7. preparing posters

Widely used in the academic community, and most conferences include poster presentations in their program
Summarize information or research concisely and attractively to help publicize it and generate discussion
It is usually a mixture of a brief text mixed with tables, graphs, pictures, and other presentation formats
At a conference, the researcher stands by the poster display while other participants can come and view the presentation and interact with the author

1. Preparing a Research Poster

2. What is a research poster? Widely used in the academic community, and most conferences include poster presentations in their program Summarize information or research concisely and attractively to help publicize it and generate discussion It is usually a mixture of a brief text mixed with tables, graphs, pictures, and other presentation formats At a conference, the researcher stands by the poster display while other participants can come and view the presentation and interact with the author

3. A poster can be better than giving a talk More efficient because: You totally bomb at giving talks Can be viewed while you nap Can hang in the department for years Can reach folks not in your field of research

4. What makes a good poster? Important information should be readable from about 10 feet away Title is short and draws interest Word count of about 300 to 800 words Text is clear and to the point Use of bullets, numbering, and headlines make it easy to read Effective use of graphics, color and fonts Includes acknowledgments, your name and institutional affiliation

5. Poster is basically an illustrated abstract

6. Poster arrangement Timing: Viewer  able to glean message in 3‐5  minutes Viewer  able to read text in 10 minutes Organization: Organization  similar to scientific  article Poster  describes findings of research  project

7. How to prepare a poster Tools: There are many computer programs you can use to create your poster Microsoft Publisher or PowerPoint Adobe Illustrator You should be familiar with these software as you will need to do a lot of editing work

8. Continued. Design: Informative and aesthetically pleasing poster The information should be minimal, as in a slide presentation, stating only key points rather than complete sentence Effective contrasting backgrounds (blue & yellow, black & white) Begin with aims and objectives Flow downwards in columns to methods, results, conclusions and finally references Revise and format it according to the conference or meeting rules

9. Information to include Headings: This should be clear in bold and grab the reader's attention Use a short, sharp heading relevant to your study Title should be followed by the center where study was conducted and the list of authors Affiliation of authors Logos of the center and conference or meeting should be placed on either side of the title

10. Continued. Main body: This should follow a logical structure guiding the reader through the poster The more concise, the better 100 words per section is ideal Abstract outline followed by the following section Introduction : short background of the topic Methods : should include the methodology in brief Results followed by conclusion and References

11. Continued. Templates : numerous templates available online Tables & figures : this will make your poster look more aesthetically pleasing Font size : size 24 is used for text and size 32 for titles Color : one or two color, not more as it will make your poster too busy Electronic poster : e-posters are displayed on screens

12. Presentation day Poster presentations are generally more relaxed than oral presentations Arrive on time and stick your poster in the designated place Some conferences have a specific time for poster presentation where while in other the session is on and the presenter will present it to anyone interested Don’t just read the poster but guide the readers through to the illustrated points

13. Links for poster templates There are numerous online sources where you can find the templates, some are given below https :// cns.utexas.edu/communications/communications-tips/research-posters https:// www.posterpresentations.com/free-poster-templates.html https:// www.postersession.com/poster-templates.php