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iPosters and Betterposter: How to create a conference poster that people want to read

Download free templates, or make the switch to digital-only.

Marc J. Kuchner

Researchers meet and share their research in the poster hall at the AGU Fall Meeting. Credit: Gary Wagner Photos (garywagnerphotos.com)

6 February 2020

Gary Wagner Photos (garywagnerphotos.com)

Researchers meet and share their research in the poster hall at the AGU Fall Meeting.

A few years ago, presenting a poster at a scientific conference inevitably meant battling with thumbtacks, rubber bands, and an unwieldly sail of paper with little power to inspire. Now researchers are increasingly opting for digital posters and templated designs that highlight – rather than obscure – their key findings.

I recently attended the 2019 annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco, where 17,909 scientific posters were displayed over the course of a week. Many of these posters were visually arresting and cleverly constructed. And some were entirely online.

Since 2017, the AGU has been inviting presenters to submit digital poster ideas. Known as iPosters, they can support videos and animations, and are displayed on giant, interactive touch-screens.

That year, 117 iPoster submissions were approved for display at the conference. In 2018, that number had jumped to 775 iPosters, and last year, there were 995.

“The audience is jazzed about them,” says AGU executive program manager, Erik Hankin. “There’s an excitement around the technology and how it can overcome the limitations of a paper poster.”

The digital poster’s advantages go far beyond not having to lug around a 40-inch cardboard tube. Presenters can easily make last-minute changes to the content, and they can be instantly converted to other digital formats so they can be shared or uploaded to a website.

“I like not having to deal with the university printing office or worry about leaving it on the train,” says Leah Wood, a PhD student from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. “And I think it’s more engaging.”

PhD student Leah Wood, explaining her digital poster at this winter’s meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Credit: Marc Kuchner

The AGU asked iPoster presenters to give brief talks about their research (called eLightning talks), and those were a hit as well.

“I think it’s the best of both worlds between giving an oral presentation and a poster presentation,” says Wood. “These three-minute talks are just right to give an elevator pitch and encourage people to come and play with the poster.”

Paper posters aren’t done yet

The downside of running a digital poster session is that it costs more than a conventional poster session, and someone has to foot the bill.

Conference organizers pay aMuze Interactive, a US- and Sweden-based company, for the use of proprietary iPoster software, and often a second company to truck in the special monitors and display hardware.

Some conferences can charge as much as $1,000 extra to participants who present digital posters to cover these expenses.

If that cost precludes you from going digital, progress has touched the paper side of the poster hall, too.

We’ve also seen improvements in the design of scientific posters. In 2019, Mike Morrison, a PhD student in psychology at Michigan State University, created a viral video calling out the inadequacy of conventional posters and introducing his own free downloadable poster templates called betterposters .

Morrison’s betterposter design includes small portraits of each author so conference-goers can recognize their faces in a crowd. They also include QR codes that can be scanned to bring up the relevant paper and other supplementary material on a user’s smartphone.

But the hallmark of the betterposter is a big dark square, smack in the middle of the poster, containing a single sentence that states the primary result of the research. It’s written so large that it’s impossible for conference-goers not to read it as they walk by.

my first attempt at a #betterposter come find out what happens! #ELSO2019 pic.twitter.com/NxfgQBMhEE — Brendan Riordan (@concernecus) September 14, 2019

@drdavidliew presents his poster #2685 #ACRbest #ACR19 @RheumNow come check out the Australian Experience of TA bx. pic.twitter.com/quQrEhv8x3 — Dr. Rachel Tate (@uptoTate) November 12, 2019

My colleague, Petr Pokorny, a planetary science postdoc from the Catholic University of America in Washington and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, tried using a betterposter template for the first time at the 2019 AGU meeting.

“It was a huge success. I got about 100 people stopping to read the poster and take pictures of it,” says Pokorny. “And it was a pretty dead part of the room.”

Petr Pokorny’s betterposter conference poster. (Kuchner is a co-author on the paper.) Credit: Marc Kuchner

Learn from the best

My hope for the future of conference posters is to see the aMuze iPoster templates incorporate some of the clever elements of the betterposter concept.

Although the digital posters I saw last year were easy enough to interact with, I often found myself struggling to understand the main point of the research being presented.

The betterposter templates are designed to put the “so what?” factor at the front and centre of the presentation – quite literally – which often solves this problem.

Here are some of my favourites that have been posted to Twitter:

@ghs_org Health Sciences Center Research Showcase today - lots of great feedback on our #betterposter design! @Laura_MPH pic.twitter.com/ngHq8PAc6t — Jacqueline Forrester (@jacforrester) April 12, 2019

Presenting research at @metals_in in Paris this week! Got creative with this one following some inspiration from @mikemorrison . *Note the skull decorated with orbitals to represent cytotoxicity! #CHEMISTRY #betterposter #Paris pic.twitter.com/HhgmfSIJL6 — Miles S Capper (@CapperMiles) November 15, 2019

Giving the #betterposter template a go at #NAPCRG2019 and have caught some eyeballs. Success 🤷🏻‍♀️ Come learn about primary care patient volume and quality of care for complex patients with me 😊 pic.twitter.com/ZIyVnbHdCI — Natasha Lane (@NatashaErinLane) November 19, 2019

Thank you #IPOS2019 for the opportunity to present my research on #symptom perception in #AYAcancer survivors today. My first #betterposter design was seemingly a success :) pic.twitter.com/9qgFcojP7W — Lauren Heathcote, PhD (@LCHeathcote) September 24, 2019

Search the #betterposter hashtag on Twitter to see more examples.

And to avoid that crushing feeling that results from unfurling a crinkled poster, you can also order a cloth fabric poster at makesigns.com or postersmith.com .

Marc J. Kuchner is an astrophysicist and the author of Marketing for Scientists: How to Shine in Tough Times. Photo by Gary Wagner Photos .

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Free Editable Poster Presentation Examples

Poster presentations are a popular presentation format for research and clinical findings. These presentations effectively communicate the research data and concepts to the audience using a balanced combination of visuals and text. We will also look into a few poster presentation examples to see how they help communicate with the audience perceptively and concisely.

1. What is a Poster Presentation?

A poster presentation is a short, concise yet clear way of communicating your research, study findings, concepts, and ideas. There are two most critical elements in any poster presentation example: a poster and a brief explanation.

Creating a poster presentation starts with analyzing and evaluating information or synthesizing ideas to present all necessary data and facts. The properties of an effective poster presentation are:

• The flow of information is well-organized and easy to follow.
• The text is easy to read, as a large font is used, and the information is not cluttered.
• Allows to convert to a mind map or a timeline diagram from the Gantt chart
• The balanced use of visuals, text, colors, and graphics makes the poster presentation attractive without losing its functionality.

2. The Poster Presentation Examples

Poster presentations include a part of the information from the research paper or the main text. So, it is crucial to pick the right amount and type of information, which is part of the analysis phase. Let us review some poster presentation examples to understand the salient features of well-made poster presentations.

Example 1: Nursing Poster Presentation Example

This nursing poster presentation example shows a nursing research paper's findings in a well-organized manner. It uses columns and rows to break down the information into different segments to make the text more readable. It also uses graphics, including graphs, bars, and charts, to show the relevant data and figures.

You can see that the flow of the information is very smooth and very understandable. The audience can quickly go to the section they want to read without skimming through the information for the required text.

Example 2: Medical Poster Presentation Example

The medical poster presentation example presented here is the perfect sample to product the summary of a medical research paper in organized and readable layout. It is a clinical case study with learning objective and case presentation. The case presentation also includes an image placeholder to explain the problem more clearly. The other important section in this poster presentation example are nutritional intervention, topic discussion and references.

Example 3: Research Poster Example

This editable research poster example is an excellent tool for any project team to produce their findings and information. The format is straightforward because it breaks down information into many sections. You can quickly put in the relevant information in every section without formatting issues. The title contains the logo, poster title, and author information. The later areas include project introduction, goals, and description. The central section presents the evaluation strategy, findings, and reference literature. We have the conclusion and implication, acknowledgment, and contact information in the concluding paragraph.

Example 4: App Poster Presentation Example

This app poster presentation example also deals with health behavior theory analysis. You can take inspiration from this template and show your research findings using this research poster example. It combines text and visuals to present the data and information attractively and effectively. It makes efficient use of tables to deliver the data, while some graphics and charts are also used to give information in an easy-to-understand manner.

Example 5: Scientific Poster Presentation Example

This scientific poster presentation example is a template focused on presenting the summary of research in an easily readable format. The template starts with a logo and introduction to the study, and a list of authors. The later parts include abstract, introduction, results, discussion, and other relevant sections. Another distinguishing feature of this poster presentation example is the detailed guidelines presented in each area. So, even a beginner can create an effective poster presentation using this template and guidelines.

Example 6: Psychology Poster Presentation Example

This document's psychology poster presentation example shows a scientific poster that produces the relevant information in a very effective and well-organized layout. The layout is immaculate yet collects a good amount of data without clutter. You can see a pie chart and a lot of bullet text. The central part of this research paper example is exciting. It has two parts, each with a circle in the center and four sections. It gives inspiration for presenting a large amount of text interestingly.

Source: EdrawMax Online

Example 7: Science Poster Presentation Example

This science poster presentation example uses columns to divide the content into manageable parts. The content division makes it easy to read, easy to edit, and makes going to specific information straightforward. Colorful headings and background color make this template attractive without distracting the flow of information and losing focus on the text.

Example 8: Good Poster Presentation Example

A good poster presentation example must be editable, well laid out, well organized, and guidelines for the poster presentations. The main sections are an introduction, method, results, conclusions, and bibliography. This example can also see placeholders for charts, graphs, and figures. The use of the right size of the font, proper text format, and proper use of graphics makes any poster presentation an excellent tool for communication.

Example 9: Mathematics Poster Presentation Example

Mathematics poster presentation examples are based on graphs, charts, and maps to show the statistics, mathematical functions, and data. Mathematicians need less amount of text and rely more on data presentations. This example shows how to include numerous charts and graphs in one poster presentation without losing any value in information and readability. It uses classic blue and a good size font for the contained text.

3. Online Scientific Poster Maker

A poster presentation example must present the information and data in an engaging, readable, and attractive layout. It is essential to communicate your important information effectively without losing anything to the structure. An online scientific poster maker is a tool that allows you to create scientific posters in less time and with all essential elements. EdrawMax Online is a great candidate for your best scientific poster maker because it has an easy-to-use editor, great font and layout toolkit, and an excellent collection of templates. You can use the professionally made scientific poster templates for inspiration and a quick start. These templates are fully customizable, so you can add your text and graphics to create an attractive scientific poster. Also, you can import your data easily with a few clicks and export your poster in many file formats.

4. Key Takeaways

Scientific posters and poster presentation examples are more complex than other posters because their information needs to be accurate and complete. Also, the text, data, and graphics must be visible even from a distance. Therefore, an excellent scientific poster maker like EdrawMax allows you to create a perfect poster presentation easily and quickly. A good choice of charts, graphs, and data representation also contributes towards a more effective poster presentation. You cam find more science diagrams or poster presentations in the Templates Community .

Related Articles

• A Complete Guide on Mastering Poster Presentations

Introduction to Poster Presentations

Understanding Poster Presentation Essentials

Aayush Jain

The history and evolution of poster presentations.

