Scientific Posters

[ajb]

I have decided to make a poster for a conference that I will be attending soon. I have the paper that I want to 'posterise' ready and have some idea of what I would like to say.

 

However, in pure mathematics posters are not very common. Applied mathematicians seem to have been using posters for a while to communicate science, less so theoretical physicists, mathematical physicists and pure mathematicians. I guess the lack of colourful plots of the numerical results does not help.

 

Simply putting up pages of calculations will not do, so I know I need to define the problem, tell the story of how we tackled it and then summarise the results. I will try to minimise details here as this is all in the papers.

 

Anyway, I was wondering if people here from other branches of science have some sound advice here? Any comments and suggestions are welcomed.

[Klaynos]

Keep the word count low! Walls of text dishearten even the keenest.

[studiot]

By poster do you mean a printed presentation on a board?

 

This is very common in medical circles, I have done a few for others.

 

You need to think how many pages and how large?

 

At what height will the board be sited?

Viewers will not look at anything below chin level so put the most important point at the top.

 

Choose a theme.

 

Useful examples are

 

Onwards and upward

Step by Step

The bear went over the mountain to see what lay beyond

A jigsaw puzzle

Idea balloons

Balancing.

 

Yes you are right, tell a story. But use the theme to break it into logical sections and show the development.

 

I will try to look out some examples.

[ajb]

By poster do you mean a printed presentation on a board?

Yes. An a0 sized poster is what I have in mind.

[timo]

Usually, the idea of a poster session is to talk to people. That implies that people are not going to actually read through the poster. I am assuming that is the case for your conference. The design strategy following from this assumption then is to a) have clearly visible parts that attract the right people, and b) have enough details on it to aid in explaining what you did. Contrary to papers, completeness should not be important, since you can always tell people what is missing on the poster. Also note that talking to people is not limited to selling your work. Talking to and getting to know people who do similar work and getting advice from them or learning about what they do is potentially even more valuable (no one runs around at a poster session with the intent to distribute grant money or permanent positions, anyhow).

[hypervalent_iodine]

Posters are pretty common at chemistry conferences. I really enjoy them - they're a great way to network with the right people and get an overview of what's going on in the field. Personally, I treat them the same as I do presentation slides. I'm more or less echoing others here: put in enough information to get the basic point across, make it visually appealing and leave the details to the talk.

 

I like to leave the artistry of it pretty simple. I try to stick to a single colour theme that's not too bright or hard on the eyes with black text (and very little of it!) in white boxes and a large focus on nice schematics / tables / pictures. I don't know how easy that last part would be for you, however. I will forever loathe the posters that use bright blue background with yellow text - there's always one.

Edited February 13, 2015 by hypervalent_iodine

[CharonY]

I think timo's comment is right on the mark. The poster is there to attract people and to use it as basis to discuss your work. That being said, in other disciplines it is often easier as you can either put in easily recognizable types of graphs or images from which already get an idea from far away what it is about. Some (mostly younger) researchers are a bit hesitant to step up on things that they may not understand.

Some general aspects that tend to be well received are a succinct formulation (or even graphical display) of the question or the relevance of the work, the most significant findings and potentially an impact part, if applicable. A simple test is make a design of the poster, wait a day or so, look at it from the distance for a few seconds, then decide whether it seems interesting enough to ask more about it.

[fiveworlds]

I used to have a lecturer that used a transparency projector. Another used power point presentations. Posters were rare except in primary school I know my mum would ordinarily have posters on the wall. One lecturer I had would blue tack just a0 paper to the wall with maths in colorful whiteboard markers. Obviously with a0 posters you will need a printer to print the poster for you and they will often have to do the designs in their own system. You can obviously use display boards etc. There are interactive whiteboards. There is paint on whiteboard for if you want to be able to write on the walls of your classroom. Then there is just the ordinary a0 flipchart. Obviously it depends on the audience at the conference if it is fairly small then sure a0 posters if it is really big then you will need some form of a projector or even a streaming live feed of your conference. If your classroom is small then maybe a cheap projector would suit they aren't all that expensive if you make them yourself

Edited February 13, 2015 by fiveworlds

[CharonY]

What ajb is referring to are poster presentation session within conferences. They are not intended to be part of a talk, but rather a meet a greet with researchers highlighting ongoing work between the talks.

[fiveworlds]

I was giving examples of things he could potentially used or that I have seen used for instance http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Mobile-Flipchart-Easel-White-Board-Stand_203859167.html?s=p

 

I mentioned display boards etc http://www.communications.k-state.edu/images/displays/img-0570.jpg

 

I have seen the display boards used with the lecturer behind a table to answer any questions about the content

Edited February 13, 2015 by fiveworlds

[CharonY]

You misunderstand the format of these sessions. Typically there are boards provided where you are supposed to hang your posters, you do not create your own board formats. That would be quite a nightmare if you imagine a few hundred people (in some conferences) trying to set up their random-sized stuff.

