12th International Geography Olympiad

TVER RUSSIA 2015
TH
12
INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHY OLYMPIAD
Geographical Poster Presentations
Each team participating in iGeo-2015 is invited to produce and bring a poster.
Following the main IGU Moscow Regional Conference theme: “Geography, Culture and Society for Our
Future Earth”, the iGeo-2015 poster session topic is:
“IMAGINE YOUR PLACE IN THE FUTURE” (you can choose one place: city, town, village, region, etc., or
several places in your country).
Cities, towns, villages, suburban areas as well as larger geographical entities such as regions and countries
are in the process of continuous change and development. They are faced with a variety of problems. One of
the main tasks of geographical science is to keep an integrated approach for solving these problems as well
as to provide scientific basis for sustainable development. Students should select a place and prepare a
poster presenting how, in their opinion, that place will look in the future keeping in mind different challenges
and possible solutions.
Please note! Use of the poster which is developed by someone else is not permitted.
Posters will be displayed on the evening of 14 August in the hall of “Computeria”.
The Poster
The poster is not an advertising-type poster but is similar to the type of posters that geographers would
produce for a poster presentation session at a conference. The elements of an effective poster are:
1. Focused, limited topic.
2. Clearly-written title and authors.
3. Self-explanatory graphics. These should dominate the poster. Types of graphics that could be used
include maps, photos, graphs, flowcharts, diagrams, and tables (they should contain a reference to the
sources of data).
4. A minimal amount of text to describe and analyze the issue and draw some conclusions. Use short
sentences and bullet point. The text should be large enough to read from 1.5 to 2 m away.
Some poster 'experts' suggest that the right proportion is about 20-25% text, 40-45% graphics and 3040% empty space.
Posters should be A0 size (app. 120 x 90 cm), vertical or horizontal.
There is no need to go to the expense of printing your poster out on a single sheet of paper. You can use oldfashioned cut-and-paste (with glue!) to put the elements together on a single large sheet of card/paper,
and bring it in a protective roll. We will not be providing facilities for you to finish posters off (printing, etc.).
If you are not familiar with conference posters, there is a lot of information on the web on poster design.
Poster presentation
Teams will present their posters, and iGeo participants will vote for the best one of them. Although the
poster presentation is not counted for final scores of iGeo participants, winners will get a special prize.
At conferences authors present their posters by standing beside them and talking to a couple of people at a
time. At the iGeo we will organize it in the following way: the poster presentation will last approximately 1½
hours. During this time there will always be at least one team member beside the poster, team members
can “work” in shifts. This would usually mean that one student would spend about 20 minutes providing
necessary explanations to other students and team leaders and answering their questions, and about 1
hour listening to presentations from other students and asking them questions. Alternatively students can
do this in pairs, spending half the time explaining their poster, and half the time looking at other posters.
Posters will be judged by members of the other teams and their team leaders. Each person will have the
ability to vote for 3 posters, by attaching a sticker “I like”. One vote is equal to one point.
Each poster and presentation will be also assessed by a Jury which will consist of members of the iGeo2015 Organizing Committee. The Jury will take into account the topic and information presented, and also
the aesthetic aspects of the poster. The final count will consist of 50% of the participants' vote and 50% of
the jury's vote. The three teams that obtain the highest points will be the winners. The winning posters will be
displayed as part of the poster exhibition of the IGU 2015 Conference. These posters will not be taken down
until the end of the IGU Conference. If a team wants its winning poster back, they will need to leave an
addressed mailing tube with the iGeo organizers.