Poster presentations have become a cornerstone in academic, scientific, and professional communities, offering a unique platform for the succinct and visual dissemination of research, ideas, and projects. Originating from the need to share scholarly work in an accessible and engaging format, the evolution of the art of poster presentations reflects broader changes in communication, technology, and educational practices. By blending textual information with visual aids, posters serve not only as a method of presenting complex ideas but also as an art form in itself, balancing aesthetic appeal with informational clarity.

Tracing the Origins

The history of poster presentations can be traced back to the 19th century, when the advent of mass printing technologies made it possible to produce posters in large quantities. Initially used for advertising and public announcements, the potential of posters to attract attention and convey messages quickly became apparent. The academic adoption of posters for presentations began in earnest in the mid-20th century, as conferences and symposiums sought more interactive and dynamic formats for sharing research findings. This period marked a significant shift from traditional oral presentations to a more inclusive and visually engaging method of scholarly communication.

Real-world Evolution and Impact

Throughout the decades, poster presentations have undergone significant transformations, influenced by advances in digital technology and changing academic landscapes. The introduction of digital design tools and software has expanded the possibilities for creativity and precision in poster design, allowing researchers to incorporate multimedia elements and interactive content. Moreover, the global push towards interdisciplinary collaboration and public engagement has elevated the role of poster presentations in facilitating conversations across diverse fields and audiences. Notable examples include the use of poster sessions at international conferences to foster global dialogue on pressing issues such as climate change, public health, and technological innovation.

Supporting Evidence

The significance and evolution of poster presentations are well-documented in academic literature and historical analyses. For instance, studies published in Educational Researcher highlight the increasing adoption of poster sessions in academic conferences as a means to enhance participant engagement and knowledge exchange. Similarly, a review in The Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine emphasizes the role of visual aesthetics and advertising in improving the effectiveness of scientific posters. These sources underscore the dual function of posters as both educational tools and objects of visual interest, validating their continued relevance in the academic, classroom, and professional discourse.

Defining the Purpose of Poster Presentations

Exploring the Core Objectives

At its heart, the purpose of a poster presentation extends beyond merely displaying information on a large sheet. It is a strategic communication tool designed to capture the essence of research or a project in a manner that is both accessible and engaging to a diverse audience. Poster presentations serve a multifaceted role: they facilitate the concise summary of complex ideas, foster interactive dialogue between the presenter and the audience, and promote networking opportunities within the academic and professional communities. This unique format allows for the visual representation of data, theories, and conclusions, making abstract concepts more tangible and understandable.

Historical and Educational Context

The educational foundation of poster presentations is deeply rooted in the principles of active learning and visual literacy. By compelling presenters to distill their work into the most essential elements, poster presentations encourage clarity of thought and the ability to prioritize information effectively. Historically, this format has enabled a more democratized form of knowledge sharing, where students, researchers, and professionals, regardless of their stage in their career, can contribute their findings and insights to a wider discourse. The educational benefits of engaging with poster presentations are well-documented, highlighting improvements in critical thinking, design skills, and public speaking.

Real-world Applications and Benefits

In practice, poster presentations have proven invaluable across a multitude of disciplines—from science and engineering to humanities and arts. They offer a platform for early-career researchers to showcase their work, for interdisciplinary teams to present collaborative projects, and for seasoned academics to share their findings with peers and the public alike. Notable real-world applications include poster sessions at major international conferences, where cutting-edge research is introduced, sparking discussions that can lead to new collaborations, funding opportunities, and advancements in the field.

Academic and Professional Endorsements

The effectiveness and importance of poster presentations are reinforced by numerous studies and professional guidelines. For instance, The Chronicle of Higher Education emphasizes the role of poster presentations in enhancing scholarly communication and professional development. Additionally, guidelines published by leading academic institutions offer comprehensive advice on designing impactful posters, underscoring the importance of visual elements, concise content, and a clear message. These resources not only validate the significance of poster presentations within the academic community but also provide practical insights into maximizing their potential.

Different Formats and Styles of Poster Presentations

A Diverse Landscape of Presentation Formats

The realm of poster presentations is characterized by a rich diversity of formats and styles, each tailored to suit the specific needs of the subject matter and the audience . From traditional print posters to interactive digital displays, the evolution of technology and design principles has expanded the possibilities for presenting research and projects. This adaptability not only enhances the visual appeal of posters but also broadens their accessibility and potential for engagement. Understanding the variety of available formats is crucial for presenters aiming to convey their message effectively and captivate their audience.

Historical Evolution and Trends

Traditionally, university poster presentations were predominantly print-based, utilizing paper or fabric as the medium. These printed posters relied heavily on graphic design principles to organize text and images in a visually pleasing manner. However, the advent of digital technology has introduced new formats, such as electronic posters (e-posters) and interactive displays, which allow for dynamic content, including animations, video clips, and hyperlinks. This shift reflects broader trends in digital communication and multimedia, offering presenters innovative ways to illustrate their findings and engage with viewers.

Illustrating Through Examples

The impact of diverse formats and styles can be seen in various fields. For instance, in scientific conferences, e-posters have become increasingly popular, facilitating more in-depth discussions through embedded data visualizations and interactive elements. In the arts and humanities, posters often incorporate a blend of textual analysis and visual artistry, showcasing creative approaches to design and page layout. Examples of standout poster presentations can be found in academic journals and online platforms, where award-winning designs are shared as inspiration for future presenters.

Guidance from Experts

The choice of format and style should be guided by the content of the presentation and the context in which it will be displayed. Experts in visual communication and academic presentation, such as Edward Tufte and Nancy Duarte, offer valuable insights into effective design principles. Additionally, scholarly articles in journals like The Design Journal and websites dedicated to academic poster design provide practical advice, emphasizing the importance of clarity, coherence, and visual impact. These resources underscore the critical role of format and style in enhancing the effectiveness of poster presentations.

Essential Components of a Poster

Crafting a Compelling Visual Narrative

The effectiveness of a poster presentation hinges on its ability to communicate a complex narrative through a blend of visual and textual elements. Identifying and integrating the essential components of a poster are critical steps in crafting a presentation that not only captures attention but also conveys the intended message clearly and succinctly. These components typically include the title, abstract, introduction, methodology, results, conclusions, references, and acknowledgments. Each element plays a pivotal role in the poster's overall narrative, guiding the viewer through the research journey in a logical and engaging manner.

Building on a Solid Foundation

The foundation of a successful poster presentation lies in its structure and content organization. The title should be concise yet descriptive, offering a clear indication of the poster's focus. The abstract provides a brief overview of the study, inviting further exploration. Introduction sections set the stage, outlining the research question and its significance, while the methodology and results sections detail the research process and findings. Conclusions highlight the implications of the study, and the references and acknowledgments sections give credit to the sources and contributors. This structured approach ensures that viewers can easily navigate the poster and grasp the key takeaways.

Real-world Examples and Design Strategies

Examining real-world examples of effective poster presentations reveals common design strategies that enhance readability and viewer engagement. These strategies include the use of bullet points for concise information delivery, graphical abstracts to summarize findings visually, and the strategic placement of visuals to complement the text. For instance, a poster in the field of environmental science might use infographics to illustrate the impact of pollution on ecosystems, while a medical research poster might include charts and graphs to display clinical trial results.

Expert Insights and Resources

The importance of these essential components and design strategies is echoed in literature and resources aimed at guiding poster designers and creators. Edward Tufte's principles of information design emphasize the balance between visual and textual elements, advocating for clarity, precision, and efficiency. Similarly, resources like The Craft of Scientific Posters provide practical advice on selecting and organizing poster components to maximize impact. Peer-reviewed articles in academic journals also offer case studies and analyses of successful posters, serving as valuable references for those looking to create their own.

The Lifecycle of a Poster Presentation

From Concept to Display: Navigating the Journey

The lifecycle of a poster presentation encompasses a series of stages, from the initial concept to the final display and beyond. This journey begins with the identification of a research question or project theme, followed by the meticulous planning and design of the poster. Key milestones include the development of the poster's layout, the selection of visual elements, and the refinement of textual content. The culmination of this process is the presentation itself, where the poster is displayed to an audience, serving as a visual anchor for discussion and engagement. Understanding each phase of this lifecycle is crucial for presenters aiming to maximize the impact of their work.

Foundational Steps and Planning

The early stages of a poster's lifecycle are marked by brainstorming sessions, where ideas are generated and objectives are set. This phase involves extensive research and gathering of information, laying the groundwork for the poster's content. Decisions regarding the poster's format, style, and essential components are made, informed by the presenter's goals and the expectations of the target audience. Effective planning at this stage ensures a coherent structure and a focused message, setting the stage for a successful presentation .

Design, Development, and Delivery

The design and development phase is where the poster takes shape. Presenters employ various software and tools to create visual representations of their data and ideas, paying close attention to layout, typography, and color schemes. This phase is iterative, often involving multiple revisions to fine-tune the poster's aesthetic and informational elements. Once the design is finalized, the poster is produced—either printed or prepared as a digital display—and readied for presentation. The delivery stage is a critical opportunity for presenters to engage with their audience, field questions, and gain feedback, adding a dynamic dimension to the poster's lifecycle.

Post-Presentation Impact and Archival

After the presentation, the poster's lifecycle continues through the dissemination of its content in digital repositories, academic websites, or social media platforms, reaching a wider audience and extending its life beyond the initial event. This phase may also involve reflecting on feedback, making adjustments, and repurposing the content for future presentations or publications. Proper archival and sharing practices ensure that the knowledge and insights conveyed through the poster remain accessible and continue to contribute to scholarly dialogue and public discourse.

Incorporating Expert Guidance and Best Practices

Throughout the lifecycle of a poster presentation, adherence to best practices and expert guidance is paramount. Resources such as The Effective Scientist's Guide to Poster Design and academic blogs on presentation skills offer a wealth of tips and strategies for each stage of the process. These resources stress the importance of clarity, engagement, and adaptability, advising presenters to anticipate audience questions and be prepared to discuss their work in-depth. By navigating the lifecycle with intention and expertise, presenters can significantly enhance the visibility and impact of their research.

Selecting the Right Software and Tools

Charting the Digital Landscape for Poster Creation

In the era of digital communication, selecting the right software and tools is a pivotal decision in the lifecycle of a poster presentation. This choice can significantly influence the design process , the effectiveness of the final product, and the ease with which information is conveyed. From graphic design software to specialized scientific visualization tools, the range of available options caters to the diverse needs and skill levels of presenters. Navigating this digital landscape requires an understanding of the functionalities and features that best complement the objectives of the poster, ensuring that the chosen tools enhance rather than hinder the creative process.

The Foundation of Effective Design

The foundation of an effective poster design lies in the seamless integration of text, images, and data visualizations. Software such as Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, and Canva offers a spectrum of design capabilities, from basic layout and typography to advanced graphic elements and illustrations. For presenters focused on data-rich subjects, tools like Tableau or R with ggplot2 provide sophisticated options for creating compelling data visualizations. The selection process should consider factors such as user-friendliness, compatibility with other platforms, and the specific requirements of the presentation format, whether it be print or digital.

