Poster Guidelines

Poster presentations foster the exchange of ideas between the presenter and those interested in her/his work. A poster is very different from a paper or a talk, and so must be planned and presented differently. The poster is a visual presentation of whatever the presenter wishes to display on the poster board. Simply pinning a paper to a poster board usually makes a very poor poster.

A poster board is typically four feet high and six feet wide, but may be rotated to be "tall and thin". While usually sheets of paper are pinned or attached to the board, other visual aids may also be used.

The purpose of a poster is to outline a piece of work in a form the viewers can easily assimilate and to stimulate their interest and discussion. The ultimate aim is to open a dialogue between the presenter and the viewers.

It is important to keep the poster simple and visually uncluttered. The sections of the poster should be considered for their visual impact and should be quickly understood. The broad outline of a poster should include a statement of the problem investigated, a description of the method used (if relevant), results or findings, and a summary.

Yet one may use ingenuity. A question/answer format may be an appropriate way to convey information. Bulleted lists, graphs and graphics, photos--all may be used.

The poster should tell a story--colored lines or string may lead the eye from a key word in one document to a visual of that word, or a fuller explanation/visual of the point being made. The individual parts of the poster are usually 8X11 sheets of paper. The typeface should be larger than usual so the words may be read some feet away. Color may code the text, and color backing paper can be used to link sections, or to distinguish them from each other.

Usually a vertical ordering of the "papers" is preferable; if they are arranged horizontally, a person will have to walk back and forth over the six foot width of the poster to read them--which can be awkward. You may number the sheets to help guide the viewer or use arrows to link them.

Each poster should have a title. You may find it useful to look at this site:

http://www.lcsc.edu/ss150/poster.htm

The above is an excellent site with several examples; a sample layout of a poster, etc., including links.

Links to other helpful pages (from USD's IdeaFest webpage). If you are really into technology, you might want to try the second link. The third link (to a psychology web page) gives, succinctly, some major considerations.

http://www.usd.edu/ideafest/presentation_tips.html