Presenting a Poster

[daisychain76]

Hi everyone

I have been accepted to present a poster at a conference in September but, erm, don't actually know how to go about making one (nor do my phd
supervisors - this is something fairly new in the field I'm in). These might be really basic questions but I was wondering if anyone knows what software I need to use for it (if there is a particular type) and how I go about getting it printed (think it is around A3 size)? Also, from what I gather I don't do a presentation, just sit next to the poster at break times and discuss it with people. Has anyone else done this and do you actually get anyone coming up to you?

I had to do one for my degree, just used PowerPoint but on one slide and did teeny tiny writing to cram everything in. Our uni printed them off, do you have a library you could go to and print?

We discussed it with tutors as part of assessment so don't know about others

Thanks, Humpty. I never thought of powerpoint, I will give that a go.

You can download a free template from the internet for a powerpoint slide, which is already set up to the size you want, with fonts and things already set (tho you can play about with them). Check the size of the poster boards at your conference, A3 seems very small to me. My posters are usually approx 1 x 1.5m.
University should have a printing facility, alternatively you can go to a print shop, but will be more expensive.
Hth

There is some useful info here

I've also used PowerPoint for posters. Beware though if you have a lot of pictures and/or symbols. Sometimes they print out differently to how they appear on the screen. You can check that your poster is ok before you print it by converting it to a high-quality pdf first (most printeries will want you to do this anyway). You do it by pressing "Print" and then there should be a little button in the print box that says "print pdf" or "save as pdf".

Thanks weary and mocking that's really helpful. I will check the size and get started!