Poster Presentation Tips:
Effectively and Dynamically
Communicating Technical Info
80% of Your Presentation
Will Be Forgotten
People tend to remember:
A few interesting things about your project
Your tone, pace, and nonverbal expressions
If you want any of your content to be
remembered, you need to make it as
accessible as possible
The point of a poster presentation is to get
that accessible information out front
But you are the tour guide
2
What, Why, and How?
The purpose of your presentation is to
summarize:
WHAT your project does
WHY you chose that design
HOW you implemented the design
Customize Content and Style for
the Audience
Who will be the audience?
What are their expectations?
Will this material be new to them, or will it
build upon prior knowledge?
How many attendees?
Will the talk be interactive?
Answers to Previous Questions
For Your 2883 Presentation
You are presenting to a general, but
probably technically literate, public.
They want to hear about your final design.
Probably 1-5 people at a time.
They may not want to hang around for
longer than 5 minutes.
Expect to be interrupted with questions.
5
Planning Your Poster
Decide what key points you want your
audience to remember.
Structure your speaking around those
points and find ways to illustrate them.
Ensure that the poster can be used as a
storyboard, coming to a conclusion.
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Include Technical Details
There will be people who are interested in
the technical design.
You can have additional schematics,
diagrams, and data for those curious.
Dont just describe what you did,
Explain how and why you did it.
Problems Encountered
Solving problems is what engineers,
computer scientists, and designers do.
Consider design tradeoffs that you made,
what was difficult to get working, and what
required the most knowledge.
Little of this may show up on the poster, but it
can be a lot of the speaking.
Conclusions
Consider how your design project relates
to the class goals and to your personal
objectinves, drawing conclusions about
the final result.
Our goal was to give you experience with digital
electronics, and electronics prototyping.
What did you learn towards those goals?
What did you learn outside of those goals?
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Useful Information in General
Consider what the audience wants from a brief
presentation.
No: altsyncram
Better: internal memory
No: value of 250
Better: fast, slow, near, far, feet, seconds
13
Choosing a Font
Easy to read:
Sans Serif
Bold
Examples:
Arial
Helvetica
Tahoma
Difficult to read:
Serif
Italics
Examples:
Times New Roman
Baskerville Old Face
Lucida Bright
14
Font Guidelines
Avoid distracting or unprofessional fonts.
E.g. Comic Sans, Papyrus, or any
These slides use Arial
On a 24x36 poster, almost all type
should be 32 point or larger.
script font
Judicious use of smaller font for graph axes and
figure text where the audience will look closely
Title font size is typically 100 point or
larger.
15
Basis for Font Size
People with 20/40 vision can read letters at
about 0.2 of field of view.
Usually around 24pt font.
Consider that an absolute minimum.
Bigger is always more readable.
Dont make people squint.
This applies to figures as well!
16
Creating Emphasis
Color is a very useful tool for emphasis.
Underline and Italics are also effective to pull
words out.
But ensure that the color doesnt make it hard to see.
Just be careful that your font doesnt get too thin.
Bold is not very effective for emphasis.
Its sometimes difficult to tell which words are bold.
17
Colors and Contrast
White background with dark text is a classic that
always works
Dark background with light text is also
acceptable, but tends to thin lines, so be careful.
Never use medium backgrounds, as the contrast
will depend on the printer and ambient lighting
Gradient backgrounds are even worse, as text
will invariably blend in at some point.
18
Showing vs. Telling
Make use of visuals wherever possible!
People like to see what youre doing:
Diagrams, photos, flow charts, tables.
Use words when a concept cant be
shown, or to help describe the visual.
Make sure the graphics are actually
related to your presentation.
19
Diagram Considerations
Keep diagrams simple and easy to understand.
Ensure that lines are thick enough to be visible
when standing 3-4 feet away.
Make text large enough to be readable.
Guide the audience to the important aspects of
the diagram by using a pointer or standing by
the screen and using your hands.
20
Photos vs. Diagrams
Photographs of shiny or bright things dont show up well.
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Showing Data Effectively
NO
Average monthly high and low
temperatures in four U.S. cities
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Seattle
46/37
49/38
53/40
59/44
66/49
70/53
75/56
74/56
69/53
60/48
52/48
48/39
Atlanta
54/36
57/37
63/41
72/50
81/59
87/66
88/69
88/68
83/63
74/52
62/40
53/35
Kansas City Honolulu
39/22
79/70
44/26
80/71
53/33
81/73
66/45
83/74
75/55
83/74
85/66
83/74
91/71
83/74
89/69
83/74
82/60
83/73
71/49
82/73
54/35
81/72
43/27
80/71
Seattle
Atlanta
Kansas City
Honolulu
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
Average high temperatures for winter
months in four U.S. cities
January
February
November
December
Seattle
46
49
52
48
Atlanta
54
57
62
53
Kansas City Honolulu
39
79
44
80
54
81
43
80
30
YES
MAYBE
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Figure Borders and Backgrounds
Figures with no border,
background, or outline can
be difficult to distinguish
from other information on
the poster.
