1. Preparing and Presenting Posters
Carole Wilson, Ph.D.
Department of Pathology
Based on my own experience
and
Hess, G.R., K. Tosney, and L. Liegel, 2006
“Creating Effective Poster Presentations”

2. An effective poster is a visual communications tool
An effective poster will help you…
…engage others in conversation
…get your major points across
to as many people as possible

3. A good poster has three primary characteristics:
Focused
Imparts a single message
Graphic
Relies on images and graphs
Ordered
Sequence clear and obvious
A poster is not just a research paper stuck to a
board! It uses visual grammar to show, not tell.

4. Ineffective posters most often suffer from…
Hard-to-find objectives
Text too small and too abundant
Poor use of graphics and color
Being overly “busy”
Poor organization
…but these problems are easily fixed!

5. Step 1: Write a good abstract
Should be a succinct description of your work
Set the context - why is the work important?
Describe the objectives
Briefly explain the methods
Unless the research is about methods, this section should not be a major focus of the abstract or poster
State results and conclusions
But don’t include the abstract on the poster - it’s redundant. The poster is your abstract, in visual form

6. Step 2: Plan your poster Things to consider:
What message do I want to convey?
How much space will I be allotted for my poster?
What format do I want to use?
Multiple pieces vs.single sheet
A good idea before starting: Draft layout of poster

7. Step 3: Design poster for 3 audiences
People in…
your field
includes your competitors
will automatically be attracted to your poster
fields closely related to yours
need to supply context
may not be familiar with jargon
unrelated fields
must clearly explain the problem and the solution
The latter two categories are of interest to capture because they can sometimes provide interesting insights and perspectives.

8. Also consider the type of meeting
Specialists only?
you can use jargon and take other shortcuts
background information already known
Wide-ranging discipline?
avoid jargon and keep language simple
avoid acronyms and abbreviations
Very general audience?
explain in the most basic terms possible

9. Step 4: Organize poster for easy viewing
Lay out in column format to allow smooth flow of
the audience - people read English top to bottom
(called “reader gravity”) and left to right

10. Don’t use a row-oriented layout
This plan moves readers past your poster quickly
and it may be difficult for them to work back to
the beginning.

11. Also, use organizational cues to help readers navigate your poster
Numbers, arrows, or letters

12. If your poster is easy to view, more people will read it!

13. Step 5: Use a visual hierarchy to indicate importance
Title is biggest; headings next; then explanations
Use figures and graphs to make evidence obvious
these should be readable from 4 ft away

14. Step 6: Put take-home messages in large headings
Headings should state the message:
Instead of just “Results”, identify the results

15. Step 7: Use readable text
Minimize text and make it large
Title and major headings should be
readable at 6 ft, rest at 3 ft

16. Recommendations for text:
Don’t use all capitals - hard to read
Use phrases rather than full sentences
Use a serif font (e.g. Times) for most text
Sans serif font (e.g. Helvetica) OK for titles and headings
Use at least 24 point font for text, 36 for headings
Pay attention to text size in figures - it must also be large
Title should be at least 5 cm tall
Use zoom feature of Powerpoint to test readability

17. Never, ever use a font size of 12 point or below!
Useful guideline: If you print your entire poster on an 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper, you should be able to read it!

18. Step 8: Let graphics dominate
BIG figures that use color
Use graphs, figures, cartoons, and illustrations
Avoid using formats with keys or legends - explain directly on figure

19. Use simple two-dimensional graphs…
What’s wrong with
this graph?
gray background,
gridlines unnecessary
too many values on x-axis
font too small
y-axis title sideways
legend taking up space
need to differentiate lines by line type and color
…but not straight out of Excel

20. Use simple two-dimensional graphs

21. Don’t over-emphasize text
Use the space you have available

22. Step 9: Organize visually
Group material
into units
Visually separate
into units
Keep panels similar in shape and orientation
Use color for emphasis in a consistent way

23. Recommendations for color:
Use a light color background and dark color letters for contrast
Avoid dark backgrounds with light color text - this is difficult and tiring to read
Stick to a theme of 2 or 3 colors
Overly bright colors may be attractive initially, but will wear out readers’ eyes
Consider people who have problems distinguishing colors
red vs. green common

