Science:Science Writing Resources/Communicating in the STEM Disciplines/Poster Presentations

A poster is a tool for presenting information at an academic conference. Posters are usually on display for the duration of the conference and the researcher will be expected to be at their poster during a specific time so they can share their research in person and answer questions about it.

Poster presentations provide an opportunity for researchers to interact with many other scholars. They can use their poster's visuals to guide the conversation about their work. That said, because a poster is often on display at times when the researcher is not present, it is important that the researcher clearly display their work on the poster so that they can effectively convey their message to the audience even while they are not able to explain it in person.

Poster presentations differ from oral (i.e. paper) presentations in the sense that they are shorter and are given in front of the poster to small groups of people who move from one poster to the next. Oral presentations tend to be around 10-15 minutes in length and are given once in front of a stationary audience. Given these differences, some people find the poster presentation format to be more casual and less stressful than an oral presentation.