Tips and Tricks for
Poster Displays
Compiled by:
Ma Cope, Quality Improvement Facilitator, Ko Awatea
Trish Hayward, Writer, Ko Awatea
Alison Howi , Project Manager, Ko Awatea
With assistance from:
Dr Lynne Maher, Director of Innova&on, Ko Awatea
A process for crea on
2
This guide provides advice on the content, layout, design and review of posters for display at
conferences.
1. Iden&fy an
appropriate
conference (Page 3)
6. Dra1 the
content and layout
(Page 8)
2. Read the
conference
instruc&ons (Page 3)
7. Get crea&ve:
Replace words with
pictures, graphs,
diagrams, charts and
infographics (Page 11)
3. Iden&fy your target
audience, key messages and what
you’re trying to achieve (Page 4)
4. Logis&cs:
∗ Conﬁrm prin&ng arrangements
in advance.
∗ Arrange to transport the poster
to the venue safely (Page 5)
5. Write an abstract
(Page 6)
8. Decide on
design and layout (Page
15)
9. Review and feedback
∗ Use a checklist
∗ Edi&ng and proofreading
∗ Colleague cri&que
∗ Cri&que via social media (Page 17)
10. Print it and present it
at the conference (Page
18)
3
First things ﬁrst
Iden fy an appropriate conference
The conference you are submi?ng your poster to is likely to have speciﬁc themes. For APAC 2015, the
conference themes are:
∗ Value-based healthcare
∗ Co-design
∗ Leadership
∗ High-performing organisa&ons
∗ Transforma&onal change
∗ Knowledge management
Make sure your poster ﬁts the themes.
Consider also ‘poster e&que e’. Do not submit the same poster to a number of diﬀerent conferences.
Read the conference instruc ons
The conference organisers will provide guidelines for posters and poster abstracts. Read them carefully.
Focus par&cularly on the criteria that the conference organisers have iden&ﬁed for posters. These will tell
you the speciﬁc sec&on areas that judges will assess and mark you on. Look to see what guidance is
provided. Posters that fail to cover the content s&pulated will lose all the points allocated to the missing
sec&on.
Table 1 shows an example of poster content guidance from Science Fest 2014.
Table 1: Content guidance for Science Fest 2014
Criteria
What your answer should cover
•
Sec&on What was the
1
problem?
How was the
•
improvement ac&vity
or area of clinical
need iden&ﬁed?
Sec&on Why did you do it?
2
What were the goals
and outcomes you set
out to achieve?
Evidence of the problem is clearly iden&ﬁed, e.g. through
measurement, research, stakeholder feedback
Why this is an important area to address
Goals and outcomes
Iden&ﬁed measureable, achievable goals at the outset of the project
Governance and leadership
How was the project led and kept on track to achieve the goals/
outcomes?
Improvement methodology
What did you do?
How was your
• Provide a clear descrip&on of the approach
improvement ac&vity • Show a logical methodology
led, planned and
Stakeholder engagement
what approach did
• Explain the approach taken to involve staﬀ, pa&ents and other
you take?
stakeholders
• Demonstrate how stakeholders were communicated with
4
Sec&on 3
Was it successful?
Measurement
Show a robust measurement of ac&vity against the iden&ﬁed goals
and outcomes
Beneﬁts
Improve quality and the pa&ent experience
Poten&al to improve safety
Improved health and wellbeing
Improve cost eﬀec&veness of healthcare delivery
Poten&al to make CMH a be er place to work
Next steps
How will this be sustained
Poten&al to inform best prac&ce and roll out elsewhere
Sec&on 4
Presenta on
Eye-catching — a visual statement
Readability and clarity of content at 1m distance
Per&nent informa&on to convey message
Does the poster follow a logical sequence?
Is the poster informa&ve/educa&onal?
What is your poster trying to achieve?
Think about your target audience and your focus. Before you start wri&ng, answer the following
ques&ons:
∗ Who is your target audience?
∗ What key message do you want your target audience to take away?
∗ How much knowledge does your target audience have of your subject, your organisa&on and the
se?ng and context of your work?
∗ What outcome do you want your poster to achieve? Are you trying to share your work with other
professionals in your ﬁeld, secure funding for further work, or something else?
5
Consider logis cs
So ware
If you have access to professional design so1ware such as InDesign and Adobe Illustrator, these can be
good choices for crea&ng your poster.
Microso1 PowerPoint is a good, widely available op&on that many people already know how to use. If
you choose to use PowerPoint, you can your graphs in Excel and export them.
