Presentation Guidelines

Poster Guidelines

Presentation of a poster provides an opportunity for effective discussion with small groups of interested viewers. The longer presentation time of the poster session enables an author to present a more in-depth description and discussion of the work. Posters should therefore be visually appealing and easy to read. Remember, your poster should stimulate and promote discussion and questions.

Suggestions for a successful poster presentation:

1. Each presenter will have a 4′ high x 4′ wide poster board on which to attach their presentation. Pushpins will be provided to attach your material to the poster boards.

2. Plan your poster to be in logical sequence, either horizontally or vertically, and divided into appropriate sections (e.g., introduction, study design, methods, results, and conclusion).

3. Posters should be designed for clear viewing from a distance of 4 feet.

4. The top center of the poster should clearly have the title of the presentation in large letters (104 pt. text), with authors and author affiliations in 72 pt. text under the title. Other poster text should generally use a font size that is no smaller than 44 pt.

5. Consider placing a short abstract in the upper left corner of the poster, and a summary/conclusion section in the bottom right corner.

6. Always consider how to use color, bullet lists, plots and graphs, illustrations and images (rather than plain text) to highlight important content while ensuring visual effectiveness of your poster. Avoid using unfamiliar abbreviations or acronyms.

7. Presenters should be at their posters throughout the duration of the session and should be prepared to answer specific questions.

Contributed Talk Guidelines

1. Organize your talk, remembering that keeping things simple may allow the audience to learn more from your presentation. Only put across a few key points. Make sure to emphasize the significance and highlights of the work.

2. Practice the delivery of your talk. Make sure you can deliver your talk in the time allocated to you. (e.g., 12 min speaking slot means a 10 minute talk, and 2 minutes for questions and changeover).

3. Avoid using unfamiliar abbreviations or acronyms on your slides or as you speak.

4. Make sure your slides are concise, uncluttered, and visually effective.

You will be asked to load your presentations onto the meeting room’s computer during the breaks in the morning of your scheduled speaking slot. Speakers should use the meeting room computer (PC running Windows and Microsoft Office) and avoid the need to connect their own laptops.