The purpose of a poster is to give the observer the background and summary of your research. It should be self-explanatory and leave you free to discuss particular points raised by an interested observer.

The essentials of poster arrangement are as follows:

• A bulletin board with your assigned number will be placed in the Graham Center, Room TBA on TBA.  Your poster presentation must be done in Microsoft PowerPoint in color with the following dimensions of 48” (inches width) by 36” (inches height). Your poster must be attached directly to the bulletin board using the push pins or thumbtacks from the poster boards. All posters must remain on display, TBA.
• Display the title, author(s) name(s), and institution(s) name(s) at the top of your poster board space. All lettering should be printed large enough to be read from a distance, and the poster should include large, readable diagrams, graphs, and legends.
• The following items should be included in your poster presentation:
  • A brief introduction providing a historical background of your project. The introduction should conclude with the hypothesis developed from this background and tell why you did the research (what question you are asking).
  • Your experimental design and research techniques. Diagrams illustrating special equipment used with a brief, descriptive legend are helpful (a picture is worth a thousand words). All data should reflect appropriate statistical methods as needed as it is included as part of the evaluation criteria.
  • Results should be displayed in the form of tables, graphs, illustrations, photographs, etc. Each figure should be numbered sequentially and have a one or two-line heading describing the intent of the experiment from which that data was obtained. The accompanying legend should contain detailed information pointing out only the most important data in the figure and conclusions; mention of special methods should be brief and should be placed at the end of the legend. The figure itself should be simple, eliminating unnecessary details.
  • A short discussion relating the results to your introduction and discussing the significance of your unique research finding.
  • A summary or list of conclusions. 

When you run out of space in the first column below the abstract, begin a new column to the right. It is easier for viewers to scan a poster by systematically reading from top to bottom and left to right. 

To set the actual slide on PowerPoint to size 36” x 48” landscape: 

• Once the poster is opened in PowerPoint, click on the “Design“ tab. 
• Then select “Slide Size” and then select “Custom Slide Size.” 
• Change Width to 48” (inches), Height to 36” (inches), and click on landscape. 
• Then select “Ensure Fit.” This will set your slide to be 48” by 36.” 
• If you had not done this before you created the poster, you should review it because you might need to adjust your objects’ size to make them fit. 

To print this document as a PDF using a PDF creator, such as Acrobat PDF Writer: Go to File > Export > Create PDF/XPS > Save as: Your Full Name_McNairPoster