The document provides tips for creating effective poster presentations. It advises that posters should have a focused main point, use visual elements like charts and pictures rather than large blocks of text, and have a clear narrative and visual structure to guide the audience through the information. Posters need to consider constraints like available space and budget, and be tailored to the intended audience. Details not relevant to the core message should be removed, and headings and charts should be easy to understand. The document uses examples of good and bad poster design elements to illustrate its tips.

1. Poster Presentations
Stay Focused | Get Visual | Keep it Structured
CAPS/GRC/RWJF
Wednesday, November 10 2010

2. Goals of the Poster
✤ Inform readers about your work
✤ Advertise your work
✤ Start a conversation!

3. Bad Posters
✤ Difficult to tell the main point
✤ Very small text
✤ Poor charts & pictures
✤ Badly organized

4. Focus
✤ A poster should be narrowly focused - try to carve a single message
from your research.

5. Visual
✤ It’s better for people to see your research on a poster than it is for
them to read it. This is because most academic conference attendees
are illiterate.

6. Structure
✤ A poster needs to be organized in two different ways: visually and
narratively.
✤ Visually there should be a clear connection from one part of
the poster to the next.
✤ Narratively, there should be a logical flow of ideas in the text,
charts, and pictures of the paper.

7. Important First Questions
✤ How much space do you have?
✤ Poster size limitations can vary from 3 x 4 feet, or 5 x 6 feet.

8. Important First Questions
✤ How much money do you have?
✤ It can get expensive printing a huge poster. Will it all be in
color? Will it be glossy? Where will you print it?

9. Important Questions
✤ Who is your audience?
✤ Don’t waste the time of professionals in your field by explaining
basics
✤ But don’t confuse interested amateurs when presenting to them.

10. Frame Your Message
✤ Get rid of any details that are not directly relevant to the main
message of the poster. They only take up space, and no one will
remember them.

11. Layout
✤ Columnar Layout. Decide what to emphasize.

12. Headings
✤ Each heading is like a newspaper headline. Someone should be able
to read it and get an idea of what the rest says.

13. Charts
✤ Make charts with good contrast with the background - and with an
easy to see relationship.

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