Developing a Poster – Showcasing a Community Organization or Scientific Results

Developing a Poster:

Showcasing a Community

Organization or Research Project

Amy Borg, MPH, MEd

This presentation was developed in

collaboration with Judy Savageau, MPH

Family Medicine and Community

Health UMass Medical School

Building on Partnership Strengths to

Improve Community Health

Our Poster Session Goal

To help people meet each other, learn about each other’s work and

interests, and make connections for future collaborative work.

This poster session is unique in that it is geared to spark conversation

about shared interests and future collaborative projects, and not

necessarily to share the results of past scientific research projects.

Objectives

1. Review goals for posters, think of your own

2. Discuss possible components of a community

organization poster

3. Review components of a research poster

4. Set up a poster ‘page’

5. Use options to insert text boxes and graphics and

design poster

6. Share websites where you can review sample posters

and poster design options

Goals of a Poster

▫ A poster is a large display that quickly and

effectively communicates information.

▫ Need to efficiently convey your information and

stimulate interest and discussion.

▫ Viewers should be able to walk by and quickly scan

your poster, returning to those that pique an interest.

▫ Viewers should be able to fully read your poster in 10

minutes or less.

▫ Intention is not only to share information about your

work but also to draw viewers into a conversation.

Guiding Questions

for Creating a Poster

• What is the purpose of your poster?

• What is your main message?

• Who is your audience?

• Will you use the poster after the Symposium?

▫ How? Where?

Potential Parts of a Community

Organization Poster

• Logo

• Pictures!

• Mission

• Vision

• Program descriptions

• Locations

• Web address

• Maps

• Contact information

• Other?

Potential Parts of a Community

Organization Poster

• Research Interests, Topic Areas

▫ Opiate use, HIV, Obesity…

• Questions you would like to explore/answer

▫ Why are there so many children coming to the ER

with concussions?

▫ Why is infant mortality higher here than X?

• Examples of past research

Components of a Research Poster

Research posters typically include:

▫ Title, Author, Affiliation (with or without a logo)

▫ Introduction, Background, Problem Statement or Aim, Current

Conditions

▫ Materials and Methods, Measures, Procedures,

▫ Results (both text and graphics)

▫ Discussion (including Limitations)

▫ Conclusion or Summary

▫ References, Team, Acknowledgements, Funding Source

▫ Pictures!

Setting up a Poster

▫ Step One: Gather all of your text and graphics into one place.

▫ Step Two: Review the list of components (i.e., the “building blocks” for your

poster) and determine which headers will best apply to your materials and

your project.

▫ Step Three: Roughly sketch out a design on paper (e.g., story board) to get a

sense of what kind of layout will work best.

 How many “building blocks” will you have?

 Which of these are graphic? Which are text?

 Where on the poster do you want the graphics to appear?

 Typically, you will want your most important and eye-catching block to

cover a relatively large space towards the upper right-hand corner.

Setting up a Poster

▫ Step Four: Select one or two of the websites that have

downloadable poster templates and scroll through to get a

sense of options that are available (see references at end).

 Consider first whether a 3 column, 4 column, or 5 column format will

work best with number and type of building blocks you will have.

 Then focus on color, background, font, and other poster characteristics.

 If this is your first poster, our best advice is to find a template that

you like and start there!!

▫ Step Five: Once you have identified your starting template,

download it to your computer.

Setting up a Poster

▫ Step Six: Fill in the blocks on the template.

 You can copy and paste text that you have already composed or you

can type directly into a block.

 You can insert pictures, graphs, etc.

 Insert new text boxes, as needed.

 Delete existing blocks if your template has more than you need.

 Remember to put your content in correct order to tell your story.

 Save your work frequently!!

▫ Step Seven: Review the list of do’s and don’ts (on

subsequent slide) and then tinker with your formatting by

adjusting font type, font size, picture size, etc.

▫ Step Eight: Have a friend or colleague take a look and

provide feedback. (Then repeat Step Seven, if needed.)

Setting up a Poster

▫ Your poster is designed as ONE PAGE in PowerPoint.