Real-World Applications and Choices

In real-world scenarios, the choice of software often reflects the discipline and objectives of the poster presentation. For instance, researchers in the sciences may gravitate towards tools that offer precision in data representation, such as MATLAB or Python for generating plots. In contrast, professionals in the arts and humanities might prioritize software with strong typographic and layout capabilities, such as Adobe InDesign. Notable examples of well-designed posters, often shared in online forums and design communities, illustrate the impact of software choice on the effectiveness of visual communication.

Guidance from Experts and the Community

For those navigating the selection of software and tools, guidance from experienced designers and presenters can be invaluable. Online tutorials, user forums, and academic workshops provide platforms for sharing insights and tips on maximizing the potential of different software. Additionally, reviews and comparisons in design publications and blogs offer an overview of the latest features and capabilities, helping presenters make informed decisions. Leveraging these resources can demystify the digital tools landscape, empowering creators to produce posters that are not only visually appealing but also rich in content and easy to understand.

Timeline Planning for Your Presentation

Setting the Stage for Success

Effective timeline planning is essential for ensuring the success of a poster presentation. This process involves allocating sufficient time for each phase of the poster's lifecycle, from initial research and design to printing and practice for the presentation itself. Establishing a detailed timeline helps in managing tasks efficiently, avoiding last-minute rushes, and ensuring a polished final product. By breaking down the project into manageable milestones, presenters can maintain a steady pace of progress, allowing for creativity to flourish within a structured framework.

Understanding the Key Milestones

The key milestones in the timeline of a poster presentation typically include the conceptualization of the idea, in-depth research, initial design drafts, feedback collection, final revisions, and printing or digital preparation. Additionally, presenters and event organizers should factor in time for rehearsing their explanation of the poster, as this verbal component is crucial for engaging with the audience during the presentation. Each of these stages requires careful consideration and allocation of time, taking into account the complexity of the topic, the availability of resources, and potential challenges that may arise.

Learning from Examples and Best Practices

Examining successful poster presentations provides valuable insights into effective timeline planning. For example, a presenter who begins the design process several weeks in advance can incorporate feedback from peers and mentors, ensuring a more refined and impactful poster. Academic journals and conference websites often feature timelines and planning guides, illustrating best practices for managing time efficiently. These resources highlight the importance of flexibility within the timeline, allowing for adjustments based on feedback and iterative improvements.

Expert Advice and Strategic Approaches

Experts in academic and professional presentation emphasize the importance of starting early and setting realistic deadlines. Resources like The Chronicle of Higher Education and Nature's guide to scientific posters recommend backward planning—starting from the presentation date and working backward to determine when each task should be completed. This approach ensures that all aspects of the poster, from content accuracy to design aesthetics, are given due attention. Additionally, leveraging project management tools and software can aid in tracking progress and maintaining focus on the ultimate goal: delivering a compelling and informative poster presentation.

Understanding Poster Size and Orientation

Navigating Dimensions and Design Impacts

The size and orientation of a poster presentation are critical factors that significantly influence its design, readability, and overall impact. Choosing the right dimensions requires a balance between the amount of information to be presented, the visual appeal of the poster, and the practical considerations of the venue where it will be displayed. Orientation—whether portrait or landscape—also plays a key role in how content is organized and perceived. Understanding these aspects is essential for creating a poster that effectively communicates the intended message while being visually engaging and easy to navigate.

Historical Context and Evolving Standards

Historically, the standard sizes for academic posters have evolved, influenced by printing capabilities, conference requirements, and disciplinary conventions. Common sizes range from A0 (33.1 x 46.8 inches) to A3 (11.7 x 16.5 inches), with variations based on specific event guidelines. The choice between portrait and landscape orientation has traditionally been guided by the nature of the content and the aesthetic preferences of the designer. As digital displays become more prevalent, new standards are emerging, accommodating a wider range of sizes and formats, and offering greater flexibility in poster design.

Real-World Considerations and Decisions

In practical terms, by contrast, the decision on poster size and orientation often depends on the venue's space constraints, the expected audience flow, and the method of presentation (e.g., hanging, digital screens, or stands). For instance, a larger poster in landscape orientation or standing might be more suitable for detailed data visualizations that require a wider format, while a portrait orientation could be preferred for posters that aim to communicate findings in a more linear, straightforward manner. Successful examples from various fields demonstrate how these decisions are integral to enhancing the poster's readability and audience engagement.

Expert Guidelines and Resources

Design experts and academic guidelines offer valuable advice on selecting the appropriate size and orientation for poster presentations. Recommendations typically emphasize the importance of clarity, audience engagement, and the effective use of space. Resources such as the American Psychological Association and The Royal Society of Chemistry provide specific guidelines on poster dimensions, aligning with the standard practices of academic conferences. Additionally, design software often includes templates and tools specifically tailored for poster creation, helping presenters visualize and plan their layouts in accordance with these dimensions.

Print vs. Digital Posters: A Comparative Analysis

Exploring the Mediums' Unique Advantages

The choice between print and digital posters presents a crucial decision for presenters, each medium offering distinct advantages and considerations. Print posters, traditional staples of academic conferences and public spaces, excel in delivering a tactile, permanent visual experience. Their physical presence allows for easy viewing in various settings, from gallery walks to outdoor displays. Digital posters, on the other hand, leverage technology to offer dynamic, interactive elements such as animations, videos, and hyperlinks, enhancing the engagement and accessibility of the content. This comparative analysis explores how both mediums cater to different presentation goals and audience expectations.

The Evolution of Poster Presentations

The evolution from print to digital posters mirrors broader technological advancements and shifts in communication preferences. Initially, the poster's role in disseminating information was predominantly served by print formats, favored for their simplicity and wide reach. However, the digital era introduced new possibilities for interaction and information sharing, challenging the traditional poster model. Today, digital posters can be easily updated, shared online, and integrated into virtual conferences, extending their reach beyond physical boundaries. This transition highlights the adaptability of poster presentations to changing technological and societal trends.

Practical Implications and Considerations

Choosing between print and digital formats involves practical implications regarding production, distribution, and presentation. Print posters require consideration of printing costs, materials, and logistics, particularly for large-scale or high-quality prints. Digital posters, while eliminating printing costs, may necessitate access to screens or devices for viewing and interactive features that require specific software or platforms. The decision often depends on the context of the presentation, the target audience, and the desired level of interaction and engagement. Real-world examples illustrate how presenters navigate these decisions, opting for the medium that best aligns with their objectives and the capabilities of their venue.

Expert Perspectives and Future Directions

Experts in visual communication and educational technology offer insights into the strengths and limitations of both print and digital posters. Studies and articles in academic journals, such as The Journal of Digital Learning, suggest that digital posters may enhance learning outcomes and audience engagement through interactive elements. Conversely, advocates for print posters highlight the value of a tangible, distraction-free medium that encourages in-depth, focused interaction. The future of poster presentations likely involves a hybrid approach, leveraging the advantages of both mediums to meet diverse needs and preferences.

Checklist for Poster Presentation Preparation

Crafting a Comprehensive Preparation Strategy

A well-organized checklist is indispensable for preparing an effective poster presentation , serving as a roadmap that guides presenters through each critical step of the process. From initial research and design to the final touches before presentation, a thorough checklist ensures no important detail is overlooked. This tool not only aids in structuring the preparation timeline but also helps in maintaining quality and coherence throughout the poster. Incorporating key tasks such as defining the poster's objectives, selecting appropriate software and tools, and practicing the presentation can significantly enhance the poster's impact.

Essential Checklist Components

The cornerstone of a poster presentation preparation checklist includes tasks such as:

Identifying the main message and target audience.

Researching and gathering relevant data and literature.

Selecting the right software and tools for design.

Drafting the layout and organizing content effectively.

Incorporating visual elements (graphs, images, charts) to complement the text.

Revising and refining the content for clarity and impact.

Ensuring adherence to the specific size and orientation requirements.

Printing or finalizing the digital version of the poster.

Preparing to create a concise and engaging oral synopsis for interaction with the audience.

Scheduling rehearsals to refine delivery and anticipate answers to questions.

Leveraging Real-World Examples

Examining real-world examples of successful poster presentations can provide valuable insights into effective preparation strategies. For instance, award-winning posters often demonstrate meticulous attention to detail, innovative use of visual aids, and clear communication of complex ideas. Academic institutions and professional conferences frequently share such examples, offering a practical glimpse into the preparation process that led to their success. These cases underline the importance of thorough planning and the impact of a well-prepared presentation.

Guidance from Experienced Presenters and Educators

Experienced presenters and educators emphasize the significance of early and thorough preparation. Resources like The Effective Poster Presentation Guide and The Academic's Handbook to Presentations offer comprehensive checklists and tips, covering every aspect of poster design and presentation. These resources advocate for a proactive approach, suggesting that presenters seek feedback during the preparation process and adapt their posters based on constructive criticism. Following a detailed checklist not only facilitates a smoother preparation experience but also increases confidence, ensuring presenters are well-equipped to engage their audience effectively.

Thanks for reading and be sure to share this guide if you enjoyed it!

Hungry to read more guides? Here are a few guides you might like:

Strategically Crafting Headlines and Titles

Mastering Data Visualization Skills Effectively

FAQs on Poster Presentations

What is a poster presentation format.

A poster presentation format involves a visual and textual summary of research or a project displayed on a large poster. This format is designed to facilitate interactive discussions between the presenter and the audience, often in an academic or professional conference setting. Key components include the title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, and conclusions, strategically arranged for readability and impact.

What are the rules of poster presentation?

The fundamental rules include clarity in design and content, succinctness in text, effective use of visuals (such as graphs, charts, and images), adherence to specified size and orientation guidelines, humor and preparedness for an engaging discussion with the audience. Additionally, respecting copyright laws and citing sources accurately is essential.

How to prepare a poster?

Preparing a poster involves identifying the main message, gathering and organizing content, designing the layout using appropriate software, incorporating visual elements to support the text, and revising content for clarity. Following a detailed checklist can ensure a comprehensive preparation process.

How do I make my poster presentation stand out?

To make a poster stand out, focus on creating an eye-catching design, concise and impactful content, high-quality visuals, and a clear, logical flow of information. Interactive elements, such as QR codes for digital posters, can also enhance engagement. Practicing your pitch to communicate and sell your message effectively during the poster session will further distinguish your presentation.

What is the definition of a poster?

A poster is a visual tool used to communicate information concisely and attractively, combining text and graphical elements. It serves various purposes, including advertising, education, and information dissemination in both public spaces and specialized settings for events like academic conferences.

What is the purpose of a poster?

The purpose of a poster is to present information in a way that is accessible and engaging to a wide audience. In academic and professional contexts, for example, posters aim to summarize research findings or project details, facilitating discussion and knowledge exchange.

What makes a good poster?

A good poster effectively communicates its message through a clear, coherent design, concise content, impactful visuals, and a viewer-friendly layout. It engages and interests the audience, encourages interaction, and conveys the essence of the research or project succinctly.

How do you write a poster?

Writing a poster involves drafting text that is clear, concise, and focused on the key messages. Use bullet points for easy reading, integrate visuals to explain complex ideas, and ensure the content is organized logically, with distinct sections for the introduction, motivation, methodology, results, and conclusions.

What do you mean by poster presentation?

