Making a UGA Research Poster

From Protists

General Poster Guidelines

1. Find out the dimensions your poster is restricted to
2. Open Microsoft Powerpoint then go under Design tab and Page Setup, then specify the height and width and select whether you want it to be portrait or landscape so that the slide lays appropriately as to how you want the final poster to be printed.
3. Be sure you have a blank slide without any formatting (no dotted outlines of rectangles, etc.)
4. On paper, design a general layout of your poster including:
   1. Title (across top, sometimes with logo pictures if high enough resolution)
   2. Abstract
   3. Introduction (sometimes figures here)
   4. Materials and Methods
   5. Results (figures definitely here)
   6. Discussion
   7. Conclusions
   8. References (text in this can be in a smaller font to conserve space)
   9. Acknowledgements (text in this can be in a smaller font to conserve space)
5. Electronically set up your layout on the powerpoint slide with text boxes, figures and images (any images used should be very high resolution or they will just turn out looking pixilated when poster is printed).
6. Check for consistency (all headings should be the same font size and format, all the text should be the same font size and format, all figure legends and tables should have the same layout and font options).
7. Double check for content, image quality, alignment of text boxes, alignment of entire poster, consistency of fonts, spelling and name typos, any place phrasing can be tightened up to conserve space, etc.
8. Arrange for printing your poster - Dale Boyer in Microbiology, Rm 214 in Biological Sciences Building (daleb@uga.edu; 706.583.0563) can do it if given enough notice and the poster is in the correct format (usually ppt or pdf is fine with him, but contact him for what he needs and when he needs it by to get the poster done in time before you require it)

Helpful Hints

• Look at other posters from different disciplines (in life science and biological science buildings especially)
• Cut the fat (if it isn't necessary for your story, then don't put it in)...be concise but clear!
• If something is an important reference for you (ex. - a figure from another published paper), but not necessary for the poster, then make sure you bring it along to have on hand while you stand with your poster and answer questions so you can refer to it if necessary.
• If you can't get things to fit with the correct font size, then pick a different font script (i.e. Arial instead of Times New Roman), but make sure the fonts are large and clear enough that you can easily read everything from several feet away!
• Pictures and diagrams are much better than text. You can create these in Microsoft powerpoint, download them (if high enough resolution) from the web if you cite it on your poster under the image, or create/edit them in Photoshop (be sure you save it in a high enough resolution dpi value).