Our need to communicate and disseminate research results has long outstripped the capacity of scientific sessions, which cannot be prolonged indefinitely due to the time constraints inherent in professional conferences. Thus, posters evolved into the third leg of the scholarly publication tripod (posters, abstracts, published papers). It is estimated that annually more than 500,000 scientific posters are presented worldwide.
In many academic disciplines, posters are relegated to second class citizens with diminished value compared to the esteemed paper submission. This lower status is often reflected in less comprehensive submission guidelines, later deadlines, and more lenient review criteria. Scientific posters allow you to make public your early work while full paper submissions require a completed evaluation and final results to pass the peer-review process. The American Medical Informatics Association’s Annual Symposium describes posters as “preferred format for presenting preliminary research results or results of small scale studies, illustrating and discussing innovative systems and services, describing experimental and in-practice projects,” which can be submitted with a one-page proposal, whereas paper submissions require a five-page proposal.
Scientific posters are also an excellent communication vehicle for obtaining feedback and valuable input from peers. A good poster will stimulate conversation between you and conference participants. After the poster presentation, you have an opportunity to assess the feedback, reevaluate your study, and tweak its design or research method. But these poster benefits are only possible if your poster does its job well: to pique an interest that results in someone reading about and discussing your research. Get the booklet Poster Presentations! Learn how to use Photoshop to create attention-grabbing posters that not only look compelling but tell your data story effortlessly. You’ll save money and time by submitting camera-perfect posters to your digital printing service.
The Philosophy of Scientific Poster Presentations
