How to Present an Academic Research Poster

Whether your

poster

is about class work you've done or is for a

research

fair, this video aims to give you some tips on what to expect, how to prepare, how to

present

your

poster

, and how to work with a crowd in a setting.

research

poster. In several

academic

settings we use them to display class work or to

present

initial research. We do this to get feedback and also to allow students the opportunity to practice presenting in the industry. Posters are used to present ideas to executive staff or funders, but also to companies. They can use posters to show how their work is helping communities.

Posters are a unique opportunity for you, not only to get feedback but also to meet people. Anyone you meet could be a future employer or someone you might want to collaborate with in the future. Poster sessions are It's not really about the poster and it's not even about the work. A poster session is about you. It is an opportunity for you to present yourself and promote yourself. Often a research or class poster session is held in a very large or perhaps open space. It is in a classroom or possibly the booth is set up in a hallway where the posters are on opposite sides of the hallway, in either of those cases the poster sessions are usually crowded and noisy, you often have to speak out loud. high, so the first tip is to bring water because if you stay hydrated you won't have a problem with losing your voice plan to arrive early this is good for several reasons first of all, if the location of the sign is not pre-assigned, it gives you the opportunity to explore the space and find out where you might get good traffic.

It also allows you to make sure you have space around your poster. Ideally, you want to stand to the left or right of your poster. If you are in a group, you want to make sure there is enough space for your poster. group to stand around your sign without blocking it Think of your sign the same way you think of a slide deck: it's a presentation tool, so you want to be professional and all the same things you think of when you think of presenting slides are similar things to think about when presenting a poster. The differences are that the information on a poster is all on one big slide.

Plus, there's no space between you and the audience, so the conversation can be much more personal. In fact, it is a key to presenting posters. Well, they are interactive. A poster should give you the opportunity to have a conversation with people in the audience. A visitor might approach you and ask: what's your sign? An ideal answer is one that invites a question, so think of a short little sentence like the one in my poster is about global warming and the data suggests that glaciers are retreating, which can cause serious problems throughout the world. world. Notice how that invites you to wonder what kind of problems or someone might be interested in how to get to those findings as well. point to the pictures to help tell the story that way you will be active and not sit still reciting a story consider bringing business cards and not paper, that way you will have contact information to distribute easily and can write comments and dress well, remember that this is a professional event and you could end up meeting a future employer or someone you want to collaborate with.

Finally, if you present a poster with a group, find out beforehand who will speak and in what parts that way. You don't seem awkward during the presentation, so now we want to talk a little about how to work with the audience. Remember that poster sessions are usually held in a busy space. You don't want to block your sign. you want to have an open session. space in front of it as best you can so that people feel invited to participate in groups, try to stand on both sides of the sign, but remember to keep the front clear when you want to attract someone;

All you usually have to do is make eye contact. and say hello and often they naturally walk up and start talking to remember that a poster session is really about you it's an opportunity it's a chance for you to practice telling your story and what you're good at it's an opportunity for you to introduce yourself and your work to people you might work with or work with in the future good luck