Average high temperatures for winter
months in four U.S. cities
January
February
November
December
Seattle
46
49
52
48
Atlanta
54
57
62
53
Kansas City Honolulu
39
79
44
80
54
81
43
80
Average high temperatures for
winter months in four U.S. cities
January
February
November
December
Seattle
46
49
52
48
Atlanta
54
57
62
53
Kansas City Honolulu
39
79
44
80
54
81
43
80
Average high temperatures for winter
months in four U.S. cities
January
February
November
December
Seattle
46
49
52
48
Atlanta
54
57
62
53
Kansas City Honolulu
39
79
44
80
54
81
43
80
23
Citing Sources
Most information will be your own, but if you
need to cite something, you can do so informally.
-Kevin Johnson, Effective Technical Presentations
Images are also easy to cite.
DE2Bot image source: DE2Bot Users Manual (or use URL)
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Examples of Good and Bad
Poster Content
25
Construction of Test Specimen
12.7 mm
89.6 mm
101.6 mm
25.4 mm
101.6 mm
50.8mm
25.4 mm
152.4 mm
Aluminum
50.8mm x 152.4mm
x 4.76mm
(2 x 6 x 3/16)
2.25 MHz, 12.7mm
diameter piezoelectric
discs bonded to top
surface
26
System Description
PC-Based Oscilloscope (TDS5034)
Pulser Receiver
Controls multiplexer via USB interface
Controls pulser-receiver via GPIB interface
Runs LabView
Signal output goes to scope input and is digitized
Transmit and Receiver are connected to the Mux
Eight Channel Multiplexer
Supports up to 8 transducers
Routes Transmit and Receive to/from transducers
USB interface with scope PC
27
System Block Diagram
5800PR Pulser/Receiver
GPIB (Control)
Signal Out
(analog - coax)
TDS5034
(LabView)
Transmit
(analog - coax)
Digitized by TDS5034
USB
(Control)
USB Converter
(inside Mux)
Digital Control
(Ribbon Cable)
Receive
(analog - coax)
Multiplexer
To/From Transducers
28
Valve Components
Medtronic Delta Valve
Codman Hakim
Programmable Valve
Medtronic Strata Valve
29
30
Flow Chart
31
Full-scale Test Results
Three trials:
Run distance:
38.9 feet
Average time:
65s
Worst error:
3.9
Average error:
2.1
(representative trial)
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The hardware demo
We want great demos
But, the less you have to demo, the more
important the content of the poster
Convey what you wanted to do
Other presentation material
As previously noted
You can have additional schematics, diagrams,
and data for those who are curious
You can also show running video or
PowerPoint, if it helps
General Slide Style
Include a descriptive title/heading on every
slide.
Keep slides simple and uncluttered.
Avoid titles with continued etc. reorganize the
content and use a descriptive title.
Use short phrases, not long sentences.
Number your slides.
35
Slide Consistency
Use the same capitalization and
punctuation on all slides.
End sentences with punctuation or leave it off.
Capitalize either the first word or every word of
slide titles.
Use consistent verb tense and sentence
structure within each slide.
Different slides can have different tense.
36
Filling the Slide
If a slide is light on material, spread the bullets out
and/or use a larger font.
Having lots of empty space makes a slide feel top-heavy
and leaves the audience wondering if something is
missing.
37
Special Effects and Display Speed
Special effects for no reason are not acceptable
in a professional presentation.
It is possible to use them effectively, but make sure
theres a reason for it before including them.
They are distracting for the audience, and
confusing for you.
Also, people dont want to be fed information
bullet-by-bullet. Put all the information up at
once.
38
Good Practices for an Effective
Presentation
39
Performance Techniques
Take a few deep breaths.
Stand up straight pay attention to your posture.
Make eye contact with your audience.
Pace your speech to be natural and moderate.
Monitor your gestures and avoid habitual
behaviors: hands in pockets, hand-waving,
playing with your hair, pacing, swaying
40
Presentation Nevers
Dont ramble.
Stay
on topic, or your audience will lose
interest.
Remain flexible.
You want your audience to engage with you, so
let them ask questions or redirect discussion.
Dont make a big deal about mistakes.
If
something goes wrong, just move on.
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