Fwd: NCME 2007 Poster making and poster presentation - some useful information

[Dr. Sanjay Bedi]

Dear all
I am a guest faculty at International Summer School Oncology
(www.isoms.nl) Groningen Netherlands. In the summer school the
participants present posters of their projects, which is quite similar
to poster presentations done at many international /national meetings.
As participants of summer school are undergraduates, very detailed
instructions about poster making and presentation have been crafted,
which I think would be very useful to all. They are pasted below.
Dr Neelkamal Kapoor

Instructions for Poster
The importance of poster sessions at international meetings is
increasing. Especially at major conferences only few people are
selected to present a paper. The chance that you will present more
posters than papers during your career increases with time.

Target group
Question # 1 when you prepare a poster (or a paper presentation, or a
lecture) is: what is my target group? This is very important, because
the content of the presentation should be dedicated to the target
group. One and the same issue should be presented in different ways
for different target groups like specialists, (medical- dental-
nurse-) students, or lay people. This requires a lot of effort, but if
you want to do a good job, you must work for it. Your target group
during the Summer School is: fellow students from a variety of
countries all over the world.

Guidelines for poster design
The lay-out must have visual impact
· At major meetings, when people browse along (many) posters, you want
to attract the viewers especially to your poster. The viewer must be
able to read the title from a distance of at least 3 meters.
· To attract attention, it is important that the overall impression of
the poster is attractive. Too much text, overcrowded graphics, letters
too small, too many numbers, and too much information are ways of
distracting from your poster, and thus from your message.
Headlines
· Headlines must be brief. (Compare headlines in daily journals.) The
viewer must be able to read the headlines from a distance of at least
2 meters.
· Lettering in a poster is extremely important. For example: for the
title do not use exclusively capitals, but use lower-case letters:
this improves legibility. (By the way: this rule goes also for text on
slides!)
· For titles and subtitles: use bold and/or italic letters. Do not
underline bold and italic letters! They already attract the attention
(and that is what you want); and underlining enhances illegibility.
Even more: it is visually unattractive.
Important messages
· Make sure that your main message can be seen from a distance. When
viewers are attracted to your message, they will take time to read
more about your poster.
· Make sure to mention all authors (also when you are the only one
visiting the meeting), your university, medical school, and/or
institute. This can be done in smaller letters, but should still be
clear from a distance. Sometimes the name of your university, school,
hospital and/or institute may be the reason for people to approach the
poster!
· It is good to include an address, fax number or email. However, this
requires space. The address can be in small letters somewhere at the
bottom or a place where you have space left. People who are interested
in the topic of your poster, will take the trouble to approach the
poster board at short distance anyway.
· It may be important to include the year of presentation. This is
important when a study is still going on, and may provide different
figures in a later phase. However, a 'neutral' poster that may be
up-to-date even five years later, should not include the year of
presentation. It makes it easier to use the poster once again. NB: do
not mistake this message with the requirement of several international
meetings not to present 'work' that is presented before.

Organizing the lay-out
· Design a logical 'story'. For example: 1) introduction (and/or:
aim). 2) method(s). 3) results. 4) conclusion (or: summary). Make sure
that the structure can be recognized from a distance. Maybe your topic
does not specifically follow this structure. That does not matter when
it is not a "research" topic.
· When you present an issue at an international meeting that refers
specifically to your country, it may be attractive to enclose a
graphic picture of your country, one or two well-known cities, and the
region to which your topic refers. When the subject is for example
about a specific hospital, it may be attractive to include a
photograph of the hospital.
Colour
Colour improves the attractiveness of a poster to a certain extent.
But: too much colour may be detrimental. A simple one colour
background (preferably not 'white') with dark or white letters will
not distract the attention from your message. Make sure you combine
related colours. (For example: never use red lines on a blue
background. The lines can then hardly be recognized [this goes also
for slides]). When you use small cards (for example 30 x 40 cm) to
compose your poster, consider to have a contrasting border (but the
contrast should not dominate).