A poster presentation refers to the process of summarizing research or a project on a poster and presenting it to an audience, typically at academic, scientific, or related professional events. It allows for direct interaction with viewers, offering opportunities for feedback and discussion.

How do I make a poster presentation?

Making and selling a poster presentation involves several steps: selecting the right content and visuals, designing the poster layout, printing or preparing the digital display, and finally rehearsing an engaging synopsis of your work for presentation to the audience.

Discover how we can create magic in your communication

Creating a Poster Presentation Template

Methodically Creating a Poster Template

Establishing a Flexible Template Structure Introduction: Foundations of Versatility Creating a flexible poster template structure is essential for adapting to various content needs and presentation contexts. This adaptability allows users to customize their presentations while maintaining a coherent and professional design aesthetic. Background: The Importance of Flexibility In the realm

The Future of Poster Presentations

Predicting Emerging Trends in Poster Design

The Impact of New Technologies on Poster Design Introduction: Revolutionizing Visual Communication The landscape of poster design is undergoing a radical transformation, driven by the advent of new technologies. These innovations not only enhance the aesthetic appeal of posters but also extend their functionality, making them more interactive and impactful.

Poster Presentations in Virtual Environments

Adapting Posters in Virtual Environments

Best Practices for Virtual Poster Presentations Introduction: Mastering the Art of Virtual Presentation Virtual, poster boards and presentations have become a staple in the academic and professional landscape, offering a unique platform to showcase research and ideas remotely. Mastering this format requires understanding best practices that cater to digital environments.

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Poster Presentations

Why make a poster, ucla poster events, examples of effective posters, what you need, advice from the web, ucla undergraduate poster information.

• Size, Layout, and Text
• Colors and Images

A poster is a visual representation of your research. Your poster should:

• be eye-catching
• tell the story of your research - concisely
• enable the viewer to engage with your research

The viewer should walk away remembering you and your work, not the way the poster looked.

• Undergraduate Research Center - Sciences: Science Poster Day
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"A Novel Approach to Campus Health and Wellness: The UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative," by Tyler D. Watson and Ryan Babadi.  Click to enlarge. 

Most people use Microsoft Powerpoint to design their posters - it's a common program that's easy to use. In this guide, we'll assume that you're using Powerpoint.

If you'd like to explore other options, you could also use graphic design software such as Photoshop or InDesign, or a program meant specifically for creating posters.

• Poster Perfect An article from The Scientist Magazine with tips on effective poster design.
• Ten Simple Rules for a Good Poster Presentation This article also includes advice on the poster session itself.
• Mortal Sins in Poster Presentations or How to Give the Poster No One Remembers What not to do.
• APHA Guidelines for Accessible Posters Rules for accessible poster presentations.
• Designing Conference Posters This page has lots of great advice on poster design.
• UCLA Undergraduate Research Center-Presenting Your Research General tips on poster design from the Undergraduate Research Center.
• URC Workshops If you're a UCLA undergraduate, you can attend a URC-sponsored abstract or poster workshop in Spring quarter.
• Next: Size, Layout, and Text >>
• Last Updated: Nov 9, 2023 2:31 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.ucla.edu/posters

Scientific Conference Posters: Conference Posters

Poster samples & sharing.

Search these sites to get ideas on how posters are presented within your discipline.

Also, if you upload your poster to one of these sites you can provide handouts or bookmarks with links to the electronic version of your poster at the conference, and keep your work accessible long after the conference.

• Faculty of 1000 Research Posters Open access repository for posters and slide presentations across biology and medicine.
• eposters Open-access journal that provides free access to over 1,800 scientific and medical posters presented at conferences from around the world.
• FigShare This link opens in a new window figshare allows users to upload any file format so that scholarly information can be disseminated electronically.

Designing a Research Poster

The following resources provide guidance on the poster creation process .

• ACP American College of Physicians - Preparing a Poster Presentation This article addresses poster planning, production, and presentation.

• Makesigns Scientific Poster Tutorial Step-by-step guide to poster design and creation.

These resources can be used to obtain copyright compliant images .  Image resolution will vary.

• USC Academic Unit Logotypes University approved logos.
• Open-i - Open Access Biomedical Image Search Engine This link opens in a new window Open-i searches for images in all Open Access articles indexed in PubMed Central. Search over 600,000 copyright compliant images by keyword, topic, or image to find relevant or visually similar images.
• Pixabay This link opens in a new window Repository of free, high quality, copyright compliant images. Begin typing "medical" into the search box. Click dropdown menu to filter by image type. Sign up for free account to download images.
• Wikimedia Commons This link opens in a new window A database of freely usable, high resolution image files.
• Google Images This link opens in a new window For copyright compliant images: type in keywords, click "Search tools", click on "Usage rights" dropdown menu, select from the "Labeled for reuse" options.
• Multimedia Resources (in the Health Sciences) Guide Find videos, audio clips, images, and cases to use in education.

Working with images

• Tips for working with images in Publisher Vendor tips for working with images in Publisher. Includes content about image size, resolution, file formats, and refining.
• Photoshop isn’t the only solution: 5 best programs for resizing images This article provides step-by-step instructions on how to upsample images using Photoshop, GIMP, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Preview, and Pixlr.

Image Manipulation Guidelines

Low resolution images may be manipulated to improve print quality, however you want to proceed with caution when it comes to images that represent research data.

• Rossner, M., & Yamada, K. (2004). What's in a picture? The temptation of image manipulation. The Journal of Cell Biology, 11-15. PMID: 15240566 This article provides specific guidelines on the do's and dont's of image manipulation in scientific publishing in order to ensure the integrity of your data.

Poster Sample / Tips

Diagram image citation:  Blausen.com staff. " Blausen gallery 2014". Wikiversity Journal of Medicine. DOI:10.15347/ wjm /2014.010. ISSN 20018762. (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

• Scientific Conference Posters - Webinar This video provides an overview of some tools, resources and key elements to creating a conference poster. Content covers software, general content, design tips, provides image resources, and tips for improved print quality. ~35 min.
• Conference Poster Click here to download a pdf copy of the poster above.
• Scientific Posters PPT slides Click here to download video PPT slides.

Click on chart to access online.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/new-pastpresentfuture/3800240305 /

• Psychology of Color This site provides information on the meaning of color and how it is perceived.
• The Art of Color Coordination How to combine colors in order to have a positive effect on your audience.

Upsampling images in Photoshop

Through a process called upsampling , you can add pixels to low resolution images , and thereby improve the print quality . The short video below demonstrates how to upsample images in Photoshop .

Final Checklist

https://www.acponline.org/system/files/documents/education_recertification/education/program_directors/abstracts/prepare/poster_checklist.pdf

Universal Design

Universal Design is the design and composition of an environment so that it can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people, regardless of their age, size or disability. 

• Equal Access: Universal Design of Conference Exhibits and Presentations A checklist for making conference exhibits and presentations welcoming and accessible to everyone.

Microsoft Publisher Tutorials

The following resources provide guidance on how to use Microsoft Publisher . Resources at the top provide step-by-step guidance about poster creation. Links at the bottom provide general guidance on using Publisher.

• Microsoft Publisher: Conference Poster Sessions University of Liverpool's Microsoft Publisher software video tutorial. Step-by-step demonstration of the key features used to create a poster. Applicable to Publisher 2010, 2013, and 2016. Run time ~12 min.
• Publisher 2016 Essential Training Training videos via Lynda.com that offer in-depth instruction to Publisher 2016.
• Text wrapping in Publisher Guide on how to wrap text around images in Publisher.

PowerPoint Templates & Tutorials

Links to freely available PowerPoint conference poster templates , and guidance for specific software features relevant to poster creation . 

• PhD Posters - Power Point Template Files PPT templates in a variety of sizes. Packed with helpful tips and easy to customize.
• Mega Print Inc - Free Powerpoint Scientific Research Poster Templates PowerPoint® 2007-2013 templates in a variety of sizes.
• Colin Purrington's PPT Poster Templates Free PPT templates and poster making tips.
• Using grids in PowerPoint Guide on how to set up grids in PPT for better content alignment.
• Creating a Poster in PowerPoint 2010 Eastern Michigan University's detailed guide to creating a poster in PowerPoint.

Other Software

Graphics , such as charts and tables can easily be created in Excel .

• Creating Excel charts with the Recommended Charts feature Lynda.com video tutorial that demonstrates how to create charts in Excel 2013. Requires login.

Print Vendors

The following list is provided as a convenience , and is not meant to endorse or promote any particular vendor.

• PhD Posters Fabric or paper options. Also offers free PPT templates and many poster creation tips.
• PosterSmith Fabric posters.

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How to Make a Successful Scientific Poster

Published on 18 Apr 2023

Good science goes nowhere if it’s not communicated well.

Poster sessions at scientific conferences are a hub for knowledge dissemination and research networking. So, knowing how to design a good conference poster is a big part of becoming a successful scientific communicator and sharing your work with a larger community.

Making a scientific poster can be an exciting and rewarding experience. A well-designed poster can help you showcase your research to attract the attention of fellow scientists and potential collaborators or sponsors.

So, to help you get started, this scientific poster guide covers all the bases. From a step-by-step poster creation process to useful examples and templates, you’ll find everything you need here to put together a successful scientific poster.

Students discussing during a scientific poster session.

What is a scientific poster?

A scientific poster is a visual representation of research or scientific work presented at a conference or other professional gathering. The goal is to present complex research information in a way that is easy to understand and visually engaging for conference attendees. You want to concisely tell the story behind your science, all while making it accessible to non-expert audiences.

Scientific posters can include text, figures, tables, graphs, infographics, charts, and images to convey the key findings of a research project (these elements may also be used to highlight the significance or implications of the research). A scientific poster typically consists of a large, printed sheet of paper or fabric, on which the presenter displays the results of their research in a clear, concise, and visually appealing manner. If you’re presenting at a virtual poster session , your “poster” might be a digital file, a presentation, or a recorded video.

During a conference poster session, a researcher usually stands by their poster display while other conference participants wander through the room, viewing presentations and interacting with various authors as they go.

What is a good size for a scientific poster?

The ideal size for a scientific poster will vary depending on your conference or event requirements. However, the most common size is 48 inches (122 cm) wide by 36 inches (91 cm) tall. This size allows for easy transportation and can fit on most poster boards or display areas.

Regardless of the common size given here, it's still important that you check the specific requirements of the event where you will be presenting, as they may have different size limitations or guidelines (the event or conference website is usually a good place to find this information). Resizing a finished poster can be a real pain. So, it’s best to check the conference requirements first thing so you can start your poster off on the right track.

One important thing to keep in mind when designing your academic poster with any digital software: It’s better to start bigger (when it comes to pixels). Also, make sure to send a high DPI image (eg. 300 DPI) for printing to ensure a high quality print.

What is the best software to make a scientific poster?

Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides are two of the most common and easy-to-use programs for making scientific posters. Adobe Illustrator is sometimes used by individuals with more advanced design skills. The best software to make an effective poster will depend on your personal preference and/or familiarity with the tools available.

Here’s a handful of popular software options for making scientific posters (and their benefits):

Microsoft PowerPoint : PowerPoint is a widely used software for creating presentations, and it can also be used to create scientific posters (by designing an entire poster on a single presentation slide). It also offers a variety of design templates and tools to create visually appealing posters. Many university computers give students and staff access to the Microsoft suite of tools, so this can be a good free option.