Other op&ons include LaTeX, Inkscape or OpenOﬃce Impress.
Prin ng
Make arrangements to have your poster printed well in advance. Your company, organisa&on or
university may have a suitable printer. If you don’t have access to a printer that can print a poster, there
are a number of prin&ng companies that oﬀer this service. Check also whether the conference organisers
have made arrangements for prin&ng posters or nego&ated a discount with a par&cular prin&ng service.
Transporta on
If you have to carry your poster with you to the conference, roll it up and transport it in a cardboard tube
to prevent it from being damaged.
Remember to put your name and contact details on the tube if you have to travel by air in case the poster
gets lost. Carry the poster with you on the plane if you can rather than checking it in.
6
Write the abstract
To get your poster accepted, you will ﬁrst need to submit an abstract. Wri&ng the abstract can prove
almost as challenging as crea&ng the poster itself for many people!
First, carefully read the poster abstract guidelines provided by the conference organisers. These may
s&pulate a word limit, acceptable methods of submission, and provide guidance on the content that
should be covered in posters.
Table 2 shows an example of poster abstract guidelines from APAC 2015. The organisers have set a limit
of 300 words for the abstract and speciﬁed use of a supplied template for submissions.
Table 2: Poster abstract guidelines for APAC 2015
Context and problem
Where was this improvement work done? What sort of
system/unit/department? What staﬀ/client groups were
involved?
What was the speciﬁc problem or challenge that you set
out to address? How was it aﬀec&ng pa&ent/client care?
Interven on and methodology
Provide a clear and succinct overview of the interven&on.
State the improvement science methodology or study design used.
Measurement and results
How did you measure the eﬀects of your changes? State
the analy&cal methods used and the results obtained.
Eﬀects of change and adaptability to other
se1ngs
What were the eﬀects of your changes? How much did the
changes resolve the ini&al problem? How did this improve
pa&ent/client care?
Comment on the adaptability of your work to other
se?ngs.
Your abstract should not exceed the word limit, should be submi ed using the preferred method, and
should clearly show that the content of your proposed poster ﬁts the conference themes and poster
guidelines.
First, consider the &tle. You may not be able to change it once you submit your abstract, so make sure the
&tle you give in the abstract is suitable for use on a poster (see Page 9).
Next, dra1 the abstract. Think of your abstract as an advert for your poster. Its purpose is to capture the
interest of poten&al readers. It doesn't need to include every detail (people can come and see your
poster for that!), but it does need to provide a clear indica&on of the informa&on readers will ﬁnd on
your poster.
7
Wri&ng an abstract can be a challenge. The steps outlined below will help you to put together a succinct,
informa&ve abstract. A ﬁc&&ous project created as an exemplar for APAC 2015 is used as an example
(Figure 1).
1.
Read the poster content guidelines again. They provide you with a ready-made structure and tell
you exactly what content you need to include.
2.
Focus on the ﬁrst point in the guidelines. For APAC 2015, it is Context and problem. The
guidelines s&pulate exactly what should be covered (see Table 2). Cover all the requested
informa&on, but no more:
The Painless Procedures project was undertaken in the Delirium Unit of Middlemore Hospital in
Auckland, New Zealand, by an interdisciplinary team of surgeons, pharmacists and nurses.
Postopera&ve pain management for pa&ents with delirium was inconsistent, resul&ng in poor pain
control and delayed recovery. Inconsistencies in pain care were related to varia&on in pain measurement among staﬀ and the type of analgesics used.
3. Repeat Step 2 un&l you have covered each point. That is all that needs to be in the abstract.
Figure 1: Abstract exemplar for APAC 2015
The Painless Procedures project: Postopera ve pain management for pa ents with delirium
Context and problem
The Painless Procedures project was undertaken in the Delirium Unit of Middlemore Hospital in Auckland, New
Zealand, by an interdisciplinary team of surgeons, pharmacists and nurses.
Postopera&ve pain management for pa&ents with delirium was inconsistent, resul&ng in poor pain control and
delayed recovery. Inconsistencies in pain care were related to varia&on in pain measurement among staﬀ and the
type of analgesics used.
Interven on and methodology
The Painless Procedures interven&on comprised an educa&onal package including a poster, an online training
module, and a skills workshop for postopera&ve nurses. It was implemented over a one-year period through the
unit’s professional development scheme and in new staﬀ orienta&on. Posters were displayed in the unit as a
reminder.
