STYLE GUIDE: POSTER PRESENTATION
Posters are an important feature at the APPEA Conference and Exhibition.
In recognition of their value, poster authors:
• prominently display their work in the APPEA 2022 Exhibition Hall for the duration of the event
• participate in the ‘Meet the Authors’ event on Wednesday 18 May (Day 3) and
• publish a paper associated with the poster in The APPEA Journal as a Peer-reviewed paper or Extended abstract.
For some topics, a poster is an invaluable and effective way to get a message across clearly and concisely. A poster allows delegates to digest material at their own speed.
This document outlines specifications for APPEA posters, and details basic conference information for the poster presentation. It also provides suggestions for poster layouts for authors who are new to the format or who are seeking guidance.
This Style Guide provides guidance and information for the poster component of your contribution to APPEA 2022.
Please refer to the peer-reviewed papers/extended abstracts Style Guide when preparing the accompanying peer- reviewed paper or extended abstract.
Awards will be judged and presented at the APPEA 2022 Conference including the Best Peer- Reviewed Paper, Best Extended Abstract, Best Poster and Best Oral Presentation. The Best Oral Presentation Award is judged by
conference delegates whilst the other three are judged by the Technical Program Committee and will be awarded in the final plenary session.
Printed posters are made available for authors to take with them at the end of the conference if they so desire. If this does not occur, posters will be destroyed at the end of the conference.
Please note, poster presenters are required to register for the conference. Both oral and poster presenters receive a 20% discount on registration fees.
Summary of deadlines for APPEA 2022
Fri 10 Dec 2021
Fri 11 Feb 2022
Thu 7 April 2022
Peer-reviewed papers are due for submission and review (if this is the paper format you have selected)
Extended abstracts are due for submission and review (if this is the paper format you have selected)
Upload the final, high resolution PDF for your printed poster or digital file for your digital poster as well as your company logo and high resolution (min. 300dpi) photo of the presenter.
Wed 18 May 2022 Attend the ‘Meet the Authors’ session in the Exhibition Hall
Details relating to your presence onsite will be issued in early February 2022. This will include:
1. POSTER OPTIONS
There are two options for poster presentations at the APPEA 2022 Conference and Exhibition:
• a printed paper-based poster — Figure 1 provides an example of a printed poster.
• a digital screen-based presentation.
1.1 Option 1 — printed poster — $0
Create a PDF poster that APPEA will print and hang at the event. The poster can be a combination of text and graphics.
APPEA will prepare a header for the poster that will include:
• the poster’s title
• the name and company affiliation of the presenter
• a photo of the presenter
• the logo of the presenter’s company affiliation.
Both the poster (prepared by the author) and the header (prepared by APPEA) are printed together on 5mm thick PVC. APPEA will print and hang the poster in the Poster Presentation area within the Exhibition Hall. You do not need to deliver a hard copy.
Specifications
Printed posters are portrait A0 size — 841mm wide x 1189mm high. Artwork for the poster must be provided as high resolution (at least 300dpi) pdf.
1.2 Option 2 — digital poster — $1200 (GST inclusive)
Create a digital presentation to be displayed on a plasma (or similar) screen.
The digital presentation will be on display for the entirety of the conference in the Poster Presentation Area within the Exhibition Hall and will loop continually.
APPEA will prepare a header for the poster that will include:
• the poster’s title
• the name and company affiliation of the presenter
• a photo of the presenter
• the logo of the presenter’s company affiliation.
The screen on which the digital poster will be displayed will be portrait-orientated, and APPEA will prepare a template with a header (as above) that your presentation will be inserted into.
Specifications
The screen’s resolution is Full HD 1943px wide × 2749px high (75” screen). There are no restrictions on the length of the presentation; however, it must be supplied in portrait format in one of the below formats in AO ratio (1:1.4142):
• PowerPoint (any version)
• video in a Windows Media Video (WMV) format
• an Adobe Flash format.
2. DEADLINES
Finalised artwork for both printed and digital posters must be uploaded to APPEA by Thursday 7 April 2022. Failure to meet this deadline will result either in the removal of your poster from the APPEA 2022 Conference and Exhibition, or—
subject to availability—a late printing fee.
Please note you will NOT be able to print your own poster if you miss the deadline. You will also be unable to change your format from printed to digital poster, or vice versa, after 7 April 2022.
