8 design tips for your poster presentation

In general there are three ways to present your research on a scientific conference: the poster presentation, the oral presentation and the plenary presentation. In this article we will describe to you can design the poster to get the most of your presentation!

Seven minutes is the maximum number of minutes you have for your poster presentation. Enough? Of course not, there is so much more you can tell about your research. But you are stuck with these minutes, nothing more, nothing less. So you need to get the most out of this minutes as possible. In order to do so, not only your presentation itself should be complete, but the poster should be even better. Because afterwards, the audience can't relisten your presentation, but they can reread your poster! Therefore, here are 8 design tips to improve your poster!

8 design tips to get the most out of your poster presentation

1. Know the goal. The goal of a poster presentation should be clear. You aren't going to explain every bit of your research, only a couple of things. A poster presentation fulfills 3 things: It stimulates interest and discussion, it gets you feedback for following research and it generates contacts.
2. Know what message you would like to give to the audience. To make the most out of your poster you must firstly know what the most is. What is the message you would like to give to the audience? What should they think when they walk away? Write this down for yourself, so you won't forget!
3. Do your preparations! Where is this poster going to hang? If you are going to a cardiology conference, the poster can be more specific. If you are going to a student conference, you'll need more explanation on the poster, as the audience is less specialized! Besides that, what are the requirements? What kind of size should the poster be? In portrait or in landscape? These are just basics and as the basics form the ground of the details, make sure to make the basics absolutely perfect!
4. Sketch! A poster is in his very essence a visual medium. Make a scetch before you are going to work on it in a computer program. Know how it is going to look and see whether or not you like the sketch. See where the target 'reading areas' should be. Are they coming out good enough? Will the reader be focussing on the same thing as where they should focus on?
5. Essentials. Every poster should contain a title and the name of the authors. Besides that, an introduction (what are you researching, why?), the material&methods (how?), the results (findings) and the discussion/conclusion (what does this mean?). Without these essentials the poster simply misses something.
6. Use images and graphs. A poster with text-only isn't attractive at all. People will never stop to read it. So use relevant images! You can use graphs and tables as well to make the poster more attractive, make sure to make them not to hard to understand!
7. KISS - Keep It Short and Simple. Again, only 7 minutes. People should understand your poster in that time. So make sure to keep it short and simple.
8. Make a good distribution. Aim for 40% empty space, 40% images and 20% text. Too much text can kill the attention of the reader. You should answer the basic questions in the text, but for more information they will go to your abstract or to YOU! That would be the moment to get contacts and feedback!

The majority of people who are presenting their abstract do this through a poster presentation. Make sure to get the most out of your presentation. If you want to stand out, follow these tips! And have you seen the ISCOMS 2011 will have a pre-course?