Poster Discussions: Interacting and Networking

APS Professional Skills Course:

Making Scientific Presentations: Critical First Skills

Now That You Have a Poster

• You need to be ready to take it to a meeting

• You need to be ready to stand by it and present it

• You need to be ready to defend your work

Who are you?

How Do You Distinguish Yourself?

• Topic

• Poster Appearance

• Personal Appearance

• Personality

Versions of Poster Talk

• You need to have prepared & practiced 0.5-, 2-, and 5-minute poster talks for different types of viewers

• Tell viewers– Your question and why it is important– Your hypothesis and what you did– What you found– What the answer means in terms of the

context

Types of Viewers

• Walk-by

• Brief methods question only

• Big picture only

• Main finding, bottom line

• Read only

• Very interested

• Multiple listeners

• Aggressive or critical questioners or commenters

Walk-by

• Reads title

• Scans pictures and graphs

• Not interested in talking

• If gets interested, may look at conclusions

• There will be many of these people– Not a reflection on the quality of your poster– However, that’s why visual presentation is

important!

Brief Methods Question Only

• Reads title

• Looks at pictures, tables, and graphs

• Looks at methods

• Asks question on methods

• If gets interested, may look at results and conclusions

• Very few of these people

Big Picture Only

• Reads title

• Reads main conclusion

• Wants to know how your results fit into bigger picture

• If gets interested, may look at results

• Quite a few of these people

Main Finding, Bottom Line

• Reads title

• Looks at pictures, tables, and graphs

• Asks for the main conclusion

• May ask question to clarify something

• If gets interested, may look at results and conclusions

• Quite a few of these people too

Read Only

• Has an intrinsic interest in your topic or discipline

• Reads most or all of the text

• Doesn’t want to be walked through poster

• Probably comes by when no one is there

• Hopefully a lot of these people!

Very Interested

• Has an intrinsic interest in your topic or discipline

• Wants to be walked through it

• Will ask questions

• Wants to understand what you did, why you did it, and what you found

• Don’t want detailed methods unless novel

• Hopefully a lot of these people!

Multiple Listeners

• If several people approach, offer to walk them all through the poster

• If more viewers arrive partway into your walk-through– Look at them and nod OR– Explain you need to finish with the current group and

then will be happy to walk them through

• When answering one question, include the others by looking at them too when you answer

• Accept questions from anyone listening

Aggressive or Critical Questioners/Commenter's

• Listen carefully to what they say• Try to answer their question without getting

defensive• Don’t be afraid to say you don’t know something

– Agree it’s a good question– Admit you don’t know the answer

• Offer to check and get back with the person after the meeting– Write down their question and contact information

• When in doubt, just be courteous – don’t argue• Don’t talk about them after they leave!

How Do You Defend YourConclusions/Opinions?

• Make sure you know the project completely• Understand that questioning and constructive

criticism are normal and essential parts of the process

• Practice giving your poster to learn what questions might come up

• Practice taking another point of view to prepare to defend your work and are not surprised by it

• Think about what questions you might ask if you were reading the poster

• Be open to the possibility that the criticism is valid and may open the door for revision and further work

Dealing With Co-authors and Major Professor• Your role vs. their role

– You must be there and ready to present and defend your work or they will

– You must have practiced with them so they know you are ready and capable

• Dealing with people who come to see them– When they are present

• Talking and blocking poster

– When they are not present• Trying to locate them• Wanting to contact them

Dealing With Friends

•Come to support you•Come to see you•Come to make plans for getting together•Bring others by to meet you

Make sure they understand your first responsibility is to talk to people who come by to see your poster

Tips

• Talk to the viewer, not the poster• Remember to speak slowly and clearly

– Especially if English is not your first language or that of the person with whom you are talking

• Remember to speak loudly enough to be heard if there is much noise in the room

• Point to specific parts on the poster to help lead viewers through it

• Carefully walk your viewer through your figures

Tips - continued

• Remember to thank your viewers for stopping to see your poster

• Be careful and keep to science – You don’t know who is on the other side of the poster

boards and listening!– You don’t know who is friends with whom– Don’t tell jokes or get sidetracked on politics or

religion

Looking Professional

• Dress professionally but comfortably– Remember, you want to impress them with your mind– Low heels, no new shoes– No or minimal perfume/cologne

• No chewing gum or tobacco • Think about what you’re eating that day

– No garlic, etc.

• Remember to smile• Keep your hands out of your pockets• Don’t sit down when people are coming by

Things to Bring• Extra pins for hanging poster• Business cards

– Make your own if necessary on the computer

• Small envelope for business cards when you’re not there– Tape card on outside with a note to “take one”

• Black marking pen (Sharpie) and correction tape or other covering– For embarrassing typos or omissions

Things to Bring – cont’d

• Notebook or cards and pen(s)– Ideas, information, or people’s contact info

• Small copies of poster/abstract (optional)• If you need to leave your poster, put a note up

telling people a time when you will return• Have breath mints and water in reach

After the Meeting

• Follow through on questions• Contact people

– Who wanted additional information or reprints– For additional information you wanted

• Congratulate yourself on a job well done!

Resources

• Creating Effective Poster Presentations: Present Your Poster George Hess :: Kathryn Tosney :: Leon Liegel http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/NewSite/PresentPoster.html

• Do's and Don'ts of Poster PresentationSteven Block, Princeton Universityhttp://www.biophysics.org/education/block.pdf

• Effect of Colour Coordination of Attire with Poster Presentation on Poster PopularityDavid A. Keegan, Susan L. Bannister Canadian Medical Association Journal 169(12): 1291-1292, 2003http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/reprint/169/12/1291.pdf

• How to Present, Summarize, and Defend Your Poster at the MeetingRobert S Campbell Respir Care 2004;49(10):1217–1221, 2004http://www.rcjournal.com/contents/10.04/10.04.1217.pdf

Resources

• Poster Presentation SkillsJoan Lakoskihttp://www.the-aps.org/careers/careers1/mentor/workshop/2003/Lakoski.ppt

• The Poster Production Show Women in Science Project, Dartmouth Medical Schoolhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~wisp/PosterShow/poster_pg2.html

• Scientist's Guide to Poster PresentationsPeter J. Gosling, 1999, New York: Springer