Designing Effective Posters

Although there does not seem to be any specification per se for posters for the ASIST annual meeting, we suggest that all posters contain at least:

• Information about the author: name, affiliation, contact info including email
• A short abstract of the research presented (no longer than 150 words)
• A succinct statement of major findings, supporting text, and a brief summary at the end.

MORE TIPS… [Contributed by Merlyna Lim]
Usually each poster presentation has something like 1.2 x 2.4 meters space or 1 x 2 meters (I'm not sure about ASIS&T, but guess will not be too much difference).

Design Recommendations:

• Eye catching and logical flow of information.
• Easy to read at 2-3 foot distance (big enough font)
• Only essential information needs to be on the poster.
• Standard Elements: Header (title, authors and affiliations), Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results (with supporting figures), and a Conclusion or Summary (of course, these elements may have to be modified for more theoretical work).
• Cover only main points in each section (you can give more detail in a handout).
• Minimize words.
• Bullets get a lot of information across in a small space.
• Use figures, photos and graphs to present relevant information.
• At least 14pt font is recommended for most of the text (larger is better), with larger font for section or figure titles.
• Consider flow in vertical columns across the poster board for easier reading by several people at a time.

Three Possible Formats for creating your poster:

• Individual sections: Presentation software, such as PowerPoint, is helpful in producing easy-to-read pages on A4 sheets. At least 12pt font is recommended for text (larger is better), with larger font for headings and titles. Using coloured paper, coloured printing, or colored poster board backings behind white paper, is generally preferable to plain white A4 manuscript pages. Adhesive sprays or double-sided tape work well to stick pages to colored poster board. These mounted pages are then tacked to the display board at the conference using push pins or thumbtacks.

• Blow up format: You can create your poster to fit all on one page in landscape format in very small font (12pt for title, 8pt for text). Use the "column" option on your word processor to organize your poster, and the "border" options to separate sections. Print out this page on a high quality printer (laser printer), because any small flaws from lower quality printers will be enlarged when the poster is enlarged to size. You can have this page blown-up to size at a local printing/ copying store. You will also want to get a tube to carry your poster while traveling. This one-piece poster is then tacked to the display board at the conference using push pins or thumbtacks. This kind of poster is usually more interesting/attractive especially if the layout is attractive and you have many pictures that are arranged nicely on one page.

• Large PowerPoint Slide: Another good method is to do it all on a very large PowerPoint slide, which can then be taken on CD or e-mailed to a print shop, who can print it out. This one-piece poster is then tacked to the display board at the conference using push pins or thumbtacks.

Presenting your information:
A poster should be complete and self-supporting, so it may be read at leisure. However, keep the information to the basics. You are available to offer more information, answer questions and discuss points raised by viewers. Viewers will have different backgrounds, so make your points as complete and brief as possible.

Some conference attendees will want to read your poster and move on; other will want to have a conversation with you about some part of your poster or topic. It is helpful to have a short [about 3-5 minute] oral presentation prepared, that you can use to guide people through your poster.

It's also handy to have a handout to be given to viewers. Copies of a short summary of your research [perhaps can prepare about 30-50 copies], with your contact information included, is useful as a handout. A sign-up sheet or viewers to request more information is a good choice if you are unable to bring handouts, or if you run out of the handouts you bring. On your handout, include poster title, author name(s) and affiliation(s), conference name and date, and whether or not the material can be quoted. Your handout can be a one-page synopsis of your poster or, if you use the blow-up or large slide methods to make your poster, it could be a small version of the poster itself.

Some good samples:
http://www.cnsm.csulb.edu/depts/sas/images/poster_example.jpg
http://www.laas.fr/~sara/laasko/laasko_poster_CE-web.jpg