Poster Sessions

Poster Formatting

Posters can be formatted in one of two ways. 

• A traditional poster (see below for design tips)

• Submitted as a Google slide deck. If using Google Slides - a slide presentation generally follows poster format with the number of sections that you would find on a traditional poster. 

How are posters usually laid out?

In general, people expect information to flow left-to-right and top-to-bottom. Viewers are best able to absorb information from a poster with several columns that progress from left to right.

Even within these columns, however, there are certain places where viewers’ eyes naturally fall first and where they expect to find information.

Imagine your poster with an upside-down triangle centered from the top to the bottom. It is in this general area that people tend to look first and is often used for the title, results, and conclusions. Secondary and supporting information tend to fall to the sides, with the lower right having the more minor information such as acknowledgements (including funding), and personal contact information.

• Main Focus Area
  Location of research fundamentals: Title, Authors, Institution, Abstract, Results, Conclusion

• Secondary Emphasis
  Location of important info: Intro, Results or Findings, Summary

• Supporting Area
  Location of supporting info: Methods, Discussion

• Final Info Area
  Location of supplemental info: References, Acknowledgments