Google Slides : Similar to PowerPoint, Google Slides is a popular software for creating presentations (with the added ability to create scientific posters). It’s free to use which makes it one of the preferred options for early-career researchers.

Adobe Illustrator : Illustrator is a vector-based design software that is ideal for creating high-quality graphics and images. It offers advanced features for typography, color management, and image editing. However, using any Adobe software often comes with a hefty subscription price (and a steep learning curve if you’re unfamiliar with the tools).

Canva : Canva is a web-based graphic design platform that offers a variety of templates and tools for creating posters and other visual media. It is user-friendly and requires no design experience. You can get a free personal account (or pay for upgraded features).

LaTeX : LaTeX is a document preparation system that is often used for scientific publications and presentations. It offers advanced features for typesetting equations and mathematical symbols.

Mac Pages : I made 3 posters during my PhD using Mac Pages. I found it quite easy to work with to add text boxes and colored sections. It’s very similar to PowerPoint in many ways. This is an excellent option for Mac users since it’s free.

InkScape : InkScape is a great tool for students on a budget (it’s free). It offers a simple and efficient way to create vector designs or scientific illustrations.

If you’re attending a virtual conference, you may have additional options for creating a virtual scientific poster. In this case, recording on Zoom, adding audio to a slideshow on PowerPoint, or recording on Quicktime are all good options to consider. Check out our article on guidelines for a virtual poster presentation for more advice.

How to make a good scientific poster for a conference

A well-designed and informative poster that effectively communicates the key findings of your research is your primary goal.

You’ll want to make sure you tailor your poster to the context you’ll be presenting in (i.e. the size of the space, your presentation format, and the level of knowledge your audience is likely to have about your research topic). You’ll also want to give yourself enough time to finish your poster (anywhere between 5 days to a few weeks depending on how much experience you have).

Before we dive into the details of the scientific poster creation process, here’s a highlight of what makes a great scientific poster (and common mistakes to avoid):

So, keeping the above highlights in mind, here’s our step-by-step guide to help you make a scientific poster that will stand out at any conference:

1) Decide on the poster narrative and key messages

Before you begin designing your poster, plan the core content. Start by considering the purpose of your poster and the key message that you want to convey. Identify the main findings of your research and the most important conclusions that you want your audience to take away from your poster. Keep these messages in mind and then think of the varied ways you could weave them into a connected narrative (both visually and verbally) when presenting your poster. This is a great exercise to help you get better at storytelling in science in general.

Later on, when you design your poster and format it, these key messages will need to visually stand out so that someone walking by or scanning your poster can pick them up without stopping to read the full thing.

2) Decide on the sections of your scientific poster

Once you’ve determined your key message(s), you’ll need to organize your research content into sections that make logical sense. Like the abstract in a scientific paper, your poster should have sections summarizing the background and rationale, methodology, results, and the implications of your work. Some common sections included in a scientific poster include:

Title, Key Finding or Takeaway - Highlight the core message in a catchy way.

Introduction - Provide background information and a clear research question or hypothesis. Introduce only what’s necessary to address any knowledge gap.

Methods - Explain the methodology used in your research. This is often the easiest section to skip (or merge with the results to save space and tell your story better).

Results - Present the key findings of your research in a visually appealing way in the results section. Use graphs and tables with legends and titles.

Discussion - Interpret and discuss the implications of your findings.

Conclusion - Summarize your research and its significance. Comment on possible future research. This section can easily be combined with the discussion section.

Citations & Acknowledgements - Reference important materials, your institutional affiliation and thank individuals for specific contributions to your research. This can be smaller than other text so as not to distract from the core message, but it should be included somewhere.

Prompt to Find Out More - Give interested readers an easy option to dive further into your research. Include a resource link (or a QR code) to additional materials.

Keep in mind: these are common sections included in a poster, NOT required sections. Feel free to get creative with more descriptive headings or combine sections if it helps you communicate your message better (and in fewer words). And, wherever possible, think of ways to tell your story through figures and illustrations rather than through text. Biorender and the Noun Project are both great resources to help you find and create visuals for your poster.

3) Create your poster layout and structure

Once you have a clear idea of the content that you want to include, create a rough layout of your poster. Decide on the overall structure of your poster and the placement of each section. This is a great time to pull out a sketchbook and a pencil to mess around with a few different ideas. Or, if you prefer a digital drafting process, you can start making your layout in your software of choice right away.

To make the design process easier, you might want to choose a poster template to customize. There are heaps of useful scientific poster templates available online that you can use ( this collection is a good starting point). Some universities and research centers even provide poster templates that use a specific color scheme and already include the necessary logos. Check whether your institution has a template like this and consider using it if they do - it will save you a lot of time!

Your poster layout should be well-organized, with each section following clearly from the previous one, creating a visual path that tells a coherent story. Decide what will be the direction that the information flows (i.e. left to right and then down? OR top to bottom and then to the right?). Someone who is looking at your poster should not have to jump from one side to the other in order to understand your work. Consider the use of numbers or arrows to indicate the flow of what comes next. Or get creative with eye-catching visuals that naturally draw the reader's eye through the sections in a logical order.

4) Spruce up your scientific poster with a bit of style

The visual design elements (especially colors and fonts) that you choose for your poster can have a big impact on its effectiveness. When choosing a font, consider both the font type and the font size. Picking to read and size is important to help to structure the poster content.

Choose a color scheme that is visually appealing and easy to read (free generators like Material Palette are handy for this if you don’t have an eye for design). Be sure to use high-contrast colors to make important information stand out and to help visually impaired visitors.

Choose fonts that are easy to read and make sure your chosen font size is readable from a distance. Also, consider using a pattern of varying font sizes and/or types to help visually differentiate between poster title, body text, headings, and poster highlights. Use no more than two or three different fonts in your poster overall to avoid clutter and confusion.

If you’re planning to feature a specific image or illustration in your poster, consider using it for inspiration for your color scheme or fonts. It will ensure that your final poster has a more cohesive and less cluttered look.

5) Put all the pieces of your poster together

If you’re using software like Powerpoint: First, choose your page size. Then, start to create content blocks and insert text where appropriate.

If you’re uploading pictures of any sort to your poster design, be sure to use high-quality, high-resolution images. Only import images with 300 dpi resolution (saved in PNG or TIFF formats) to your poster. Double-check to be sure you’ve uploaded good pictures: a high-quality image should not appear blurry or pixelated at 100% zoom.

Once you have your template and design elements in place, it's time to add your content. Begin with the main sections of your poster, such as the introduction, results, and discussion. Use graphs, charts, tables, and images to present your data in a clear and visually appealing way.

When adding text, use short sentences and bullet points to make it easy to read. Use headings and subheadings to break up the content and make it more visually appealing.

6) Print your scientific poster and get ready to present it

Once your poster is complete, it's time to print it so it’s ready to present at the conference. Again, it’s important that you read the conference guidelines very carefully and print your poster in the correct size and orientation. Make sure you print in the highest-quality as well.

Some institutions have dedicated printing facilities, but you can also visit a copy shop that has a large-format printer. If you haven’t had to get a poster printed before, it’s worth asking a colleague for recommendations on a good local spot. Or, if you are feeling creative, you might want to go a different route and print your poster on fabric (this gives you the option to reuse it as a unique table cloth or picnic blanket in the future).

Whatever your printing format, make sure you budget enough time for a reprint if disaster strikes (a week or more of buffer time is a good bet). It’s also worth testing printing out with a “dummy poster” on a small piece of paper. This will allow you to check that everything looks okay when printed before you spend a good chunk of change on the final, full-sized poster.

Finally, when preparing for the conference, be sure to bring all of the necessary materials with you, such as pins or velcro strips, to hang your poster. It doesn’t hurt to also have a digital copy of your poster on a thumb drive just in case something happens to yours in transit. Many conferences have onsite printing services that you could resort to in the event of a mishap.

A few extra tips to help you make a scientific poster

Just a few more helpful things to keep in mind when designing your scientific poster:

1) Quality over quantity

A little bit of text goes a long way on a poster - in fact, the fewer words the better. Posters with less text are more inviting and easier to absorb. Don’t forget that you will be there to explain your work, so there is no reason to try to include everything in the text. Shorten your text by summarizing sections with bullet points and highlighting the key messages.

As mentioned in this article on designing conference posters: If all of your text is kept to a minimum (500 words), an average person could fully read your poster in about 5 minutes. Think about how long you’d want to spend reading through a poster, and use that as motivation to chop your content down to even less than that 5-minute reading mark.

2) Use color, visuals, and white space strategically

Great posters maintain a good amount of white space around the text boxes and figures. A cramped poster is hard to read (and intimidating to passing attendees looking for catchy, quick takeaways). A safe bet is to always include more white space than you think you’ll need.

As much as graphics and visuals can help, they should only be used if they truly are helpful. Don’t get too wrapped up in “decorating your poster.” Get rid of any images or illustrations that aren’t directly related to your research and that don’t help you highlight the key messages you want to deliver.

Finally, resist the urge to use a blown up photo as your poster background. All it adds is confusion and clutter. You’re better off using a light, neutral tone in the background and adding interest with relevant, informational graphics.

This image from brightcarbon shows how good visuals and spacing can make a poster catchier and better at quickly delivering information. They’ve also got great templates for posters if you’re looking.

3) Get picky about your poster fonts and formatting

After you’ve looked at the big picture design and made sure your key message is coming across clearly, dive into the details to perfect your poster:

• Try to make all of your text boxes the same width. It keeps things visually consistent.
• If possible, keep paragraphs to 1-2 sentences rather than big blocks of text.
• Use italics instead of underlining. Underlining draws too much attention to a word.
• Don't use fancy fonts. They make your poster look busy and can make it harder to read (especially for people with dyslexia). In general, sans serif fonts are easiest to read.
• Except for a few words that you might want to highlight, ensure that all of your text is black or a dark color to create better contrast and readability.

4) Don’t be afraid to get a bit creative

We’ve listed some common poster elements and templates in this article, but that doesn’t mean you should hesitate to be creative. Think about design elements or images that are relevant to your research and that could make your poster stand out from the crowd. A few ideas to get your creative brainstorming started:

• Add hidden informational panels behind paper flaps on your poster to make the experience more interactive.
• Attach objects or physical things to add some dimension/interest to your poster.
• Bring props or handouts to supplement your poster beyond what exists on it.

The same goes for your poster layout. Don’t be afraid to completely switch things up in a way that suits your research. A twitter-famous example of this was Mike Morrisons take on the best conference poster layout:

Mike displays his poster layout (Image Source: NPR )

Mike’s innovative take on the research poster template prompted other researchers to think about how to reinvent the wheel. His video on poster sessions captures the need for this kind of creative approach perfectly. A few conferences even adopted it as their required template.

5) Get a second (and third) opinion on your scientific poster

Before you finalize your poster, make sure to review it carefully for accuracy, completeness, and visual appeal. Check for spelling and grammar errors and make sure that all of your data is presented accurately.

Print out a draft of your poster and ask a colleague or mentor to review it and provide feedback. It’s also worth getting feedback from someone with limited understanding of your research topic (they’ll be able to give you an idea of how accessible the wording is and a good review on your design without being bogged down in the technical details). Based on the feedback you receive, make any necessary revisions before finalizing your poster.

