1. Introduction to poster presentation
János J. Szórád
Summer School 2014

2. Posters in general
Definition: a poster is „any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface” (Gosling, 1999)
Posters include both graphical and textual elements
Both eye-catching and informative
Used since earliest times for advertising and announcements, mass production since from 1870s
Commercial, political and scientific importance

3. Concerning scientific posters
A communicational method that visually tells the comprehensive, but condensed, story of a research project
Presenter’s objective is to engage interested visitors in dialogues that
Explain the research
Expand the provided informations
Take the visitors directly the desired take-home message

4. Purpose of a scientific poster
To serve as a basis for structured communication
To convey findings in scientific research
To share ideas with colleagues
To get criticism and constructive input to the project
To serve as an alternative to longer oral presentations
To learn how to organize and effectively present research data

5. Parts of a scientific poster
Title and authors part
Abstract
Introduction
Results
Conclusions
Acknowledgement and references

6. What does an effective poster contain?
Viewer-friendly style with large (not small) typeface & informative subheadings
Bright background instead of a dark one, with dark characters
Use pictures, drawing and cartoons to present the majority of the information
Small offerings of information vs. long paragraphs of text (bullets not sentences)
Logical and orderly progression of presentationSummary statement(s) of key aspects
Easily understandable language without jargon or undefined acronyms

7. Title and authors Title = the shortest abstract of a poster
Should be compressed as much as it can
Should impress the content
Should take the appetite for further reading (make it interesting!)
Every authors should be written
With the proper name
With the correct institute/ department
Contact info is also important
This should be HUGE and easily readable from further distances

8. Abstract Similar to sent-in abstract
Should contain the most necessary information in a compressed form:
Scientific background
Scope of the study
Methodology
(a few) Results
Conclusions

9. Introduction More compressed than an article Introduction
Volume: maximally 10 sentences (or 10 points)
Content:
Project overview
Background of the project
Statement of the project’s purpose
Relevance to the audience
Always use citations!

10. Materials and methods
Provides information about the used approaches for the investigation
Includes brief notes on materials and resources, like special equipment, used in the investigation
Should be more schematic than an article Mat&Met

11. Results and discussion
Charts, graphs and figures are the most appropriate
Focus on the followings:
Which results matter and why are they important?
Were there expected or unexpected outcomes?
Were the results significant or not? Why?
Limit the volume of legends
Avoid too much information (the TMI Trap)

12. Conclusions Summarizing the major findings
Conclusions will pull the information presented together for the audience
Define the followings:
Conclusions from your values
Take-home message
Future directions

13. Acknowledgement and references
Here you can acknowledge individuals who contributed comments and ideas to the project
Acknowledge organizations and agencies that contributed funding to the project as well, not only scientific advises!
Citation should be consistent with the text and should not contain more than 10 references!

14. Format - the „secret ingredient”
There is no ideal format for any poster presentation; you can make it as your wish
A lot depends on the presenter

15. How to present a poster? Purpose of presentation: Major rules
To interpret your research for the audience personally
To make contact with the viewers and the researchers represented there
Major rules
1. Don’t read your poster! Use figures and tables instead to express your thoughts!
2. Be prepared! Expect for questions!
3. Don’t put everything on the poster according to your research! (handouts can be helpful)
4. If you don’t know the answer at hand, make viewer responsible for follow up! E.g. prepare with some business cards, etc.
5. If the question was out of the scope (or you don’t know the answer), admit it!
6. Viewer first! Avoid conversations in other, non-scientific topics, when you have a viewer!

16. Helpful sources http://colinpurrington.com/tips/academic/posterdesign

17. Thank you for your attention!