For a poster to communicate the work, the poster first has to orient an audience that is not seated, but that is standing. Often the audience has distractions of noise and movement from other people. Given those distractions, a journal article tacked onto a board fails as an effective poster because the audience cannot concentrate for a time long enough to read through the paper. In fact, given the distractions that the audience faces, many in the audience will not even bother trying to read a journal article tacked onto a board.
So then what makes for an effective poster? This question is not easy to address because the expectations by the audience vary significantly from discipline to discipline. For instance, what an audience of a medical poster session expects differs significantly from what the audience of an engineering poster session expects. Nonetheless, this web-page tries to present some general guidelines that would apply to most situations in science and engineering.
So then what makes for an effective poster? This question is not easy to address because the expectations by the audience vary significantly from discipline to discipline. For instance, what an audience of a medical poster session expects differs significantly from what the audience of an engineering poster session expects. Nonetheless, this web-page tries to present some general guidelines that would apply to most situations in science and engineering.
|
Second, the poster should quickly orient the audience to the subject and purpose One good test is whether the audience recognizes the subject and purpose within 20 seconds of seeing the poster. Usually, a poster accomplishes this goal with a well-crafted title and with supporting images. Also, make sure that the type is large enough to be read and that enough contrast exist between the color of the type and poster's background. Typography recommendations can be found in the following PowerPoint poster template.
|
Figure 2. Poster that is well designed [Couch et al., 2003].
|
Figure 3. Poster that uses a sentence title [Alley, Lo, and Edmister, 2006].
|
|
Fourth, you should design the individual sections of a poster so that they can be quickly read.
Given the distractions that occur while reading posters in a symposium such as in Figure 1, the poster should not contain large blocks of text. Neither should the poster contain long sentences. If possible, the sections should rely on images: photographs, drawings, and graphs.
Figure 2 presents a poster that quickly orients the audience to the topic of the work. This poster also identifies the purpose of each section and then supports those sections in a manner can be quickly read. Figure 3 also presents a poster for a conference. Notice that this poster uses a sentence headline to identify the main result of the research. More information about the effectiveness of sentence headlines occurs in the following discussion of presentation slides.
Figure 2 presents a poster that quickly orients the audience to the topic of the work. This poster also identifies the purpose of each section and then supports those sections in a manner can be quickly read. Figure 3 also presents a poster for a conference. Notice that this poster uses a sentence headline to identify the main result of the research. More information about the effectiveness of sentence headlines occurs in the following discussion of presentation slides.
References
Alley, Michael, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, 2nd ed. (New York: Springer-Verlag, 2013).
Alley, Michael, Jenny Lo, and Whitney Edmister, "In this study, we promoted and fostered undergraduate research through a special option in a required technical communication course," 2006 National ASEE Conference (Chicago: ASEE, June 2006).
Cho, Daniel, "Particles in Microdischarge Plasama: Coulombic Interactions and Optical Effects" (Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech, October 2005).
Couch, Eric, Jesse Christophel, Eric Hohlfeld, and Karen Thole, "Cooling Effects of Dirst Purge Holes on the Tips of Gas Turbine Blades" (Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech, April 2003).
Kaeli, Jeffrey W., Hanumant Singh, and Roy Armstrong, "Morphological Image Recognition of Deep Water Reef Corals" (Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech, October 2005)
Lamancusa, John, Jens E. Jorgensen, Lueny Morell, Allen L. Soyster, and Jose Zayas-Castro, "The Learning Factory: Industry-Partnered Active Learning since 1994," 2006 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology (Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Engineering, November 2006).
Thole, Karen, "Improving the Cooling of Turbine Blades and Vanes in a Gas Turbine Engine" (Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech, November 2004).
Alley, Michael, Jenny Lo, and Whitney Edmister, "In this study, we promoted and fostered undergraduate research through a special option in a required technical communication course," 2006 National ASEE Conference (Chicago: ASEE, June 2006).
Cho, Daniel, "Particles in Microdischarge Plasama: Coulombic Interactions and Optical Effects" (Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech, October 2005).
Couch, Eric, Jesse Christophel, Eric Hohlfeld, and Karen Thole, "Cooling Effects of Dirst Purge Holes on the Tips of Gas Turbine Blades" (Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech, April 2003).
Kaeli, Jeffrey W., Hanumant Singh, and Roy Armstrong, "Morphological Image Recognition of Deep Water Reef Corals" (Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech, October 2005)
Lamancusa, John, Jens E. Jorgensen, Lueny Morell, Allen L. Soyster, and Jose Zayas-Castro, "The Learning Factory: Industry-Partnered Active Learning since 1994," 2006 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology (Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Engineering, November 2006).
Thole, Karen, "Improving the Cooling of Turbine Blades and Vanes in a Gas Turbine Engine" (Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech, November 2004).
Writing Advice for Posters: Be Precise and Clear
|
Writing Advice for Posters: Avoid Ambiguities
|