Scientific Poster

A poster presentation at a conference offers a relaxed environment to present your work and receive valuable feedback early on (you can present early results, unfinished analysis, pilot data or even just the design itself, depending on the conference). Typically, you will be allocated a specific time and location to set up your poster. Try to arrive early so you have enough time to set up your poster (and bring a friend to give you a hand!). Conference organizers usually provide you with tacks/tape/whatever else needed to put the poster up, so you only need to supply the poster and yourself. You may be expected to stay at your poster for around an hour (double-check this with the conference program), so to engage with interested attendees. People will be walking around and looking at all the posters, which means it can get quite crowded. Be prepared to give a short explanation of your work, keeping it casual and brief. In some cases, people will indicate they want more information and will aks you questions which will give you the chance to get into more detail.

Tips:

• Think of your poster presentation as a conversation - you are explaining your work to someone, and using the poster simply to support you story. Do NOT just read out what is written on the poster.
• Prepare an extra-brief explanation (<2 minutes). Poster sessions can be very croweded and sometimes people will just want a very short explanation so they have enough time to look at other work.
• A poster is NOT the same as a research paper. You should focus on extracting the key essence and necessary details. If you are not standing by your poster, people should get an idea of what your work is about, but it should not be something that other researchers can simply read and get the same information. Keep it brief and simple. The emphasis should be on the figures (see above on how to generate figures)

Here are some links that you might find useful:

• Giving an Effective Poster Presentation (video)
• How to create a better research poster in less time (video)
• Ten Simple Rules for a Good Poster Presentation
• Tips for presenting your scientific poster at a conference

Poster Templates

Commonly used software for creating posters includes Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, PowerPoint, or Inkscape. Choose the one you are most comfortable with. At the DCCN, the default options are typically the Donders templates. You can download the specific format that suits your needs from the intranet page above. Alternatively, if you have a poster template you have encountered before and want to use, you are more than welcome to do so. All Radboud logos are available for download on this page to include them in your poster.

Here are some examples from lab members:

• Micha Heilbron
• Marisha Manahova - Familiarity and Expectation
• Patricia Romero Verdugo

Printing a Poster

To print a poster, this can be done through the Post & Print services of the Radboud University. This page contains more information about their services. You can either send your work to them through email or bring a USB stick containing your file. Remember to bring your cost centre number or add it in your email when submitting a request.

The location of Post & Print can be found here.