Edited February 13, 2015 by CharonY

[Endy0816]

Found this, I think it provides a good overview on the subject:

 

http://colinpurrington.com/tips/poster-design

 

^Professional/Academic poster centric.

 

QR Codes might be something else to look at. I know there are services out there(host your content and provide printed QR Code), but should be easy enough to do yourself and come out looking nicer. Either way, I've seen them used to good effect.

[CharonY]

I would actually recommend having business cards handy. I guess students may be fine with QR codes, but many probably would not do that as, paradoxically maybe, it has getting harder to keep track of online info. A business card on the other hand can be put into the bag with all the other conference swag and you are more likely to remember or contact someone if you see the card at some point.

But again, if your target is the younger crowd it may be quite worthwhile.

Also, it may be worthwhile to leave a stack of cards at the poster, if you plan to walk around. Every now and then someone may want to contact you, but you are elsewhere stealing coffee. It does not happen often, but at least once I got a worthwhile collaboration out of it.

Edited February 13, 2015 by CharonY

[iNow]

Put the QR code on the back of the business card. Make it a two-fer.

[Endy0816]

I would actually recommend having business cards handy. I guess students may be fine with QR codes, but many probably would not do that as, paradoxically maybe, it has getting harder to keep track of online info. A business card on the other hand can be put into the bag with all the other conference swag and you are more likely to remember or contact someone if you see the card at some point.

But again, if your target is the younger crowd it may be quite worthwhile.

Also, it may be worthwhile to leave a stack of cards at the poster, if you plan to walk around. Every now and then someone may want to contact you, but you are elsewhere stealing coffee. It does not happen often, but at least once I got a worthwhile collaboration out of it.

 

I think the service I saw had a download option. I thought it was a slick setup, but wouldn't be terribly hard to set up something similar on your own. Free online QR code generator and Dropbox or the like.

 

and yeah, would depend on your audience. I've even seen the derided wall o' text poster attract attention from some of the foreign attendees.

[ajb]

... a large focus on nice schematics / tables / pictures. I don't know how easy that last part would be for you, however.

This is this in part, I think, why posters in my subject are not so common. Also there will be lots of background knowledge needed, far to much to fit on a poster. However, for this conference, which is special invite only, there are big names in this field and very closely related subjects* so I can assume a high level of background and will not need to define everything carefully.

 

 

 

*I will even give an example that independently agrees with the results of one of the attendees, who is a big contributor to the subject.

Usually, the idea of a poster session is to talk to people. That implies that people are not going to actually read through the poster. I am assuming that is the case for your conference.

Indeed, I don't ever remember reading the few poster that I have seen very carefully.

I think timo's comment is right on the mark. The poster is there to attract people and to use it as basis to discuss your work.

I am going to treat the poster as an advert for the papers(s). Try to give the basic idea in a very short amount of space and no more. If they are interested they can ask or read the paper at their leisure.

[studiot]

 

I am going to treat the poster as an advert for the papers(s). Try to give the basic idea in a very short amount of space and no more. If they are interested they can ask or read the paper at their leisure.

 

 

Here is one bold example from a 21 page poster. You need a bit more information than on this one page (this could be insets and headings)

 

The basic idea is

 

Ask a (broad) question and provide a (broad) answer.

And invite closer inspection of the paper for more detail.

 

 

Here is another one from my themes list.

 

Edited February 14, 2015 by studiot

[billiards]

Figures to help explain the important concepts! Minimal text

[ajb]

Figures to help explain the important concepts! Minimal text

I quite agree, just it may not be quite so easy... commutative diagrams I will be using!

Edited February 15, 2015 by ajb

[iNow]

Tactical recommendation: Buy dinner and a drink for a friend in marketing or advertising or story telling of some sort. Explain your idea during dinner, then ask them over dessert how they would try to communicate the idea via poster to audience at a conference whose attention and feedback you'd like to focus on the concept.

[CharonY]

One has to be careful, though. Some people in the scientific community actually dislike "prettyfied" posters (typically the same that look down on people wearing suits). It is a bit silly, but sometimes a bit of complexity can be beneficial. Although I typically do not recommend to try it, as it is a very narrow balance to maintain.

[studiot]

Of course depending upon the nature of your subject, here is the classic mathematical study poster

 

http://prefrontal.org/files/posters/Bennett-Salmon-2009.pdf