How to Prepare a Professional Poster Presentation?
Having to deal with a new type of assessment can be frustrating for many students not to mention that you can barely find any reliable and useful information to work with. So our experts at Prime-Essay.net have prepared a tutorial on how to make a great presentation poster, along with some ideas and templates.
What is a Poster Presentation?
If you are asked to prepare a presentation poster, you will have to prepare a visual summary of your research, findings of your project or the graphic representation of the scholarly ideas. A good academic poster has to use proper language, highlight the educational purpose as well as have some sort of observable data.
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Once you receive the assignment, you may find it a bit confusing as rarely students are asked to present the ideas in the form of a poster, especially the one made in PowerPoint (or a similar presentation/slides processor).
Every research power point poster should:
meet the requirements given by a professor or educational establishment;
match the level of your audience knowledge and interest;
present one short message or idea people will be able to remember;
suggest some visual representation of the idea;
be readable close-up and from the distance of 3-5 feet;
clearly and neatly organized.
How to Design a Poster Presentation
Among all the poster presentation ideas we have seen on the web, we have filled a set of simple rules to perfectly style your poster, making it professional, yet chic.
First, stick with the basic colors, such as grey, navy blue, white and beige. This color scheme is applicable to major academic fields (except for pre-school education, however, no rules are applicable to them) and it can be easily read. Second, use the large and eligible font for the title, making sure to use 1 or 2 pints in general. Stick with left-justified text or fully justified block of the text. Third, keep the free space between the blocks, so it people will not have to guess where one section ends and another one begins. And last, try to keep the visual part in the similar color scheme.
The Structure of Presentation Poster
Structure of presentation poster might vary depending on the academic level and initial requirements, the general guidelines are pretty common for most schools and research groups.
PowerPoint Poster Presentation Tips
We allied a helping hand from time to time, but rarely can we hope that this help with be professional and applicable to real life experience every student has to gain. So here is our top 10 pieces of advice on how you can create an amazing poster:
Define the purpose. Yes, we understand that you had a research project of some sort and you need to present it. However, think about the true meaning of this presentation. Do you want to impress the audience with the great achievements of yours? Do you want to scare them with the finding of the research? Do you want to intrigue them to get more funding for further research? Each and every purpose can be important, but it will also define the way your poster should be designed and presented.
Grab attention. If you are going to participate in the conference or present your poster to a general public, you need to grab their attention the moment they see your poster. It is similar to an elevator pitch when you have 10 to 15 second to address someone and leave them wanting more and ready to seek information. It is said that you have to be able to sell your work in under 10 seconds, otherwise the person will start doubting. Think about a hook sentence, a catchy title and a decisive question for your presentation.
Work on the title. As we have already mentioned, the title is what helps you sell the idea or at least catch the attention. One of the main purposes of the poster title is to make someone willing to come closer and read the rest of the content.
Understand the values. Following the idea of a research poster being presented at the conference, you need to remember that poster acceptance itself means nothing. If you are not giving a presentation, the only thing you can do is to seek peer review and pitch as many sponsors and scholars as possible. To do this, you have to understand and present the value of your research to the general public. Make the value of your project stand out.
Obey to the rules. In 99% percent of the cases, you will be given the set of strict requirements to adhere to, starting from the size of the poster up to the reference requirements. Apart from the presentation of the poster, you have to take care of the contents of your poster, and this is where a lot of general rules of academic writing can be applied, such as present your own ideas and reference the borrowed ones; follow the structure and keep the logical and cohesive flow of the presentation. Make sure to find the balance in your description of the hypothesis that was the ground for the research and the results of the project itself.
Understand the difference. Despite the similarities presentation poster bears to major academic assignments, there are some significant differences, including but not limited to the word count restrictions, focus on visual aids and an opportunity to use additional materials, such as handout and supplementary information.
Take care of layout and formatting. Presentation poster requires a lot of thought and effort to achieve a great result. Once you think you have all the information you need to cover, the trick is to display in in the best way to present the ideas properly, yet make it eligible and readable form the distance. You have a limited amount of space, yet the worst thing you can do is to cover every inch of the poster. You need to leave some blank spaces between the parts of information. Another thing to remember that every person coming closer to have a look at your poster is having a small personal journey, so try to guide them and present the idea in an interesting way. Do not forget to use larger font to make sure your readers don’t have to go extra mile to read the content.
Keep the content concise. Remember. that every single line you put up on the poster have to serve the same mission: support the message you are trying to deliver. So no matter how great your extra findings or additional ideas may be, make sure to focus in the main idea. If you can, present statistical data with the help of the graphs and charts, as they can definitely help you save some space, yet making your ideas more interesting to get acquainted with. If you have any handouts, you can include a large table with some color swatches representing different concepts or parts of the information, as well as adding some of the details you could not fit into the poster.
Keep things personal. Unlike the paper that is supposed to be formal, somewhat boring and serious, your poster is a great chance to present things in a more passionate and amusing. This is a good way to get people to know you, by presenting something you have strong feeling and opinions. A great poster can also be a good reason post on the social media to let people know what conference you are attending and check in on the Facebook event. This will help other attendees find you and evaluate your work.
Let the poster make an impact. The last but now the least, comes the idea of the effect your poster is supposed to have. Do you remember that we have started with the question of the goal. Keep in mind that everything you do should serve this purpose. Remember that one engaged person can bring several other. And do not start bugging people as they approach you poster. Greet them, share the handout and let them read. If they express any interest, make sure to engage in conversation, but remain polite. The audience is more likely to remember you that your poster, so make sure you add some contacts to your handouts.
How to Do a Poster Presentation?
Once you are at the conference or in front of your class, remember simple rules of the poster presentation:
make sure to introduce the topic of the project;
do not block the view of the poster;
bring new information, rather than repeat the content of the poster;
let people read the information, but be ready to start a conversation.
And the most important advice, don’t let your nerves get over your knowledge!
A professional poster presentation is a great way to introduce your research and get good reviews from the scientists and experts in the field. So if you do not want to risk your future, it might be better to have a professional work on your poster. Place your order right now and you will be working with a seasoned professional, able to present your ideas perfectly. You will be also granted a 24/7 access to the direct communication with your writer, as well as round the clock support via any convenient source.