3. DATA TRANSFER
Printed and digital posters should be uploaded to a secure Dropbox folder. The exact link will be provided to you by Friday 1 April. Please note, your files cannot be seen by other delegates.
Files should be saved in one folder and compressed (as a .zip file) prior to being submitted to APPEA.
Name the poster file with your reference number and the lead author/presenter’s name and complete with PRINTED or DIGITAL in the name reference. (i.e. AJ16001_Jane Smith_PRINTED_High res; AJ16001_Jane Smith_PRINTED_Web) Please ensure you run all poster files through a computer virus detection program before submitting the file to APPEA.
If your poster contains any audio or video footage as an element, please bring this to the attention of APPEA (you may include a .doc or .txt file in your .zip file with such instructions). Please also inform APPEA of the format of the footage, especially animations in PowerPoint, which change text or graphics.
3.1 File sizes/formats
Printed and digital posters must be submitted in a high resolution digital for printing and/or screen display at the conference. File sizes can be as large as required.
Please also ensure you upload:
• presenter photo, at least 128mm wide x 162mm high, 300dpi tif or jpeg
• logo of presenter’s affiliated company in vector format, either .eps or .ai file.
4. COMMUNICATIONS
When communicating with APPEA (the organiser), the Technical Program Committee or CSIRO Publishing (the publisher), please include your name, the title of your Peer-reviewed paper or Extended abstract, and the reference number assigned to your text in your communications.
Enquiries about logistical conference details, including registration and onsite
requirements, should be directed to:
Belinda Tilling, APPEA 2022 TCP Secretary & Speakers Logistics, APPEA e [email protected] m +61 414 419 492
Questions about poster content
(and peer-reviewed papers and extended abstracts) should be addressed to:
Dr Steve Mackie, Chairman, APPEA Technical Program Committee e [email protected] t +61 403 146 373
Other questions relating to the publishing of your peer-reviewed paper or extended abstract:
Philippa Tolmie, CSIRO Publishing, APPEA Journal – Editorial Assistant e [email protected] t+61 (0)3 9545 8790
5. COPYRIGHT
APPEA holds copyright for the final format of all content published in The APPEA Journal, but authors (or their employer, in the case of some institutions) retain copyright for all further publication.
Authors need to be aware they must have permission from all copyright holders for third party material that is used in their presentation. Such permission is required in writing. Authors will be required to sign a Licence to Publish form that clearly states they hold the copyright (or have the requisite permissions) for all the material in their paper or poster.
Authors should also be aware of other legal issues involved in the production and presentation of papers, ex tended abstracts and posters. These include the laws of the Commonwealth of Australia and those of Australia’s States and Territories related to libel, slander, defamation and misleading and deceptive conduct.
6. ONSITE ‘MEET THE AUTHORS’ SESSION
The APPEA 2022 ‘Meet the Authors’ session will take place on Wednesday 18 May (Day 3 of the conference) from 12.30pm to 2.00pm in the Poster Presentation Area of the Exhibition Hall. This is an opportunity for poster authors to discuss their posters, answer questions, and debate issues with conference delegates
7. AWARDS
Awards for Best Peer-Reviewed Paper, Best Extended Abstract, Best Poster and Best Oral Presentation will be presented at APPEA 2022. The Best Poster Award is judged by the Technical Program Committee. The winner will be announced at the closing ceremony of the APPEA 2022 Conference on Thursday 19 May.
8. POSTER INCLUSIONS
All posters must be produced to APPEA’s formatting specifications. Each poster should include:
• an abstract/introduction
• annotated displays of information
• conclusions.
Posters should not be a reproduction of the written Extended Abstract or Peer-reviewed paper.
Authors who are new to the poster format should build the poster around the main points discussed in their text, as is done for PowerPoint slides for an oral presentation. These points can be displayed in key panels and accompanied by explanatory text (like that spoken in an oral presentation) that further develops each panel.
Authors should work with graphics persons in the preparation and production of their posters. Those who do not have access to in-house graphics services should consider hiring a graphic designer to give their posters a professional look.
9. DESIGN GUIDELINES FOR PRINTED POSTERS
Printed posters do not have the same restraints as slideshows. Posters can display a great deal of information and, if necessary, the audience can view the information up close, allowing people to read finer detail. Design remains an important consideration and, while simplicity is not quite as necessary as it is with slides, boldness and colour are very useful. Properly designed posters speak for themselves.
