Preparing an Effective Poster Presentation

Authors

Christopher N. Jacques, Western Illinois UniversityFollow

Date of this Version

12-2018

Document Type

Article

Citation

The Prairie Naturalist, Vol. 50, Issue 2, December 2018

Comments

Published by the Great Plains Natural Science Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

Greetings GPNSS members! By the time you read this editorial, many of have been experiencing the fury unleashed by ‘Old Man Winter’ and may find yourself counting the days until warmer spring temperatures return once again to the Great Plains. Until then, just a couple more months of bitter cold temperatures, strong winds, and blowing and drifting snow. But not to worry, winter also provides the cold weather enthusiasts among us a chance to enjoy a range of outdoor recreational opportunities, a chance to reflect on the previous year in review, exciting professional and personal opportunities ushered in by the New Year, and spending time with friends and family. For me, I write this editorial with just a week to go before the start of the 2019 annual conference of the Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference. Though my preparation for professional conferences varies annually, a common denominator in any meeting I attend includes preparing poster presentations, the subject of this editorial.

As active GPNSS members, we have all looked at thousands of posters over our careers, among which those that were well prepared stood out from those that essentially presented a thesis or entire manuscript into the allotted space. The tendency to cram as much information as possible into a poster is complicated by the fact that poster displays often occur in large, noisy venues competing with others to be read; thus, they must have visual appeal to attract attention (Krausman and Cox 2018). Posters that appear to be prepared in haste with little consideration given to the presentation of information often are not well received (Krausman and Cox 2018). Developing a quality poster that effectively presents the primary results of your research is not a trivial matter. Thus, the objective of this editorial is to summarize the key components for quality posters that will attract attention and enable researchers to effectively display results of their work (Krausman and Cox 2018).