Creating Effective Poster Presentations
Creating Effective Poster Presentations
poster presentations
George Hess
Kathryn Tosney
Leon Leigel
AMEE GUIDE
Teaching and Learning 40
Creating effective poster presentations
AMEE Guide No 40
George Hess, Kathryn Tosney & Leon Liegel
Institution/Corresponding address
George R Hess, Associate Professor
Department of Forestry & Environmental Resources
North Carolina State University
Raleigh NC 27695-8008
USA
Tel: USA 919.515.7437
Email: george_hess@ncsu.edu
The authors
George Hess is an Associate Professor in the Department of Forestry & Environmental Resources at NC State
University. His research focuses on open space planning in suburbanizing landscapes; he teaches using
engaged and service-learning approaches.
Visit http://www4.ncsu.edu/~grhess/
Kathryn Tosney is Chair of the Department of Biology at the University of Miami and Director of SEEDS (Scientists
and Engineers Expanding Diversity and Success). Her research focuses on motility and guidance in neurons;
her teaching focuses on career development.
Visit http://www.bio.miami.edu/ktosney/
Leon Liegel was a career Forester/Soil Scientist with the USDA Forest Service, 1973-2001. He was then a
Research Associate with Oregon State University’s Forest Ecosystems & Society Department, where he
addressed sustainable forestry issues. He now works on distance education programs in natural resources.
Visit http://www.forestry.oregonstate.edu/cof/fs/people/faculty/liegel.php
© AMEE 2009
ISBN: 978-1-903934-74-6
Poster presentations have become an important part of professional meetings Poster presentations have
and are recognized as valuable tools for teaching and assessment. An effective become an important part of
poster is a visual communication tool that will help you engage colleagues professional meetings and are
recognized as valuable tools
in conversation, convey your main point to large numbers of people, and for teaching and assessment.
advertise your work. An effective poster is a highly condensed version of a
research paper constructed primarily of visual displays of data with just enough
supporting text to provide context, interpretation, and conclusions. This AMEE
Guide provides guidance and is illustrated with annotated examples.
Posters have also been recognized as valuable tools for teaching and Posters have also been
assessment. In the classroom, they can provide a mechanism to promote recognized as valuable tools
for teaching and assessment.
teamwork, develop presentation and communication skills, and enhance
critical thinking and analysis skills (e.g., Moneyhan et al., 1996; Hess & Brooks,
1998; Bracher et al., 1998; Costa 2001). They also offer an alternative to essays
and written papers for the assessment of student work (e.g., Pelletier, 1993;
Moule et al., 1998; Akister et al., 2000). Chute and Bank (1986) suggest a class
poster session as a time-saving alternative to spending “…half of the course
listening to nervous undergraduates awkwardly drone on in the usual seminar
fashion.” Poster competitions for graduate students are also held at some
professional meetings, garnering prestige, recognition, and even monetary
rewards for up-and-coming scientists.
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overall quality. They found that a 15-second quick-scoring technique, focused
largely on visual and organizational elements, was highly correlated (r=0.75)
with more detailed scoring of the same posters.
The problems identified in many posters diminish their communication value The problems identified in
for all but the most determined readers. Once authors are made aware of many posters diminish their
communication value for
them, these problems are easily fixed. Medical and nursing educators have
all but the most determined
long dominated the literature examining the use and preparation of posters, readers.
both for professional meetings and as teaching and learning tools. Indeed,
the overwhelming majority (nearly 75%) of the ca. 125 peer-reviewed articles
in Brownlie’s (2007) comprehensive annotated bibliography of the literature
are from medical and nursing journals. Poster presenters should have access
to straightforward guidance to help them create more effective posters. That
is the purpose of the new AMEE guide and the associated web site, Creating
Effective Poster Presentations (Hess et al., 2008).
Despite the notion among some researchers that posters are “second class”
when compared to oral presentations, we argue that there are many reasons
to prefer poster presentations:
• You have the potential to reach a larger audience. Only those directly
interested in your field may attend an oral presentation, whereas scientists in
related fields are likely to stroll through a poster session. If your poster is visually
interesting and graphically informative, you can capture their attention.
• It is much easier to talk with people during a poster session – even the big
names in your field may stop at your poster. Thus, you can begin to develop
professional contacts and networks.
• Many people find the poster session format less stressful than an oral
presentation.
Like an effective oral presentation, an effective poster presentation requires Like an effective oral
thoughtful and careful preparation. In today’s era of computers, digital text presentation, an effective
poster presentation requires
and graphics, and large printers, actually assembling and printing posters is
thoughtful and careful
not difficult. A poster, however, is not simply a manuscript hung on a board or preparation.
a set of PowerPoint slides printed on a single, large sheet of paper. In fact, a
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compelling case can be made for thinking of a poster as an illustrated abstract
– a highly condensed version of a research paper constructed primarily of
visual displays of data with just enough supporting text to provide context,
interpretation, and conclusions.
