Poster presentation

Determine the size of the poster

Common dimensions for posters are 42 x 42 inches, 42 x 48 inches, or 42
x 52 inches.
Decide on content and sequence it
Determine a logical sequence for the material you will be presenting.
rgani!e that material into sections, e.g., "ntroduction, #ethods,
$esults, Discussion, Conclusions, %c&nowledements and 'iterature Cited.
(ou may wish to use numbers to help sequence sections of the poster.
%rrange the material into columns.
)he poster should not rely upon your *erbal explanation to lin& together
the *arious portions.
Edit without mercy!
)here is almost always too much text in a poster. +osters with 8,, words
or less are ideal.
The Title
)itle should e*o&e interest, but it should not gi*e wrong impression about
topic of your poster. )he title should be readable from -5 . 2, feet away.
Introduction
/et your *iewer interested about the issue or question while using the
absolute minimum of bac&ground information and de0nitions
Layout
Choose carefully the layout. 1ome poster 2experts2 suggest that if there is
about 2,.253 text, 4,.453 graphics and 4,.4,3 empty space, you are
doing well.
Do not use dar& bac&gorund.
Graphics
1elf.explanatory graphics should dominate the poster.
% minimal amount of text should supplement the graphic
materials.
5se empty space between poster elements to di6erentiate and
accentuate these elements.
/raphic materials should be *isible easily from a minimum
distance of 7 feet.
"f you include a photograph, add a thin gray or blac& border to
ma&e it more *isually appealing. 8ust remember not to o*erpower
the image with an o*erly thic& line. Choose a line color that is
subtly pleasing but barely noticeable to the *iewer.
(.axis labels aligned hori!ontally are much, much easier to read,
and should be used whene*er space allows. %ll graphs should
ha*e axis labels formatted in 9sentence case9 :not in 9)itle Case9
and not in 9%'' C%+19;.
Do not gi*e your graphs colored bac&grounds, grid lines, or
boxes.
%*oid to display two.dimensional data in 4.D. )hree.dimensional
graphs loo& adorable but obscure true di6erence among bar
heights.
Text
5se a non.serif font :e.g., <el*etica, =erdana; for title and headings
and a serif font :e.g., +alatino, )imes; for body text :serif.style fonts
are much easier to read at smaller font si!es;.
5se italics instead of underlining.
Do not 9bullet9 or otherwise punctuate section headers. )he use of a
larger font si!e for headers, coupled with a simple >bolded? format,
is su@cient for demarcating sections.
)he width of text boxes should be approximately 4, characters :on
a*erageA -- words per line;. 'ines that are shorter or longer are
harder to read quic&ly :according to researchB;.
%*oid bloc&s of text longer than -, sentences.
Chene*er possible, use lists of sentences rather than bloc&s of text.
Chen using acronyms and numbers :e.g., %)+, 777; within the body
of text, scale down the font si!e by a couple of points so that their
si!es don2t o*erpower the lowercase text, which they would do if you
left them at the default si!e. 5se of 9small caps9 will sometimes do
the tric&, but this e6ect *aries with di6erent fonts.
1et line spacing of all text to be exactly -, in case you ha*e used
super. or subscripted text.