Some scientific poster examples (and reviews)

So far, this article has outlined the theory behind making a great poster. But, putting it into practice isn’t always as simple as a 6-step process. You might still be having difficulty visualizing what a good poster looks like (or thinking of ideas for your own). So, take this next section as a bit of creative inspiration. I’ve gathered a handful of posters from my network and given them a quick review based on the design recommendations above.

POSTER ONE - A Fine Figure (or a Few)

Made with: Mac Pages Shared by: Matthieu Chartier (Founder, Fourwaves)

Poster highlights:

• The use of figures and visuals helps to explain the method developed.
• Paragraphs are short and highlight key information.
• The poster isn’t divided into the classic scientific poster sections (let that creativity through!). Instead, because it’s describing a newly developed method, it’s divided into an introduction, method, validation, and applications.

Pieces to improve:

• There are a lot of different colors used. This makes it hard to identify the different sections and the structure of the poster at a glance. Converting the figures and fonts to a more uniform color scheme could help with the visual appeal to people walking by.
• The use of white space could be better (it feels a bit cramped). It would be better to leave some text out and simply mention that information when speaking with visitors during the poster session.

POSTER TWO - An Effective Contrast

Made with: Powerpoint (and figures with BioRender) Shared by: Simon Fournier (Business Development, CQDM)

• The poster contains clear sections with headings that have good contrasting colors to draw the eye (dark blue on white).
• The figure generated with Biorender is clear and is a good support material to use during the actual poster presentation.
• The use of bullet points helps distinguish the key messages.
• The title of the poster could be a bit more punchy to attract attention.
• Figures could be incorporated more to illustrate the data and draw the eye to the poster.

POSTER THREE - Colorful

Made with: Inkscape Shared by: Vincent Nault (CEO, Lumed)

• The use of figures helps to illustrate the data and break up the paragraphs.
• A good amount of information is delivered with a relatively small amount of text.
• The combination of colors is distracting at times. It’s not a complementary palette.
• The font sizes seem to vary widely and the bright yellow font is difficult to read.
• Sections don’t flow in a continuous logical order (gives the sensation of jumping around a bit when you’re trying to find the next section).

POSTER FOUR - Beauty in Simplicity

Made with: Adobe Illustrator (contains 3D rendered images created in Autodesk Maya). Shared by: Mouhanad Babi (PhD, Microscopist and Scientific Illustrator)

• The best thing about this poster is its simplicity. It only has 3 main sections.
• It’s not cramped with text and data and has a lot of white space.
• Easily read and understood in a short period of time.
• Bullet points are used well to share key information.
• The title could be a tad bit catchier.
• There is no contact information if someone wanted to reach out to the presenter.

FUN FACT: This poster was presented at the Biophysical Society of Canada in Montreal in 2017 and won the best poster prize 🏆!

POSTER FIVE - Room to Breathe

Made with : PowerPoint Shared by: Maxime Descoteaux (CSO at Imeka, Research chair in neuroinformatics)

• This poster really breathes! It’s mostly white with only darker colors used to clearly delineate the different sections.
• The content is straight to the point. It highlights the problems with existing compression formats then goes straight into the developed method and results.
• A short sentence to summarize the key conclusions would be helpful. However, leaving it out could also encourage the reader to ask the presenter and spark a conversation!

POSTER SIX - Curiosity and QR Codes

Made with: PowerPoint Shared by: Natália Teruel (from the Najmanovich Research Group )

• The presenter used small lines to link each bordered section. This guides the viewer well from one section to the next.
• The quality of the figures is high and gives a good first impression.
• The use of QR codes with a small label is a handy way to get people to dive deeper.
• A larger font-size or unique section header style would help make the structure clearer.
• The font color is far too light. It’s hard to read.

Conclusion: Making a great scientific poster

You’ve read the advice. You’ve reviewed the examples. You’ve heard what NOT to do.

What’s next?

As daunting as the task may seem, creating a scientific poster can be a lot of fun. It’s extremely rewarding to set up on the day of the poster session and see your work summarized and displayed in one big, visually appealing package.

So, plan your content carefully, choose a template that works for you, experiment with design elements, and present your research in a clear and visually appealing way. And, as always, don’t be afraid to get creative as you work toward your finished poster!

Acknowledgements

I'd like to thanks all those who contributed some tips and poster examples: Maxime Descoteaux, Natália Teruel, Rafael Najmanovich, Mouhanad Babi, Vincent Nault and Simon Fournier.

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Tips for Designing a Poster Presentation

Creating a compelling poster presentation for a scientific meeting can be intimidating but doesn’t have to be. Planning ahead and reviewing the advice on this page will help to guarantee that your poster engages your audience, accurately presents your research, and is ready for the meeting.

Know your audience

When preparing your poster, think about how you can clearly communicate with and catch the attention of your audience. Is your research specific to people in your field (e.g. materials science, industrial physics), or can you broaden your audience to include people in similar or unrelated areas of science? Remember to use clear language and avoid jargon, so that all readers can understand, regardless of their expertise.

Don’t forget to work on your elevator pitch. Having a concise and compelling summary of your work that also explains the importance of your research can help you to catch your audience's attention. It also ensures that you're prepared when someone at the meeting asks you about your poster.

Give your poster a clean layout

The preferred poster presentation size for APS meetings is four feet by eight feet (4'x8'). However, poster dimensions for other scientific meetings may differ, be sure to check the specific meeting information. Remember to include:

• An eye-catching title–use a 72-100 point font to make your title stand out
• Names of all authors, plus their institutions
• Section headings
• Plenty of visually interesting and relevant graphics

For maximum readability:

• Choose a font size in the 24-32 point range for the body text.
• Use bulleted lists instead of full paragraphs.
• Use a light background with dark letters.
• Pick one of the recommended fonts–Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, or Georgia are easy to read and widely available.
• Limit your fonts to two to three colors.
• Do not use background images underneath your text, as these will conflict visually with the text and make your poster more difficult to read.

What to include on your poster

• Introduction: Your introduction should answer the question, Why is this problem important? Provide clear background to draw the reader's interest and give context.
• Procedure:  What methods, tools, and additional resources did you use for your project? Include images, tables, or charts when possible.
• Graphics:  Use high-resolution images, label all charts and graphs, and include a legend if necessary.
• Results:  In most cases, it is not necessary to include all of your raw data. Show the data analysis that is applicable and briefly describe your results. Remember to avoid jargon. Your results should be the most prominent feature in the layout of your poster.
• Conclusion:  The conclusion is your opportunity to remind readers of the importance/relevance of your work. Use two to four bullet points to summarize your conclusion.
• Example: A. B. Smith, Phys. Rev. A 26 , 107 (1982)
• Acknowledgments:  Take the time to thank your collaborators (those who are not co-authors) as well as your sources of funding. Don’t forget to mention travel grants.

Should you include an abstract on your poster?

For APS meetings, it is not necessary to include your abstract on the poster. However, if you have made significant changes from your initial submission, you may wish to include a brief summary.

Still finalizing your abstract? Review our tips for writing a title and abstract .

Proofread, proofread, proofread

Make sure that everything is spelled correctly, and that your language is consistent. All co-authors should review and agree upon the content of the poster. Show your poster to friends both inside and outside of your department to make sure that your writing is clear. This is also a good way to practice answering questions about your work.

Practice makes perfect

Once your poster is ready, it’s time to start rehearsing your presentation. Get started by reading our guidelines for presenting your poster .

At the meeting

Put your poster up in its designated location at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the poster session and remove your poster immediately at the close of the session. Please note that AV is not allowed in poster sessions at the APS March and April meetings — posters should be designed using effective printed visuals. Your poster must correspond to the title and content of the abstract you submitted.

Tips for Presenting a Scientific Poster

A great poster will attract audiences, but a practiced, well thought out presentation will bring your research to life.

Best Practices for Virtual Presentations

Giving a virtual presentation can be just as compelling and engaging as an in-person presentation.

Speaker Tips and Guidelines

Follow the how-to's in presenting your research.

Meetings and Events

Share your research, broaden your network, and connect with new opportunities.

Join your Society

If you embrace scientific discovery, truth and integrity, partnership, inclusion, and lifelong curiosity, this is your professional home.

Colin Purrington's blog

Nature photography / natural history / misc.

Designing conference posters

A one-sentence overview of the poster concept.

A large-format poster is a big piece of paper or image on a wall-mounted monitor featuring a short title, an introduction to your burning question, an overview of your novel experimental approach, your amazing results in graphical form, some insightful discussion of aforementioned results, a listing of previously published articles that are important to your research, and some brief acknowledgement of the tremendous assistance and financial support conned from others — if all text is kept to a minimum (500-1000 words), a person could fully read your poster in 5-10 minutes.

Downloadable templates

Below are templates that can be used to make a meeting poster. Just download, adjust the dimensions (if you need to), and start typing. You can, of course, also change background color, text box color, font, etc. The templates are just starting points that can save you a few hours of fussing over the basics.

1. Horizontal template with results arena

This layout gives a lot of central, visible space to the results and demotes less important sections (Literature cited, Acknowledgements, Further information) to the bottom portion of the poster. Download (PPT file).

2. Horizontal template with big central column

If you prefer a more traditional layout (just columns) but still like the big central area for results, use  this Powerpoint file (or emulate the design).

3. Horizontal template for humanities

This template (PPT) is just a modification to illustrate that you can rename your sections to fit your discipline and tastes. I’ve tweaked it to address two questions but you can modify it however you want.

4. Portrait template

I hate portrait layout for posters but if you’re forced to use one, here’s a template (PPT). I’ve opted for a larger central column because your results are likely to contain charts or tables, and those don’t look good when overly shrunken.

The photograph below illustrates why portrait layout is often bad for large-formate posters: a big chunk of the poster real estate is below a viewer’s field of vision so you need to stoop to fully read. If you are in charge of a poster session, please read my plea about this problem .

What to put in each section

Below are some rough guidelines on what to include in each section of a scientific poster and how to pitch that content. The word-count guesses are for a poster that is approximately 3 x 4′, so adjust accordingly if your poster is a different size. Names of the section headings are somewhat flexible, too, especially if you’re not crafting a science poster.

Should briefly convey the interesting issue, the general experimental approach, and the system (e.g., organism); needs to be catchy in order to reel in passersby who are trying to avoid boring interactions, a real danger at conferences just like in the real world. [approximately 1-2 lines]

Do not include an abstract on a poster (a poster is an abstract of your research, so having two summaries is a waste of valuable poster space). Some meetings require an abstract, of course, and if that’s the case be as brief as possible. But if you can get away with it, just omit the section —there are rarely poster police at conferences, and they’re not going to tase you if your poster lacks an abstract.

Introduction

Write this section to target an intelligent person who is not in your field. Assume they don’t know your study organism at all and assume they are predisposed to find your topic unimportant. E.g., if you’re an astronomer, imagine a visitor who has a degree in biology or mathematics. Quickly (first sentence or two) get your viewer interested in the issue or question that drove you to take up the project in the first place. Use the absolute minimum of background information, definitions, and acronyms (all of which are boring). Place your issue in the context of published, primary literature. Pitch an interesting, novel hypothesis, then describe (briefly) the experimental approach that can test your hypothesis. Please note that “X has never been studied before” or “my mentor gave me this project” are lame reasons for doing something, even if true. Also note: unlike a manuscript for a journal, the introduction of a poster is a wonderful place to display a photograph or illustration that visually communicates some aspect of your research question. A nice image can draw people in even if you look boring or have a boring poster title. Keep length to approximately 200 words.

