How to Present a Poster

FMP Research Symposium

Tuesday, May 24Price Center

5:00-8:00 p.m. program

Symposium Prerequisites

• Registration is REQUIRED, deadline is Sunday, May 15

• Your information in the FMP Symposium program will appear as you entered them during registration

• Outstanding Mentor Award Nomination (if you want to recognize your professor/mentor for their efforts)

• The FMP Symposium is a POSTER presentation

Symposium FlowP.M. Tuesday, May 24

3:30 – 5:00 Set up & registration • Group 1 students locate their poster stands and set-up• Group 2 students check poster at the registration desk & locate stand

4:30 Doors open to the public

5:00 – 5:30 Opening remarks & Outstanding Mentor Awards

5:30 – 6:30 Poster Session 1

6:30 – 6:45 Break• Group 1 students remove posters, check them at registration desk• Group 2 students set-up posters• Everyone gets snacks!

6:45 – 7:45 Poster Session 2

7:45 – 8:00 Collect your poster

Symposium Flow• Opening remarks and Faculty Mentor Award presentations begin

PROMPTLY at 5:00 p.m.• All students presenting during Group 1 need to have their posters set

up by 4:45 p.m.• Students in Group 2 should have their posters checked at the

registration table before the 5:00 p.m. start time, unless you have a special circumstance you emailed Nekose about.

• Students who have a class that ends at 5:00 p.m. are in Group 2 and should arrive at the Price Center no later than 5:30 p.m.

• Group 2 students need to know where their poster stand is before the 6:30 p.m. switch.

• ALL Students need to be in place ready for the poster switch at EXACTLY 6:30 p.m.

• Group 2 posters should be up no later than 6:45 p.m.

Additional Details

• Sessions are randomly assigned (Special circumstance? Email Nekose)

• Unless you have a special circumstance you discussed with me, you are expected to spend the entire 5:00 – 8:00 time at the Symposium, engaging and supporting your peers. You will not be able to see the posters of students in your presentation group (as you will be presenting too) but you can witness this amazing research while you are not presenting and before the 5:00 p.m. kick off!

• Dress is business casual

• You will be on your feet, wear comfortable shoes (NOT sneakers)

• Written feedback is encouraged, feedback sheets will be located next to your poster, collect your feedback at the end of your session

What is a Research Poster?

• Visual presentation

• Verbal conversation• The poster creates DIALOGUE, it is a question and answer session

between the researcher and those observing the poster

• Be prepared to answer questions about anything displayed on your poster [a concise, clear visual is essential]

• Expect your research to be constructively questioned or challenged

• This is the time for your confidence in your research to shine and for you to be open to improvements to your project or ideas for additional research

What is a Research Poster?

guides.nyu.edu/posters

• Summarizes information or research concisely and attractively

• Helps publicize research and generate discussion

• Usually a mixture of a brief text mixed with tables, graphs, pictures, and other presentation formats

• Posters are widely used in the academic community, most conferences include poster presentations

• The researcher stands by the poster display, participants view the poster and interact with the researcher

An effective poster is…

https://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/index.html

Focused Focused on a single message

GraphicGraphics dominateGraphs & images tell the storyText is used SPARINGLY

Ordered Keeps the sequence well-ordered and obvious

An effective poster…https://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/index.html

• Explains your main point to as many people as possible

• Engages your audience in conversation

• Is a source of information

• Starts a conversation

• Advertises your work

• Summarizes your work

Why is a good poster visual?

http://neomam.com/interactive/13reasons/

Why is a good poster visual?

http://neomam.com/interactive/13reasons/

What makes a good poster?

http://guides.nyu.edu/posters and other poster creation websites

• Important information should be readable from at least 4 feet away

• Title is short and draws interest

• Word count of about 300 to 800 words

• Text is clear and to the point

• Bullets, numbering, and headlines make it easy to read

• Graphics, color, and fonts used effectively

• Consistent and clean layout

• Acknowledgments, your name, and institutional affiliation

Poster Basics: Where to Start?