There are numerous “how-to” guides available for poster presentations (see
Brownlie’s 2007 bibliography for an extensive list). There are common themes
that occur repeatedly, including:
• developing a short, large, results-oriented title to convey results and attract
attention
• using visual elements to tell your story: photographs, graphs, drawings
• minimizing text, using just enough to provide context and explain your visual
elements and conclusions
• maintaining a large, easy-to-read font throughout the poster
• using appropriate headings to organize your poster and guide viewers
• keeping your poster bright, colorful, and uncluttered
• being prepared to speak about your poster
• making sure you are with your poster during your assigned time
• preparing a summary handout that people can take with them
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References
Akister, J., Bannon, A., & Mullender-Lock, H. (2000) Poster presentations in social
work education assessment: a case study. Innovations in Education and Training
International, 37(3), pp. 229.
AMEE, Association for Medical Education in Europe. (2001) Medical Education
and Standards at a Time of Change: Programme and Abstracts for Annual
Meeting, Berlin, Germany. http://www.amee.org/documents/AMEE%202001%20
Programme%20and%20Abstracts.pdf, viewed 2009 Jan 16.
AMEE, Association for Medical Education in Europe. (2008) Programme for Annual
Meeting, Prague,Czech Republic. http://www.amee.org/documents/AMEE%202
008%20Final%20Abstract%20Book.pdf, viewed 2009 Jan 16.
Bracher, L., Cantrell, J. & Wilkie, K. (1998) The process of poster presentation: a
valuable learning experience. Medical Teacher, 20(6), pp. 552-557.
Brownlie, D. (2007) Towards effective poster presentations – an annotated
bibliography. European Journal of Marketing, 41(11/12), pp. 1245-1283.
Chute, D.L. & Bank, B. (1983) Undergraduate seminars: the poster session solution.
Teaching of Psychology, 10(2), pp. 99-100.
Costa, M.J. (2001) Using the separation of poster handouts into sections to develop
student skills. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 29(3), pp. 98-100.
ESA, Ecological Society of America. 2008. 93rd ESA Annual Meeting, Milwaukee,
WI, USA. http://eco.confex.com/eco/2008/techprogram/, viewed 2009 Jan 16.
Hess, G. undated. 60-second poster evaluation. http://www.ncsu.edu/project/
posters/NewSite/60second.html, viewed 2009 Jan 17.
Hess, G. & Brooks, E. (1998) The class poster conference as a teaching tool. Journal
of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education, 27, pp. 155-158.
Hess, G., K. Tosney, & L. Liegel. 2008. Creating Effective Poster Presentations.
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters, viewed 2009 Jan 16.
Maugh, T. H., II, 1974. Poster sessions: a new look at scientific meetings. Science,
184, pp. 1361.
Moneyhan, L., Ura, D., Ellwood, S. & Bruno, B. (1996) The poster presentation as an
educational tool. Nurse Educator, 21, pp. 45-47.
Moule, P., Judd, M. & Girot, E. (1998) The poster presentation: what value to
the teaching and assessment of research in pre- and post-registration nursing
courses? Nurse Education Today, 18, pp. 237-242.
Pelletier, D. (1993) The focused use of posters for graduate education in the
complex technological nursing environment. Nurse Education Today, 13(5), pp.
382-388.
Smith, P.E., Fuller, G. & Dunstan, F. (2004) Scoring posters at scientific meetings: first
impressions count. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 97, pp. 340-341.
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PART 2: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO
CREATING POSTERS
Key messages
Poster presentations are an important communication tool in the sciences
and everyday living. A carefully crafted presentation will help you engage A carefully crafted
colleagues in conversation and provide information to many people. presentation will help you
engage colleagues in
conversation and provide
Posters serve as: information to many people.
• a conversation starter
• a source of information
• a summary of your research, and
• an advertisement of your work.
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Getting started... some key considerations
Before putting fingers to keyboard, you should determine:
• Material you will be working with: a single, large sheet of paper from a
plotter… individual elements on standard paper (A3 & A4) mounted on
foam core or craft paper… laminated or not. The examples here are single,
large sheets – because they are most common at professional, scientific
meetings – but the concepts are universal.
• Schedule: It takes time to create a good poster. Allow time to focus your
message… create a draft… edit the draft a few days later… get at least
one round of comments from colleagues, preferably two… print the final
version.
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Southern Flounder Exhibit Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination
J. Adam Luckenbach*, John Godwin and Russell Borski
Department of Zoology, Box 7617, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695
**
% Females
This study was conducted to determine whether southern
flounder exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination 31 6 28 23 31 6
10
0
(TSD), and if growth is affected by rearing temperature. 18 23 28
***
64 53 49
T e m p e ra tu re (°C )
0
18 23 28
M e th o d s
T e m p e ra tu re (°C ) R e s u lts
• Southern flounder broodstock were strip spawned to
collect eggs and sperm for in vitro fertilization. (**P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001 represent significant • Sex was discernible in most fish greater than 120 mm long.
