Conference posters
A conference poster presents a small set of clear messages in a form that attracts passing readers and supports discussion with its presenter. Preparation includes choosing the content, designing for the display conditions, arranging production and preparing for questions.
Purpose and the conference brief
A poster needs to stand alone, attract attention in an exhibition space and convey clear, memorable messages within limited space. It can showcase work, elicit feedback and start professional conversations. Dense text can conceal the main message and make the poster difficult to notice or navigate.
The decision to submit begins with the call for posters and three questions:
- Is the audience right?
- Is the presentation environment right?
- Is the time right, and is the work ready to show?
The organiser's criteria and intended audience indicate whether a scientific, technically precise style or a more qualitative, reflective approach is appropriate. When the requested style is unfamiliar, colleagues' experience and existing posters, including those displayed in university corridors, can help with constructing the message.
Poster sessions can accept work beyond empirical studies: AMWA's 2012 call covered editing and writing, education, freelancing, public relations, medical marketing and the pharmaceutical industry, while expressing particular interest in study designs and empirical research in medical communication. Abstracts were selected by its conference poster-session committee.
Preparation needs a project plan with action points, a to-do list and a timetable that covers the organiser's criteria. A rough preparation allowance is two to three days to assemble thoughts and materials and two days to put the poster together, in addition to printing time.
Format, size and production
Poster-session organisers may differ from the people who issued the call, so their information and the exhibition planners' rules need checking. Practical size checks include:
- Whether board dimensions have changed since the call.
- Whether width and height have been transposed.
- Whether dimensions use imperial or metric units.
- Which fixings the boards accept: a poster larger than a board may not adhere securely with Velcro or double-sided tape, even where pins would have allowed some overhang.
Standard paper dimensions are:
| Paper | Millimetres | Inches |
|---|---|---|
| A0 | 841 × 1189 | 33.11 × 46.81 |
| A1 | 594 × 841 | 23.39 × 33.11 |
| A2 | 420 × 594 | 16.54 × 23.39 |
| A3 | 297 × 420 | 11.69 × 16.54 |
| A4 | 210 × 297 | 8.27 × 11.69 |
Settling the size early avoids later changes, gives the printer a clear brief and helps the poster meet the professional and judging expectations of the event. Planning the format also includes these questions:
- Will the text be produced electronically?
- Will there be graphs and diagrams?
- Will there be photographs and pictures?
- What design and layout will be used?
- What is to be showcased?
- Will the poster be laminated?
- What will production cost?
- How will it attach to the board?
The feasible in-house work determines what additional help is needed. General production requirements include logo placement, size and printing medium as well as meeting specifications.
A budget should be established and quotations sought before production, considering:
- Available budget.
- Fees for attending the poster presentation, if applicable.
- Travel and accommodation, if applicable.
- Single use or intended reuse.
- Feasibility of in-house production.
- Printing costs.
- Lamination.
- Preparation time.
- Payments for other contributors' help.
- Colour, black and white, or shades of one colour.
- Necessary software purchases.
- External design.
- Copyright fees.
- Purchased images, if needed.
- Transport to the venue.
The printer's specifications should be obtained before preparation, including whether text files, scans and colours can be reproduced at the intended size and finish. Costs, specifications, the production schedule and proofing checkpoints should be agreed in writing, and the poster should always be proofed before printing.
Where the printer assembles the poster, the brief needs to specify page and column breaks, colours, emphasis, font sizes and diagram positions, with pages numbered and supplied in logical order and general instructions given at the beginning. A 2007 production recommendation was to supply sections as separate files to limit rework if one became corrupted, and, where possible, give the brief and text to the printer in person to reduce misunderstanding. Handwritten text supplied for production needs to be legible. A finished electronic poster may instead need only printing, subject to the printer's requirements.
Different conference specifications can require reprinting the same data for another audience; harmonised poster structure, format and layout have been proposed to enable reuse and potentially conserve resources. A 2018 proposal suggested changing title or author-order information with an attached note where those were the only necessary changes.
Message and content
The title should describe the content accurately and succinctly and encourage further reading, avoiding gimmicky phrasing and unexplained acronyms because English may not be every reader's first language. The initial opportunity to attract and retain attention has been estimated at only 10–11 seconds. The poster's purpose can be tested by asking both someone familiar with the work and someone unfamiliar with it to explain what the poster says.
A preparation guideline recommends no more than six key messages, written down and prioritised before drafting. Content can be ranked in three groups:
- Must know: information needed to understand the key objectives or outcomes.
- Good to know: information that explains the process, elements or equipment.
- Nice to know: costs, context and possible further investigations, with omitted material noted for conversations.
Before drafting, the preparer should ask:
- What are the key objectives?
- What is to be shared?
- What information or examples support the main theme?
- What would make the poster easier to read and understand?