guides.nyu.edu/posters

1. What is the most important/interesting/astounding finding from your research project?

2. How can you visually share your research with conference attendees? Charts, graphs, photos, images?

3. What kind of information can you convey during your talk that will complement your poster?

The standard for hard science presentations

• Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion

Developing a great poster

• Identify the FOCUS of your poster

• Know your audience

• DO NOT cut and paste text from your research paper

• RE-CRAFT information to create a great poster

DO’s DON’Ts

• Bullets • Long paragraphs

• Concise statements • Verbose sentences that only someone

doing similar research understand

• Relevant Images • Random unrelated graphics

Developing a great poster: Things to Remember• It’s you, your audience, and the poster (no tables or chairs)

• Prepare BRIEF remarks, 2-minutes or less about your research

• Your audience will ebb and flow

• If you are not 100% finished with your project DO NOT PANIC, you are choosing the focus of your poster!• Discuss context, purpose, goals• Use preliminary results• Talk about future work

• If your research might be part of a publication, check with your faculty mentor to make sure that your content can be displayed

• Check with your faculty mentor before printing your poster

The Oral Component: Introducing your work (2-minutes)• Project Basics

• Why did you do this research? What is the context?

• What was your research question?

• What was your methodological or theoretical framework?

• What are you findings? What findings did you expect?

• What is the significance of the research? The Implications?

• Future work?

The Oral Component:Audience Engagement

Talk to your audience (address the entire group)

• Engage them with questions about what they know or their interest in the research topic

• Ask for their opinions or feedback

Handling Questions

• Repeat the question to make sure you understood it

• Try not to get flustered, you are the expert on your own research!

• Confidence is key to engaging an audience

• If you don’t know the answer, it’s okay, answer what you can

Poster Size

• Maximum dimension of the board, 48″ high by 70″ wide

• The average poster is usually 36″ high by 48″ wide

• The minimum poster size is 24″ high by 36″ wide

• Posters should be landscape

• Posters are attached using clips and tape

• Stick with a light, durable poster material

• Poster/presentation boards with information attached is an option, however printed posters are more visually appealing

Layout & Design

• Your Name & Institutional Affiliation

• The names of your mentors/collaborators

• Citations and references

• Acknowledgements

• FMP/AEP or McNair programs should be acknowledged either in words or graphically (with logo)

• Your lab logo should be on the poster

Know your audience

• If you are only using this poster at the FMP Symposium, branding requirements are less stringent

• If this poster will be used at SACNAS, Family Weekend, or anything else that has a large external audience, make sure you recognize everyone who needs recognition

Layout & Design• Logos are in the top right corner

• Font— size a minimum of 24 pts & simple font choice

• Heavier on the visuals than text (300-800 words of text maximum)

• Avoid ALL CAPS

• Watch your color contrast between fontsand background colors

• Do not use shadow or fill for text, keep the text plain & simple

• Keep background colors solid

• Make sure the tone of your color themes match the content

• Clarity and beauty can work hand in hand

History of the Bubonic Plague

Templates for creating a poster

https://fmpucsd.wordpress.com/poster-resources/

• Free PowerPoint Templates, http://www.posterpresentations.com/html/free_poster_templates.html

• PhD Posters Templates, http://phdposters.com/templates.php

• Cain Project Templates, http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~cainproj/templates.html

• Scientific Posters, http://www.craftofscientificposters.com/

• UCSD Library, http://libraries.ucsd.edu/clinlib/tutorials/index.html

• Downloadable templates

The next 4 slides are examples of posters found online. The FMP website has links to numerous examples, https://fmpucsd.wordpress.com/poster-resources/

Resources for Printing a Poster

https://fmpucsd.wordpress.com/poster-resources/

• FMP does not pay for posters, check with your lab to see if they do.

• The easiest & cheapest is probably UC San Diego’s Cplot, provided by ACMS.

• Dan Clark has excellent instructions on how to print through ACMS.

• Scantech, Imprints, or Replica are higher priced options than ACMS, but they will help you set up your file to make sure there are no printing mistakes. FedEx Kinko’s is a more expensive option.

• If your mentor, department, or lab are paying to print your poster, ACMS & Imprints can take UCSD recharge payments.

• Be sure to print early!

Go Forth and Prosper

• We believe in you and want you to succeed

• Your mentor believes in you and would like you to represent him or her well

• You believe in yourself and will be awesome!