Your poster display constitutes an essential part of the regional and national levels of the Competition. It is judged in a private session. You do not need to formally present your poster.
You have the opportunity to answer questions about your poster and research project at a public reception and project exhibition. College Board staff members are available to answer your questions about displaying your poster. Sample poster displays are on the Siemens Foundation website.
Poster Requirements
The display unit for your poster is one meter tall and two meters wide, with three panels. The center panel is slightly less than one meter wide; the two-hinged wings are each one half meter wide.
- The unit is covered with a black Velcro loop fabric. Prepare your materials to be fastened with Velcro tape, provided by the College Board.
- Do not use pins, tape, glue, staples, or tacks.
- You may attach paper, poster board, foam-board, cardboard, or any similar material.
- The poster display is set up on a skirted table. No other items are allowed on the table as part of your presentation.
Poster Guidelines
A poster is primarily a visual medium. It is preferable to utilize headlines, pictures, and graphs rather than long segments of text.
- Summarize the important points of your research by combining headlines and short textual explanations with illustrative pictures, graphs, and tables.
- Do not simply rewrite your Research Report on a poster. Instead, convey the main points of your project in a way that interests and informs.
- Viewers should walk away not only with an understanding of your work, but also with the feeling that they learned something.
Format
This is the standard format of a scientific poster; modify it to fit your own content.
- Title: Use your written report's title.
- Your Name: Provide your name as it appears on your Research Report.
- Introduction: State the problem with an optional short explanation (one to three sentences) and your hypothesis. You may include a short explanation of the importance of the problem.
- Materials and methods: Summarize your methods and procedures.
- Results: Summarize the data through headlines, illustrative graphs, and pictures. Be selective; display only those results that illustrate your main findings.
- Discussion and conclusion: Summarize the key conclusions from the data and relate the data back to the original problem and hypothesis.
- Literature and acknowledgments: List references for all sources cited, and acknowledgments of all individuals, departments, programs, and funding resources that contributed to the project.
Design
There is no rigid format; be creative in allowing the content of your research to be reflected in your poster's design. Be innovative in combining text with graphics to convey the major points of the research project effectively and immediately.
Keep it simple: Make full use of the space but do not crowd the information, since it makes the poster appear messy.
Use colors sparingly and with taste: Colors should be used to emphasize, differentiate, and add interest.
Font types: All text should be legible from a distance of three meters.
- Use a minimum font size for the text of 14.
- Titles should be in a larger font than the other text.
- Emphasize important points through layout and the use of bold and italic fonts.
- Fonts in light colors, such as yellow
- More than three font styles
- Words entirely in capital letters
It is important that your poster is easy to read. Avoid:
Equations: Keep equations to a minimum; use them only if they are necessary for an overall understanding of your project.
Pictures and Graphs: When possible, use pictures and graphs to tell your story. Use text sparingly. Choose graph types appropriate for the information you are displaying. All diagrams and drawings should be completely labeled. All elements should be easy to view from a distance of three meters.
Consistency: Maintain a consistent style of presentation to aid the viewer.
Arrangement of components: Arrange the sections to tell the story of your project. Your layout should encourage a viewer's eye to move through the display in order. You may wish to number each part of the poster to guide the viewer.
Review: Check carefully for errors in spelling, legibility, and consistency in style.
