Heidi Carter, Page County Extension Education Director, 311 E Washington St, Clarinda, IA 51632, phone 712-542-5171, e-mail heidic@iastate.edu
Index
Introduction
Planning
Organization
and Design
Text
Photographs
Proofreading
Questions and Preparation
Placement
and Transportation
Presentation
Day
Next Steps
References
Examples
of Poster-Exhibits
A poster-exhibit is a large display that has a presenter for a short time, from two to four hours, but is generally left unattended for longer periods, up to an entire day. During specified times, viewers can talk directly with presenters and ask questions. In turn, presenters polish their public speaking skills while discussing their work with viewers.
Studies have shown that the most appealing exhibits enjoy success for only about 15 seconds. If your poster cannot communicate the most important part of its message within a few seconds, you will have to wait on the sidelines. A poster must be carefully planned, clear and concise, designed to transfer information effectively as well as hold the attention of the learner.
The recommendations in Come and Look at This One: Tips for Getting Your Poster Noticed are guidelines. You will see many variations of these suggestions at poster sessions and in the Examples section. Use this advice, your creativity, and hard work to make the poster that best depicts your ideas. You and your team members have the final call.
Have a planning meeting months before the due date so your poster does not look thrown together. Questions to ask before beginning your poster include:
Before your vision sets like concrete, get some expert feedback. Besides your advisor, ask other instructors and your fellow students for their input. Do not rely solely on people in your department. Find out what art or communication majors think. Seek good editing for text, pictures, and visuals.
Once your team is satisfied with the initial sketch, make a rough layout. A chalk board is excellent because it has dimensions similar to a poster board. The ones normally used by professional societies measure 4 feet high by 8 feet wide. Board dimensions may vary and should be verified with conference organizers.
Two effective components of a poster-exhibit are a strong central theme and sufficient attention-getters to attract viewers. You must bait and catch the passive audience.
Start the poster in the upper left-hand corner and have it flow from left to right and top to bottom, like a book. The title and sponsoring institution should be at the top of the board. Try using a title of seven words or less.
Do not crowd too much information into the poster; concentrate on two or three main points. Highlight trends and comparisons with simplified charts, graphs, and diagrams. State key points in the legend of a figure, table, or photo. Vary the size of visual elements; do not use all squares or rectangles. When adding photos to your poster, buy color film and again, vary the size.
Use text sparingly and ensure it can be easily understood by the audience. Outlines of important points often work better than text. Limit abbreviations and acronyms. Remember, many people will read or study your poster while you are away. Make certain the message is clear and simple.
Use a dominant graphic element that communicates to and attracts people from a distance. It should help communicate the main idea of the poster. Almost every viewer will get a message from the main photograph or illustration before they read a single work of text. People tend to look at photographs first and then read photo captions before reading headlines or titles. Use big ideas, big type, big photographs, big charts, big graphs, and short words.
All lettering must be easily read from a distance of six feet. Use sans serif type, such as Arial and Univers. Serif type, such as Garamond or Times New Roman, is much harder to read. Avoid type with thin strokes, because it reduces legibility. Use bold typeface for titles, headings, and captions to add weight. Text in upper and lower case letters is more readable than all capitals. Some presenters still prefer to have the title in capital letters. Appropriate minimum heights for letters are titles -- 1 to 1¼ inch; sponsoring institutions, subtitles, and headings -- ¾ inch; and general text -- ¼ inch.
Put your most important point in your first sentence, not just in your conclusion. Keep your text in short and concise sentences, use descriptive phrases and bulleted lists, and add a few summary statements. Minimize text to no more than 40 percent of the poster. You can always put all the extra words in a handout. Restrict the number of ideas on each panel, and write short text blocks, 50 words or less. Do not forget the white space.
Composition
Photo composition is the arrangement of people, objects, and backgrounds combined with the angle from which the picture is taken. In most cases, the composition determines how effectively the image communicates your intended message to the viewing public. Planning the composition before you click the shutter may make the difference between a dull record and a lively visual commentary of an event.
Up close and personal
Make your pictures better by getting close to your subject. This technique helps eliminate distracting backgrounds, irrelevant people, and unnecessary objects. The best photos have one strong, clear subject with a simple, uncluttered background. Your subject should be shown with just enough foreground and background to make the picture interesting.
Subject placement
Subject placement varies depending on the desired effect. An "environmental portrait" can be compelling. Shoot a person looking directly into the camera, surrounded by the place or objects that define the person. On the other hand, subjects that are not in the center make the portrayal stronger and more interesting. Arrange the picture with the center of interest in the best lit area, because the eye automatically moves to the brightest part of the photograph.
Camera angle
Improve the look of your pictures by using different camera angles. Most people take photos showing their eye-level view. Stand on a chair, lie on the ground, or even hold the camera over your head. A low angle will cause your subject to look taller and put more sky in the picture. A high angle can eliminate the sky or ugly light fixture. Experiment by shooting the same subject from different angles.
Lighting
Photographers train themselves to look for the best light in each situation. It can be found from sunrise to mid-morning and from late afternoon to sunset. The light at these times is soft and saturated; the rest of the day can be harsh and cast unflattering shadows. Cloudy days are great for photographing people. The light is muted, and there is no squinting.
If you do take pictures in bright sunlight, use your flash. It will erase the harsh shadows on your subject's face and add detail and sparkle to your picture. Also, watch for long shadows that fall in front of and behind your subject or include the sun in your picture. You can transform everyday events into wonderful images by using light as an element.
