Extended Interactive Poster Presentations
(some people call them "poster sessions")

These presentations will be allocated a whole hour rather than the regular 20 minutes. The researcher will present a brief, 15-20 minute (the same length of a regular presentation) synopsis of his or her work at the start of their hour-long session, to be followed by an interactive discussion with the audience as a whole and/or members of the audience individually. The aim is to give researchers working at the cutting edge of social network research an opportunity to discuss in more depth the nature of their work, and for members of their audiences to learn more about problems encountered and solutions found (or sought) in network research as it progresses into new areas. Some authors may wish to repeat the presentation halfway through the 60-minute session that has been allocated.

The fact that your paper is in an Extended Interactive Poster session ("EIP")doesn't mean that you put up a poster and hope people see it. Rather, it means that you have a display about three feet tall and five feet wide and that you stand in front of or next to it and deliver your presentation the same way you would in a "regular" session -- you speak to the audience for fifteen to twenty minutes and you use the display as a means to showcase information about your research, your findings, graphical displays, etc. After your presentation, you have an extended discussion of your research with members of the audience. This extended discussion is the main advantage Extended Interactive presentations have over "regular" presentations.

An EIP session requires your presence and active presentation as much as does a "regular" session.

The EIP sessions aren't a ghetto for bad papers that we would rather have rejected. Why would we give them so much time if we didn't like them? It would be easier to reject them in the first place or hide them in early morning or late afternoon sessions. Some of the most experienced and respected network researchers will be giving extended interactive research presentations at the Sunbelt.

There are no more than five Extended Interactive Poster sessions happening at any time. When three begin at 8:40 in the morning, the other two begin 30 minutes later. The staggering of starting and ending times will mean that those presenting in these sessions will have less direct competition. I have been trying to let all paper authors know that the Extended Interactive sessions at Sunbelt expect the active participation of the presenters at their sessions. Someone in an EIP session can give the same presentation they'd give in a "regular" session three times and still have time for discussion with the audience. The starting times and abstracts of EIP sessions will be printed in the conference program the same way as the starting times and abstracts of other sessions. To repeat, Extended Interactive Poster sessions are not a dumping ground for papers that aren't good enough to be placed in "regular" sessions. To make this evident to conference participants, a mix of papers presented by respected, well-known, long-time INSNA members and papers presented by less-known, newer members are in Extended Interactive sessions.

At the Sunbelt conference, a display for an EIP session will be on an easel about five fee wide and three feet tall. In practice most displays are best kept a bit smaller than this -- to an A0 poster size of approximately 120cm wide by 84cm tall. This is the size that people generally expect to see and there are poster templates available to assist in preparation; poster production services will generally handle posters of this size. I have listed a number of resource sites below to assist you.

Some presenters may wish to prepare the display poster as series of smaller pages of A4 or A3 size. You should plan these so that the arrangement on the board does not exceed an area 120cm wide and 84cm tall.

A display poster is a common method used to present research in the hard and softer sciences. It is actually a bulletin board that displays one large piece or several smaller pieces of paper. It is a static, visual medium that you use to communicate ideas and messages. In presenting your research with a display poster, you should aim to use the display as a means for generating active discussion of the research. A great display poster is readable, legible, well organized and succinct. The Science and Engineering Library at the State University of New York at Buffalo has excellent web resources to help you create an effective display poster.

Some sample layouts are shown below.

The display poster should have the title placed at the top with the authors' names and affiliations (optional) beneath it. Your lettering should be at least 1.5 inches high for easy readability. The title should match that submitted with the abstract.

The display poster should also include a copy of the abstract, and expanded sections of the purpose, methods, results and conclusions as appropriate to the type of abstract. Use large enough fonts for subtitles and text so that the poster can be read from approximately 2-3 feet away. Avoid the use of script fonts that are difficult to read. The display should read from top left to bottom right. The title should be legible from 8 feet away, the remaining words from four or five feet away.

A different approach for those pressed for time would be to simply print up to eight slides from your PowerPoint on pages up to about 40 cm tall and 35 cm wide (16 inches tall and 14 inches wide) and bring them to Corfu to pin onto the display board that we will provide:

You can get your slides printed at Kinko's and many other places if you take PowerPoint or PDF files there.

A popular technique is to produce a single sheet display poster using PowerPoint. When creating a single sheet, the dimensions should be no larger than an A0 poster size of approximately 120cm wide by 84cm tall..

All illustrations (graphs, pictures, figures, tables) should be large enough for easy observation. Rather than glossy surfaces, matte finish on graphs or pictures gives better visibility due to reduction of glare. All figures and tables should have brief captions.

