Preparation of Posters
SCI 112L/SCI 132L/MTH 207
Prepared by Dr. William Lammela, Nazareth College of Rochester
Fall 2006
Posters will be prepared using PowerPoint (Microsoft office). There are other options available, but you will need to get assistance from ITS.
To prepare a poster:
1)Open PowerPoint.
2)Open a new slide show (if one does not come up automatically)
3)Go to File and down to page set-up. Open that.
4)First selection is for Slides sized for. Select Custom.
5)Select a slide that is 18” wide and 12”Height. (This is actually ½ the actual poster size. The full-size slide will be created when printed).
6)Under format, select slide layout. Choose the blank slide picture. (Top left under contents layout). You now have your slide.
7)Text should be 14 or 16 font. Use the larger (16 or 18) font for titles and smaller (14 or 16 font) for basic text. For the Title of the Poster, use 24 Font and bold.
8)To insert text, click on the text box (on the bottom toolbar to the right of the oval). Then, click on the location of the poster where you want to type. You can move it around later if you want.
9)Select your font size (and style if you want) and begin typing. When you want a new section, click on the text icon again and start a new section on your poster.
10)The text will appear small when looking at the whole poster. You can focus in by changing the % (in a white box near the top). Go to 100% or 150% to zoom in on a particular area.
11)To insert pictures—you need to have the file either on your computer or on your flash drive. Pull down on insert and click on picture and to go from file. Then, go to the location where your picture is and select it. When you have selected the picture, click on insert. Your picture will appear on your poster.
- You can move your picture by “click and drag.” You can resize by clicking and dragging any corner.
- You can reformat the picture by double clicking on the picture and then following the options.
12)Keep adding your sections in pieces. Remember to save frequently.
13)You should end up with three “columns” with a blend of text and pictures/graphics (may also include Excel Spreadsheets—just copy and paste).
14)Before you finish, reset the % to 33% or 50%. This gives you a “birds-eye” view of the poster. Look at it critically for visual effect. This is part of the grade. The poster should be balanced.
15)Remember that both your instructors have offered to “preview” your poster. The deadlines were distributed previously.
16)Last step—Check for errors (spelling, grammar, typos). This can destroy the impact that a poster might have (as well as your grade).
17)You should save your poster (when completed) as a PDF file. You can use Adobe or Foxit. ( Both have free downloadable files for your use. (Some newer versions of Microsoft Office have adobe as part of the PowerPoint file). Save the file (all versions—PowerPoint slide and PDF file) to your flash drive, or CD or disk and bring to MediaCenter. They will format and print.
18)Remember to tell them that you want a 24 inch by 36-inch poster. Black and white is fine and cheap paper is acceptable for this assignment. You can go larger (up to 35 inch by 48 inch) and with color if you want—but it will be costly (perhaps much more costly). Remember the deadlines.
19)Common errors that students make:
- Too “cutesy”—many pictures, cute sayings, clip art. The poster should be attractive but not childish. This is a professional presentation.
- Text is too small.
- Too much text—be concise and to the point.
- Too general—add the detail.
- Spelling and grammatical errors—simply not acceptable!
- Poor wording/awkward wording. You need to proofread as you would a formal paper.
- Poor presentation of data and results. Numerical information should be placed in tables, graphs or summarized. No one wants to read lots of numbers that don’t mean anything!
- Incomplete—not all mandated sections included!