I just gave a lecture in Baltimore on how to design posters for scientific conferences, and wanted to share a few opinions on how sessions might be improved by the organizers of meetings. If you know the session chair in your society, please forward this post to them.
1. Provide guidance on poster aesthetics, audience, word count
Conferences are announced a year in advance on web pages, and those pages should give presenters more than just the desired dimensions of the posters and the due date. If you say, “Try to keep your word count under 800, and design for scientists outside your field,” you might find that poster sessions are better attended and enjoyed. And about that word count suggestion — just choose something, since “keep your word count low” means “under 5,000 words” to the average poster designer. If you can provide the above guidance, make sure it is added to a stable page on your society’s main web site, not just on the temporary page associated with the upcoming meeting.
2. Show examples of good posters
Scientists learn how to design posters from other scientists. That’s really alarming. So find a few good posters on the internet and link to them as examples. (Again, house this on a permanent page.)
3. Provide links to helpful poster advice
Find a web site or online PDF that pitches advice appropriate for the kind of conference you are organizing. If you don’t provide a link, most attendees will just wing it, and that doesn’t really work out. Mine is “Designing conference posters,” but there are thousands of other sites. (Again, house this on a permanent page.)
If your attendees are not the type that read instructions, you could also consider printing out and displaying my “bad” (below left) poster example as a way to generate conversation on design issues (“OMG that’s hideous!”). Put it next to the wine and beer table just in case people start to feel dizzy. You could display it next to my “tips” poster (below right).
4. Don’t provide templates
It’s tempting to post a PowerPoint template online, but that encourages attendees to use PowerPoint, which was not designed for posters. Another reason not to provide a template is that doing so would result in all the posters looking the same…and that would make for a mind-numbing session. Also keep in mind that if you post a template with lapses in aesthetics, color choice, font size … everyone at the meeting will adhere to those lapses.
5. Don’t require logos or banners
Branding attendees’ posters doesn’t really add to the quality of the poster session. Mandating logos at the top of all the posters squishes titles to be smaller than they should be, and adds visual distractions that compete with good design. If you really want to brand things, give attendees free t-shirts and temporary tattoos.
6. Don’t require abstract on posters
A poster is too short to need an abstract like a manuscript does. But it’s totally great to include a poster abstract in the conference booklet, to help people figure out which posters they’d like to visit.
7. Post judging criteria, evaluation form online prior to meeting
If posters will be judged for prizes and awards, tell attendees what criteria will be used. Something more specific than “for best poster.” Post the forms that the judges will be using. (On a permanent page.) And, please, don’t give top award to the poster with smallest font and most graphs: that just encourages people at future conferences to use even smaller fonts, and include even more graphs.
8. Provide 4 x 6” shrunken-poster stickers to presenters
If you can get all presenters to upload PDFs of their posters prior to the meeting, you can print them all onto small stickers that are given to the attendees when they arrive. Then people can slap those on their shirts and advertise their posters prior to the poster sessions. Doing this would energize the entire meeting, not just the poster session. E.g., people will proudly point to their mini-posters and explain their research.
9. Sponsor a fun “people’s choice” award
Even if you have official judging, set up a box near the poster session room for attendees to vote for “most enjoyable / creative / novel” poster. There’s always one at a conference, and it would be fun to give them credit somehow, even if the judges didn’t give them any love.
