Better Research Posters

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 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. 

And now for Generation 2:

Mike Morrison, the creator of Better Posters, recently updated his video with a Generation 2 version that goes deeper into the research behind user experience for making better conference posters.  

Morrison offers 2 cardinal rules for making better posters:

• Don't include anything on your poster that people will ignore.
• People ignore most things.

Yes-- He includes the references and templates for the recommended formats.

• Templates for Better Scientific Posters
• More Templates for Scientific Posters

For more info, check out the Posters tab of the new Writing for Publication LibGuide.

Questions or comments, contact Your Ascension Wisconsin Librarians:

Michele Matucheski  &  Kellee Selden