Writing for Publication: Posters

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Making a Better Conference Poster

Chances are you've either presented a poster at a conference, or visited poster sessions as an attendee. Sometimes it goes well and you get ideas to bring back to your institution. Sometimes no one visits your poster and you feel like it was a waste of time.

NEJM JournalWatch recently wrote about this in a blog post: The Problem with Research Posters — and a Bold Approach to Fixing Them.

Goal #1 - maximize insight
Goal #2 - keep the good stuff
Goal #3 - make it easy

The examples in the last half of the video show a simple way to pare down your poster and make it more understandable and quicker to engage with.

Example of an Award-Winning Poster

Example of an award-winning poster

Notice how clean it looks.
It uses three different colors - two blues and white.
The descriptions are outlined so your eye is drawn to them
The font is big so it is easy to read.
The nurse didn't try to cram too much description onto the poster. This way people can ask questions.
It is a great poster and it makes you want to look at it.
It isn't too busy and the images/graph adds value to the topic.

Advice and consultation from Kellee Selden, AW Librarian.

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Making a Better Conference Poster