Visual studies show that bright reds, oranges and yellows can be a distracting irritant, while subtle blues and grays are calming and appealing. Colored and textured backgrounds can be appealing, and are no more expensive to print out, just make sure the texture doesn't distract from the text. Color photographs are attention grabbing, and very effective when combined with concise, legible captions. Make sure that you scan them at 150 dpi at the exact size they will be when printed. It will just slow your computer down, hog valuable computer resources and not make a noticeable difference to the human eye when printed out.
Handouts are an excellent idea.
Your poster can draw the attention of viewers, and a handout can give them more detailed information about your research, and can be available for those who wish to read it on the plane trip home. Make sure you list your phone number and email for follow-up collaboration. BCU has many of these supplies for sell. When you're done Always make sure you have saved a backup file. However, BCU does support zip drives on both Macintosh and PC computers.