Keep in mind these important tips:

• Keep it simple.
  • Present only enough information to support your conclusions.
  • About eight panels on your display poster is the maximum for effective presentation.
    
    
• Use graphs, charts and figures to make your points -- less text is better.
  • A good ratio is 20% text, 40% graphics and 40% open space.
  • Don't use all capital letters, it is much harder to read.
    
    
• Above all be clear, concise, and organized.
  

Authors are responsible for the transportation of their presentations. Roll your display materials in a mailing tube or place in a portfolio for travel to the meeting. Do not mail them to the hotel in Greece.

Colin Purrington, from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania has put together a great resource page full of very practical advice about how to approach the content as well as layout of your poster. Although Colin's interests are in biology, all the practical advice offered would be very relevant to network researchers. It includes photos of typical poster sessions and several example display posters as well as a template to use. He discusses what makes a good display poster and how to give your presentation zing, with lots of detailed advice and some humour.

George R. Hess from North Carolina State University and Leon H. Liegel from Oregon State University have also put together a step by step guide to the whole display poster creation process using a very visual approach.

Some guidelines for display poster presentations was put together by CSHEMA at Boston College and Harvard University. An effective CSHEMA display poster presentation is a well-designed, eye-catching, and engaging display that communicates the results of a project, research or scientific information.

A summary of the guidelines published by ACS in March of 2005 for display posters for their national meetings was prepared by the Chemistry Department at Roanoke College. "Prepare the poster as one slide in PowerPoint, using File, Page Setup to set the proper size. Poster sizes at different meetings are different, so be sure you know the size for the meeting at which you will be presenting. Note that while the dimensions are usually given as width by length, this is not always followed. In the absence of other information, a good poster size is 56 inches by 36 inches. (The 56 inches is the PowerPoint maximum dimension.) ... "

Kristine A. Kirkeby at the University of Minnesota created this page on preparing professional scientific display posters.

This page contains several PowerPoint templates for display posters.

Despite your results from investigating a particular research question, it’s vital that you learn how to communicate what you did, why you did it, and what happened. The APS (American Physiological Society) has put together these guidelines for writing and presenting a scientific display poster.

You might also consult several of these Web sites

Very detailed instructions for beginners for a specific case.

A lot of opinionated advice on what to do and what to avoid.

A complete module on creating a display poster in PowerPoint.

Lots of good technical information, such as graphics and embedding fonts.

More technical hints and information.

Some things to read if you are serious about this

Appendices -- Presenting Scientific Data: "Some Suggestions about Scientific Writing," Frank B. Salisbury. pp.163-187; "Standards for Effective Presentations," Ross E. Loning, pp. 188-201 (includes section on Poster Presentations, pp. 195-197). In: Units, symbols, and Terminology for Plant Physiology: A Reference for Presentation of Research Results in the Plant Sciences. Frank B. Salisbury, ed. 1996.

S.M. Block. 1996."Do's and Don'ts of Poster Presentation," Biophysical Journal. Vol. 71, no. 6, pp. 3527-3529.

Bernard S. Brown. 1997. "Poster Design: Six Points to Ponder," Biochemical Education. 25(3):136-137. July 1997.

Chapter 2. Communicating in Other Formats: Posters, Letters to the Editor, and Press Releases -- Tips for Effective Poster Presentations (K. Barbara Schowen) In: The ACS Style Guide: A Manual for Authors and Editors, 2nd ed. Janet S. Dodd, ed. 1997.

"Designing Effective Poster Presentations," Kyle J. Hartman. 1996. Fisheries Vol. 21, no. 7, p. 22.

Chapter 25, "How to Prepare a Poster," pp. 148-151. How to Write & Publish a Scientific Paper, 4th ed. Robert A. Day 1994.

Chapter 4, How to Present Research: Posters at Scientific Meetings, pp. 112-115. Planning, Proposing and Presenting Science effectively: A Guide for Graduate students and Researchers in the Behavioral Sciences and Biology. Jack P. Hailman and Karen B. Strier 1997.

Chapter 9, "Posters," pp. 131-149. Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A Guide to Better Posters, Presentations, and Publications, 2nd ed. Mary Helen Briscoe. 1996.

Chapter 12, "Writing a Poster Presentation," pp. 258-265.A Short Guide to Writing about Biology, 3rd ed. Jan A. Pechenik 1997.

Chapter 17, "Poster Presentations," pp. 174-185. Scientific Papers and Presentations, Martha Davis 1997.

Gosling, Peter J. 1999. Scientist's Guide to Poster Presentations New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press. 139 pp.