussion / Conclusions-

Length: A few bullet points or sentences, or the discussion can be larger depending on the research project. This section provides the bigger-picture or overview interpretation for your results if the answers weren't clear from the data presented in the results section. It also provides an explanation for why the results are important (or not so important depending on the study) and what was learned from the research study. This section sometimes explains how the results could influence or inspire further research studies, or defines real-world applications that the current research would support. The discussion will sometimes clearly state whether or not the study aligns with earlier studies found within the academic literature.

Other than the title being at the top and center of your poster, there can be a lot of flexibility across academic disciplines for arranging the different sections of a poster. Depending on your specific discipline, however, the norms and expectations for poster arrangement and structure may be significant. These are most likely set by the traditions of discipline-specific societies or associations encountered within those areas of study. Asking a more established researcher within the discipline about the level of creativity acceptable in poster design might be a good idea if you are presenting at a professional conference for the first time without having ever attended. Additionally, if posters from previous conferences have been made publicly available online, reviewing these posters may provide further insight into that particular audience's expectations. 

Things to keep in mind when creatively arranging posters:

• If you wish to arrange your poster creatively, use arrows to help guide the audience through the poster by indicating the preferred path that the information should be read.
• If you are using columns in your poster design, remember the entire left column will likely be read first, followed by the column directly to to the right of the first column, and so on.  
• There is a high probability that if you are presenting at a conference, the audience members will likely be other researchers. Depending on the discipline, some audience members may prefer to read posters where each section is present, labeled, and arranged in the order above. The order being: introduction, methods, results, and discussion/conclusions. If a secondary goal for your presentation is the opportunity to network with potential employers, try to determine whether the employers you wish to attract would appreciate a creative or a traditional-style poster more.
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Organizing a Poster Session

By ALEXA SAND

Poster sessions have not been a big part of how the humanities communicates research and scholarship, but they should be. Poster sessions are much more inclusive than panels and help shape the future of the discipline in ways that panels cannot. With their less structured format, their casual, chatty atmosphere, and their emphasis on a wide variety of research and creative work as opposed to a narrow focus, they provide many more opportunities for discussion, idea-generation, and networking than does a traditional panel format. Here are some considerations for those who want to organize a poster session either at a conference or at their home institution.

Like space, poster sessions vary in length. A very large session, with 40-50 posters, might last as long as 75 minutes, but a smaller session could be as short as 30 minutes, enough time for visitors to get their fill of all the posters that interest them and to talk to the presenters of the posters they find most compelling. An important thing to keep in mind is that it takes a bit of time to set up and take down posters, so between 10 and 15 minutes should be budgeted for that, again depending on the size of the session. It will take longer for presenters in a very large session to find their place and get set up, less time for smaller numbers.

Some poster sessions just happen, and when they’re over, they’re over. This can be a bit of a letdown for student participants and doesn’t provide organizers with any way to quantify or talk about the quality of the event. Designating a reasonable number of people as “respondents” can be a good idea. Assign these people 3-5 presenters to interact with and give them a clipboard, a pencil, and a rubric or a set of adaptable questions. This way, every presenter gets at least two or three interactions with visitors. You can collect the respondents’ rubrics and give their most helpful comments back to the participants, if you want to take this to the next level. At our annual student research symposium, we have a fairly sophisticated system for collecting assessments of student presentations, which uses a survey-software platform so that we can track data over the long term, but even a simple, paper form can be useful. Students really respond well to the feedback element, because they are in this as learners.

All this is to say nothing of the pragmatics and theory of what makes a good poster, what makes a good poster for the arts and/or humanities, or how to stand in front of a poster and present. These are each big topics in and of themselves. I highly encourage anyone just getting into the business of poster sessions to watch this video by Mike Morrison , a graduate student in psychology at the University of Michigan who has some fun and fairly radical ideas about how to use posters to communicate, but who also gets both the potential and the potential (indeed common) pitfalls of communicating research (or, I would argue creative activity) through a poster.

One thought on “Organizing a Poster Session”

Excellent advice, particularly for those of us in the humanities not as accustomed to poster sessions, but which are a welcome complement to papers and panels.

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Presentations and posters.

Presentations and posters are a key part of any profession. They are a way to share information to clients, colleagues, or the public in a simple visual format. Learn how to organize, format, and present your presentation or poster.

Presenting vs. Writing

Presentations are meant to convey much of the same information as a written report – but that does not mean you slap some figures and quotes on some slides and it makes a good presentation. You need to think carefully about the content and what you will say versus what is in writing on the slide.