- Which headings would create a logical, informative flow?
Simple wording, appropriate paragraph and section breaks and sentences ending at column boundaries help readers with limited reading time. A full-size paper layout can be reviewed first by someone familiar with the topic, amended and then tested with someone unfamiliar with it.
Headings should attract attention, give structure and reinforce key messages, using bold, colour or size for emphasis. Suggested quantitative-data headings are:
- Background.
- Objective.
- Method.
- Results.
- Data from questionnaire analysis.
- Conclusions.
- References.
Suggested qualitative-data headings are:
- Background.
- Introduction.
- The model.
- Discussion.
- Current work.
- Preparation.
- Implementation.
- Outcomes.
- Conclusion.
- References.
Conventional research-poster components include the title bar, abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion (IMRAD), and references. A contrasting visual-abstract approach recommends 250 words, possibly only 150, no more than two or three graphs and no tables, instead extracting key numbers into highlighted shapes. This approach treats the poster as closer to the paper's abstract than the full paper and uses freed space to direct attention to the key message. Examples of conferences replacing conventional posters with printed or digital graphical abstracts included a natural-resource-management science conference in 2018 and the Australian Society for Fish Biology conference in 2019.
Layout and legibility
White space guides attention, separates and relates text and visuals, and provides margins; text should not run to the poster's edge. Possible layouts include text broken by visuals, two contrasting sections, newspaper-like columns or text blocks surrounding a central feature. Colour can emphasise messages, group similar elements, show relationships and distinguish differences, but excessive contrast can distract from the data and strain the eyes. White lettering on a blue background is one suggested use of contrast.
A typical reading distance is about 1.5 metres, though viewers may be 1.8–3 metres away. Suggested type sizes are:
- Body text: 30–36 point.
- Headings of approximately three words: 36–48 point.
- Titles of approximately six to eight words: 90–120 point.
Simple sans serif fonts with little variation in line width can be easy to read, and different font sizes can provide emphasis and hierarchy. Readability techniques include:
- Indentation.
- Upper case for selected words or sentences, background highlighting and underlining.
- Bold and italics.
- White space to break up text and give thinking time.
Wordy sections can sometimes be summarised in bullets. A large, recognisable graphic can attract attention and curiosity even when its relationship to the research is loose.
In a conventional data-rich design, the important findings should be visible without overwhelming the viewer, figures and tables should make sense without the main text, and their colours should be consistent. Titles can omit openings such as “Discussion of” or “Results of”, and a poster with no figures can benefit from adding them. Formatting checks cover:
- Text spacing, justification, size, font, layout and bullets.
- Figure and table quantity, with consistent colour, font and size.
- Legends, titles and numbering.
- Photograph permissions, protection of human subjects, quality and size.
A readable, well-organised poster may still feel cluttered. One redesign reduced boxes to reserve them for emphasis, strengthened hierarchy through size and colour, and changed an unstable-looking inverted-triangle diagram into a more rectangular form. Other changes identified in the example were reducing a large, clunky bar chart and simplifying an unnecessarily detailed map scale.
Construction in PowerPoint
A poster can be created on one slide, with its dimensions set through PowerPoint's Slide Size menu. Grids and guides divide the space and assist formatting, while text boxes help maintain the proportions of Background, Methods, Results and Conclusion. One suggested allocation is approximately 50% of the space for Results.
A suggested layout uses horizontal sections for portrait posters and vertical sections for landscape posters, with the largest section reserved for results and the title and authors across the top. Introduction or background, methods and conclusions or summary complete the main sections, with acknowledgments, references and disclosures moved to the bottom in smaller type if space permits. The final poster should be saved as a PDF.
One main colour with two accent colours is a suggested palette, with additional colours where a data-heavy graph or figure requires them and consistent use throughout. Section headings in one colour and subheadings in an accent colour show hierarchy. Content should be primarily visual with minimal text, and graphs, tables and figures should be understandable without extra explanation. PowerPoint's default settings need not determine the design. Even when a researcher departs from the design guidance, the writer can help make the best use of the available space. A 2007 PowerPoint workflow demonstrated creating figures with the “Create Figure” function and copying existing figures between files.
Transport, display and discussion
Transport needs planning alongside the format: a rollable poster should not crease, and reusable panels should stack without sticking together, especially after tape or Velcro has been attached. Decorators' masking tape can secure a rolled poster without marking or tearing it, and a lightweight plastic tube protects it from damage and water. Transport advice differs: a 2007 recommendation favoured carrying the poster as hand luggage and avoiding carriers because of loss and customs delays, whereas a 2017 recommendation included mailing services or reasonably sized transport tubes in view of changing air-security requirements. Printed handouts should be prepared before departure.
