How to Create a Research Poster for Presentation

Poster presentations are often part of academic conferences, giving researchers a chance to visually display their research on large posters while providing an oral presentation to conference attendees. This blog will help you understand what a scientific poster is, what are the key elements included in a scientific poster, and how to create an effective scientific poster. 

What is a Research Poster? 

How Poster Presentations Work 

Key Elements of a Research Poster 

Tips to Create an Effective Research Poster 

What is a Research Poster?

A research poster (also called a scientific poster) balances text and graphics to convey complex research in a clear, condensed, and succinct format. It serves as an easily consumable visual representation of a scientific research that helps audience grasp the take-home message without having to read a lengthy research paper. 

Think of a scientific poster as something between a journal article and a graphical abstract. A poster is not as text heavy as a full-length research paper, but it does not condense the research to the extent of a mere graphical abstract either. So, a scientific poster guides the viewers through the research visually while using text to highlight the important methodologies, results, and conclusions of the study. 

How Poster Presentations Work

Picture a conference event where a bunch of colorful posters are set in a corner with excited researchers keen to present their research ideas to the attendees. Typically, a poster presentation ranges anywhere between 5 and 15 min depending on the research topic, points in the oral presentation, the speed of the presenter’s speech, and the Q&A interaction between the audience and the presenter. 

Here’s how you would go about a poster presentation.  

• Your poster will be set up amid a group of posters prepared by other researchers, all eager to talk about their research. Interested participants will approach you depending on the title of the scientific poster and visual representations, since those are the easily visible elements. We will discuss the different elements of a scientific poster in the next section. 
• You can talk about your research and interact with the audience. Keep a set of cards with you that contain the important points you wish to cover in your oral presentation. Maintain a conversational tone when presenting rather than repeating the text written in the poster verbatim. Remember, the audience can read the contents of your research poster any time they want. What they are more interested in is to know how you interpret the study. 
• At the end of the presentation, you are likely to be asked some questions regarding your research. So be prepared to answer them! Note that the Q&A should feel like a conversation and not a presentation to the audience. A few interested participants might even share business cards or contact you later with the intention of collaborating on future research. 

Key Elements of a Research Poster

Typically, research posters encompass 9 key elements: Title, Author details, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusions, Figures/Tables, and References/Acknowledgments. 

• Title: The title is the first thing that catches the eye of the audience in a research poster. So use a font size (50 to 100 pt) large enough to capture the audience’s attention. The title should be concise and to the point, preferably no longer than 12 to 15 words. 
• Author details: Next comes the author information, wherein you mention the names and affiliations of the authors involved in the research. You can also include any contact information so that interested peers and conference attendees can connect with you later. Recommended font size is 40 to 60 pt, with a word limit of 100 to 150. 
• Abstract: The abstract should provide a brief overview of your research poster. Keep the abstract within 250 words, focusing on highlighting only the key information about the study and its findings and conclusions. 
• Introduction: The introduction should provide just enough background about the study for the audience to understand the reason for your research. Clearly state the research objectives and maintain a word limit of 200. 
• Methods: Describe the methodology used for your analysis by outlining the key techniques employed during the study. Keep the text within 250 words and include figures or illustrations to depict the experimental details as much as possible.  
• Results: Present only the key findings of the study in this section. Use tables or figures (e.g., graphical representations) to summarize the results and capture as much details as possible visually. The text should again be around 250 words. 
• Conclusions: Summarize the main conclusions of your study and highlight the potential future lines of investigation as well. If your study was initiated based on a hypothesis, specify whether it was proven. If the study was purely experimental, then mention the key conclusions drawn from your research findings. Avoid reiterating the information presented in the introduction, and the number of words can be limited to 200. 
• References/Acknowledgements: List the references that were cited in the main body of the scientific poster. You can also include any acknowledgements towards the end of the poster, such as any support you received from university laboratories while conducting your experiments. The font size can be 16 to 20 pt in these sections.  
• Figures/Tables: Throughout the main body of the research poster (e.g., the introduction, methods, results, and conclusions), you will need to include tabular data or visual representations of the research. Provide captions with enough information (word limit 20 to 25 words) in a font size that’s easily visible to the audience (25 to 30 pt).  

Tips to Create an Effective Research Poster

Now that you know how a poster presentation works and what you should include in your scientific poster, here are some general insights into creating a high-quality research poster. 

• Avoid excessive jargon: Keep the language simple and straightforward to ensure that the audience easily understands complex concepts. Yes, technical terminologies do need to be used. But if the text is jargon-heavy and focused on field-specific terms, you might lose the attention of listeners who are non-experts or those that are not from your field. 
• Use legible fonts: The primary objective of research posters is to attract the audience’s attention. So use clear, easily visible fonts for all elements in your scientific poster. For instance, the title should be large enough for the audience to walk towards your poster. The rest of the text, on the other hand, should be in a font size that’s easily visible from a distance of at least 3 feet (or 1 m) since the audience will view the poster from that distance. 
• Have bullet points or numbered lists: Include bulleted or numbered lists wherever possible to facilitate reading. For instance, the Methods section can summarize the experimental steps as a list. And the key findings of the study can be numbered in the Results section. Avoid long passages of text and lengthy sentences. Even if portions of text are descriptive, the sentences should be short and crisp.  
• Create eye-catching illustrations: The primary purpose of a scientific poster is to draw the attention of passing researchers towards you! Apart from the title written in a legible font size, graphics and illustrations are what researchers will notice. So, create eye-catching figures with a clear representation of data. Do not overcomplicate the figures; keep the design simple and use scientifically relevant icons. 
• Balance the usage of colors: A splash of color always gets the attention of the audience. However, it is important not to overuse the number of colors in your research poster. Use a consistent font color for the text in the main body of the poster. But the title and author details can be a different color if needed.
  Even in the figures, do not use more than 3 to 4 colors and ensure that the details are clearly visible on a well-balanced background. Overall, avoid being messy! 

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