Hints for poster preparation

This article comes from "Chemistry in Britain", Vol. 9 (1983), p. 181"

It is not intended that you take all of the following suggestions literally. Some of the comments below are dated or do not apply to our small show. However, it can serve as a general guideline.

Conference poster sessions have come of age.

They started off as a means of advertising the surpassing interest of lectures to come. Then came the bright idea that since travel money was easier to obtain for somebody giving a paper, why not hate a very large number of people to give papers, eaten when these, instead of being read, were only going to be looked at and discussed.

From such unpretentious beginnings grew the idea of a proper poster session, which has now developed into an important means of communication. This importance lies in the self-selecting nature of the session: a good poster selects its own audience and only people with a genuine concern for the subject will make the necessary effort to stop and stare. Good posters, however, are rare, so we insisted Dr John Burgess of Leicester University to give us his thoughts on poster design:

Sadly, recent experiences have shown that standards of poster presentation are still remarkably variable. The best prelude to a good presentation is surely to attend one or two sessions in a receptive but critical frame of mind, to note which posters are effective and which are infuriating or plain dull, think why, and act accordingly.

The greater informality of poster presentation encourages discussion between interested parties, and indeed encourages preliminary dissemination of results and theories before finalization in print or in a formal lecture. On the other hand, posters have their disadvantages, especially to their authors. For a start, it is much more effort to produce a good poster, and to get it to the conference poster board than to have a few slides or over head transparencies made. Also it is impossible to stand beside one's own poster and to inspect everyone else's. Organizers can help somewhat with this problem by having posters on view for as long as possible.

Posters are generally self-contained, but there are also ways in which they can be linked with oral presentations. In a multi-stream conference they can provide a substitute for oral presentations which cannot be attended due to inevitable clashes. They are also useful adjuncts to oral presentations that contain a great deal of detail; a poster containing tables of data, results or mathematical operations can be studied at leisure and the contents absorbed in a way impossible with slides.

We reproduce below a 'typical' poster (Inorganic Mechanisms Group meeting, Warwick, December, 1981), to which we have added comments on presentation. This, like numerous other posters from this department, was designed and produced by Ann Crane.

Image of a Poster

Content

Is the topic and its treatment appropriate for a poster? Excessive quantities of facts and particularly subtle arguments tend not to be appreciated, especially if the author is not immediately available to act as guide.

Arrange the material in a logical sequence, and make sure the poster is self-contained if it will be on display in the author's absence. It is helpful to start with a concise introduction and end with brief conclusions particularly when the participants have an overwhelming choice competing for their attention.

Use of colour can be very helpful both in maximizing the clarity of diagrams and in making the poster attractive.

The title should be bold and informative, of course. It is a good idea to design and position the title panel last. A striking effect can be obtained from an awkward remaining space.

Authors

Photographs can be useful in making contact at large international gatherings. When posters are on show for extended periods, indicate when the authors will be in attendance.

Handouts

If you would like people to have a permanent record, have handouts available, either from the author or in a folder attached to the poster board.

Text and tables

Artistic considerations favour the minimum of textual and tabular material, but scientific considerations generally demand several paragraphs of text and one or more tables of results -- be as succinct as possible, but not to the point of incomprehensibility.

Typescript is rather small to read, though quite satisfactory when no more than two or three readers are present at once. Photographic enlargement of typescript improves legibility, though some typefaces look rather unattractive when magnified. However, they still look infinitely better than the handwriting of 99 per cent of the scientific population.

Figures and diagrams

These are to be preferred over text and tables wherever possible. Obviously it is a great help to have the assistance of someone with an aptitude for technical drawings but in these days of stencils, expanding and reducing Xerox machines, and computer graphics even the hamfisted scientist can produce neat and attractive illustrative material.

Back to Sci 010 home page.


.../010posterguide.html
Modified: 13/09/1995 by goddyn@sfu.ca (Luis Goddyn)