Fixings such as tape, drawing or map pins, Velcro and scissors should be brought even when organisers say they will provide them. Presenters should meet setup and removal deadlines, collect their poster afterwards and attend the required presentation slots.
The distinction between display hours and presenter attendance is illustrated by AMWA conference programmes:
| Year | Accepted posters | Poster display | Meeting the presenters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 9 | Thursday and Friday 07:00–17:30; Saturday 07:45–15:30 | Saturday 07:45–08:45 |
| 2008 | 7 | Thursday and Friday 07:00–17:30; Saturday 07:45–15:30 | Friday 07:45–08:45 |
| 2009 | 16 | Thursday and Friday 07:00–17:30; Saturday 07:45–15:30 | Friday 07:45–08:45 |
| 2010 | 10 | Thursday and Friday 07:00–17:30; Saturday 07:45–15:00 | Friday 07:45–08:45 |
| 2011 | 8 | Thursday 07:00–17:30; Friday 07:30–17:30; Saturday 07:45–16:00 | Friday 07:45–08:45 |
| 2012 | 8 abstracts | Wednesday 15:00–20:00; Thursday 07:00–19:00; Friday 07:00–16:00 | Friday 07:15–08:45 |
| 2013 | 9 | Exhibit hall throughout the conference | Friday 8 November 07:30–09:00 |
| 2014 | 9 plus 2 AMWA initiatives; 12 in the summer preview | First viewing Wednesday 8 October 18:30–20:00; then near registration throughout the conference | Friday 10 October 07:30–09:00 |
Viewers arriving when the presenter is absent need a handout of frequently asked questions, a readable A4 copy or contact details, which can be left in a container attached to the board. The contact information can be a business card, a slip or text at the foot of a handout.
A one-minute introduction may be requested for the conference audience or the poster area and should include:
- The title.
- The presenter's identity.
- The purpose of the investigations.
- The outcomes.
- Why the audience should visit the poster.
- Where the presenter can be found.
The introduction should be clear, concise and engaging, and any held-up visual aid, equipment, conference-theme reference or distinctive dress should remain relevant to the content. A longer introduction can add context, objectives, content and a summary, with visual material kept within the available time: a guideline allows one to two minutes per picture, making two pictures more realistic than three in five minutes.
Preparation for questions includes:
- Anticipating likely questions.
- Deciding how to respond.
- Knowing the key messages.
- Identifying what was especially interesting.
- Identifying what did not go well.
- Having the references available.
Questions raised by collaborators, proofreaders, the production team and organisers during preparation should be noted because visitors may ask them again. Presenters should know the significant findings, potential controversies, supporting references and omitted information, and practise responses. Visitors may want only seconds of clarification or up to five minutes of detail, so several lengths of response should be ready. A notepad and pen help capture feedback, and two or three prepared questions can elicit specific responses from visitors. Suggestions, criticism and disagreement should be expected. A small, well-produced poster can be as effective as a large, elaborate one.
When a visitor approaches, an initial account should last only one minute, pointing to graphs and images, before open questions about the visitor's work establish their interests and appetite for detail. Understanding the visitor's interests can lead to offering a useful introduction, statistical help or relevant samples before seeking something in return.
In one researcher's account, a comic-style graphical abstract stood out among 400 conference posters, prompted two hours of conversation, and was followed months later by a book-writing invitation and a laboratory visit leading to joint research and a paper.
Electronic posters and digital additions
An electronic poster shown briefly in a screen slideshow without its author present needs particularly succinct, visually appealing content. Electronic-poster guidance given in 2017 suggested white type on black, designing for the screen ratio, such as 16:9, and checking an upload deadline that could be much earlier than for print.
At virtual or hybrid meetings, digital additions sit alongside the poster file and may help bridge the absence of face-to-face discussion:
- Embedded QR codes linking to methods, additional results or other resources.
- Poster slides, typically five to ten content slides as specified by the conference, providing a quicker summary for small handheld screens.
- Audio or video recordings in which the presenter introduces the poster and explains key points.
Platforms may also provide automatic captions or transcripts and a way to contact presenters, potentially supporting professional connections and future collaboration. At ASCO's virtual May 2020 conference, poster videos were the most-consumed content, while downloadable slides and additional-resource links were also valued. In accounts of virtual ASGCT meetings discussed in 2021, poster slides and prerecorded content enhanced access; initial figures suggested about half of attendees visited digital poster halls and individual posters received views from the low dozens to several hundred. Those figures cannot be compared directly with in-person conferences that lacked equivalent metrics.
Electronic posters can have environmental advantages without necessarily increasing engagement compared with physical posters at the same congress. Screens or meeting apps can reduce the space needed for a poster hall and avoid the risk of printed posters being lost in transit. Printing on silk was tried as an alternative to treated paper that was harder to recycle, with the additional benefit of folding into a suitcase, though no lifecycle assessment had been done.