Introduction to poster presentation János J. Szórád Summer School 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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)

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

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!

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

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!

Helpful sources http://colinpurrington.com/tips/academic/posterdesign http://cse.ksu.edu/files/cse//CSE%20Symposium%20PosterPresentation%202011.pdf http://www.stanford.edu/group/blocklab/dos%20and%20donts%20of%20poster%20presentation.pdf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMSaFUrk-FA

Thank you for your attention!