Scientific Posters

[ajb]

I may soon present a scientific poster at a meeting (maybe the BMC in York). This will be the first one I have made that I will present. I may provide a link to my poster when I am happy with it.

 

I was wondering if anyone here had any useful advice or tips on creating posters and presenting them?

 

One problem I have is that my work is mathematical and largely algebraic so now nice pictures or diagrams (one diagram of fibre bundles). It is clearly not as pretty or artistic as some posters I have seen.

[iNow]

If you don't have a lot of sweet graphics, and you're presenting a lot of numbers and equations, instead present them non-linearly. Curves are more appealing that hard lines to most visually, so don't just do "up/down" "left/right" stuff that looks like blocks. Indent a little here, give a little curl there... Make the text and equations wave in some meaningful way.

 

 

So, instead of:

 

Equation 1 ............. Equation 4

Equation 2 ............. Equation 5

Equation 3 ............. Equation 6

 

 

 

 

Something like:

 

Equation 1

.... Text about the equation....

 

 

 

........................Seque...........

.............................. Equation 2

...................Text about equation....

 

 

 

........Seque.........

 

...............Equation 3

..............................................Text about equation....

 

 

 

Also, make sure you use bright contrasting colors on your charts, like magenta and/or purples, as they tend to "pop" more visually.

 

 

I don't know if that helps, but it's all I've got. Pretend you're grouping your equations on the poster to make a curvy outline like a womans body.

[ajb]

Also, make sure you use bright contrasting colors on your charts, like magenta and/or purples, as they tend to "pop" more visually.

 

I don't have any charts or diagrams to make colourful.

 

My poster appears to mostly be text with a few equations thrown in. Not particularly appealing to the eye. It is at the moment quite linear. I don't really see a way round this as I have a lot of material to include in the poster. It is aimed at fellow postgrad students who will know next to nothing about the subject I am working on. The aim is simply to present some of the basic constructions I use.

[Klaynos]

Bullet points. It makes a very texty poster seem less daunting.... We have to do assessed posters and lots of text is frowned upon...

[YT2095]

ask Blike, he`s got nearly 95k posters here, he knows the score!

[ajb]

Bullet points. It makes a very texty poster seem less daunting.... We have to do assessed posters and lots of text is frowned upon...

 

At the moment my own critical view is that I have too much text. I will think about methods of cutting that down. I cannot see anyone standing there and reading the whole poster as it is.

[swansont]

Bullet points. It makes a very texty poster seem less daunting.... We have to do assessed posters and lots of text is frowned upon...

 

I don't think this can be stressed enough. A poster should not be a paper that's just pasted up on some posterboard.

 

You stress the highlights, using a large font. Getting from one step to another doesn't have to be detailed in the poster, just as long as the viewer can find it plausible that you can make those steps. Details can wait for the paper/proceedings, or given in discussion at the poster session.

 

Stress why the results are important. Give a "big picture" view whenever possible. Most people will not be familiar with the details of the work.

 

Of course, all of this is a lot easier for experimentalists, since we can show of pictures of apparatus if there are no data, and actual results if they exist (showing "typical" data, of course).

[John Cuthber]

"I don't have any charts or diagrams to make colourful. "

For God's sake add some or your audience will die of boredom.

Even if your topic would save the human race, cure diseases, remove the excess CO2 from the air... nobody will read a block of text if they can help it.

Pictures don't need to be very relevant, a picture of the building you work in is better than nothing.

[Mr Skeptic]

At the moment my own critical view is that I have too much text. I will think about methods of cutting that down. I cannot see anyone standing there and reading the whole poster as it is.

 

Follow swansont's advice. You are probably right that no one would read the whole poster if it is just text, and especially if they know little of the subject. Cut down on detail. If you really feel the need to include lots of text, put it in a side bar that people won't feel bad about not reading, and put all the juicy stuff in bigger font with pictures. It should look more like an outline/slide show than a paper.

[ajb]

I don't think this can be stressed enough. A poster should not be a paper that's just pasted up on some posterboard.

 

You stress the highlights, using a large font. Getting from one step to another doesn't have to be detailed in the poster, just as long as the viewer can find it plausible that you can make those steps. Details can wait for the paper/proceedings, or given in discussion at the poster session.

 

Stress why the results are important. Give a "big picture" view whenever possible. Most people will not be familiar with the details of the work.

 

Of course, all of this is a lot easier for experimentalists, since we can show of pictures of apparatus if there are no data, and actual results if they exist (showing "typical" data, of course).

 

For sure I have left out any calculations. Still, a list of equations and too much text will impress no-one.

 

"I don't have any charts or diagrams to make colourful. "

For God's sake add some or your audience will die of boredom.

Even if your topic would save the human race, cure diseases, remove the excess CO2 from the air... nobody will read a block of text if they can help it.

Pictures don't need to be very relevant, a picture of the building you work in is better than nothing.

 

I am very reluctant to add any graphics that are not relevant.

 

But I think some colour needs to be injected somehow.

[Klaynos]

Can't you produce some pretty images from your equations (the theorists I know seem to be masters of this)?

[ajb]

Can't you produce some pretty images from your equations (the theorists I know seem to be masters of this)?

 

Well not really. I am dealing with things very algebraically. Even though I am dealing with geometry, it is "pointless" geometry and so nice pictures of curves on surfaces, vector fields as arrow etc would be very misleading. Better to leave such things out.

[ecoli]

Big and less text... you're better off talking through the poster than having people read small text.

[ajb]

There is a first draft here.

 

I will probably add some background colour and cut out any text that I feel in not needed.

[timo]

Just claim your work would shed light on the origins of the universe and add some pretty astro pics .

[Klaynos]

I'm not a big fan of background colours, what I would say though is between your sections above each of the titles if you add in some graphic just a squigly line or something, on my last poster I used a faded blue bar that looked like a curved ribben... it just breaks the page up a bit more...