ACADEMIC POSTERS + STUDENT SHOwCASE

Creating an Academic Poster

Make sure you have the required Software: Powerpoint & Adobe Reader
- PPT is recommended for all but the last drafts because it's easier to use 'smart art', tables, etc. However, if you have any other design skills, use those in another program instead!
Start with someone else's poster (make sure the logos and things are up to date and are ok for you to use if it has any, i), here's a few, generously provided by Drs. Brown & Lunsford's Spring 2015 Mentoring & Leadership ColLaboratory Team:
Edit the poster with your information.
- Remove any content and logos from the poster.
- The examples given here are sized to either 46x36 or 48x36 inches. If you need to change the size, here's how to do that in PPT, and in Google Docs you just go to File --> Page Setup.
Have someone else review your work & edit based on their feedback.*
That's it!

*You should ALWAYS save/print your poster as a PDF before you actually send it to someone else or print a physical copy. Posters like this have so many little layout specifics that if the other person does not have exactly the same fonts, version of PPT, setup, etc. as you, the poster could end up looking like a complete mess on their machine.

The Annual Student Showcase

The UA South Student Showcase typically occurs in late April each year. This is a great opportunity to present the work you've been doing, and possibly win a cash prize as well, while gaining some valuable experience.

Any students in our courses can participate, but to register for judging and prizes you must be supervised by a UA South instructor and be a UA South student specifically (this is because the prizes come from an outside foundation.)
- One financial award is available for each category! $100!
If you are considering a masters or PhD, or going into any field which will involve research participation, this experience is especially valuable for your resume/CV.

2016 Showcase Details

The 2016 Student Showcase poster presentations are to be held on April 22nd, 2016, from 10am-12pm at the Learning Resource Center at the UA South Sierra Vista Campus.

You can find all other details, including the categories for awards, scoring rubrics, and the application (due by April 16th) at this link:

>> Review Details & Apply Here! <<

We hope to see you there!

Drs. Brown & Lunsford's Spring 2015 Mentoring & Leadership ColLaboratory Team Members: Melinda Davis, Megan Snodgrass & Christina Kalel

Poster Content

In general, the poster should have an overview of the project, including its objectives, the methodology employed to undertake the project, the outcomes obtained, and the conclusions. The final poster should be at least 20 by 30 inches. This is large enough to arrange four 8.5 x 11 inch pages or images.

Additional Resources

Colin Purrington's wildly useful tips on all aspects of posters & presentations
UA's IT Summits Poster Guidelines & FAQ
NAU's Undergraduate Symposium Poster Page,
Elsevier's Tips for Designing Better Research Posters,
NYU Libraries' How to Create a Research Poster, and
The Scientist's Poster Perfect

For Advanced Poster Makers/Presenters

Using non-standard fonts really can make things stand out, if you're interested in that check out font pairings, just be sure to keep it professional.

CREATE A FABRIC PRESENTATION POSTER FROM A POWERPOINT OR PDF

Using Spoonflower, you can print your professional presentation poster on a lightweight, wrinkle-free fabric that’s easy to tuck into a suitcase or toss into a backpack for a fabric poster that has crisp images and vibrant colors, travels easily, never creases or tears, and can be used again and again… for less than the price of a traditional paper poster! These run about $25 a poster.

If you’re using PowerPoint, the process is easy, just 4 easy steps. All you need to do is:

Decide how big you’d like your final poster to be
Create your poster in Powerpoint at half that size
Save your image as a PDF
Convert that PDF to a 300 dpi JPG

If you’re using another program, like Adobe InDesign or Photoshop, you can create your image at full size and skip the last 2 steps. Just multiply your height and width each by 150 to figure out how many pixels you’ll need.

So, for a 36 inch tall poster, size it at 5400 pixels, or 36 inches at 150 dpi.

PowerPoint can’t handle images quite that big, so read on for a detailed, illustrated step-by-step for PowerPoint users.

First, decide how big you want your poster to be. I decided 42” wide by 36” tall will work for my poster and fit on a yard of almost any of Spoonflowers’ fabrics. I created a new PowerPoint file and selected “Page Setup” under the “File” menu.

PowerPoint has a limit on how large an image you can create, so I entered half the size of my poster (I want it to be 42 x 36 when finished) in the Page Setup menu.

You might get a warning that this size is larger than printable area of your paper--just click “ok”.

Then, go ahead and create your poster! Once you’ve finished and you’re ready to save, click “Save as” under the “File” menu. When the menu opens, select “PDF” from the dropdown menu and save your poster.

Since Spoonflower doesn’t accept PDF files for printing, you’ll need to save your image as a JPEG file that has 300 pixels per inch (300 dpi). The easiest way to do that is upload your file to an online conversion site, that will instantly convert your PDF into a JPEG.

I like this site, www.convert-my-image.com. Just select “300 dpi” and upload the PDF you’ve just created. You can ignore ‘Paper size’, the last field.

If you’d rather not use a website to convert your file and you have a Mac, you can also open your image in Preview, Apple’s default image software, and click “Export” under the “File” menu. Then export your file as a 300 dpi JPEG

Once you have your JPEG, you’re ready to upload it to Spoonflower. Sign into your account, and click “Create” to get started.

I decided to print my image on Spoonflower’s Performance Knit fabric. It’s wrinkle-free, and won’t stretch or distort. It’s got a bit of stretch to it, but it doesn’t fray, so you won’t need to hem it or sew the edges. You can also use Spoonflower’s Silky Faille if you want a non-stretch, woven fabric.

Select “centered” to get just one instance of your poster centered on the yard, and add it to your cart.

To fit on one yard, your poster can be up to 36 inches tall and 56 inches wide. If you’d like a bigger poster, you’ll want to rotate it 90 degrees so that it’s sideways, and then upload your file. Select the number of yards you need to ensure that your whole poster is visible in the preview, add it to your cart, and you’re all set!

1 yard of Spoonflower knit weighs about the same as a t-shirt or two, so you can just toss it in your luggage if you’re traveling to a conference, give it a good shake when you arrive, and pin it to a wall or display board. You’re ready to share your research with the world, wherever you go!

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