Presenting Your Poster

Create an "Elevator Pitch" for your poster

An elevator pitch is a concise and compelling introduction to your project presented to individuals or groups as they stop to view your poster.  

Your elevator pitch should be 1-2 minutes long.  The goal is to provide just enough information to grab viewers' attention, prompting them to look more closely at your poster, ask questions, and engage in conversation about your work. 

Begin with a hook: 

• Ask a question

• Share a related story or personal experience

• Use an analogy or metaphor 

• Share a compelling fact, statistic, or opinion

Once you've lured the audience in, provide a brief overview of your research. 

Focus on the important stuff.  Include 2-3 key points or takeaways from your project, such as: 

• What is the problem, and what solutions do you offer?

• What do you want viewers to remember? 

• Why should viewers care?

• What are the real-world implications of your work? 

• How does your research connect to broader conversations about your topic in the field? 

Keep in mind that your audience will have different levels of familiarity with your topic. Make sure you can explain your work in way that someone who might not know anything about your topic will easily understand and connect with. Avoid using jargon, complex technical terminology or acronyms in your elevator pitch. 

Don't try to cram every detail!  If someone wants to know more, they will ask questions, and you can draw their attention to the relevant section(s) of your poster.

Prepare for questions

Anticipate questions. Make a list of questions the audience may ask about your project and be prepared to answer them. Some common questions you may get are: 

• Why did you select this topic?

• Can you explain what this graph/chart/table shows?

• What did your research show about X

• Tell me more about your conclusions

You can ask the audience questions, too!  This can help break the ice and initiate conversation. Consider asking: 

• "Have you encountered similar findings in your research?"

• "What do you think about my findings?"

It's OK if you don't know how to answer a question. Some responses you could give for a difficult question you can't answer on the spot might be: 

• "I've never considered that before. Can you tell me more about it?"

• "I'm not familiar with that aspect of this topic but it's an area I'd like to explore."

Practice, but don't over-rehearse

• You should practice giving your elevator pitch and responding to potential questions prior to the poster session, but not so much that you sound as though you're reading from a script. You want to sound natural, confident and conversational. 

• Do a dry-run of your poster presentation with a friend or family member and ask for feedback. 

Prepare supplementary materials

• Decide if you want to distribute handouts or some other swag related to your project. Physical takeaways can make your poster presentation more memorable. 

• Bring business cards or something to share your contact details with those who may want to connect with you later.

• Consider printing out smaller versions of your poster or providing a QR code linking to a digital version.

Be welcoming

• Stand to the side of your poster, not in front of it. 

• Smile and greet everyone who walks past and looks at you or your poster and invite them to take a closer look. Allow a few seconds for them to read your poster title and digest your topic before asking, "Would you like to know more about my project?"

• Don't forget to introduce yourself before starting your elevator pitch. 

• Eye contact is important; remember to talk to the person or group, not to your poster. 

• If you are in the middle of a pitch/conversation and someone approaches, acknowledge them by making eye contact and inviting them to join in. Once you have finished, ask the latecomer if there was anything they missed that they would like you to go back and explain.

Guide the audience through your poster

• Point to the visual elements in your poster presentation to reinforce your verbal explanation of your work. 

• Refer to charts, diagrams or tables when addressing important data or significant findings. 

Be enthusiastic

• If you are excited about your work, your audience is more likely to be too! It's important to remain enthusiastic, even towards the end of the poster session when your energy level may be low.

Gauge the audience and tailor your delivery

• It helps to know your audience. Try to find out a bit about your visitor(s) so that you can tailor your conversation to their level of understanding and interest. For example, are you speaking experts in your field or complete novices? 

• Consider pausing to ask, "Should I go into more detail about X?" or "Feel free to stop me if you are not following."

• Ask questions to check their engagement such as, "What do you think about this?" Depending on how they respond, you can keep it to a high-level conversation or go into greater detail. 

• You should also pay attention to your audience's reactions and body language to gauge their interest and comprehenison. 

Don't ignore time constraints

• Be considerate of viewers' time as they may have multiple other posters to visit.

• Aim for a conversation of about 5-10 minutes per visitor (or group of visitors), however, this can be adjusted based on visitors' interest and engagement.

• If there is a queue of people waiting to see your poster, keep your conversations brief to ensure everyone has a chance to interact with you.

• If a conversation is becoming lengthy, offer to arrange a follow-up conversation at a later time.