Your Poster

If you are a Graduate student, you are responsible for bringing your poster with you to your assigned session.

If you are an Undergraduate student and you need a to have a poster printed, you must contact your sponsoring department or faculty research mentor. If neither are able to sponsor your poster, please contact the Office of Undergraduate Research at UGRsrch@uvm.edu within 3 weeks of the Conference. We cannot pay for all posters, but may be able to cover a portion of the cost of a 24x36-inch poster.

If you have any questions, please contact SRC Coordinator Lily Fedorko at uvmsrc@uvm.edu.

Poster Instructions

• Preferred size: 24" x 36" (however, alternate sizes are acceptable)
• Include the UVM tower logo (see "logo assets")
• If your research is the result of program or external funding sources, include the appropriate logo and adhere to their specifications for size and format.
• Save your final version in PDF format (this is generally necessary for printing).

NOTE: Colors and designs after printing may not be the same as on a computer monitor, so use care when choosing unusual colors and designs.

Tips

Below are some helpful tips for making and presenting your poster.

• Posters are visual! Use color, size, and layout to provide direction and emphasis. See UVM's Creative Narrative & Graphic Elements for tips.
• Think of the message you are trying to get across as well as the audience who attend the event. The audience is likely to be someone interested in research but not necessarily familiar with your field.
• Be wary of background color: colors will appear darker on your poster than they do on your computer.
• The best posters are self-explanatory. Use pictures and graphs to enhance your message.
• For best viewing and reading, make fonts size 44 or larger.
• Edit critically for spelling and for text length. Fewer than 800 words is best. Consider your poster as a jumping off point or a visual aide, not the presentation itself.
• Use high-quality images: when expanded to poster size they will lose some quality. Zoom in to 400% to get a sense of what your image will look like when printed.
• People most often survey posters — interested people then read them. Have enough information for both kinds of viewer.

• When talking about your poster, have ready a 1-sentence introduction and a 2-5 minute description of your research, the "elevator pitch." Expect questions. The audience is likely interested and will want to know more.

Detailed Information and Samples

• Advice on Designing Scientific Posters by Colin Purrington
  Detailed tips, ideas, examples and very good advice about presenting your poster
• Templates at Makesigns.com
  Free PowerPoint templates to get you started.
• More Free PowerPoint Templates
  There are several additional sites that offer free PowerPoint templates for building your poster. Search on: "free poster templates powerpoint"
• Using PowerPoint
  For instructions on using PowerPoint to create or edit your poster, search on the terms: "create poster powerpoint" or "designing academic posters powerpoint." Look for instructions specific to your version of PowerPoint.

Questions?

For more information, contact uvmsrc@uvm.edu.