WOS 2010
Poster guidelines

Poster Format

The poster stands will be 4' x 4' in size (120 x 120 cm). Presenters may prepare their posters in either landscape (strongly preferred) or portrait orientation as long as neither dimension exceeds 48" (120 cm).

Tips for Effective Poster Presentations

We encourage authors to get their message across through effective display of visual information accompanied by small blocks of supporting text. A good way to think about the poster is as an illustrated abstract. (It should not look anything like a manuscript tacked up on the wall!)

Message

Tell readers why your work matters, what you did, what you found, and what you think are the broader implications of your findings. While one of your jobs is of course to present supporting evidence, as in any form of scientific presentation, your emphasis can very much be on the primary "take-home message."

Keep in mind that a priority for a poster is to generate conversation. It is this aspect that sets posters apart from oral presentations, and from print publication.

Posters provide a great opportunity to be creative. Feel free to include elements on your poster that are eye-catching and fun ... even 3-dimensional elements that stick out of the poster can be worth considering!

Overall Design

Think carefully about effective choices of graphics, text, and colors. Your poster should be neat and uncluttered; use plenty white space to help organize sections. Balance the placement of text and figures. Take advantage of the freedom that posters provide to use graphical elements (arrows, etc.) to emphasize connections between different parts of the poster, e.g., a section of about a portion of the methods and a block presenting corresponding results.

All text should be large enough to be legible from 1-2 meters away; a good minimum font size is 24 points, depeding on the font face. The title should be larger, to attract attention from a longer distance. Create a consistent theme for fonts, either using one font consistently throughout or one for headings and another for text blocks, but no more.

Use color cautiously. Dark letters on a light background are usually easiest to read, even where lighting conditions are less than ideal. Stick to a consistent theme using 2 or 3 colors throughout. Avoid overly bright colors except where you wish to draw extra attention to particular elements of the poster. Be mindful of how the most common form of color-blindness works: avoid relying on hue alone (e.g., red on green) to create contrast between elements and background, because color-blind individuals may not perceive the differences; rely instead on elements that contrast in intensity (dark on light or light on dark).

Organization

Use large, clear headings to help readers find what they are looking for: background, objectives, results, conclusions, etc. Consider including a call-out box (using an alternative, contrasting background color) to highlight the "take home message" of the poster as a whole.

It's usually best to minimize text, using graphics wherever possible to carry the message. Restrict text to blocks of no more than about 75 words.

Consider audience preconceptions in designing the poster: most people will automatically move through the poster from top to bottom and from left to right. Organize the information accordingly.

Figures & Tables

It is unnecessary in a poster to use the conventions of figure legends and table captions that typify print presentation. Keep figures as simple as possible, and label elements within the figure directly, intead of including a key. Incorporate informative, assertive figure titles (state the "main point" in the title) in lieu of legends (which force the viewer to switch back and forth between the figure and the legend). Don't cite figures within text blocks ("Males were larger than females (see Fig. 1)"); instead, show statements about patterns revealed by the data as integral parts of the supporting graphics.

Who's in Charge?

Make it easy for viewers to figure out whose poster it is, so they know who they should be talking to: consider including a photograph of the presenting author on the poster. Include full contact information on the poster, in case viewers wish to contact you after the conference.

Prepare for the Session

Consider preparing a 3-5 minute verbal explanation to accompany the poster, for the benefit of members of the audience who will want you to walk them through the material. Try to avoid the temptation to read from the poster itself; rather, emphjasize the "big picture" aspects of your work by explaining the aspects of the problem that are most important. Refer to the graphics in the poster to illustrate and support your argument. Be mindful, though, that some viewers may not want to hear a "canned" presentation, but would prefer a more casual question-and-answer style of conversation. Try not to get locked into only one way of presenting your work; do not launch into your prepared summary unless a viewer asks you to do so.

Consider also preparing a summary handout. You will want people to remember your work. A handout (either an expanded abstract with graphics included, or a minature print-out of the whole poster) can be an effective way to establish a lasting impression. Be sure to include legible contact information on the handout.

Questions?

Contact Dr. Robert L. Curry via email.