Poster Guidelines

Preparing your Poster for the Keene State College Academic Excellence Conference

DO:

• Modify the poster format/headings as necessary to present your work professionally and according to your discipline’s standards.
• Consult your faculty sponsor to see examples of posters presented by students and/or faculty from your school/department. You may also see a poster example here.
• Use photos or images on your poster, but remember that the poster will be large.
• Ensure that the resolution is at least 300 dpi but no greater than 500 for photos or images.
• Use at least a 20-point font for photo/image captions.
• Use PowerPoint to design your poster, unless you are proficient with another graphics software program; however, DO NOT change the overall size of the poster (32“x 40”) or use very small fonts.
• Use these general guidelines: Title – 70 point font; Presenter Name/s and School/s – 44 point font; Section title – 40 point font; Body Text – 36 point font; References/Caption titles – 20 point font.
• Make your poster concise. It should be a succinct visual representation of your work.
• Spell-check, spell-check, spell-check.
• Carefully look at your poster with your advisor; it is also a good idea to have at least two additional people carefully review your poster before having it printed.
• Save your poster as a .ppt file and place it on a CD, save it in My Files (on My KSC), or e-mail it to yourself.
• Take your CD or, if you saved it to My Files or e-mailed it to yourself, go over to Red Ball to get your poster printed.
• Note that you have to be present to review your poster on the computer screen at Red Ball before it can be printed.
• Please give yourself extra time to make revisions just in case.
• DEADLINE: Plan to have your poster printed, at the very latest, on or before Wednesday, March 27, 2013.

DON’T:

• Use garish background or text colors; fluorescent yellow or hot pink is NOT the way to go.
• Think about your poster’s color palette. You want your poster’s background to complement your photos/images and make them stand out.
• Change the size of the poster or reduce the font size from the template; viewers should be able to stand about four feet away from your poster and read the text.
• Use low-quality photos from the internet – they never turn out well.
• Try to do too much with your poster, if this is your first poster presentation. Use the poster template if you are a novice.
• Have more than 1,000 words on your poster. Remember that you will be standing right next to it to explain complicated concepts or ideas to onlookers.
• Submit your poster for printing without getting your faculty sponsor’s approval.
• Submit your poster in any format other than .ppt.
• Submit your poster to Red Ball late.