A standard poster session at a professional conference such as the PAA annual meeting provides space on a poster board that is 4ft (48in) high and 8ft (96in) wide. It is possible using our DesignJet 500 printer to print single-sheet posters up to 42in high and 150ft long. These allow for easy transport, setup, and breakdown of poster displays.

Our standard software application to create a poster for output on the DesignJet is Microsoft PowerPoint. Simply create a single-slide presentation of large dimensions, and print it from the scanner workstation in Maxcy 004 (Don's office).

You can compose your poster from a variety of sources. If you already have an existing traditional multi-slide PowerPoint presentation, than you can cut-and-paste its various elements into a single-sheet poster fairly easily. Or, you can build it from scratch from text documents, tables, charts, maps, photos, and other elements.

It's a good idea to sketch your rough plans for how the poster will be laid out on paper before you begin your work on the computer. This will help you to focus on the overall presentation first, before you get into the detailed work of designing your poster piece-by-piece. Don't forget the general design principles of including whitespace, keeping lines and colors understated, avoiding distortions, explaining and annotating, and trying to make every mark contribute to telling your story.

Note: You can download a blank template presentation ( 86KB) constructed according to the following step-by-step instructions. It looks a bit like this:

Feel free to modify this sample poster in any way to suit your own style.

Step-by-step instructions

1. Start PowerPoint and open a new presentation.

   PowerPoint has a fixed limit of 56in wide on the size of a slide, so you cannot specify a presentation of the full dimensions of the available poster board (96in). However, you can simply set up your presentation at half the final size and print it at 200% magnification. This generally works very well. A presentation set up at 47in x 21in produces an attractive 94in x 42in poster.

   Click on File → Page Setup... and set your presentation size to Custom/47in wide/21in high.

   

   If you are sizing your poster for a use other than a conference poster session, you can set the dimensions to any size you like. Just remember that the dimensions of the finished piece need to fit within the 42in-wide paper.

   Click OK.

   Your poster will look something like this:

   

2. Clear the poster of all default text boxes and other elements.

   Select all the boilerplate header and body text boxes by pressing Ctrl+A or clicking on Edit → Select All, then press the Del key to clear them all.

   

3. Optional: Configure PowerPoint's layout tools to help you place the elements of your poster within your overall layout.

   The grid is a set of points that elements will "snap" to. That is, if you are moving an element and it gets close to one of these points, it will be attracted to the point and stick next to it. This helps you to line up various elements in straight lines. If you need to place an element at an arbitrary location near the grid, and need to temporarily disable the grid's attraction, just hold down the Alt key while positioning the element.

   Drawing guides are layout lines that let you set up arbitrary columns and rows on your layout. You can make as many horizontal and vertical guides as you like.

   To configure the grid and drawing guides:

   Click on View → Grid and Guides... and turn On Snap objects to grid, set the grid spacing to 1in, and turn on Display drawing guides on screen. Remember that you will be printing at 200% magnification, so any grid size will effectively be doubled on your final print.

   

   You can specify any other grid size you like, and you can also choose not to use guides.

   Click OK.

   

   You can move and add as many guides as you like. To move an existing guide, just click-and-drag it to the location you want. To remove a guide, just click-and-drag it right off the edge of the slide. To add a guide, press and hold down the Ctrl key while click-and-dragging an existing guide. A new guide will be created and will move to the location you specify, leaving the original in place.

   If you have turned on Snap objects to grid, the guides will automatically snap to grid points. If you want to place a guide in an arbitrary position away from the grid, just press and hold down the Alt key while you position the guide.

   

   Remember that the guides will not print, so if you really want them to be a visual part of your printed poster, you must manually draw lines in the same place using the line tool . This is not recommended for design reasons.

4. Set a background color and default font.

   A background color will give your poster more character and impact. We recommend a light tone rather than a dark one. This is actually not for economic reasons - we can afford the ink consumption of a dark poster. However, legibility is improved and your message will have more visual priority on a light background. Dark backgrounds tend to swallow and dominate text and figures. We also do not recommend gradient fills or textures. These are too visually active, and detract from your narrative.

   To set a color, click on Format → Background... and expand the drop-down box under the Background fill preview box. Select More colors...

   

   Pick a light color close to the center of the color wheel, or select the Custom tab for a wider selection of colors.

   

   Click OK.

   

   You can also set a default font for use in your poster. By default, PowerPoint will use Arial in new text boxes. This is inoffensive enough, but has a middle-management feel that adds nothing to your design. We recommend a different sans serif font with more personality, such as Verdana, Trebuchet MS, or Tahoma. You can avoid having to manually change the font of every text box you make by setting the default font before you begin.

   To do this, click on Format → Font... and select the font of your choice.

   

   Click OK.

5. Now that you have set up your basic structure, save your file with Ctrl+S or File → Save. As you work on building your poster, remember to save often.
6. Add a title and other header information.

   The easiest way to add these items is with text boxes and other drawing tools. These tools are available on the Drawing toolbar, which looks like this:

   

   If this is not visible at the top or bottom of your PowerPoint window, you need to turn it on. To do this, right-click on any menu or toolbar that is visible, and select Drawing from the popup list of available toolbars.

   

   Once you can see this toolbar, use the rectangle button and the text box button to add colored boxes and text of any kind. You can use additional drawing tools to add lines, ellipses, pictures, charts, and other graphic elements.

   To change the color of any graphic or text elements, first select the element by clicking on it. Then use the fill , line , or font toolbar buttons.

