5 Tips for effective scientific posters

Writing and presenting a poster is a mandatory step in the life of a science student, and it can happen on a recurrent basis. Therefore, we decided to share some useful tips with you, in order to design an effective and eye-catching poster that people will actually enjoy reading!

A good space management brings clarity, allows a quick reading and encourages attendees to look at your poster since little effort is required to understand it.

Usual sections are: (Abstract), Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, Conclusion(s) and Perspectives.

A white background allows a better integration when figures are extracted from articles or Excel, where the white background is not always easily removable. Moreover, it conveys a sense of homogeneity and professionalism.

Ideally, this title should summarize the main information highlighted in the figure.

This allows a quick reading, presenting these titles as partial conclusions, but it also facilitates the readers’ autonomy, especially when the author is not physically present to explain his or her results.

Lastly, when time comes to present your poster in front of a jury, these titles can become a safety net. You can rely on them when experiencing mental block or lacking time for your presentation.

As space is limited, you can not present all your results. Your goal is to select the main results that will allow to tell a story or display a scientific approach.

Also, we do not think that bibliographical references are very useful in a poster. Instead, an email address would rather be added, so that anyone who has a question can easily contact you.

This way, people will easily be able to communicate even without exchanging business cards, that most students do not have. Keep in mind that an email address or a link is an invitation to discussion and collaboration.

What about someone asking about bibliographical references? They can be exchanged by email, and the poster will have gained more space.

When a major piece of information is displayed and should be highlighted to catch attention, you can:

· Use a strategy of contrasts: CAPITAL LETTERS or bold font

· Use red and put secondary elements in lighter colors, or even in gray.

As often as possible, you should avoid using red and green to compare 2 elements because colour-blind people won’t be able to tell the difference. Blue and yellow-orange contrast should be preferred.

All the best!

Kudos to Céline Sebbag, for the translation of our initial article “5 Astuces pour des posters scientifiques efficaces”

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