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Apart
from oral presentation, poster is another way of communication at
scientific meetings. By definition, posters are display boards in
which scientists show their data and describe their experiments
(1). In fact, poster represents a combination of characteristics
of oral and writing form of presentation of research data, which
enables interaction between the author and qualified audience (2,3).
This way of presenting data is developed as a result of increased
interest for attendance at scientific meetings and thus the pressure
of an increased number of papers for presentation, and lack of time
for oral presentations. Although the poster display was, and still
is, viewed as a medium for presenting results of reduced scientific
importance, it has become more common and meaningful part of many
meetings. It is currently accepted that poster can be an efficient
way of presenting information and data (2); moreover, many people
have now come to believe that some types of research data can be
presented more effectively in poster graphics than in the 10 minutes-confined
oral presentation (2). Furthermore, the poster exhibit can be an
effective means of facilitating informal dialogue and communication
between interested scientists.
This way of communication is less formal than oral presentation
and offers other distinct advantages (3) presented in Table 1.
As poster sessions became normal parts of many scientific meetings,
the rules governing the preparation of posters have become much
stricter. Because of that, the general principle is: not to commence
the actual preparation of poster before reading the instructions
and requirements specified by the meeting organizers.
Content
During the preparation of poster, it should be kept in mind that
poster, like other published papers, must have all parts of a scientific
paper, i.e., the organization of poster should follow the IMRAD
format (Introduction, Materials and methods, Results
And Discussion) (1,4). The introduction should present
the problem concisely; a clear statement of purpose right at the
beginning will be enough to describe the type of the approach used.
The chapter Materials and methods must be brief; no detailed description
of methods is needed.
The Results is an essential part of a well-designed poster; most
of the available space should be used to illustrate results.
The Discussion should be brief and concise and might be finished
by conclusions in the form of numbered short sentences. Some authors
do not even use the heading Discussion; instead, the heading Conclusions
appears in the panel.
The literature citation should be minimal and limited to 2-3 essential
references only. Generally, the essence of good poster is to be
concise, simple and visually appealing; it should be comprehensible
in less than five minutes (2). Poster must be created in such a
way to focus on issues which are most relevant to target audience.
It should be self-explanatory; if the author has to spend most of
his/her time merely explaining the poster rather than responding
to scientific questions, the poster is largely a failure.
Organization
Title. The title is very important since a first impression
is a strong impression (5). Because of that, it is necessary to
be well studied. It should be short, clear and attractive; it must
adequately describe the content of the paper with fewest possible
words.
Text. Generally, the text should be used to augment and
support graphical illustrations; most of the space should be used
for illustrations. The main reason for bad posters in the majority
of cases is simply trying to present too much; huge blocks of typed
materials will not be read, especially if the type is small. In
contrast, the simple, well-illustrated poster will attract many
viewers. Illustrations. The variety of illustrations can
be used for data presentation at poster display: graphs, photographs,
paintings, tables. It is generally recommended that the graphics
and photographs are better for poster presentation than tables.
If tables must be used, they should not include too much details.
All non-essential informations should be removed, so that no more
than four columns and four data are presented on each of them.
Graphics should be simple with max. three lines; words should be
replaced with direct labeling of lines or bars. Bold data lines
should be used, and confusing patterns and open bars should be avoided.
Each illustration should have a title. It should be clear, visible
and readable. Legends, if any, should be very short.
Poster should contain highlights which will enable viewers to easily
discern whether the poster is something of interest to them, i.e.,
the highlights of the several threads well enough give informed
viewers the chance to recognize what is going on. If they are interested
about the details, there will be plenty of time for asking the questions.
Text type. The used font must be clear; too many typefaces
should not be used. The text type needed for clarity in poster is
done in Table 2.
Lot of white space throughout the poster is important; the best
proportion recommended is reading material 50% and 50% blank space
(1,2).
The title may be pointed using type face bold and black and color
as well; strong contrast is essential. Other parts of poster should
be also pointed by type face and color; color may be used to "dress"
a poster, but, it should be kept in mind that too much color distracts
the reader. The color should be used consistently and wisely. It
is recommended to prepare distinct parts of the poster in separate
sheets; in such a way transport of the poster is facilitated, and
much more importantly, the viewers' attention may be attracted on
particular part of the poster. They should be organized on the display
stand to allow ideas to flow logically, to emphasize aspects of
greater importance and to subordinate items which are less important
(2). Numbering of poster sheets might be useful during poster organization.
It is a good idea to prepare small size copies of the poster and
abstract with the author's address, which will be on disposition
to interested colleagues. This enables later communication with
the author, in order to obtain more details.
In some scientific meetings collective viewing and discussion of
posters is organized; author is expected to exhibit briefly the
problem, essential results and conclusions. Therefore, it is useful
to prepare in advance 2-3 slides for eventual poster session. Such
an approach combines the best characteristics of oral and poster
presentations.
Table 1. Characteristics of two different
ways of communication at scientific meetings
|
|
Oral
|
Poster
|
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Audience
|
greater
heterogenic
|
small, with specific interest
|
|
Time
for presentation
|
strictly
confined
|
flexible
|
|
Moderator
|
yes
|
no/yes
|
|
Presentation
|
oral+slides
|
writing+graphics
|
|
Discussion
|
short
|
unlimited
|
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Table 2. Text characteristics for clarity on posters
| Content |
Reading
distances (meters)
|
Type
size (mm)
|
Type
weight
|
| Title |
5
|
30
|
bold
|
| Headings |
2-3
|
10
|
bold
|
| Subheadings |
2
|
8
|
bold
|
| Text |
1
|
5
|
regular
|
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LITERATURE
1. Day AR. How to prepare a poster. In:
Day AR, ed. How to write and publish a scientific paper. 5th ed.
Phoenix: Oryx Press 1998; p. 189-92.
2. Longson C. How to prepare and present a poster. In: How to
construct a good presentation, prepare appropriate slides, prepare
and present a poster. Booklet presented at XIII Congress of the
European Association if Urology, Barcelona, Spain, March 1998,
p. 12-6.
3. Vučković-Dekić Lj. The way I communicate at scientific meetings
(in Serbian). Stom Glas S 1999;46:41-6.
4. Silobrčić V. Poster (in Croatian). In: Silobrčić V, Ed. How
to prepare, publish and evaluate a scientific work. 4th ed. Zagreb:
Medicinska naklada 1998, p. 99-100.
5. Day AR. How to prepare the title. In: Day AR, ed. How to write
and publish a scientific paper. 5th ed. Phoenix:Oryx Press 1998,
p. 15-21.
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