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with audience members, always thank them for their thoughts practice the presentation and get feedback before the conference;
and time. With rare exception, stay by your poster during the (6) self-promote and be outgoing before, during, and after your
entire session to maintain your momentum and audience levels— presentation; and (7) appreciate, interact with, and maintain your
avoid the temptation to leave early for other talks and posters. audience. Execute these steps and you will be an effective commu-
This also means not wasting time in the complimentary beverage nicator and your science will be memorable.
line during your session; have a peer bring you something (you
have earned it!). ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Follow Up We thank our past and present mentors, colleagues, and students for help
in developing these strategies, and George Hess and anonymous reviewers for
After the conference, make sure to continue your interactions. their many constructive suggestions.
Follow up with those who had a key question or comment. This
will expand the impact of your science and reinforce the connec- REFERENCES CITED
tion between you and your scientific community long after the
conference is over. Faulkes, Z., 2011, Better posters: A resource for improving poster presentations:
http://www.betterposters.blogspot.com (last accessed 11 Nov. 2014).
SUMMARY
Hess, G., Tosney, K., and Liegel, L., 2011, Creating effective poster
Here we have provided a road map of strategic steps that will presentations: go.ncsu.edu/posters (last accessed 11 Nov. 2014).
help you create and deliver a poster presentation that is conspic-
uous, effective, and memorable. These key steps are (1) know and Miller, L., Johnson, C., and Weaver, A., 2002, Expanded guidelines for giving a
embrace the value of a poster presentation; (2) carefully choose poster presentation: American Society of Primatologists, http://www.asp
your session and title; (3) create a storyline and format for your .org/education/EffectivePresentations.pdf (last accessed 11 Nov. 2014).
poster that facilitates giving and receiving information; (4) obey
the fundamental published guidelines for formatting the content, Purrington, C.B., 2011, Advice on designing scientific posters: http://www
text, and visualizations of a poster; (5) practice, practice, .swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/posteradvice.htm (last accessed
11 Nov. 2014).
Manuscript received 17 Aug. 2014; accepted 2 Dec 2014.
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