For Poster Presentations before the Conference:

• Make sure that your poster is a VISUAL representation of your scholarly or creative activity. A paper would include all your information, but a poster should include the most important information. You will fill in the gaps orally as participants discuss and ask questions.
• Include lots of pictures and diagrams that will help you explain your work.
• An effective poster will deliver a clear and specific message and be highly visual (pictures, tables, graphs, diagrams
• Your poster should be easily read from 1-2 meters away. Use large font (about 36 for the title and 24 for text in the body). Avoid large blocks of text with small font. Bullet points work better.
• The top of your poster should have the title of your presentation, as well as your name and your faculty mentor’s name.
• Make sure that you poster is organized. People are used to reading left to right and top to bottom, so make sure the flow of you work following this pattern. Creating 3 columns can be a helpful way of guiding your readers through the work.
• Professional looks include the following: all typed information, no handwritten material. Can be printed professionally, but do not have to be. If you are cutting your material out, make sure that you use a straight edge paper cutter. Limit your poster to 2 or 3 colors.
• For printing on campus: Our campus copy center can print 24” by 36” posters for about $5. You would need to create a powerpoint slide specifiying 24” by 36”. Then, save it as a PDF and bring it to the copy center in the Campus Center on a flash drive. Allow 2 days for printing.

 

For Poster Presentations during the conference:

• We ask that you leave your poster up for the duration of the conference. Put it up on Tuesday (the day before) and leave it up through Thursday. We will place a note on your poster that indicates which 1 hour time frame you will be available for questions and discussion.
• Arrive 5 minutes before your start time.
• As participants walk by your poster, you could say “Would you like me to explain my work, or would you rather read through the poster for a few minutes first?”
• Don’t read your poster to participants. Instead, summarize key points and point to relevant images, sections as you go. YOU are the expert on your topic. Be confident in your own knowledge. It’s okay if you don’t know all the answer to questions participants ask.

 

For Poster Presentations after your presentation:

• Don’t feel you should have been perfect.
• Take a deep breath and feel content for having the nerve to present.
• Add it to your résumé in some form:
  “[Name of Your Presentation].” Presented [insert date] at the Inver Hills Research Conference. Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota.