CNS Undergraduate Research Forum 2018
Guide for Student Presenters

Event Date and Time

2018 CNS Undergraduate Research Forum
Friday, April 13, 2018

11am-3pm

Shirley Bird Perry Ballroom Texas Union Ballroom

Poster Printing for the Forum

  • Poster printing is provided free of charge to students participating in the Undergraduate Research Forum. All poster printing takes place in the Texas Institute for Discovery Education in Science (TIDES) office, in PAI 3.04.
  • Poster printing takes place March 20 – April 8. After April 8, poster printing is on a first come first serve basis. The final day for poster printing is Wednesday, April 11. It gets very busy near the end of this time period, so plan to get your poster file to the TIDES office early to ensure you get your poster printed!

Poster Printing Appointments

  • To print your poster, email your poster file to . It is not necessary to be present at the PAI office to have your poster printed.
  • If you prefer, you can also bring your poster file to PAI 3.04 on a USB.
  • You do not need to pick up your poster once it is printing. We will keep it in PAI 3.04 until the day of the event. On the day of the event, we will hang your poster for you, so all you need to do is arrive at the specified time (see What to Expect on the Day of the Event below). If you had your poster printed elsewhere, please bring it to PAI 3.04 by Wednesday, April 11, so we can hang it for you on the morning of the Forum.
  • You must follow the poster printing instructions below to ensure your print is successful.
    Email any questions to .

Poster Printing Instructions

Before designing your poster, confer with your mentor/PI regarding the poster content. Ensure they approve of the material you will include and how you will present it.

Designing your poster

• Suggested poster size: 42 x 56

• Maximum poster size: 42 x 60

• Posters can be designed in Powerpoint and then saved as a PDF.

• Change your slide size in Page Setup BEFORE you start designing your poster.

• Choose light-colors with dark fonts!

• Want crisp graphs and photos? Save your images as TIFF files

• Need more help with poster design? Attend a workshop or see this poster guide.

Schedule for the Day of the Forum: Friday, April 13, 2018

  • Poster Set-up on the Morning of the Forum, Texas Union Ballroom

Posters printed by the TIDES office as described above will be set up by Forum staff by 10am. You do not need to be present. If you are bringing your poster on the day of the event because you had it printed elsewhere, make sure it is put up by 10am.

  • 9:30-10:45 am: Presenters Check-In, Texas Union Ballroom

Sign in at the Student Presenter table before going to your poster. Make sure to show up at least 10-15 minutes prior to the start of the event to have time to find your poster and get settled in.

Pick up a name tag which will have your poster number on it.

Pick up a blank card to indicate what time(s) you will be at your poster.

  • 11:00 am-3:00 pm: Undergraduate Research Forum Poster Session, Texas Union Ballroom

We assume you or someone from your team (for group presentations) will be at your poster throughout the event from 11am-3pm. Yet, we know that you could have class during that time period that would pull you away. Our evaluators and other guests want to make sure they find a time to speak with you about your poster, so you will be given a card to hang on your poster that indicates the times you will be there.

  • 3:00 – 4:00: Breakdown of posters

If you are unavailable for breakdown, all unclaimed posters will be taken to PAI 3.04 for later pick-up. We will hold posters in PAI 3.04 for one week.

What to Wear

  • Attire for this event is business casual - button down shirts/blouses and nice slacks/skirts are appropriate.
  • Full suit and tie is not required.
  • Do not wear t-shirts, shorts (athletic or otherwise), and/or tank tops, or similar casual attire.
  • As a general rule, do not wear hats; these can often distract from your presentation
  • Wear comfortable shoes! Poster presentations entail quite a bit of standing for long, uninterrupted periods of time.
  • Tennis-shoes/running shoes or flip-flops are not recommended.

Tips for presenting research

  • Know your audience

- You will be presenting to a variety of people including university faculty members, industry professionals, graduate students, and undergraduates.

- You will likely be speaking to many individuals outside of your field/scientific discipline so you’ll want to avoid jargon and discipline-specific language.

- Feel free to ask before you begin your presentation what the listener’s background is in (scientific discipline, profession, etc.) so you can better tailor your discussion.

  • Talking about your research

- Practice presenting your poster to your friends or lab mates before the event!

- Make your presentation tell a story

  • Begin with an introduction/background of your topic, gauging your audience for how in depth this background needs to be
  • Continue with a rationale of why you are pursuing your specific project
  • Talk lightly about your methodical approach before getting into the meat of your presentation, the results of any experiment(s) you/your team performed
  • Finish with a discussion of broader impacts of your work/what your findings indicate; If you have references or acknowledgements on your poster, there is no need to point these out

- When speaking to people outside your scientific field or laypeople, try not to use overly technical terms. Only do so if you are prepared to fully and clearly explain what these terms mean.

- A common question you will be asked is, “Why is this research important?” If you are unsure of how to respond, talk over your presentation with your mentor(s) beforehand so that you are prepared.

- If someone asks you a question that you cannot answer, do not get flustered - this happens all the time. You can acknowledge that you don’t know the answer and that you plan to find the answer in later discussions with your research mentor.

- At the end of your presentation, always ask if the listener has any further questions about your project.

- As a general rule, your poster should be able to be understood in its entirety without you necessarily being there to present it (i.e.: if you for some reason are not by your poster, an interested party should be able to read your poster as is and get the gist of your project).