What are poster presentations?

What happens at poster presentations?

Why should you consider giving a poster presentation?

When should you give a poster presentation?

Designing and creating your poster

Layout and format considerations

What to include in your poster

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Introduction
Poster content: Keep this short. Not only is poster space limited, but usually other researchers will already have knowledge about your field, so you don't need to add that much detail. Also remember that if you’ll be standing next to your poster, visitors can always ask to know more. As a rule of thumb, 1-2 paragraphs should be adequate. Provide just enough background so that people understand the context of your work, the research problem or question that you’re addressing, and your aim or hypothesis. When presenting: Ask the visitor what they know about your research topic so that you know whether to give more background information verbally or whether you can let the poster speak for itself.
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Methods
Poster content: Focus on what’s novel or critical to your study. For well-known methods or previously published techniques, just add a reference. Use images (figures, tables, photos, schema, flow charts, etc.) if it helps convey the methods with less text to read. When presenting: If you’re giving a presentation before publishing your findings, you might ask the audience for their opinion on the study design.
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Results
Poster content: Focus on the most important findings of your study here. Present data as tables or figures with short captions that highlight the main finding. When using text, limit this to one paragraph where possible—about 3 sentences should be enough. When presenting: Ask visitors if they would like further details. Be sure to have back-up data on hand in case anyone shows particular interest. opyright 2024 © ThinkSCIENCE. Inc.

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Discussion
Poster content: Just like in a standard manuscript, interpret the results in this section: discuss relationships within your own findings, and ddiscuss your own findings with what’s already known in the literature. Bullet points are effective for presenting your key take-away points. When presenting: Ask the audience what their thoughts are, or whether they have any other ideas about future directions.
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Conclusion
Poster content: Include limited amounts of text or maybe a few bullet points summarizing your study with its implication(s). A diagram illustrating your conclusions can also be effective here. When presenting: Finish up by inviting the visitor to ask questions: for example, “So, that was our main finding/recommendation. Do you have any questions or feedback about our work.”
Presenting your poster
While it’s important to remember that there are some crucial differences between poster presentations and oral presentations, many considerations are the same (in fact, we’ve already discussed some tips for giving oral presentations in previous articles ( here, here, and here ) and for handling difficult Q&A moments. Let’s take a look at some tips that are especially important for poster presentations. . Try to grab your audience’s attention as quickly as possible, within the first 30 s, because you need to persuade them to stay and listen to you (and also to block out other distractions mentioned earlier). . Don’t just read the title in your opener, but briefly summarize your study’s aims and implications. For example, the following would work as a good opener for this study: “Hello, and thank you for coming to see my poster. My name is XXX YYY and our team determined whether nutritional counseling in elite athletes increases lean body mass and strength, and what this means for designing optimal nutritional strategies." opyright 2024 © ThinkSCIENCE. Inc.
. . . Smile and be positive and enthusiastic. Your positive energy will rub off on the audience. Speak confidently and with authority. Remember, it’s your research! Have good posture and make use of open gestures and body language to engage the audience. For example, stand alongside your poster or at a 45-degree angle to your poster so that you are facing your listeners but can easily turn to and point to your poster as you speak. . Posters will likely be viewed by a diverse audience, including not just researchers, but also students and various non-research professionals, so be ready to explain your work at different levels. . Finally, remember that this is a discussion, so be prepared for and encourage interjections and questions from visitors to your poster. Think about what questions people may ask you. Prepare and practice giving concise answers and questions asking the visitors what they think.
Summary
Like oral presentations, poster presentations are an effective tool for raising awareness of your research and making your findings more quickly and widely available. Unique to poster presentations, however, is their potential for open discussion and feedback in real time. While having to create a poster as well as prepare to present it can be daunting, there are many benefits to giving poster presentations and we hope our tips are helpful. Of course, whether you need help following any guidelines or requirements of your conference, creating attractive graphics for your poster, summarizing your research, or even preparing your poster presentation, our team of translators, editors, and writers at ThinkSCIENCE are just an email or phone call away and welcome the chance to support you in presenting your research. If you are planning to give your first poster presentation or an important one and you would like some personal help, we also provide private coaching sessions so that you can present with confidence. Read the article online for the most recent version Copyright 2024 © ThinkSCIENCE, Inc. iis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.