Change was implemented using a series of Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles, following Model for Improvement
methodology.
Measurement and results
The project team measured changes in reported staﬀ knowledge and conﬁdence and in levels of varia&on in pain
measurement and choice of analgesics. Outcome measures were pa&ent length of stay and pa&ent
sa&sfac&on with pain control. PDSA cycles were used to study changes, and sta&s&cal process control charts were
used for analysis.
Staﬀ reported increased conﬁdence in pain assessment and management for postopera&ve pa&ents with delirium.
Consistency in pain measurement among staﬀ increased, and analgesic treatment was standardised. Average
pa&ent length of stay reduced from 8 days to 5 days. Pa&ent sa&sfac&on with pain control rose from 35% to 85%.
Eﬀects of change and adaptability to other se1ngs
Improved staﬀ conﬁdence and consistency in postopera&ve pain management for pa&ents with delirium has
improved the quality of care for these pa&ents and enabled earlier discharge home. The quality improvement
procedures used in this project can be adapted to other units and healthcare se?ngs.
Dra4 your content
8
Refer to the conference instruc&ons and ensure that you organise your content around the sec&ons
s&pulated. Make it clear where judges and readers can ﬁnd the informa&on s&pulated.
Table 3: Suggested structure for poster displays – APAC 2015
Context
Where was this improvement work done? What sort of system/unit/
department? What staﬀ/client groups were involved?
Problem
What was the speciﬁc problem or challenge that you set out to address? How was it aﬀec&ng pa&ent/client care?
Assessment of problem and
analysis of its causes
How did you quan&fy the problem? Did you involve staﬀ at this stage?
How did you assess the causes of the problem? What solu&ons/
changes were needed to make improvements?
Interven on
Describe the interven&on used with suﬃcient detail that others could
reproduce or adapt it.
Methodology (improvement
science/research study design)
If you used improvement science methodology, describe the
methodology chosen (e.g. Model for Improvement, Lean, Pa&ent
Experience), why it was chosen and how it was applied.
If your study was formal research, describe the study design (for example, observa&onal, quasi-experimental, experimental) chosen for
measuring the impact and outcomes.
Strategy for change
How did you implement the proposed change? What staﬀ or other
groups were involved? How did you disseminate your plans for
change to the other groups involved? What was the &metable for
change?
Measurement of improvement
How did you measure the eﬀects of your planned changes? Describe
the analy&cal methods used and the results obtained.
Results
Display your results in manner appropriate to the methodology used.
If appropriate, account for uncertainty and/or limita&ons (e.g.
conﬁdence interval).
Eﬀects of changes
What were the eﬀects of your changes? How much did these changes
resolve the ini&al problem? How did this improve pa&ent/client care?
What problems were encountered with the process or with the
changes?
Lessons learnt
What lessons have you learnt from this work? What would you do
diﬀerently next &me?
Adaptability to other se1ngs
Based on this experience, what is the main message that you would
like to convey to others? Discuss the adaptability of your work to
other se?ngs.
Declara on of conﬂicts of
interest
Who has funded your research; any other compe&ng interests that
could be connected with your work.
9
Making rough sec&on dra1s on separate pieces of paper or Post It notes at this stage can help to reduce
wordiness and plan your layout.
Poster tle
The main poster &tle should instantly make it clear what the poster is about. Don’t use acronyms - they
carry no meaning unless the reader is already familiar with your work.
For example, rather than:
The 20,000 Days VHIU collabora ve
Try:
Caring for very high intensity users in the community
Titles should be no more than two lines.
Make &tles snappy and a en&on-grabbing.
For example, rather than:
A collabora ve improvement eﬀort to reduce lower limb amputa on rates for diabe c pa ents
Try:
Feet for life: Reducing amputa on rates for people with diabetes
Rather than:
Comparing, contras ng and implemen ng a project scoring system to help improve the
likelihood of project success and sustainability
Try:
False starts and high ﬂiers: How can we learn from improvement projects?
Sec on headings
Try using sec&on headings to help convey your message. A person strolling past your poster should be
able to instantly get a picture of what your poster is about, and headings are the biggest, boldest text on
your poster, a1er the &tle. Use them! Look at the table below giving two diﬀerent approaches to sec&on
headings for the 20,000 Days collabora&ve SMOOTH (Safer Medica&on Outcomes on Transfer Home).
