by Derek Keats & Alan Millar

The purpose of a scientific poster is to promote personal contact and the exchange of ideas on an individual level. This cannot take place during a talk, but is easy to achieve during a poster session, where interested parties can meet the authors for detailed chats about their work. Posters should be eye-catching as well as scientifically accurate and tastefully laid out. Colour can be used to great effect in a poster, as long as it is not overdone. One of the most appealing advantages of a poster is that it can be displayed in your department after the conference. Here are some suggestions for preparing a good poster:

1. A poster should not be a standard paper in pictures or, worse still, in words. Keep the text to a minimum, but be sure that your poster tells a good research story.
2. The main transfer of information is through interaction with the author. The poster itself should act as bait, and as a summary, with illustrative material arranged in a manner which attracts and interests the delegates. It should, nevertheless, be able to stand on its own.
3. Keep the text to the minimum quantity needed to help interpret other materials.
4. A key ingredient is of course good science.
5. In preparing your poster, perform a dummy layout first using a pencil on soft paper that is the same size as the allotted poster area. It may be necessary to do this several times before you get it correct.
6. When the dummy layout is correct, make draft printouts of your text and graphics, and attach them to the dummy layout. Pin the dummy layout up on a notice board, and check that the layout is accurate and visually pleasing.
7. Lay the final artwork out on the actual poster board, but do not glue it down. Look at it from up on a chair, ladder or stairs and check that everything fits together well, and that the colour scheme is acceptable. Get other people’s opinions here, and take them seriously.
8. When you are happy with the layout, wait a few days and check it again. If you are still happy with it, glue the items down to the poster board exactly as laid out.
9. Have the poster laminated if at all possible. It will travel better, and it won’t have bits hanging off when it is displayed.
10. Photographs, graphs, charts, maps and diagrams should be clear, large and uncluttered.
11. The poster should conform to the size restrictions imposed by the conference organisers (usually no more than 90 X 100 cm, but check the instructions for each conference before designing your poster).
12. The title banner should have the title (letter size: 25-40 mm), author’s names (letter size: 20-25 mm), and institution or organisation (letter size: 20-25 mm).
13. A passport-size photograph of each author is helpful to delegates who want to locate the author(s) at the conference venue.
14. No lettering should be less than 5 mm.
15. Hand written posters should not be used. If you do not have access to a computer and laser or colour printer, use plastic lettering templates and permanent markers which are cheap, and available throughout the world.
16. Remember, the conference organisers reserve the right to refuse to display any poster which does not conform to its specifications. Even if a bad poster is displayed, it will only be a reflection on the authors.
17. Many conferences ask poster presenters to give a short overview of their poster. If the conference that you are attending requires this, please read the conference’s instructions for doing this carefully, and follow them.