Kathiza Posted March 17, 2011 Posted March 17, 2011 I have the opportunity to do a poster presentation (not even a "real" one, but at an event with very few people - it's basically just Fulbrighters and some professors etc.). I would like to do this as a "dry-run" for real poster-presentations. But to be honest: I have no idea what this is exactly. I have never seen one. So please forgive my probably stupid questions, but... The poster should be quite big, right? Which format? Which programs are used to design those posters? Can I learn them in 5 weeks? Or: Can I even do a complete poster and everything in 5 weeks? (That's how long I have time) How do you transport them? What should be ON the poster? Just text? Mostly images? Should it be structured like the chapters of my thesis (which is the basis of this poster)? Or should it be more like a mindmap? Does the name of my university need to be on the poster? Is there any other content that MUST appear on the poster? (my name? my adviser's name? date? anything?) Am I supposed to do the poster in black-and-white or can I use colors? Or do I HAVE to use colors? So, then I just get there and display my poster. What now? Do I have to prepare a presentation? Do I have to tell the people who come look at my poster something? Or am I just there to answer questions and should keem my mouth shut when not being asked? Do I have to stay with my poster at all times or can I go and take a look around? How long are these poster presentations? 30 minutes? 6 hours? I have absolutely no idea... Please don't laugh at me.... I'm really VERY inexperienced in this field and I hope some of you can provide some insight... Thank you! Strangefox 1
MoJingly Posted March 17, 2011 Posted March 17, 2011 I'm with you Kathiza. I look forward to a response to your post!
Strangefox Posted March 17, 2011 Posted March 17, 2011 I'm with you Kathiza. I look forward to a response to your post! Me too!
moralresearcher Posted March 17, 2011 Posted March 17, 2011 I've done a few posters, so this was my experience: The poster should be at least 36x50 inches. If they say you have a board that's 4x8 feet, don't make it that big. You'll look like a weirdo. I recommend designing it in powerpoint. I also recommend using [my advisor's name]'s patented 3-panel design. You make the poster as a single slide in powerpoint that has 3 equal-sized vertical rectangles that you then slice into 3 panels. The 3 panels can then be stacked on top of one another and rolled together to fit into a normal poster-sized case that can be put into a standard-issue roll-aboard suitcase, so you don't have to worry about this oddly sized poster holder in the airport. It probably will take you about a week to hammer everything out. It's really just a snapshot of your research and you should be able to knock out a draft in an afternoon. The poster should be formatted into bullet points. I'm not exactly sure what you're presenting, because I'm not in comm, but mine were structured as follows: Abstract (which was a paragraph), then intro, methods, results, discussion, conclusion. There was also a small box at the bottom that had contact info and acknowledgments. You should try to get some sort of image or graph of your data or something along those lines so it's not boring, but if you can't, that's ok too. The poster's title should appear at the top (in the center if you're going to be traditional, at the top left if you're doing the 3-panel design). Underneath this in smaller font should be the names of any authors in order of authorship (if you're confused about it, ask your advisor). If all authors are at the same institution, just put the name of the institution under the names. If the authors are at different places, put footnotes next to their names and then identify those people's institutions under the names. The poster can be in black and white or color. Color is prettier, but more expensive. Your call. You need to have a short (~2 minute) summary of the poster prepared. When people come to look, ask them if they want to just look or if you can answer any questions. You need to pretty much stay with your poster. If you have co-authors and they will be there, you can trade off. If it's towards the end of the session and no one is around your poster, you can leave for a short time to check out other posters. The presentation lasts as long as the session is. I'm not sure what you're presenting at, but there should be some sort of schedule. At conferences, poster sessions are about 2 hours long. If you would like, you can PM me your email address and I'll send you a copy of the poster I did for a conference in January. It was for social psych, not comm, but hopefully it'll help a little. Eigen 1
Kathiza Posted March 17, 2011 Author Posted March 17, 2011 Thank you so much, this helped a lot. I'll PM you my e-mail address.... I guess it's easier to imagine (especially the "3-panel-design") when i could see a photo...
starmaker Posted March 18, 2011 Posted March 18, 2011 If you have the money (about $100-150), try PosterSessions.com. They will send you a PowerPoint template so that you can design your poster as though it were a PowerPoint slide. Then you send them the design, and within a couple of days they send you a pretty poster (optional: a nice cylindrical carrying case). I discovered them when I did my first poster presentation - it was less than a week until the conference and I was panicking, because like you, I had no idea how this was supposed to work. I did my poster design in a day once I had the template, and received the poster two or three days later. Make sure you don't overdo the text on the poster. This is a very common newbie mistake, just like with slide presentations, and it makes it more difficult for people to read your poster. The idea is that you are explaining the details while they look at the summaries and figures. I largely agree with moralresearcher. The idea is that you stand around at your poster for a long time, in a sea of other people doing the same thing, and interested people stop by to look at your poster and talk to you. Some will want to talk to you for 15 seconds, others will want to talk to you for 15 minutes, with most people wanting to talk for a couple of minutes. Stand a bit to the side of the poster, so that you're not blocking people from seeing it as they come by. But make sure that you're not accidentally blocking someone else's poster in the process. The conference might have its own rules about how large the poster should be. You should check with them. Good luck! It is a wonderful feeling when someone is really interested and compliments you on your poster! starmaker 1
indydream Posted March 18, 2011 Posted March 18, 2011 I would also try asking your adviser about these things - the first time I had to give a poster presentation (in a similar event to yours, it sounds like - not a formal conference, but good practice for a conference) I was totally lost, but then my adviser sent me the powerpoint of an old poster a former student had designed, which both gave me a sense of the content that should be in the poster, and also served as a powerpoint template to design mine. Also, I found out that I was able to print my poster out at the University without any cost to me (the department payed for it or something) so it would be good to check with your adviser, just in case there are these perks you aren't aware of! Also, I highly recommend putting a graphic in - either a graph, or a chart, or any kind of visual from your experiment - it makes people more likely to look at your poster!
Kathiza Posted March 18, 2011 Author Posted March 18, 2011 Thank you for all the tips. Especially for the one of PosterSessions.com - unfortunately they don't deliver to Europe. But nevertheless, I have access to all the templates. And moralresearcher was also so incredibly helpful. Thank you!
adinutzyc Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 This: http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/posteradvice.htm
spectralScatter Posted March 30, 2011 Posted March 30, 2011 Michael Alley, The Craft of Scientific Presentations: My link. He also has a website,
Eigen Posted March 30, 2011 Posted March 30, 2011 (edited) Someone in your school probably has a printer large enough to print your poster. I'd suggest asking around, but my bet would be Geology (or related)- or the schools copy shop. In the states, almost every Kinko's copy shop can print posters from a powerpoint file on a jumpdrive. I do the three panel design, but instead of cutting it, I leave it whole and roll it into a carrying tube. This lets the title and some illustrations span the entire poster. Powerpoint is what everyone I know uses to design posters- you can set the page size to whatever you need, and then it's just like designing a very big powerpoint slide of your work. Edited March 30, 2011 by Eigen
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