Table 4: Eﬀec ve use of sec on headings
Instead of:
Try:
Problem
Adverse drug events (ADE) at transi ons of care
Interven on
Systema c pharmacist-led discharge
Study design
Model for Improvement
Measurement
Tracking ADE by grade
Results
ADE prevented and corrected
Recommenda ons
Adopt SMOOTH at other hospitals
10
Presen ng context
Always be clear where the work took place and who the key stakeholder groups are. This informa&on is
absent from many posters. Individual names and &tles are not needed, but do provide a clear statement
of stakeholders.
For example:
Clinical representa&ves from the surgical team including the specialist nurse and colorectal
surgeon, pa&ents and family members, administra&ve staﬀ and a representa&ve from the IT
team par&cipated in the project.
Presen ng aims and goals
Aims and goals must be clear and measurable. Be speciﬁc. For example, if your aim is to increase the
numbers of staﬀ coming through training you need to say from x to y. Do not use percentages without a
level of detail: they are meaningless unless quan&ﬁed with actual numbers. For example, the sentence
‘We will increase the number of people being trained by 6%’ could mean you aim to train three more
people or three hundred more!
Presen ng interven on and implementa on
Say what you did and how you did it. Include informa&on on what tools or methods were used to make
the change.
Presen ng measures and outcomes
Ensure that your aim/goal has a corresponding measure so that progress/success is visible. If there are
mul&ple aims/goals, each must have a corresponding measure. The assessor is looking for evidence that
the aim/improvement has been achieved. Think carefully about how you display your measures. If using
graphs, make sure there are at least six data points and that there is a clear indica&on of when the work
started so the assessor can easily iden&fy the baseline.
In addi&on to illustra&ng the measures, clearly describe the resul&ng beneﬁts. Explain the diﬀerence the
work made. A good way to think of this is in terms of beneﬁts to pa&ents, staﬀ and the organisa&on. A
few comments or quotes can be included to illustrate these beneﬁts. For example, a staﬀ member might
say that training has completely changed his prac&ce, a pa&ent might comment on having fewer hospital
admissions and being able to spend more &me being well at home. The organisa&onal beneﬁt might be
reduc&on in errors or costs.
References
Format references properly according to the guidelines provided by the conference organiser. If no
speciﬁc guidelines are provided, use a standard referencing system. Numbered styles such as Vancouver
are preferable to author-date styles such as APA because they take up less of your word limit.
Present references using the same size font as you used for the rest of your main text.
11
Get crea ve!
Posters are a visual medium
A poster is not a paper. Aim for a total of no more than 800 words. Avoid long blocks of text containing
more than 10 sentences, and keep sentences short. The eye does not follow lines of text on posters as
accurately as it does in a book or journal. Readers can lose the thread of long sentences, and few people
will read long screeds of text.
Reduce your word count
Try these &ps to minimise text:
∗ Use phrases, sentence lists and bullet points.
∗ Use ac&ve sentences – they’re more engaging and usually shorter than passive sentences.
∗ Cut out words that add no meaning: ‘We repeated the test again a1er three months had passed.’
∗ Use headings and ﬁgure &tles to help convey your message.
Use pictures and diagrams
A poster should contain at least one picture or diagram.
A picture is worth 1,000 words! Think about whether some of your text would be be er replaced with a
picture.
OR
Hand-held echo (HHE)
Portable, hand operated, ba ery powered
echocardiographs can be used as a valuable
tool in screening cardiovascular diseases to
assess systolic ventricular func&on and in pa&ents with conges&ve heart failure to guide
ini&al treatment. It can be used by individual
physicians. The use of HHE was tested as part
of the heart failure pathway.
Figure 1: Hand-held echos used on
ward rounds aid the iden ﬁca on of
heart disease
If using photographs, ensure that you use high resolu&on images that are large enough to be viewed from
a distance. A simple test to check the quality of your image is to paste it into PowerPoint, expand it to the
margins of the slide and print it on A4. This will ‘blow up’ your image to a large size and will show you if it
becomes granulated when enlarged. If the image isn’t clear, either be mindful of this when choosing the
image size in your poster or look for an alterna&ve image to use. This same principle can be used for
photographs, images of graphs/charts, diagrams and clipart ﬁles.
12
Add a thin, plain and simple grey or black border to make photographs stand out.
Crop photos to emphasise the important part.
Try searching websites like Flickr and Shu erstock for generic photographs, but make sure they are high
enough quality and that you do not breach copyright—you may need to contact the photograph’s owner
for permission as well as ci&ng the picture appropriately in your references.
