Poster Guidelines

Poster presentations provide an opportunity for discussion and feedback with a large audience, and the morning and afternoon poster sessions will provide ample networking opportunity.

Specific Dimensions:

The maximum poster size is 36 x 60" (3 x 5') only in landscape perspective. Posters will be mounted by clips to boards on easels within the museum. Because of this, it is imperative that each poster not be made of heavy materials. We suggest printing to paper or very lightweight fabric.

**If the first author on the poster is a student, and you wish to be included in the Student Poster Competition, please make sure you respond to the acceptance email sent about your abstract or email westernbioarchaeologygroup@gmail.com on or before 5pm, Wednesday, Oct. 12th.

Guidelines and Suggestions (followed from AABA guidelines):

Single page posters:

Effective posters can be prepared using software such as PowerPoint and printed on a wide format printer. If you prepare your poster with a graphics program, the background of the poster should not make the text difficult to read.

Organization:

Make an initial sketch of your poster presentation, allocating space for Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Summary and Conclusion. Focus attention on a few important points, with clarity and simplicity. Graphs and diagrams provide a clearer statement of your research results than tables. Use limited text to convey the essential information concerning the problem under investigation, methods, results and salient concluding points.

Legibility:

The title should be legible 8 feet (2.44 meters) away; viewers should be able to easily read the remaining words from 5 feet (1.5 meters) away. Poster legibility suffers greatly when the type you use is too small. The letter size should be at least 18 point, with 20-24 even better. Smaller point size is strongly discouraged.

Headings (e.g., Materials, Methods, and Results) should be bold type. Heading letter size should be larger than the text (30-36 point). Use short, informative (“headline” style) titles to state the essential point of each figure. Avoid abbreviations, acronyms, and jargon. Use consistent type styles and letter sizes throughout. Simplify the text of your paper and avoid presenting lengthy bibliographies. Presenters can provide photocopies of figures and tables for distribution.

Create a balance between figures, tables and text: Figures and tables should occupy approximately half the viewing area. If you have only a few illustrations, make them large. Try to limit the amount of text in your poster to 1500–2000 words so that it can be read in less than 10 minutes. Eye movement: The pathway traveled by the eye should be natural, either top-to-bottom or left-to-right.

NEW THIS YEAR: Please also add an Author Statement as well as an Ethics Statement about the materials, collections, and/or individuals that were analyzed or worked with and under what conditions and permissions. You can add that to the poster or as a separate document hung next to the poster.

***Simplicity and Legibility are Keys to Effective Poster Presentations***