Poster Presentations
To excel in a poster presentation, prioritize clear communication and building connections. While a visually appealing poster sets the stage, meaningful dialogue is key to fostering new ideas, collaborations, and positive feedback. Approach each interaction casually, using natural gestures and maintaining comfortable eye contact to engage confidently with your audience.
To further your poster’s reach and impact, consider these tips and strategies for preparing a poster pitch; delivering your science with clarity, confidence, and purpose; and leading engaging conversations with diverse audiences.
Content from this page was adapted from materials developed by Cheryl D. Vaughan, PhD, EdM, managing director of K Initiatives at Harvard Catalyst.
Prepare Speaking Segments
Instead of memorizing a script, practice each section of your poster as stand-alone content. This will help you speak naturally, respond to your audience’s interests, and engage authentically. Be the expert on your poster, but avoid sounding like you’re reciting information – focus on conversing about your work.
Hook: In your first hot minute, bring your audience from a broad, generally familiar topic into the very specific problem you are investigating.
Background/Hypothesis: Show off your knowledge of the field and be sure to highlight seminal works that have moved the science forward. End this segment with compelling information about your problem and why it is critical to the field.
Big Idea: Be ready to talk about your specific ideas. What are your thoughts on the current models, systems, and problems. Don’t be shy. Taking ownership is one of the most authentic and engaging ways to talk about your work. This part can be scary– when something is yours to explain, then it is also yours to defend. And criticism can feel personal, even when it is constructive. But this is how we continue to shape our ideas, through the lenses of other scientists with different experiences. Content for this segment may relate to one or several other segments.
Work/Methods/Challenges: Be prepared to spend time discussing the experimental approach, explaining why the experimental approaches were chosen, the limitations you expected, and surprises encountered along the way. How did you handle those surprises?
Results/Future Directions: Where does all the work leave you and what are your plans? This section is a great space to solicit ideas from your audience, so keep it short to allow room for that part of the conversation.
Start the Conversation
As the presenter, it’s your responsibility to initiate conversations about your poster throughout your entire assigned session. This is something to remember as you prepare, and when the time comes, be ready. Stay at your poster and keep water handy.
When you spot someone looking at your poster, greet them with a smile and give them a moment to browse. They may be interested, but they’re also one of many attendees casually browsing the posters on display.
#1. A person walks directly up, makes eye contact, and says “Hello.” This person is likely there because they want to hear about your work. You are ready for them and starting the conversation will be easy.
#2. A person briefly glances at your poster title without making eye contact and moves on. They’re likely not interested, and that’s perfectly fine. You can’t engage with everyone, and not all will be drawn to your specific research.
#3. Someone passing by stops to read your poster title and begins scanning the content. They likely weren’t searching for your poster, but the topic caught their interest. This is your chance to engage and start a conversation.
In scenarios #1 and #3, you should move forward by opening a dialogue. Introduce yourself and be friendly. Then you can ask if they are interested in a guided tour of your poster. Or you can slow it down and get to know your audience a bit more before you begin (Are they enjoying the conference? Are they also presenting their work? What field do they work in? Where do they work?).
Customize Responsibly
Poster conversations vary depending on your audience, from senior experts to eager undergraduates with varying knowledge levels. Use open-ended questions to assess their needs, allowing you to adjust the depth and complexity of your explanations accordingly.
Examples of open-ended questions to gauge your listener’s needs:
- How familiar are you with my research topic?
- Can you tell me a bit about your background and your interest in my topic?
- How often have you encountered this approach?
- What aspects of this topic are most interesting to you?
By treating the interaction as a conversation, you’ll avoid sounding overly rehearsed and can adapt more easily to questions or changes in direction. This approach makes you more relatable, helps your work stand out, and increases the chances of building meaningful connections. Inviting feedback can also lead to valuable insights or solutions for current challenges.
Balance Attention Between Person and Poster
Focus on both your audience and your poster to create an engaging dialogue. Use your poster as a visual aid, guiding your audience through its sections and referring to key details like figures, tables, and diagrams as you engage with them.
As you move through the material, periodically check in with your audience and ask questions. Remember, you are the expert, helping them absorb and understand new information.
Examples of questions you might use:
- Have you encountered similar challenges?
- Is that clear?
- What are your thoughts on this approach?
Monitor your audience’s engagement and adjust your approach accordingly. If interest wanes, offer to revisit sections in more depth, and use body language cues and questions to assess their needs without assuming anything.
Be aware of cultural differences. While some cultures appreciate eye contact, others may find it disrespectful. Stay alert to signs of discomfort.
Embrace Story and Analogy
As you consider and refine content segments, be sure to include memorable moments, struggles and questions that were part of your project pathway. You have likely heard this before: we are built to remember information when told as a story. Two tools to utilize as you tell your story are narratives and analogies.
Narratives: Narrative structures provide context, starting with how you became interested in the work or how the idea developed. The middle should highlight unexpected results, challenges, or complications, leading naturally to how you addressed them. New questions will always emerge, so focus on how you navigated those unresolved issues, and use this as an opportunity to discuss the future direction of your research.
Analogies: You can craft analogies to help the non-expert audience quickly comprehend the general principles of complex mechanisms, processes, and analytics without the use of field-specific jargon. Or, even better, use analogy to quickly get them up to speed on the technical terms that are important in your field/project.
Cultural Dimensions of Presentation Etiquette
As with any presentation, it’s important to consider how cultural expectations and backgrounds can influence both verbal and nonverbal communication styles. Be mindful of this as you prepare your poster pitch and when responding to others’ presentations. Explore these suggested readings to learn more.
The Art and Science of Communication: Tools for Effective Communication in the Workplace by P.S Perkins covers topics related to how you present yourself in different professional settings. As you prepare and practice your poster pitch, consider the various ways that paralanguage and non-verbal codes emerge in communication settings.
The Power of Talk: Who Gets Heard and Why by Deborah Tannen explores critical ideas that are still relevant today around the cultural dimensions that intersect with gender and sex.
Why Inclusive Language Matters and Inclusive Language Guide from the American Psychological Association provide useful strategies for developing communication skills that are inclusive and holistic, and promote awareness, guide learning, and encourage the use of culturally respectful language that highlights the voices and perspectives of historically marginalized or stereotyped groups.
Toolkit
Rubric: Poster Presentation (PDF)
Now that you’ve reviewed the previous sections on key elements and considerations for designing your presentation, you’re ready to evaluate your work. Use this comprehensive rubric to evaluate your poster presentation.
Put it into Practice
Practice your poster presentation and collect feedback. Conduct a self-assessment by recording a 3 to 5-minute pitch and review your performance against the criteria provided in the Poster Presentation Rubric. Then, request feedback from peers or mentors by delivering your presentation live, allowing them to assess your work using the rubric. This process encourages reflection, improvement, and valuable input from others.