COMMUNICATING YOUR RESEARCH AND RESULTS
THROUGH A POSTER PRESENTATION
AT VISIBLE THINKING
COMMUNICATING YOUR RESEARCH AND RESULTS
THROUGH A POSTER PRESENTATION
AT VISIBLE THINKING
| A visitor to a poster does not want to read it, but to inspect it. Thus, the key to creating an effective poster presentation is visual simplicity achieved without loss of information content. | |||
| • | Make the title brief and descriptive. | ||
| • | Provide a brief abstract to orient the viewer. | ||
| Note that the printed program for Visible Thinking will contain each presenter’s abstract, but the poster should also display the same or updated text. | |||
| • | Plan a story for the viewer: | ||
| • | the context - what, why, how | ||
| • | the results and analysis | ||
| • | the importance of the results | ||
| • | Use telegraphic language and bulleted outlines. | ||
| • | Construct easy-to-interpret graphs and tables for information and comparisons. | ||
| • | Include a visual image to illustrate your project and/or results. | ||
| • | Make it easy for the viewer to determine the flow of information. | ||
| Visible Thinking will provide 32" x 40" foam core boards on which you can pin individual printed components of the poster or clip a pre-mounted poster board. They may be used in landscape or portrait orientation. If you would like to pre-assemble your poster before the day of Visible Thinking, you may purchase slightly smaller cardboard backing with a blue or white finish at the Duke Bookstore. These trifold boards are easier to transport. | |||
| To see what will fit on a 32 x 40" poster board (four examples) go here. | |||
| To see photographs of posters of all sizes presented by Duke students in various poster sessions , go here. | |||
| For additional references on making posters, go here. | |||
| Poster sessions have become a significant communication style for presenting research results in professional association meetings in all disciplines of the natural and social sciences. Visitors to poster sessions see and hear more presentations than in the equivalent time dedicated to presented papers; moreover, the opportunity for close conversation between presenter and visitor is one of the most important ways that information can be shared among scholars. | |||
_____________________ Web resources |
|||
| Designing Effective Posters http://www.kumc.edu/SAH/OTEd/jradel/Poster_Presentations/PstrStart.html Jeff Radel (Kansas) |
|||
| HOW TO MAKE A GREAT POSTER American Society
of Plant Biologists http://www.aspb.org/education/poster.cfm |
|||
| "How to Give the Poster No One Remembers"
Mortal Sins Thomas G. Walcott, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. SICB fall 1997 Newsletter p. 10. |
|||
One of the simplest arrangements for a poster in landscape orientation with individual poster elements in portrait orientation. The 32 x 40" poster board used in Visible Thinking accepts eight 8.5x11" printed sheets plus a title and author banner. For variety and contrast, colored papers can be used to frame the printed sheets; colored paper will be available during set-up.
Variation of landscape poster format. The most common problems in fitting the poster elements to the board size are (1) not planning enough space for the title and author banner and (2) mixing individual poster elements in portrait and landscape orientations without taking into account the overall poster dimensions.
Landscape poster with a more complicated arrangement, but one which might work well when multiple small items such as photographs will be displayed. Such a poster works best when it is at least partially pre-assembled on poster board (thin cardboard) which can be pinned or clipped to the hard board backings available during set-up.
A poster in portrait orientation. Note the flow of information indicators and illustrations.
_____________________
| top of page | Poster Styles |