Active subjects
Avoid "grip and grins" -- those boring shots of people shaking hands or impassively holding an award. Pictures of people doing things are most effective. For example, if someone wins an award, photograph the person performing the activity for which she or he received the award.
When taking group shots, limit the number of people in the picture, and use a camera angle that shows faces. Focus on the action, e.g. doing, looking, receiving, analyzing, or responding. Ask everyone to look at a central point so the viewer's eyes will be guided to that spot. Do not place a short person between two tall people.
Framing
Framing is a simple technique that adds depth and perspective to your photographs. Anything can be used as a frame. For example, using two people in the foreground draws your attention to the main subject. Make a point to start looking at your subject through tree branches, windows, doors, and fences so that noticing and using frames becomes a habit.
Proofreading Questions and Preparation
Ask these questions before you assemble your poster:
Ask the conference organizers if you need velcro or tacks for the display board. To lessen stress, purchase both. Buy mounting tacks of 5/8 inch to match the colors in the poster. Sometimes even the conference organizers do not know what the contractors will bring.
Bring along a few tools for last-minute problems that pop up. Put together a touch-up kit that includes sharp scissors, exacto knife, masking and duck tape, glue-stick, white-out, paper clips, a stapler, a soft eraser, soft-bristled brush, and marking pens. A measuring tape comes in handy when attaching artwork to the display board.
Print letters on white or light-colored paper for best results. In turn, place the white or light-colored paper on another piece of colored poster board or foam core. (Editor's note: I get my text panels laminated for more protection.) Adhere your pictures, graphs, charts, and diagrams on poster board or foam core. Choose one contrasting, background color for your poster that is not too bright. Several authors suggest avoiding yellow and orange. Plan on leaving at least ¼ to 1 inch of poster board around your panels.
The size of poster panels is related to transportation. Some presenters cut panels small enough to store in a suitcase or briefcase, 17 by 22 inches. Others have posters 40 inches long by 18 to 22 inches wide, which fit in overhead storage bins on an airplane. You may want to further protect your poster pieces by using an envelope constructed from corrugated cardboard. Be sure to seal the ends of the envelope with tape.
In the past few years, authors have worked with graphic artists to design posters using vector-based graphic drawing programs, CorelDraw for Dos- and Windows-based systems and Freehand for Macs. The programs accept text, visuals, and scanned photographs. The entire poster is printed on a large-format ink jet, with paper measuring 36 inches wide. If not mounted on panels, the poster can be rolled up and slipped into a mailing tube.
Whatever size you chose, make sure the wrapped poster fits through security check points in the airport. Posters can also be checked as baggage sandwiched between padded packaging material inside airline cardboard garment bags. For short trips in a car, inexpensive portfolios can be purchased from most office supply stores.
On presentation day, arrive early to have plenty of time for setting up the poster, especially if it is your first competition. You may have to trim panels to make them fit a different space than you were told, paste the edges back down on the text or visual sections, or erase finger prints and smudges. If you are using velcro, stick many pieces on the panels so they hold on the display board.
After the poster is set up, place summary sheets and written materials on a nearby table. Do not forget the handout for viewers to write comments and to leave their names and addresses for more information. Ask viewers for their impressions of the layout, ease of readability, and use of visuals. Their impressions can be used to improve future posters.
Watch your appearance and behavior while at the exhibit. You are representing your school. Sloppy attire, poor manners, and a ho-hum attitude are noticed. Spit out the chewing tobacco and gum. Do not sit and talk amongst yourselves. You are suppose to be drawing the public to your poster, not making them feel like they are intruding on a private conversation. Show enthusiasm for what you are doing!
When time allows, walk around and look at posters from other student chapters. Take notes of things that you do not like or new techniques that you can try. Talking to other presenters will reveal difficulties they experienced and how these problems were solved. Also observe the exhibits from national organizations for ideas.
Just putting a poster, even a very good poster, in front of a crowd of convention goers is a communication gamble. Improve the odds by inviting people to visit you while you are presenting. Even after all the work you put into your exhibit, the highest quality communication will be a one-on-one meeting of the minds.
The last activity in any good presentation is analysis and interpretation of what happened. Assess problems encountered in the planning phase. Review critical and congratulatory comments from judges and viewers to improve the poster or prepare for the next one. Touch up the poster and pack it carefully for the trip home. Think of other outlets for presentations, such as campus events, professional society meetings, environmental fairs, civic groups' functions, and project reviews. Take time to celebrate and congratulate your team members for a job well done.
10 tips for better digital photography, B. Hampton, in Information, published by Communications and Information Technology for IANR computer users, University of Nebraska, June 1999.
Photos and Other Visual Images, M. Shulman, in Working with the Mass Media, Cornell Cooperative Extension, 1994.
Dancing with wolves: taking your scientific poster to the forester's ball, D. Tippets, in INTercom, U.S. Forest Service, Ogden, UT, 1994.
Poster presentations for scientific meetings, L.H. Liegel and D. Thompson, J. Agron. Educ. Vol. 18, no. 2, 1989.
Tips for EXCELLENT Poster and Oral PRESENTATIONS, American Society of Agronomy brochure.
These posters show one or more of the recommendations discussed in Come and Look at This One: Tips for Getting Your Poster Noticed.
This page was created on 9/5/99 by Chuck Butterfield.
If you have comments about the construction of the page or problems
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