Overall, the flow of information should complement the way people read. English speakers read from left to right, top
9.1 Columns
Dividing your poster into columns to present segments of text and illustrations is an effective way to order material.
Do not make the columns too wide or the reader will find it difficult to find his or her way back to the beginning of the next line. Using a single column may be difficult to read; two or three columns are easier to follow and can easily fit into a poster layout.
9.2 White space
Do not be afraid to leave some white space between items or segments of text. White space can help draw attention to a particular part of your poster, and—if used well—can increase the overall attractiveness of the design. Too much information crammed into a space can confuse readers and reduce comprehension.
9.3 Section devices: arrows, numbers and borders
Make it easy for the reader to follow idea development. Devices such as arrows, or numbering for sections, usually helps move a reader from one step to the next.
Where a poster is likely to be text heavy, information should also be communicated—where possible—by the use of arrows, graphs, photos, graphics, tables (although it is recommended that these be converted to other forms, such as graphs), and by putting subsidiary points or lists in text boxes.
Borders or a common background colour can group text and illustrations that belong together. Readers tend to understand content more easily when reading black text on light-coloured backgrounds. In text boxes, the text and headings should be black and the background colour should be a light tint of about 10–15 per cent.
9.4 Text
Body text should be readable from about one metre away. It is recommended that text be at least 24 pt in size
(although it depends on the font used) and should be a serif font—such as Times New Roman—to increase readability.
Heading and subheading text is best as a sans serif font, such as Arial Narrow or Condensed, Gill Sans or Helvetica.
You should choose two or three fonts for the text in your poster (body text, headings, captions, etc.). The use of bold and italic variants can be effective. Any more than two or three fonts risks distracting the reader; it interferes with getting your message across. NB: Posters work best when there is a mix of visual elements to attract the eye. A guide for a low-text poster, such as the example on page 2 of this guide, would be 300–600 words.
Text-heavy posters
For those authors preparing a text-heavy poster (700–1000 words), the following are some suggestions to help improve its readability and look.
• Edit thoroughly — your text needs to be clear and concise, pared down to the bones of your work and broken up into logical segments under a hierarchy of headings. Try not to use jargon.
• Use graphics where possible — convert text and data to graphics (e.g. pie charts, graphs, etc.) where possible.
Tables can be difficult to read, so presenting the data in a graph can improve the audience’s comprehension.
• Use lists — express arguments in bullet points or numbered lists rather than paragraphs where possible.
• Use devices such as sidebars and breakouts — break-up a text-heavy layout using devices such as sidebars (extracts of some text from the main body of the poster) and breakout boxes (information, usually boxed or otherwise set apart, that supplements the main thrust of the presentation). Examples of a sidebar and a breakout box can be found below. These devices should be placed after the words have appeared in the body text of your poster so as not to distract the reader with a point that does not yet fit into the development of ideas.
10. DESIGN GUIDELINES FOR DIGITAL POSTERS
A mixture of elements including text and graphics, animations and videos, and audio can be used in a digital poster.
The digital posters at the APPEA 2022 Conference and Exhibition will be displayed on a continuous loop throughout the conference. The duration of a digital poster is not limited to a certain time.
If using a PowerPoint (or similar format) presentation, each slide of a digital poster should contain one main idea or argument. If a slide is cluttered, readers can get confused or lose interest. Also take into consideration the varied speeds at which your audience will read and comprehend information. It is also helpful to include slide numbers so the readers know where your presentation begins and ends.
11. EDITING
Thoroughly edit your poster to ensure the content (text and graphics) is free of errors. Editing posters is just as important as creating good design.
When editing, look for:
• spelling errors, which can be distracting to readers
• punctuation and grammar errors, which can sometimes alter the meaning of the text
• cluttered sentences, which could confuse readers
• disordered design, which could affect the overall message of your poster.
12. GOOD EXAMPLES FOR REFERENCE
Examples of good posters in terms and content and layout can be seen by viewing the winners of the best poster award for APPEA 2019.
13. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions in relation to this style guide for poster presentations, please contact:
Belinda Tilling
APPEA 2022 TCP Secretary & Speakers Logistics, APPEA Mobile +61 414 419 492