Some of the key differences in presenting vs. writing are:

• Brevity – a presentation is generally shorter than a written report. You cannot get all the information in your report to fit into a presentation – so don’t try to. What you need to do is to select only the most valuable and important information. What are you trying the communicate and what does the audience really need to know in order to make the right decisions? It’s not easy cutting out what you feel are some really cool things about your work, but if it is not something the audience needs to know then leave it out. You can always refer them to the written report (or to yourself) if there are questions.
• Display – Screen space is different than paper space. While paper tends to be black and white, on the screen you can make use of colors and even animations to make your presentation pop. But don’t get too carried away and make a wild color scheme a distraction. Also, make sure that the font is readable for the people in the back of the room (yes, people really do want to be able to read the axis of a graph). So, in general, make sure no font size less than 12pt anywhere. For text in the presentation use at least 18 pt.
• Balance of Text and Graphics – Don’t use a lot of text on your slides and don’t read your slides to the audience! If you use too much text you might as well make it a written report and then what is the point of you presenting. The text on the slides should be the most important summary information (you don’t even have to use complete sentences). Graphics are also a great way to convey information. In general, you want at least one graphic on every slide.
• Delivery – It’s not just the words you say but also how you say them. The nonverbal communication in your presentation can make a large impression on the overall quality of the presentation. Try to be calm, confident, and engaging with the audience. Make sure that your presentation helps the audience follow your train of thought and grasp the key concepts.
• Engagement – In a presentation you want to engage with the audience. This means interacting with the audience (eye contact) and providing a presentation that entices them. Often you can begin a presentation with a short “hook” that grab’s the audience’s attention (anecdote, story, questions, applicable joke, etc.). This helps to engage the audience but also can be used to express the significance of the presentation.

Organization of the Presentation

Most presentations follow a fairly standard organization listed here. However, there are cases where different organizations need to be used so be sure to know what your audience needs. In making your slides you need to make sure that each slide conveys one main point usually described by the slide title.

Title Slide

The first slide is usually the title slide. It does much the same job as the cover page in a written report. You should give the title of your presentation, who is presenting (and who worked on the project), and affiliations (such as the company you work for or who is sponsoring the project). While presenting the title slide (or adding another after it) you may include your “hook” to help engage the audience and grab their attention.

Outline/Overview

The next slide generally gives an outline. It does much the same job as an abstract or a table of contents in a written report. You should let the audience know where you are going. Outline the project and the results that will be presented. Don’t use a generic outline, but tailor it to your presentation.

Motivation and Objectives

The third slide generally sets the stage for the audience. Why do they want to know about what you are presenting? What are the objectives of the project? What are the questions you are going to answer? This is probably your most important slide. Make sure the information on this slide ties the rest of your presentation together (every slide should be supporting the motivation and objectives and the conclusions should answer the questions raised here).

Experimental Setup or Design Requirements

If you are reporting on the results of an experiment you can describe the apparatus and procedures as well as any standards followed. If you are presenting a design report you can describe the requirements/constraints of the design problem and design goals.

The results section simply states the results of the design or laboratory experiments. In an experimental or laboratory research presentation the results will typically consist of the results of the calculations and/or experimental data. This is where you can put in your most important tables and figures that answer your research questions/objectives. Use limited text that highlights what the audience should take away from the graphic. You can explain in your speech the details. You should also give the audience an understanding of the methods used in analyzing your experiment. In a design presentation the results typically consist of calculation work done in interpreting the design. You don’t have to show all the calculations in a presentation, but you should give the audience an understanding of how you arrived at your design.

This is the heart of your presentation. You should present what you determined in the design or learned from the experiment. In an experimental or laboratory research presentation, you should analyze your results by discussing the data and interpreting your results. State the significance of your results clearly, and compare your results with theory or other work. Be sure to use quantitative comparisons in your discussion. Indicate if the results support the underlying theory or contradict it. In a design presentation, you should highlight the main recommendations of the design or compare the design with other alternatives. This may be where you evaluate the value vs. cost of the proposed design. The audience should have a clear understanding of why this design was chosen.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Based on the data you presented to the audience tell them what they should have learned or should do with that information. These conclusions should answer the motivations presented on the third slide. Conclusions are usually presented with a bulleted list on one slide (if you can’t fit it on one slide – then you need to work on focusing your presentation and weeding out extraneous information). Recommendations can be on the same or a separate slide.

Text Density

Don’t put a lot of words on your slide. Generally, slides will have fewer than 100 words (and that is only for a conclusion slide that can be more word heavy). Most slides will have only 10 to 30 words, some slides may have no words on them. Don’t use complete sentences. Rather used bulleted lists or short phrases. Do not read your slide to the audience. The point of a presentation is that you are talking to the audience, so say something they cannot read.

Follow the format suggestions for Figures, Tables, and Equations that you would use in a written report. You don’t have to number the graphics, but you do need to make sure they look good. If you did not produce the graphic be should to include a citation. Make sure all graphics appear clear and sharp. Don’t use too many graphics to too complicated of a slide. Too much will overwhelm the audience.

Consistency

You may think using lots of different fonts and other visual makers makes the presentation more interesting, but the key here is to keep things simple. Use visual markers (such as bold or italic font, different colors, or arrows and stars) to highlight key information on a slide, but don’t use so many that it becomes a distraction to the audience. Also, be consistent in your use. If you use one type of arrow to highlight something, use the same arrow throughout in the same way.

