Poster Presentations

Hello HEALers!

How are you? I hope all is well and that you’re enjoying this short break before your next course begins.  I had the opportunity to read over Stephen’s course syllabus and thought I’d forward out a few resources on poster presentations.  It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the process of creating a poster and to begin to think about your content in a simplified and visual form.  The resources below may also stir some questions that I’m sure Linda will be able to address during her workshop with you on the 11th.

Creating Effective Poster Presentations: I used this site for my most recent poster presentation in 2010 and found it very helpful in gathering ideas about organizing my content and graphically representing my data.

Colin Purrington’s guide on designing conference posters is also a great resource.

Ten simple rules for a good poster presentation gets straight to the point! (I particularly like Rule 2: Sell your work in 10 seconds)

Poster presentations are labour intensive and require a great deal of investment in order to produce a product that is reflective of your research. Knowing your topic thoroughly is critical. The majority of your time will be spent interacting with colleagues that are genuinely interested in your work.

For those of you who have yet to participate in a poster presentation, I've provided you with an example.  Doctoral student Erika Cottrell won the best student poster at the 2011 Academy Health Annual Research Meeting. Her poster presentation: Understanding Safety Events in Pre-hospital Emergency Medical Services for Children. Note how quickly she engages the observer by immediately addressing the importance of her work and how it contributes to the broader community. She also clearly demonstrates her knowledge on the topic by systematically describing and justifying her research process. My only suggestion would have been to use the poster as a reference when discussing the data and findings. Figures, photographs, tables, or graphs, that can best represent text are far more powerful in these forums.

If you have any questions during the development of your poster, please feel free to contact me.

Cheers!

Jacqueline