Infographics can be an eﬀec&ve and interes&ng way of displaying informa&on visually.
Figure 2: Infographic showing the weight of New Zealand’s popula on
Source: Science Media Centre (reproduced with permission).
Use graphs and charts
A poster should contain at least one chart or graph.
Use graphs and charts to explain and highlight the key rela&onships between ﬁgures/data. Ensure graphs
are accurate, placed near accompanying text, and are labelled clearly. Graphs should also be large
enough to be read easily.
If using tables, make sure informa&on can be read easily and that columns are not too narrow or too long.
13
Give your graphs and ﬁgures headings which sum up the content shown and therefore help to communicate your message. For example, rather than:
Figure 1: Number of pa ent referrals to POAC
Try:
Figure 1: Increase in pa ent referrals to POAC
Ensure ﬁgures, graphs and charts are clear and comprehensible from a distance of one metre. If at least
the gist of a ﬁgure, chart or graph can’t be understood at a glance, it’s too complicated for a poster.
Check that axis labels and axis numbers are clear and legible from one metre.
Use sentence case for axis labels, not Title Case or CAPITALS or italics.
The seven sins of displaying data
1. The sin of choice
If using charts or graphs, choose the type that best illustrates what you want to portray. Less is more.
Avoid 3-D or ‘noisy’ graphs where possible.
2. The sin of size
Think about what axis scale is being used. Does it make your data look like it’s varying too much, or not
enough?
3. The sin of shape
Format your graph (&tles, shape, size) in Excel ﬁrst, then paste it as an image into your poster. This will
help maintain the dimensions and quality and avoid distor&on.
4. The sin of over-simplifying
Show data over &me wherever possible, rather than aggregated (for instance, show data monthly,
rather than annually).
5. The sin of waste
Delete unnecessary ink, such as horizontal bars, data tables and other ‘chart junk’:
X Background colour
X 3-D eﬀect
X Grid lines
X Inset legend boxes
6. The sin of secrets
Annotate your graphs and let them tell the story. What is this axis? When did you implement speciﬁc
changes? What is the value of the average?
7. The sin of overload
Display one set of data on each graph. Think carefully how many of your measures you need to show—
what’s most important?
14
Figure 3: Ineﬀec ve graphs
Uninforma&ve &tle adds nothing and wastes
words
Figure X: Line graph showing loca ons
14
Auckland
12
Auckland
10
Wellington
8
Hamilton
6
Christchurch
Dunedin
4
Invercargill
2
Thames
0
15
Wellington
10
Hamilton
5
0
Christchurch
yr
a
u
n
aJ
ilr
p
A
yl r
e
u
J b
o
tc
O
Auckland
Dunedin
Invercargill
Thames
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Background colour and
grid lines reduce contrast
and clarity
Figure 4: Eﬀec ve graph
Too much data
displayed makes
comprehension a
struggle
Unclear axis labels
3-D eﬀect makes it
diﬃcult to read
graph accurately
15
Design and layout
Layout
Orienta&on can be portrait or landscape.
Check the conference poster guidelines for size requirements. If possible, use
A1 (841x594mm) or A0 (1189x841mm).
Maintain visual balance:
∗ Aim for a symmetrical layout.
∗ Line up edges of text panels and graphical elements.
∗ Include a good balance of text and graphical elements. Ideally, a poster
should contain a mixture of text, charts and/or graphs, and photographic
elements. Posters that contain only dense blocks of text are dull for
readers and unappealing to assessors, who o1en have to look at between
10 and 50 posters. Aim to include at least one graph and one picture.
∗ Use space eﬀec&vely—don’t cram everything in, and don’t leave swathes
of wasted space.
Use visual grammar—a graphical hierarchy of heading and text size to help readers iden&fy the most
important parts of your poster.
English is read from top to bo om, le1 to right. Organise your poster accordingly. Top-to-bo om
organisa&on also enables two or more people to read your poster at the same &me without ge?ng in
each other’s way.
Consider using organisa&onal cues such as sec&on numbers.
Figure 5: Symmetrical versus asymmetrical layout
A symmetrical design that
uses space eﬀec&vely
An asymmetrical design
that wastes space
16
Font
Ensure all the text on your poster is big enough to be legible at a distance of one metre. This includes
o1en-overlooked text such as axis labels, axis numbers, ﬁgure legends and references. Recommended
minimum font sizes are:
∗ 48-72 point for poster &tle
∗ 36-48 point for headings
∗ 18-24 point for main text
∗ 14-16 point for ﬁne print
Don’t reduce the size of your font to squash in more text – reduce the amount of text!