Materials and methods

Briefly describe experimental equipment and procedure, but not with the detail used for a manuscript. Use figures and flow charts to illustrate experimental design if possible. Include a photograph or labeled drawing of organism or setup. Mention statistical analyses that were used and how they allowed you to address hypothesis. Keep length to approximately 200 words.

First, mention whether your experiment procedure actually worked (e.g., “90% of the birds survived the brainectomy”). In same paragraph, briefly describe qualitative and descriptive results (e.g., “surviving birds appeared to be lethargic and had difficulty locating seeds”) to give a more personal tone to your poster. In second paragraph, begin presentation of data analysis that more specifically addresses your hypothesis. Refer to supporting charts or images. Provide engaging figure legends that could stand on their own (i.e., could convey some point to reader if viewer skipped all other sections, which they will do). Opt for figures over tables whenever possible. This is always the largest section (except if you have no data). Keep length to approximately 200 words (not counting figure legends).

Conclusions

Remind the reader, without sounding like you are reminding the reader, of the major result and quickly state whether your hypothesis was supported. Try to convince the visitor why the outcome is interesting (assume they’ve skipped the Introduction). State the relevance of your findings to other published work. Add relevance to real organisms in the real world. Add sentence on future directions of research. Keep length to approximately 200 words.

Literature cited

Follow format described by your main society exactly. Grammar and typography police at conferences will find even minor infractions.

Acknowledgments

Thank individuals for specific contributions (equipment donation, statistical advice, laboratory assistance, comments on earlier versions of the poster). Mention who has provided funding. Do not list people’s titles (e.g., write Colin Purrington not Dr Purrington). Also include in this section disclosures for any conflicts of interest and conflicts of commitment ( more info ). If you have a lot of conflicts, put them all in a Conflicts section. Keep length to approximately 40 words.

Further information

If you haven’t botched the content and tone, some visitors will want to know more about your research, so provide your e-mail address, your web site address, or perhaps a URL where they can download a PDF version of the poster or relevant data. If you provide a URL, format it so it’s not blued or underlined. Full disclosure: I made up this section, so if your mentor thinks it’s silly, that’s why. Keep length to approximately 20 words.

DOs and DON’Ts

Below are some tips to avoid producing a terrible poster. Please see this post for an example of a terrible poster.

• The number one mistake is to make a poster too wordy. Aim for 1000 words or less. That might mean 700 words in paragraph form (body text), plus 300 words in the legends of all your figures and tables. Below is an example poster that has almost 2000 words, 1000 too many.
• The second-most common mistake is related to the first: a failure to maintain a pleasing amount of white space around text boxes and figures. A cramped poster is hard to read, and the brain simply cannot effectively process the information provided, regardless of how amazing it is.
• Avoid titles with colons if you can: they are overused. If you absolutely must have a coloned title, just be sure it doesn’t force you to spill onto a third line.
• Effect of ken and barbie  knockouts on sexual preference in Drosophila melanogaster
• Effect of Ken and Barbie Knockouts on Sexual Preference in Drosophila Melanogaster
• EFFECT OF KEN AND BARBIE KNOCKOUTS ON SEXUAL PREFERENCE IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER 
• Use a non-serif font (e.g., Helvetica) for title and headings and a serif font (e.g., Palatino) for body text. Serif-style fonts are much easier to read at smaller font sizes (that’s why novels are rarely set with Helvetica and the like).
• Do not add bullets to section headings. The use of a bolded, larger font is sufficient for demarcating sections.
• The width of text boxes should be approximately 45-65 characters. Lines that are shorter or longer are harder to read quickly.
• Don’t vary the width of text boxes (it’s visually distracting).
• Whenever possible, use lists of sentences rather than blocks of text.
• Use italics instead of underlining. Underlining draws too much attention to a word.
• When using acronyms and numbers (e.g., ATP, 42) within the body of text, scale down the font size by a couple of points so that their sizes don’t overpower the lowercase text. Use of “small caps” will sometimes do the trick, but this effect varies with different fonts and with different software.
• Set line spacing manually to make sure spacing is uniform. Doing this is critical if you have used super- or sub-scripted text. If you don’t, only some lines will have extra space, and that would be visually distracting.
• Do not trust the tab button to insert the correct amount of space when you are indenting a paragraph (the default is usually too big). Set the tab amount manually, with the ruler feature. And never, ever use spaces to create a tab-like space (it just doesn’t work).
• When you have quotations, make sure your software hasn’t used the “double prime” glyph instead of quotation marks. Double primes are the thingies used for inches (e.g., 5′ 11″), and mathematical formulas/formulae.
• Correct any errors in spacing wit hin and between words, especially before and after italicized      text. (See how annoying that is?!)
• Use only a single space between sentences. The double-space convention was needed for typewriters so insisting on two spaces marks you as old person. Use the Search/Replace feature to globally replace all double spaces with single spaces (and to locate locations where too many spaces occur between words).
• Avoid dark backgrounds for text boxes. Dark text on white is the easiest for most people to read. Also, dark backgrounds make designing graphics much harder. It’s better to just use a white background. And you save on ink, too.
• Avoid color combinations that create problems for those with color-deficient alleles. Approximately 8% of males and 0.5% of females have some degree of color-vision deficiency ( example ). To test whether you’ve made a terrible mistake in color choice, you can run a JPG of your poster through  Coblis , or use the built-in simulator in Photoshop . In general, avoid using red and green together, and opt to use symbols and line patterns (e.g., dashed vs solid) instead of colors for graph elements.
• Similarly, if you have a color sensitivity mutation and don’t know it, you might choose colors that are inadvertently confusing or clashing. Get yourself tested, especially if you’re a white male.
• Complete the entire poster on a single platform. Switching from PC to Mac or Mac to PC invites disaster, sometimes in the form of lost image files or garbled graph axes. Even if you are lucky enough to transfer content across platforms, switching in this way often creates printing problems in the future.
• Give your graphs titles or informative phrases. You wouldn’t do this in a manuscript for a journal, but for posters you want to guide the visitor as much as possible.
• If you can add miniature illustrations to any of your graphs, do it. Visual additions help attract and inform viewers much more effectively than text alone. Tables benefit from this trick as well.
• Choose the right graph. Please see “ Watch your figures ” for help choosing among bar graph, line graph, etc.
• Most graphing applications automatically give your graph an extremely annoying key that you should immediately delete. Just directly label the different graph elements with the text tool.
• Acronyms and other shorthands for genotypes, strains, and the like are terrible for communicating with people outside of your laboratory. Use general, descriptive terms, even if they require more space, which they do.
• Y-axis labels aligned horizontally are much, much easier to read, and should be used whenever space allows.
• Format axis labels in sentence case (Not in Title Case and NOT IN ALL CAPS). People process sentence-case text faster.
• Never give your graphs colored backgrounds, grid lines, or boxes. If your graphing program gives them to you automatically, get rid of them. (If you are friends with any of the programmers who make software that has such settings as defaults, please plead with them to revisit that decision.)
• Never display two-dimensional data in 3-D. Three-dimensional graphs look adorable but obscure true difference among bar heights.
• Make sure that details on graphs and photographs can be comfortably viewed from 6 feet away. A common mistake is to assume that axes labels, figure legends, and numbers on axes are somehow exempt from font-size guidelines. The truth is that the majority of viewers want to read only your figures.
• If you include photographs, add a thin gray or black border to make them stand out against background color.
• Provide the source of any image that is not yours. And only uses images that are in the public domain. When in doubt, ask the author/photographer/illustrator for permission. Or buy it. Please see, “ Adding photo credits to talk slides .”
• Use web graphics with caution. You need something with high-enough resolution so that it doesn’t look pixelated (fuzzy) when printed. FYI, photographs imported from TIFFs often look better than JPEGs because the latter are often compressed too much (or too many times). Gruesome details if you’re interested .
• If you can’t find the perfect illustration or photograph for your poster, get one made. A good image can be used in multiple posters, future talks, and even in manuscripts. There are lots of illustrators and photographers out there, and they are starving. Give them a call.
• Don’t clutter the top of your poster with logos. If you are required by your mentor to include logos on your poster, put them on the bottom of the poster and make them small. Here is an example image of a poster with logos at the top if you’d like see why it’s a graphical fail.
• Format your Literature cited contents carefully. Even small mistakes will mark you as incapable of grasping the importance of details. When asking somebody to proof your poster, specifically ask them to be critical of your citation format. Ask several people, too: no one person is going to catch all your errors. Keep the font size the same as the size in other sections.
• Write “data are,” not “data is.” “Data” is a plural noun while “datum” is the singular. Although it’s true that almost all non-scientists say “data is” when speaking, you should protect yourself from the scorn of grammar prudes at conferences. There are a lot of Type A people in science.
• If you don’t know the difference between “effect” and “affect,” it’s probably best to avoid those words. The Oatmeal’s “ 10 words you need to stop misspelling ” explains the difference nicely.
• If you use “woman” as an attributive noun (e.g., “woman participant”), be consistent and use “man” in the same way (e.g., “man participant”). If either sounds awkward, revert to using adjectives (female, male), which work really well. Here’s the same advice from a woman in case you have discounted my opinion because I’m male.
• Don’t plagiarize. If this is not obvious, please see my page on the topic .

How to make your poster more engaging

Your poster is yours , so you should feel free to add objects to increase the effectiveness of your message. Doing so will dramatically increase the number of people visiting and remembering you and your poster.

1. Add hidden panels

If you have information that only some viewers might find interesting, use a hidden panel approach. Just print your interesting extras onto your poster, then cover the area with a hinged piece of poster board onto which you have glued something else. Zoos and museums do this a lot.

2. Add 3D images

If you have three dimensional data or complex molecular structures ( examples ; more examples ), make 3D images. There are software programs that can generate stereoscopic images that are viewable with cheap 3-D glasses. Here are directions on making your own stereoscopic setup for about $19.98 (before taxes) using Legos and two novelty key-chain cameras. Have a pouch near the figure so that viewers can help themselves to glasses even when you have abandoned your poster. Attach glasses with string if you think somebody will walk off with them.

3. Add objects

If your topic is related to a thing or object, attach it. E.g., if you study sexual dimorphism in freakishly large beetles, glue the beetles onto the poster so people can appreciate them. It’s so much better than a photograph. If your thing is fragile, just put it into clear protective container and then attach the container. Use 3M removable tape if you want to minimize damage to underlying poster paper. Neodymium magnets are even slicker — just attach a magnet to your thing and affix a second magnet on the poster. Note that researchers of large things can always use miniaturized version made by a 3D printer ( example ). Attaching an object will increase visitor traffic by at least 20% (I’m making that up, but I’m sure it’s measurable).

4. Add doodles

Use removable tape to add a transparency sheet over a graph or photograph if you want to make non-permanent doodles with Dry-Erase markers. You can then doodle on critical parts of your poster, then erase.