One of the benefits of a presentation is that they are in color, but you want to be careful with the use of color. PowerPoint has a wide array of colorful backgrounds that seem interesting, but don’t be tempted by these. In general, the background should be light, uniform, and dull. Dark text on light simple backgrounds are easier for the audience to read. Use colors sparingly to highlight important information, such as some text in red. Be careful, some colors (like yellow) show up well on a computer monitor but do not project as well. If possible do a trial run and try projecting your slide in the room you will be presenting in to check colors and make sure font is readable.

Slides give you a good amount of space and you want to make sure that you fill it without being overly crowded. Work with your presentation to make sure each slide is visually balanced and appealing. Also try to keep the same format through many slides.

Transitions and Animations

In PowerPoint, slide transitions and other animations (flying in text) can be used. These help the visual appeal of the presentation, but like colors, they should be used sparingly and consistently. For example, if you choose one method for a slide transition keep the same method throughout the presentation. If you want to animate the text (flying it in) then use the same method throughout. Try not to use too many animations (You don’t need a new fly in for every bullet. Its ok to put them all up at once and talk through them one by one).

Slide Titles

Slide titles are good to use. They help the audience know what the slide is about. But don’t use a lot of repetitive generic titles like “results.” Instead, use a title that describes the content on each slide. Each slide should convey only one main point.

Slide sizes are either 4:3 or 16:9. The squarer 4:3 size used to be the standard, but now more and more projectors use the 16:9 format. Know the room you will be presenting in and choose the correct size. If you use a 16:9 slide size and the projector is a 4:3 size, then your slides will not be projected as large.

• One of the main differences between a presentation and a written report is that you will be speaking directly to the audience. A good presentation has a speaker that is effective, engaging, and confidant. Practice is the best way to improve your speaking. Practice in your home. Get friends and family to be an audience. Practice in the room you are to present to feel more familiar with it. Beyond practice, below are some suggestions for improving your speaking.
• The presentation should be formal, specific, and complete. You need to use professional technical language. In some cases, the presentation may be less formal and more interactive. Know your audience.
• Engage your audience. Make eye contact with them, don’t stare at your screen. Try walking around the room (if possible).
• Vary your pace and tone in the presentation. You don’t want your presentation to be one long monotone monologue. Make appropriate pauses to let the audience think about a particular point. Ask questions and get the audience to engage if possible.
• Use spoken transitions between slides so that the audience can follow your train of thought and logic of your presentation.
• Speak loud enough to be heard at the back of the room. If the room is too large consider using a microphone. There is nothing more disengaging to an audience than not being able to understand the speaker. If your language skills are poor, slow down and speak as loudly (but don’t shout at them) and clearly as possible.
• Avoid distractions and filler words. Try not to use “um” and “like”. If you are having trouble remembering what to say, a pause is ok. Pay attention to your body language. You should appear to be calm and confidant in your presentation. Portraying confidence is the best way to get the audience to trust in your conclusions or design recommendation. Don’t fidget. Keep your hands to your side or use them for gesturing occasionally.
• Laser points are good for getting the audience to focus on a particular item in the slide, but don’t use them all the time.
• Know what you are going to say ahead of time, but don’t memorize a speech. You want your presentation to feel natural and flowing. You need to make slight modifications to what you are saying based on the audience reactions.
• Watch the audience. If it is clear they are disengaging or looking confused try to adjust your talk to address them. You can try asking questions or telling a joke.
• Speaking in public can make even the most seasoned speakers feel a bit nervous. The key is to find the tips and trick that allow you to calm your nerves and deliver a confidant presentation. Practice is one of the best ways to become more confidant, but also mental preparations and tricks can help distract your mind from your fears and focus back on the presentation. A quick Google search will provide many websites with suggestions for improving confidence in public speaking.

PowerPoint can be used to create a poster. You simply need to adjust the size of the slide to the required (or allowed) size of the poster. Below are some general rules on a poster.

• Be brief in the information. Like in a presentation only include that which is needed to inform the audience on what they need to know to make a decision or understand a conclusion. Unlike a presentation you may not be there to explain everything, so make sure there is some details.
• Use color in the poster, but be sparing with it. Keep to only a few complimentary colors and make sure the text is a different color (i.e. light text on a dark background or dark text on a light background)
• Section your poster into different areas (like the different sections of a presentation). The most important information (motivation and objectives) should go in the upper right corner.
• If you use any graphics that you did not produce make sure they are cited
• Be sure to include your name and affiliation (also perhaps contact information) in case the audience wants more information. You may also provide references to associated written reports.
• Like in a presentation you want to keep text short. Use key words and phrases and bulleted lists. However, unlike a presentation you may need to use more text in the poster as you may not be there to explain everything.
• Make sure all font is readable when the poster is printed.
• If you are presenting your poster be ready with a 30-45 second “elevator” speech to convey the main point of your poster. If the audience member is interested, you can go through more details.

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

• Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
• Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
• Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
• Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

• Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

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