Choose a font that is easy to read. Use sans-serif fonts such as Arial for the &tle and headings and a serif
font such as Times New Roman or Palatino for the main text. Serif fonts are easier to read at smaller
font sizes and in blocks of text. Avoid fancy fonts such as Broadway.
Avoid unnecessary varia&on in font sizes and styles.
Le1-jus&fy text.
Colour
Use colour to help organise and convey your message. S&ck to a limited number of diﬀerent colours: one
for background, one for text and one as an accent colour.
Background colour
Use cool, muted colours. Avoid presen&ng text straight on top of a background of fancy pa erns,
shimmers, textures, graduated shading or large background graphics. Light, solid-coloured text panels
can be used over an a en&on-grabbing (but not overwhelming) background to add interest to your
poster without detrac&ng from its readability.
Text colour
Use a dark colour that sharply contrasts against your background colour. Avoid using light text against
a dark background. It is &ring to read.
Accent colour
Choose a bright, contras&ng third colour to draw the reader’s eye to anything you want to highlight.
Use it sparingly for maximum eﬀect. Don’t reduce the impact of your accent colour by was&ng it on
decora&ve elements like lines and bullet points – use it for what you want the reader to look at.
Be aware that some people are colour blind. Some degree of colour blindness aﬀects around 8% of men
(0.5% of women). Red-green colour blindness is par&cularly common. Aﬀected people have diﬃculty
dis&nguishing these colours.
Check that your colours print looking the same as they do on screen!
Choose a combina&on of colours that complement each other:
∗ Light and dark colours together provide eﬀec&ve contrast
∗ Avoid using only pale colours – they will look washed out and lack contrast, reducing readability
∗ Avoid colours that clash or may look unprofessional – lime green, ﬂuorescents
17
Review and feedback
Review
Use a checklist to make sure your poster contains all the essen&al elements and avoids common piXalls.
Some good checklists are available on the internet. See, for example, Strategic Communica&ons &
Planning’s poster checklist at h p://www.bandwidthonline.org/howdoi/091023%20Poster%
20Checklist.pdf.
Feedback
Get a colleague with a sharp, fresh pair of eyes to check your poster over for typos, errors, lack of clarity,
poor grammar or spelling mistakes.
Ask colleagues to cri&que your poster. To get the most honest feedback, allow people to look over the
poster while you are not present. Supply them with Post It to s&ck comments onto the poster.
Load your poster onto social media sites such as Flickr and Tumblr to invite comment from colleagues and
contacts in other organisa&ons and from the general public.
18
Presen ng your poster
Read the informa&on provided by the conference organisers. There may be important informa&on about:
∗ facili&es and condi&ons at the venue for displaying posters
∗ hanging facili&es provided (or not provided!)
∗ &mes posters need to be mounted and removed
∗ &mes presenters may or may not a end their posters
∗ handouts and other suppor&ng informa&on/gimmicks/gi1s/samples etc. you may oﬀer readers.
Ensure you bring materials to hang your poster.
Bring along business cards and adequate supplies of any suppor&ng informa&on to distribute to
interested readers.
Ensure that you are as well-presented as your poster! Be professional in dress and manner.
Stay close by your poster, but be careful not to obstruct the view of readers or passers-by.
Give some thought to what you want to say about your work to readers before the poster session. Plan
two or three interes&ng points to make to introduce your poster and sum up what you did, what you
found and the diﬀerence your work made. Avoid rambling to such an extent that you bore people or
hinder them from actually reading your poster. Simply introduce your work as planned and be available
to answer any further ques&ons that develop. Remember, too, that most people’s favourite subject is
themselves. Ask them one or two ques&ons about their work to get them engaged!
Useful resources
19
Resources
This guide has been developed from the following resources. We gratefully acknowledge all sources used.
Purrington, C.B. Designing conference posters. Retrieved 2014 July 9, from h p://colinpurrington.com/
&ps/academic/posterdesign
Hess, G., Tosney, K. & Liegel, L. Crea&ng eﬀec&ve poster presenta&ons. Retrieved 2014 May 22, from
h p://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/
Block, S. Dos and don’ts of poster presenta&on. Biophysical Journal. 1996 Dec; 71: 3527-3529.
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Special thanks also to Dr Lynne Maher, Director of Innova&on, Ko Awatea, for her invaluable input.