5. Add slideshows and movies

If you wish to show movies or photographs, attach an iPad (below; another example ). Here’s a video showing how to attach . If the movies and photographs look OK on smaller screens, use an old iPod or iPhone. You can also buy cheap digital photo frames at Targét. Note: provide headphones if audio is banned in session room (common). And if your media presentation is critical to the poster, put it online and then provide the QR code (for URL) on the spot underneath the iPad so that viewers can still see the movie even when you remove the iPad (so people don’t steal it when you’re away from your poster).

6. Add sound

If your topic is related to sound, attach a sound device that contains your sound (bird calls, engine rattle, etc.). A cheap “sound postcard” will often do the trick if you don’t want to risk your iPad. Just fill the picture frame with an illustration of the sound-generating organ or machine, and indicate where on the photograph the viewer should press to activate the sound.

7. Add virtual reality content

Add virtual-reality content (and VR goggles) if you need a way to enhance the poster-viewing experience in some way.

8. Add odors

If your topic is related to olfaction, try to get the odor onto your poster somehow. Microencapsulation is one way to make scratch-n-sniff areas, but if you work on a common odor there might be a scented ink that you can just buy. E.g., you might go for the smell of fresh cut grass if your poster is on effects of grazing. Gimmicky, but then you’d be famous. You can also buy odor sample bags to trap smells for later use (just attach them to your poster with instructions on how to extract a whiff).

Before you print a poster, print to a PDF first and confirm — at 100% magnification — that colors, fonts, and images look perfect. If you’ve never printed to a PDF before, it’s easy: on Windows machines, select, “Save As”, and on Macs, “Print To.” If the PDF looks awful, go back and fix your source file. One trick is to upload the PDF to http://pdf-analyser.edpsciences.org/ , which will give you a listing of the resolutions of all images contained, plus will flag any fonts you’ve used but weren’t embedded in the PDF. If you own Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can get the same information by running a preflight diagnostic .

Once you have a PDF that you’re pleased with, send it to your campus poster printer, a local media business (Office Max, Staples, Kinko’s, etc.), or to a poster printing service that prints academic posters. If you opt for an online service, they’ll mail it to you (in a tube), even to your meeting location if you so desire. I’ve use  PhD Posters in the past because their locations are run by people with science PhDs who value good design and know about academic conferences (plus they haven’t plagiarized my site like other companies). In many cases, conference organizers have arrangements with online poster printers that offer a discount, so check with the people in charge. Ideally, do all the above in time that you can re-print if you discover a problem. You might have made a $100 mistake, but if you’re trying to impress people, and you probably are, it might be worth the do-over.

These days, there are lots of options on paper thickness and gloss, plus even the option to print on various types of fabric that can be folded. One huge advantage of fabric posters is that you can store the poster in your briefcase/backpack, and thus minimize the chance you’ll inadvertently leave the poster behind at the airport (when your poster is in tube, this happens). Another huge advantage of cloth posters is that when you are done presenting you can make geeky clothes.

Of course, many conferences these days feature posters on monitors. But you should also print your poster so that you have something to hang in your hallway when you return.

Note that if you receive your poster and the images look pixelated or the colors displease you, just print out high-resolution replacements and attach them with tape to cover the bad versions.

How to present a poster

To see people presenting posters, there are thousands of YouTube videos. Tips below will help you get the most out of the experience.

• At most meetings you’ll be required to stand next to your poster and walk a visitor through it. But you should have designed it so that it’s understandable without you around.
• If your conference promotes a meeting hashtag (e.g., #geekfest19), broadcast a short title and your poster’s time and location on Twitter. Here are some examples of people trying to drum up an audience in advance. If your society hasn’t advertised the official hashtag at least a year in advance, nudge them to get on board with modernity.

• Add your email address and phone number onto the back of your meeting registration ID. When people ask for your contact information, just flip it around and they can copy what they need.
• Do not refer to notes when explaining your poster.
• When presenting your poster, use your fingers to point out specific parts of your poster.
• A typical poster visitor appreciates a 2-sentence overview of why your research is interesting and relevant. Get them hooked on your question before explaining anything more about your poster. For example, you might point to the illustration of the submerged hamster in your “Materials and methods” and say, “I was interested in whether hamsters could evolve gills when subjected to repeated dunkings, which would be adaptive if the ice caps melt away.” Then point to the graph in Results section and say, “I found that hamsters didn’t evolve gills, but instead drowned.” Keep it general, and make it clear to the visitor why you find the topic interesting.
• Avoid vagueness such as “this figure shows our main result.” Say something concrete, like, “We found that brainectomized rats finished the maze more slowly, as you can see from this graph that plots time…”
• If more viewers arrive halfway into your spiel, finish the tour for the earlier arrivals first. That’s unless the new arrivals are super important, and the first crowd just a bunch of worthless groupies.
• When in doubt about how to act at your poster, imagine that a viewer will be considering your application for a job ten years into the future, or will be considering your graduate school application next week. This is pretty much how it all happens.
• Attach a few business cards to your poster. Even if you are an academic and think owning a business card destroys your soul. If you want to stay informal, just order yourself a stack of cards that feature photographs of your research organism (or star system, or whatever you work on). I’m fond of MOO ( see my cards ).
• If you must leave your poster for a bit, attach a note alerting any viewers to your expected time of return or telling them where you can be found. Put your phone number on the note. E.g., “Hey, this is crazy, but if you want to chat about this poster, text me at 800-867-5309.”
• If you’re assigned to a dark corner in the poster session room, buy a cheap flashlight and stick it on a leash for visitors. Or, better, attach a clip-on, battery-powered lamp.
• Attach a photograph of yourself near or on your poster so that people can find you more easily.
• Have on hand, but don’t aggressively peddle, manuscripts and reprints of your work. If you have space on the mounting board, just pin them up for the taking.
• Make shrunken versions of your poster as handouts. If you have resisted the urge to shrink your font size, the text will still be legible.
• If you have unpublished research, or research that might be deemed offensive to non-scientists, attach a “Please do not photograph” note to your poster.
• Keep a black pen and correction fluid in your pocket in case a viewer discovers an embarrassing tybo.

• To lure viewers, attach a clear plastic cup full of candy to your poster along with a note saying, “please help yourself.” Stand off to the side of your poster, then swoop back in when victims take the bait.
• If you’re the plan-ahead type, make a JPG of your poster (or research organism) and order yourself a t-shirt to wear at conference. It would be funny, plus would attract people to your poster who might not otherwise care at all. When everyone starts doing this it won’t be as funny, so act now.

• Thank your viewers for visiting. If they have stayed more than 4 minutes, you have succeeded. If they say, “This is really interesting — I’ll definitely come back later,” you have failed.

Motivational advice

The best general advice I can give a first-time poster constructor is to describe the circumstances in which a poster will eventually be viewed: a hot, loud, congested room with really bad lighting. And meeting organizers will invariably situate your poster next to something more catchy such as “Teaching house cats to perform cold fusion.” Your poster needs to be interesting and visually slick if you hope to attract viewers.

If you’re crafty, a handmade poster is far superior to anything that you could make with a poster printer. Plus you’d be the highlight of a meeting. E.g., Jason McDermott’s poster .

Embrace the rough draft process

The most important part of producing a great poster is to embrace the rough draft process. You’ll want to get honest feedback from people in your laboratory and from smart strangers who might not really care about your topic. Perhaps the easiest way to get feedback is to print a miniature version of your poster on 8 1/2 x 11″ paper. If people can’t read the text (especially on the figures), that’s a sign that your font size is too small. Another way to get feedback is to use a projector to display your poster on a large screen or monitor, then ask people to verbally critique. You want an audience that can walk up to the screen like it’s a poster at a meeting.

Ideally, print a draft poster at least a month before the meeting and get people to critique your poster when you are not present . I.e., hang it in a hallway with a huge sign that pleads and begs for honest feedback about layout, word count, spelling, font, color, content, etc. Tell them to leave comments on Post-It notes (so provide these in container, with pens). And, again, don’t be present for this. If you are lurking like a proud parent, people will say, “Looks beautiful!” out of politeness and a desire to get away fast. If your hallway is populated with slackers, motivate them by providing food rewards in a box attached near poster. Attach sign to box: “Please tell me how to make my poster better. Mini candy bars are my pathetic thanks.”

Software recommendations

Although the vast majority conference posters on the planet are produced with Microsoft Powerpoint, you’ll end up with a better-looking poster if you use a page-layout application such as QuarkXPress , InDesign ( great poster instructions ), LaTeX ( templates ; instructions ; example ), or  Scribus ( instructions ). These programs allow control of text wrapping around images, automatic text flow among associated text blocks, and much more. You can also make posters with graphics software such as  Illustrator , CorelDRAW , Free h and ,  Omnigraffle , and  Inkscape . I’ve also heard great things about Canva . There’s also  PosterGenius for those who need a program that will make a lot of the design decisions for you.

Why give a poster instead of a talk

Although you could communicate research via a 15-minute talk at the same meeting, presenting a poster allows you to more personally interact with the people who are interested in your topic, and lets you reach people who might not be in your esoteric but no doubt fascinating sub-field. And, it turns out, posters sessions are not all about you: research has demonstrated that people who are standing are more engaged learners than people sitting in chairs (at talks). Posters are also handy because they can still be viewed even when you’re not present. And after the conference ends, you can hang the poster in the hallway of your department for people to admire. Finally, presenting a poster is especially recommended if you are bad at public speaking or can’t comfortably speak a particular language ( the reason poster sessions were invented ).

More information

If you want a shorter version of all these tips (likely), please see my poster that have poster tips — it’s printable and makes a great handouts if you’re a teacher.

My terrible poster example is here . I also have a page of tips for folks in charge of organizing a poster session .

COPYRIGHT 2019 COLIN PURRINGTON

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Academic Conference Poster

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Conference Poster Templates

Make a lasting impact at your next conference with Venngage's Conference Poster Templates. Whether you're presenting research findings, promoting your organization, or sharing valuable insights, our designs help you create professional and eye-catching posters. Customize with ease, add compelling visuals, and showcase key information effectively. Design your conference posters now and captivate your audience with visually stunning presentations!

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Oral & Poster Presentation Guidelines

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Oral Paper Presentation Guidelines:

• Kindly use the above PPT template to maintain consistency. In case, for some reasons you are not able to use this PPT template, kindly use 16:9 aspect ratio for your PPT.
• You should not exceed the limit of 7 minutes for presentation as 3 minutes have to be left for Q&A. Total time given to you will be 10 mins.
• You should ensure that your PPT is handed over on the AV console of the respective hall at least 2 hrs before your session time.

Poster Paper Presentation Guidelines:

• You will have to print your poster and bring it to the venue, where the poster board will be provided with your abstract ID mentioned on it.
• Dimensions of your poster should be maximum 3 feet (width) x 4 feet (height).
• The poster title should be displayed prominently at the top of the poster, followed by the author names with affiliations.
• The text should include - Aim, Methods, Results and Conclusion.
• The poster should be self-explanatory, text should be brief and well organized.
• The presenters are requested to be available at the time of poster judging/ presentation to attend to the delegates and panel of experts.
• The poster display boards with pins/ tape will be provided at the conference venue. Kindly ensure your poster is put up on 06-Sept and taken off on 08-Sept by 12 noon.

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