Posters

• But first
  • Please send me a poster abstact and title by Nov 22. I will build a program over break.
  • Please sign up via email for a presentation slot either 12/5 or 12/12
  • As always first come first served.
• Many sources
  • Gastel and Day chapter 28, How to Prepare a Poster
  • NYU How to Create a Research Poster: Poster Basics
  • Scientific Posters
  • UTK: Research Posters
  • CSU: Poster Sessions
• History: (From Gastel and Day)
  • In the late 60's conferences began to become "overbooked" with papers.
  • This lead to a high rejection rate.
  • And good information was being lost.
  • So the poster session was created.
• A Poster session
  • (From Wikipedia)
  • Usually a large hall or open area.
  • Portable "walls" to hang the poster on.
  • Presenters stand by their posters.
  • Audience walks by, engaging poster presenters.
  • There are frequently judges scoring the posters.
• But why do this?
  • Allow you to interact in a more personal way with your audience.
    • Get feedback
  • Allow a more informal way to present your findings that might not quite be ready for a formal presentation.
• Why attend?
  • Many of the big conference offer coupons for drinks for attendees who go to the poster sessions.
  • Often there is free food
  • Sometimes prizes.
  • Frequently conference recruit members to judge posters.
• The audience
  • Presenters.
  • Other conference attendees.
  • Possibly outsiders as well (open hall, conference outreach, ...)
• What should happen
  • You stand by your poster.
  • People come up and interact with you.
  • You should have a brief (5-10 minute) description of your work.
  • Your audience should ask questions and or provide critique and feedback
• What should not happen
  • Your poster is actually a large paper, and people stand there and read it.
  • 
  • You stand there and don't interact.
  • You act like a car naval barker and harass the audience.
• Gastel and Day
  • follow Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion
    • But not absolutely.
  • They say a poster should have between 500 and 1000 words.
  • probably arranged in a number of columns
  • Short, attention grabbing title.
    • 72 point font.
    • Authors listed smaller, but at least 18 point font below.
  • A succinct introduction
    • Small paragraph, easy to read, state your problem.
  • With these two elements, you want to invite people into your presentation space.
  • "The poster should be self-explanatory, allowing different viewers to proceed at their own pace."
  • White space is important.
    • Clutter drives people off.
  • Give a clear indication of the flow of your work.
  • But you need
    • Sufficient information for you to discuss any complex questions that might arise.
  • Make sure that you include
    • An acknowledgment section if appropriate
    • A list of references.
    • A future work section
    • Contact information.
• You might consider a handout (Not common at CS sessions)
  • A copy of the poster.
  • Your contact information.
  • An abstract or summary
  • Your bib.
• Technical
  • Our printer has one 24" dimension.
  • The other is much larger.
  • The easiest thing is to design a poster in PowerPoint
  • I would make the height 24"
  • And probably 36" long.
  • 
  • From Idaho
  • Text should be 24-48 point font.
  • Serif is better.
  • Be careful with small images, they will look awful when printed.
• The Poster Rubric