A summary of the session I gave on the topic of preparing posters to 'present' at academic research conferences. This is part of a longer development session entitled "The Research Conference Survival Guide" The title is deliberately alliterative and there is probably no such thing as a 'perfect poster'... Acknowledgements:- Piero Vitelli www.island41.com who helped me shape this into something more visually effective

1. "Piled Higher and Deeper" by Jorge Cham Research Conference Survival Guide Dr Paul Spencer Researcher Skills Development Officer Paul.spencer@uwe.ac.uk Tel: 0117 328 3974

2. Preparing Conference Posters

4. Visual communication

5. Practicalities

6. Design

8. Why have them?

9. Who other than you benefits from them?

10. What part might they play in your careers?

12. A picture is worth a thousand words

14. An uncomfortable audience

15. Poster size

16. Viewing from a distance

18. Opportunity for personal contact

19. They can be seen as a ‘whole entity’

20. They can be more informative than an oral presentation

22. Barriers to communication

24. Clear purpose

25. Understand your audience

26. Preparation

27. Maximise impact

30. Things to include on poster?

31. Dimensions for display?

32. Decide on format?

34. Design Use this space for title and authors Optimum reading level Use this space for less important information

35. Design Title Results c d intro a Conc. b method Click for example

36. Does this inspire?

37. What typeface? No right answer - subjective Serifversus Sans Serif “evidence” for serif fonts Remember this is a visual medium Consider text size & amount Bullet points not essays

38. Remember your purpose! The purpose of a poster is to communicate one or two central ideas, it’s not about vanity or ambition. Think about the process of communicating your ideas. We could learn a lot from advertisers…..

40. Poster titles Should they be long & monotonous? Should they contain a colon? What would attract you to view a poster? Make it brief without losing the meaning?

41. Graphics Extremely important Less text More diagrams, pictures & graphics Simplify Use colour to enhance not detract Seek help/advice

42. Getting it printed Plan for time to print Some faculties have large format printers UWE usually outsource large format printing Tiled option is quicker A0 size, laminated, colour: approx £50 Get it right first time

43. Before the conference Is it the right size/format? Do you know where to be and when? Smaller copies of the poster? Relevant paper you could take?

44. At the conference Push pins and/or velcro? Anticipate questions? Contact details Be enthusiastic! (Again and again and again…)

45. Further Reading The UWE online resource for research tools http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/ Loads of advice, hints & tips on research conferences http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/NewSite/Resources.html More advice here from Bandwidth.org http://www.bandwidthonline.org/howdoi/effective_poster.asp