Eposters now of course as well as conference A1 old school ones.

Design

Same as with a presentation, really. Use headings and subheadings. Bullet points. Don’t mix up fonts and font sizes too much. Beware getting too close to the edges, and avoid the temptation to fill in white space! Beware jargon and acronyms.

The A4 test – if you can read your poster printed at A4, then it should work ok as an A1 poster too.

More tips here – https://xerte.shef.ac.uk/play.php?template_id=1259#page1

And use of images here – https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/library/copyright/using-images-and-other-media

Presenting

Have a pointer so you can talk through your poster easily. Turn back to your audience frequently and establish eye contact.

If a new person joins midway through, welcome them (if only with eye contact and a smile) and afterwards check if they need it explained again.

Prepare your “elevator pitch” – 3 sentence synopsis: What is it about? What did you find? Why is it important?

Keep bigger picture in mind, as some people might need more background info.

Present your poster as you would anything else – like a story. Context, characters, surprises, meaning, future.

Handouts – beware, you might stop someone talking to you by giving them a handout.

Business cards (if you don’t put your contact details on a handout).

Network – if someone particularly interested, offer to have a chat later rather than ignoring other people.

Get feedback – random comments sometimes indicate that you haven’t explained yourself fully, or you haven’t appreciated a different angle, so ask for clarification.

Thank people for interest – potential future colleagues/employers!