Illustrations
Illustrations and graphics are the key to a successful poster. Do not
forget: "one picture (illustration) can tell more than 1000 words".
When you intend to include statistical graphics or tables, make sure
that they are as simple as possible. A poster is not a journal article
in which detailed information must be included. A poster should just
'spread the message'. If you want to inform the viewer with detailed
information: make sure that there are either references, or your
address, so that the viewer can contact you for further information.
Remember: at international meetings there are sometimes up to 100
(sometimes hundreds) posters. People then browse, and when they are
interested in the topic, they will read the poster more closely, but
they don't like to read too much (usually because of lack of time).

Costs of producing a poster
Posters need not to be expensive productions! A hand-made poster is as
good as an expensive one designed by an artist. When the above
mentioned 'rules' are taken into consideration, 'cheap' posters are as
good as expensive ones.

Literature
If you want to have more detailed information, you may be interested
in reading the article by Gerald J. Kelliher and Ajit K. Sachdeva:
'How to present a scientific poster'. J Cancer Educ, 1996; 11:17-24.

Poster presentations
At international meetings it is more and more a common procedure, that
posters have to be presented by the author. There is a variety in
structures. Usually presentations have a time-limit of 5 minutes with
an additional 3 minutes for discussion. Make sure, you always know the
required time, and be keen not to exceed the time-limit.
Reasons:
1.Organisers need to keep a tight schedule in order not to overload
the scientific day programme.
2. During well organized (inter)national meetings, a tight time
schedule is handled. Presenters are cut off by the chairman when they
pass their time. This is a frustrating situation; so better be trained
to keep within the time limit.
The use of slides in not permitted. When you have to present a poster
on an (inter)national meeting, you will never be able to use slides.

Format of poster
Posterboards are usually available, format 120 cm (3.28 ft) high x 100
cm (3.94 ft) wide. The format that you choose will depend on your way
of travelling. If you have a poster presentation in your own
institute, or in your own country where you can drive to the meeting
by car, you can design for example a poster in the format of 120 x 100
cm. But when you travel by plane or boat, it is much easier to design
small-format cards of for example 40 x 30 cm, which you can attach
separately to the poster board.
NB: when you travel to a meeting where you have to present a paper or
poster: always take the requirements you need (in this case your
poster) in your hand-luggage. Other luggage may get (temporarily) lost
(for instance at airports), and much stress will be the result.

Instructions for Presentation
Dimensions:  Posters should be no larger than 1.00 m (3.28 ft) wide
and 1.20 m (3.94 ft) high
Useful: Handouts of your poster in black-and-white in A4-format

Content
· Title : Use a catchy title, yet representative of the contents of
your poster. Draw the attention of your audience with your title.
· Introduction and research question : The introduction starts with
what is known, followed by what is unknown. State your research
question and experimental approach.
· Materials and Methods: Explain what experiments/techniques you used
in order to answer your research question. State the function of every
technique/measurement and if necessary, explain why you have chosen
certain techniques. Remember to keep confined to essential details.
· Results : Only report results that are relevant to your research
question. Results may include a few data, but most data should be
given in clear figures & tables, these are more accessible for the
audience.
· Conclusion : Give the answer to your research question.
· Discussion : One sentence. (Optional)
· Future prospective : State the future prospective if your research shortly.
· References/Funding

Lay-out
· The font and font-size: Use a simple font without serifs. (for
example verdana or arial in stead of comic sans or times new roman)
Furthermore, make sure the the letters aren’t too small!
· Colours/resolutions : Use contrasting colours in your slides, and
not too many!
· Let the data stand out. (colours, contrast, resolutions)
· Highlight the essential topics of the poster.

Tips
· Keep a nice legend with your graphs/figures
· You can let your results be known by using a header of graphs/figures
· Always make a test print of your poster!

Dr Neelkamal Kapoor
Professor & Head Pathology
Coordinator MEU
PI PBCR
Gandhi Medical College
Bhopal
0755 4050140 (O)
0755 4050517 (R)

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Professor Dr Sanjay Bedi
Professor in Pathology
Coordinator , Medical Education Unit
MMIMSR ,Ambala
09996038569
Independence must begin at the bottom.