• Hatched larvae were weaned from a natural diet deviations from a 1:1 male:female sex ratio) • High (28ºC) temperature produced 4% females.
(rotifers/Artemia) to high protein pelleted feed and fed
EXAMPLE 1: Scientific poster with standard headings
37 51 37
0
18 23 28 A c k n o w le d g e m e n ts
North Carolina State University. This audience comprises many disciplines; all are scientifically literate.
Male Differentiation Female Differentiation The authors acknowledge the Salstonstall-Kennedy Program of the National Marine
T e m p e ra tu re ( o C ) Fisheries Service and the University of North Carolina Sea Grant College Program for
funding this research. Special thanks to Lea Ware and Beth Shimps for help with the work.
This poster was presented at the annual symposium for graduate students in the Zoology Department at
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Create a provocative TITLE… and keep it short
• Craft a title from your main message… deliver this message to people who
only read titles
• A provocative question can garner interest
• Keep it short… direct… active
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EXAMPLE 2: Scientific poster with non-standard headings
This poster was presented at an annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America. Thousands of people
attend these meetings; participants represent a broad spectrum of ecologically-focused specialties.
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+ Title asks
provocative
question and + Image is a good
then defines attention-
focus grabber
– Author
information – Low resolution
should be image pixelated
larger at full size
+ Succinct
introduction
of problem
leading to
hypotheses
– Could be
improved by + Succinct finding
bulleting
– Font too small on
graph
– Redundant
+ Clear
objectives
– Bullets too far
from text
and articulated
clearly
+ Succinct
methods – Might eliminate
all but bolded
+ Appropriate text and leave
for audience room for
+ Nice graphic conclusion or
display recmmendations
– Rename
Section 5 to
“Conclusions”
EXAMPLE 3: Scientific poster with positive(+) and negative(–) aspects identified
+ Lines and numbered headings + Results are centerpiece of poster + “No effect” graphic clearly separated by positional difference (on left)
make flow clear + Focus on graphic display – Graph fonts are too small
+ Nicely presented interpretation of graphics
students from the course and diverse faculty from the biological sciences. It was reasonable to assume
This was presented at a poster session for a graduate biological modeling course. The audience included
Use COLOR creatively… but don’t go overboard
• Use balanced color (and large graphics) to attract viewers
• Use light background and dark letters for contrast – poster sessions usually
have poor overhead lighting
• Use a 2-3 color scheme – more colors than that are distracting
• Consider people who have problems differentiating colors, especially when
designing graphics – inability to tell red from green is common
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EXAMPLE 4: Clean up your graphics
Graphs from some software packages are filled with what Edward Tufte, an expert in the visual display of
complex data, calls ‘chart junk’ – the dark backgrounds, false 3-D, shadows, and grid lines that distract the
reader and hide data.
It only takes a few minutes to remove clutter so that important data patterns become apparent.
Keep graphs
focused on your
data
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EDIT ruthlessly… less is more
• If it’s not critical to your main message, delete it
• Simplify verbiage, reduce sentence complexity, remove detail
• Print on standard (A4) paper and ask colleges to edit
• Colleagues from a different field can identify jargon, missing context (why
your work matters), and logical leaps
• Colleagues in your field can identify errors of fact and interpretation
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EXAMPLE 5: Handout designed for back of A4 sheet
The front of the sheet would contain a scaled-down version of the manatee poster (Example 3). Notice the
additional detail and citations here.
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Closing thoughts
• Use creative poster presentations in
• Community stakeholder meetings to summarize the pros and cons of
alternative actions
• Rotating displays in workplace hallways to keep administrative, technical,
and scientific staff aware of ongoing research
• Science fairs for primary, secondary, and university students to explain
projects, reports, and special interests
Resources
See our web site for most current list: www.ncsu.edu/project/posters
• Block, S.M. 1996. Do’s and don’ts of poster presentations. Biophysical Journal
71: 3527-3529.
• Gosling, P.J. 2007. Scientist’s Guide to Poster Presentations. Springer, New
York.
• Erren, T.C. & P.E. Bourne. 2007. Ten simple rules for a good poster presentation.
PLoS Computational Biology 3(5) e102. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbl.0030102
• Tufte, E. 1983. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Graphics Press,
Cheshire, CT.
• Woolsey, J.D. 1989. Combating poster fatigue: How to use visual grammar
and analysis to effect better visual communication. Trends in Neurosciences
12: 325-332.
Acknowledgements
We thank Adam Luckenbach and Jun Yoshizaki for use of their posters as
examples, and the many viewers of our web site who have made comments
to improve it.
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ISBN: 978-1-903934-74-6
For information about other guides in the series and how to order
copies, please see the AMEE website www.amee.org