24. How colors look to people with red-green color blindness
Strawberries as they appear
to a person with full-color vision
Strawberries as they appear
to a person who cannot tell red
from green
One in twelve males (8%) and one in 200 females (0.5%) are red-green color blind. There will be about 10 color blind people in a room of 250!
From

25. Line Drawings NO YES Make lines thicker, symbols larger
Use various types of lines and symbols
Avoid separate keys. Add labels within the drawings NO
YES
From “How to make figures and presentations that are friendly to color blind people” Masataka Okabe and Kei Ito

26. Pare down to the essentials
Step 10: Discard details
Pare down to the essentials
Simplify. Provide details in person, and only as needed
State your results with headings, and focus on results and conclusions

27. Step 11: Make strong conclusions
Title makes a definitive statement
Summary states results
Conclusions interpret
results

28. Your poster should clearly convey your take-home message
Unlike this one!
Large type
states methods,
not results
Results
artfully buried in a
methods description
Carefully
omits
interpretations

29. Poster Examples
Too much white space

30. Poster Examples

31. Poster Examples

32. Poster Examples

33. Poster Examples
Before

34. Poster Examples
After

35. Poster Examples

36. Step 12: Assemble and print out poster
Powerpoint commonly used for making single-sheet
large-format posters
To start:
Open “New Presentation” under “File” menu
Go to “Page Setup” under “File” menu and choose “Custom” under “Size”
Enter desired dimensions
Limit for Powerpoint is 56 x 56 inches
For larger posters (e.g. 72-inch width), prepare poster as 36 inches and have printed at twice the size
Treat this page as a big slide: add text, objects, etc. just as if you were making a slide for a talk

37. Tips for adding images and graphs:
Use JPEGs of images on your poster
Usually small files, easy to change size without losing resolution
Avoid using images directly from the Web
Too low resolution
For graphs:
after plotting data in Excel, make changes and then import as a picture
To make any additional changes, use “ungroup” to convert to Microsoft Office drawing
label axes and add other information directly in Powerpoint

38. Excel default settings After changing in Excel
Effect of X on Y 10 20 30 40 50 70
100
130
After changing
in Powerpoint
Concentration of X
Response of Y

39. After all material is added to poster:
Go back and edit - cut, cut, cut!
Have other authors (if applicable) and colleagues critique poster
When you’re ready, submit Powerpoint file for printing at the UW - allow two days’ turnaround unless you request a rush job
Website:

40. The Actual Presentation
Use the graphics as a basis
Prepare 2 and 5 minute tours of your poster
Face the audience and tell them…
the context of the problem and why it’s important (Introduction)
your objective and what you did (Objective and Methods)
what you found (Results)
what the results mean in terms of the context (Discussion)
Consider having 8.5 x 11 miniatures of your poster, detailed methods, and/or reprints of papers available as handouts

41. Effect of Colour Coordination of Attire with Poster
Presentation on Poster Popularity
Keegan, D. A. et al. CMAJ 2003;169:
Fig. 1: Study presenter in lavender-coloured blouse (chosen to coordinate with poster colour) and in rust-coloured blouse (chosen to clash with poster)
Copyright ©2003 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors

42. Keegan, D. A. et al. CMAJ 2003;169:
Copyright ©2003 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors

43. Resources Hess, George R., Tosney, Kathryn, and Liegel, Leon. 2006
“Creating Effective Poster Presentations”
Purrington, Colin. 2006
“Advice on Designing Scientific Posters”
Block, Steven M Do's and Don’ts of Poster Presentations. Biophys. J. 71:
Briscoe, Mary Helen Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A Guide to Better Posters, Presentations, and Publications. Springer, New York.
Gosling, Peter J Scientist's Guide to Poster Presentations. Kluwer Academic Press, New York.
Woolsey, J.D Combating Poster Fatigue: How to Use Visual Grammar and Analysis to Effect Better Visual Communication. Trends in Neurosciences 12:

44. Poster template available as Powerpoint file from: