First . . .
READ THE INSTRUCTIONS supplied by the meeting organizers!
Having an idea about these details before you begin will make the whole process much easier.
General format
- Determine the one essential concept you would like to get across to the audience.
- Re-read your abstract once again - are those statements still accurate?
- Determine the size of the poster (if you had read the instructions, you would already know this!).
- Determine if you have all the elements you'll need for the poster: Bits & pieces? Poster board, glue, razor blades, Bandaids . . . Data? Do you have the data you will need? How much time will you need to prepare the data for presentation (tables, photographs, etc.)? Outside agencies? Does material need to be sent out & returned (photographic services, collaborators)?
A word of advice (the first of many; pick and choose what works for you). Preparing a poster will take as much time as you let it. Allocate your time wisely.
- There are always things that go wrong, so do not wait until the last minute to do even a simple task.
- This is a public presentation; by planning carefully, striving to be clear in what you say and how you say it, and assuming a professional attitude you will avoid making it a public spectacle.
- If you have little experience making posters, it will take longer (estimate 1 week at the very minimum).
- Too much lead time, however, encourages endless fussing about. Do the poster to the best of your ability, then go do something else.
CONTINUE on to the Sketching the Poster page, or RETURN to the Main Menu page.
Jeff Radel
Last Update: July 1999