 Design tab in 2007/2010

 Page Setup

▫ Custom

▫ Set Width and Height

▫ Set Orientation to Landscape

▫ Some versions of PowerPoint require you to set

the page ‘size’ to ½ the expected print size!!!!

▫ For this Symposium, the maximum size is 42” x 42”

Setting up a Poster

▫ Insert text boxes for titles, subheadings and general text

for all sections.

 Insert tab in 2007/2010

 Text Box

▫ Use ~ 72 font size for titles

▫ Use at least 36-40 font size for subheadings

▫ Use at least 22-24 font size for general text

▫ Type of font is your choice (Arial reads more easily

than New Times Roman)

▫ There are LOTS of options for font type and size,

colors, layout, etc. - maximize readability!

Setting up a Poster

▫ Insert graphics by copying these from other sources

(Word, PowerPoint individual slides, Excel, the Internet,

logo’s, pictures).

▫ Basic copy and paste commands work for inserting

charts, graphs, logos, etc. onto your poster.

▫ There are LOTS of ways to graphically display

your data! It’s easier to design your graphics

before copying these to your poster!

▫ Play with re-sizing graphics once copied to your

poster.

Setting up a Poster

▫ There are many options under the Design tab (in 2007/ 2010) for

changing colors, fonts, effects, backgrounds (options also available

under the Drawing ribbon of the Home tab in 2007/2010).

▫ If this is your first poster, our best advice is to find a template

you like and use it!

▫ Goal is readability: light font/dark background, dark font/light

background (i.e., high contrasts), minimize special effects and color

changes (i.e., it’s less distracting).

Use Pictures to Tell your Story!

• Take lots of pictures throughout your organization or

project

• Complete permission forms before posting

• Formatting:

▫ Word/PowerPoint - Shape Effects: Preset, Reflection,

Bevel, etc

▫ www.picmonkey.com – online editing, collages

▫ To move pictures on a document: Put your cursor on

the picture, right click, select “Wrap Text” and then

“Square.”

Setting up a Poster

A few helpful hints:

▫ Display poster text in columns rather than rows.

▫ Allow ‘some’ empty space for readability; readers need a

‘visual pause’ to think.

▫ Omit extraneous text or visual distractions.

▫ Use plain language.

▫ Use short lists and bulleted points rather than full

sentences wherever possible.

▫ Use graphics to increase audience interest.

Setting up a Poster

A few helpful hints:

▫ If using number graphs (e.g., line charts, bar charts),

don’t forget to include titles, legends, axis labels, etc –

whenever necessary.

▫ Use ‘Title Case’ or ‘Sentence case’ rather than FULL

CAPS.

▫ Avoid acronyms unless they’re widely recognized among

your expected audience.

▫ Have a friend/colleague review your poster for flow,

figures, font size, spelling/grammar, etc. before

printing.

▫ Don’t forget to SAVE your file frequently as

you’re creating your poster.

Setting up a Poster

Example of graphic pluses and minuses:

Poster “Don’t” Reminders

Many ineffective posters suffer from easy-to-fix

problems including:

▫ Objectives and main points are hard to find

▫ Text is too small

▫ Poor graphics that don’t visually display a quick take-

home message and, generally, distract the viewer

▫ Poor organization that makes the poster’s ‘story’ hard to

▫ Others??

Sample Templates and Design Help

Posters from our Past Symposia can be found at:

https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/chr_symposium/2018/posters/

Lots of web sites have existing templates easily adaptable:

▫ Makesigns.com

 https://www.makesigns.com/products/scientific-posters - This site contains a

broad range of free poster templates with instructions on how to download to

your own computer.

 https://www.makesigns.com/tutorials/ - An excellent and detailed tutorial on

creating posters.

▫ Posterpresentations.com

 https://www.posterpresentations.com/free-poster-templates.html - More free

templates in basic white, gray, and blue colors. These templates are a very user

friendly and include “Quick Design Guide” tips.

 http://www.posterpresentations.com/html/helpdesk.html - A complete set of

YouTube tutorials on each of the steps in poster creation.

 http://posters4research.com/design-help.php - Quick Start general guidelines

for poster creation.