Getting Started

Poster submissions are an excellent way to begin presenting at conferences.  While posters require time to organize and incur publication costs, these are both minimal. Posters enable residents to practice their presentation skills with individuals or small groups that have questions during poster times. The steps for developing a conference poster are outlined below.

Applying to Conferences

Poster Templates

Designing Your Poster

Poster Design Services

Printing Your Poster

Each conference has its own poster submission application process.  Be aware of deadlines.  Make sure you supply all required information.  Applying for the right conference based on your research topic will help ensure that you are successful in being selected to present your poster.  Presenting your research has many benefits.  It will help you:

• Develop a state, regional, and/or national reputation
• Associate your name with a specific topic or subject matter
• Allow you to network for future research opportunities, fellowships, or employment

Within your field, talk to experienced faculty or chief residents to find the best conference to attend.  This should be a well-attended conference with a theme or topics that align with your project. Check previous conference sites to determine what kind of abstract topics are usually accepted and if your research will appeal to the conference reviewers and audience.  Check with your program to determine if your department has any money for travel and/or research travel grant options.  You will also need to be mindful of your rotation schedule and will need to request leave for the conference presentation. 

Once your poster submission has been accepted, you will begin to organize your research using a poster template.  If the conference has specific requirements including acceptable size of poster, you will need to use those requirement for the design of your poster.  Additionally, check with your program or department for poster templates that you could use.  Posters are usually created in an enlarged Power Point presentation slide, though other programs can be used. Listed below are basic poster templates that you may use if you do not have specific requirements.

Poster Templates

UAMS Creative Services

         - includes a link to the UAMS branding guide and logos.

Genigraphics

MegaPrint Inc.

Make Signs

PosterPresentations.com

* Most conferences will provide a maximum size based on the size of the poster boards they have available. You do not want your poster to be too big or too small as this will distract from your information.  Resizing posters is time-consuming, so ensure a correctly sized poster at the start.

The next step is designing your poster.  With your chosen template from above, this is something that can be done in the weeks before your conference.  Just be sure to leave enough time for others to proofread your poster, for edits/correction to be made, and for printing of final draft of poster.

Designing a Poster

• Start at the top with your institutional logo, title, author names and funding source, if applicable. The title should be large enough to be read from 10 feet away. Depending on your poster size, you will want to use 36-48 point font size for your title and 24 point font for author name.  

• Lay out the sections of your abstract starting on the top left with the Introduction, Objective/Hypothesis and Methods, then Results in the center section and Conclusions and Acknowledgements/ References on right side (as shown in sample photo).  Make section headers noticeable and the text at least 24 point font. It seems really big on your screen, but will look small on the printed poster.

• Before working on your poster, check your template size in PowerPoint: Design….Slide Size….Custom.  Your poster size must be the same size or to scale as your PowerPoint template. For example, if you use a 44”x44” template but you want your poster printed as a 42”x76”, your template won’t print correctly because the proportions do not match. However, you can create a 40"x40" and have it scaled up to a 60"x60".

• It is recommended that you do not copy and paste images found on websites since they are typically lower resolution. Although an image may look clear on your screen, if your picture files are low resolution it may appear blurry when printed as a full-size poster.  To verify that your inserted image will retain the detail needed, zoom into the image to 200%: View…Zoom….200%.  If you can see the detail you desire, it should print well on your poster. If it lacks detail, a higher resolution picture must be used.

• Remember the Rule of 10. The average person will scan a poster for 10 seconds from 10 feet away. You need to be able to grab their attention and be able to explain/discuss your poster in 10 minutes or less. 

• Make use of your space, don't overcrowd with information, you can explain details to those who are interested and you want to leave room for people to ask you questions. Use colors sparingly and space out text with graphics and/or photos. Make all your text and graphics clear and easily read and interpreted.  Have a friend or colleague review the poster for details or typos you may have missed.

For those with less skill or time or maybe just more funds, you can provide the content and have someone else make it look good.  Listed below are poster design service resources.

UAMS Creative Services

MegaPrint Inc.

PosterPresentations.com

Posters can be printed on paper and rolled to place in a tube for shipment or carry on a flight, or they can be printed on fabric which can be folded for easy travel and requires simple ironing to make presentable.  Allow at least 5 days to a week for the printing of your poster.  Check with the company that will print your poster for any specifics that they will require such as size of poster, desired file type (PowerPoint, etc.), type of poster material (paper or fabric) and preferred file type for images (jpeg, etc.).  Some companies will offer discounts to students and will ship your poster to your conference for an additional fee. However, you will need to obtain the shipping address of the conference hotel and inquire as to any costs they may charge for receiving and storing your materials.

Local Printing

UAMS Creative Services Poster Printing

     - UAMS Creative services offers reasonable rates for those on the UAMS Little Rock Campus.  Posters can be printed on paper or fabric.

Arkansas Children's Hospital - Business Solutions

     - ACH Business Solutions can handle online requests for those located on the ACH campus.

Commercial Printing

Genigraphics

MegaPrint Inc.

Make Signs

PosterPresentations.com