What makes a good/bad scientific poster?

Presentations: Billboard science Kendall Powell, Nature 483, (2012)

- Use landscape layout, not portrait - Use black text on a white background - Allow for white space and use large fonts and images (should look good from 10 metres away) - Use photos, cartoons or illustrations to explain concepts - No more than 800 words - Figures should have large headlines with main findings Visual/layout guidelines

A good poster can have as few as 250 words

Bad scientific poster... attracts weird people Colin Purrington, Swarthmore

- stand-alone, extended, visual abstracts (few words, but enough to read) - tools to tell simple story and attract interest, with images, figs, data Scientific posters – two purposes

… who may only be there because of the free booze... Be prepared to give a 3-5 minute general talk to complete novices

Like an abstract or talk, a poster should tell a story.... Give the background.... Identify the problem.... Say what you've done to tackle it... Outline the implications

Most important: Editing and practice