   To change additional features of a graphic or text element, select it, then click Format → Font... or Format → AutoShape... . As a shortcut, you can right-click on any element and select Format Font... or Format AutoShape... as appropriate.

   Note: You can download a blank template presentation ( 86KB) constructed according to these instructions to this point. It looks like this:

   

   Feel free to modify the sample poster's colors, fonts, placement, etc. for your own style.

7. Add your content to the poster. You can add elements from a wide range of sources, including:
   • Text
     • PowerPoint
       Add text anywhere on your poster using the text box toolbar button . Format it as needed by either selecting the entire box, or portions of its contents by clicking-and-dragging. Click on the Format menu, and select the appropriate formatting tools, such as Font..., Bullets and Numbering..., Alignment..., Line Spacing..., or AutoShape..., which sets the outline and background color of the text box.
     • Word
       Simply select any text from a Word document, copy it with Ctrl+C, then paste it in PowerPoint with Ctrl+V. This will create a new text box containing the copied text with the default font formatting of your PowerPoint poster. If you want to preserve the formatting that the text had in the original Word document, the click on Edit → Paste Special... instead, and select Formatted Text (RTF).
       
       
   • Tables
     • Excel
       For maximum flexibility and control, we recommmend crafting your tables in Excel, then copying them to your PowerPoint poster. To copy an existing table from an Excel worksheet, click-and-drag in Excel to select the cells of interest. Press Ctrl+C to copy the cells to the clipboard. In PowerPoint, click on Edit → Paste Special... and select Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object. This will paste the spreadsheet onto the poster in a form that is still editable and formattable with the standard Excel tools. Just double-click the pasted table to change it.
     • PowerPoint
       PowerPoint's native tables are a little overly-simplified, and modifying them can be difficult. However, for a simple table they can be the fastest means to an end. To create a PowerPoint table, just click on Insert → Table... and specify the number of rows and columns you want. You can then add table information, manipulate rows and columns, and format cells as needed. For most formatting options, just select the cells you want to change by clicking-and-dragging across them, then right-click and choose any appropriate option. Borders and fill... gives you control over cells' line borders, background colors, text placement and rotation, and internal margins. To specify typeface, size, weight, color, and other options for any text in your table, select the relevant text and click on Format → Font...
     • Word
       As with Excel, you can click-and-drag across a Word document table to select the cells of interest. Press Ctrl+C to copy the cells to the clipboard. In PowerPoint, click on Edit → Paste Special ... and select Microsoft Word Document Object. Again, however, it is usually far more efficient to re-create the table as a new PowerPoint table, as above.

     Tables are most effective when they are sorted by the variable of interest, rather than alphabetically by category. For larger/wider tables, very faint background stripes can help the viewer to trace a line across the full horizontal span.

   • Charts
     • PowerPoint
       It is possible to create a chart from scratch in PowerPoint (Insert → Chart...). Doing this will create a new chart object that utilizes the same charting engine as Excel. However, because PowerPoint's chart formatting and data entry interface is less familiar and more restrictive than Excel's, we recommend creating your charts in Excel instead, and copying them onto your poster as below.
     • Excel
       Select your Excel chart by clicking on the chart, then copy it to the clipboard with Ctrl+C. In PowerPoint, paste the chart using Ctrl+V. Resize and position as necessary.
     • Stata, SPSS, SAS, Amos, or other statistical applications
       If possible, export your graphic in a vector-based format such as Enhanced Metafile (.emf), Windows Metafile (.wmf), or Encapsulated PostScript (.eps). Otherwise, export in a bitmapped format such as .png, .tif, or .gif, and if possible specify a very high dpi resolution in the range of 600-1200dpi. Insert your chart into your poster in PowerPoint by clicking Insert → Picture → From File... and browsing to your file.

     Regardless of its origin, your original chart may have a solid white chart area and a white or colored plot area. If you paste such a chart onto a poster with a tinted background, then the chart will carry with it its personal white field. For a more integrated look, format the pasted chart to have fills of "none" for the chart area and plot area. This will turn the chart background transparent, and allow the poster background to show through.

     

     This is typically accomplished by double-clicking the chart object to edit it, selecting the chart element to turn transparent, then right-clicking and selecting Format ... to specify a fill of "none."

   • Maps
     • ArcGIS
       For maximum resolution of your final printed image, export your ArcMap maps in the Enhanced Metafile (.emf) format. Insert your map into your poster in PowerPoint by clicking Insert → Picture → From File... and browsing to your .emf file.
   • Photos & Illustrations
     • You can include digital graphics such as JPGs, GIFs, PNGs, and TIFs, or scan your own collection of printed materials. These can be scanned in Maxcy 004, and should be scanned at a high resolution such as 800 or 1200dpi for use on a large poster. Contact us for help in scanning a suitably high-resolution image. Insert any graphic file into your poster in PowerPoint by clicking Insert → Picture → From File... and browsing to your graphic file.

   You will find as you start adding content to your poster that there are many quirks in the process of pasting in content from various applications. Elements from Microsoft Office software, in particular, will be prone to stretching, spontaneous font re-sizing and replacement, disalignment, and other frustrations. The only weapon against the barrage of inconsistencies in the software is to be as consistent as possible yourself. Be methodical and plan ahead if you will be creating multiple similar charts. Also remember that if you are resizing a rectangular element such as a chart or a photo, use the resizing handle on a corner (rather than a side), and hold down the Shift key while you click-and-drag. This usually ensures that the box will get resized proportionally, without distortion.

   You may want to align certain elements to be lined up vertically or horizontally. To do this in PowerPoint:

   • Make sure that Snap objects to grid is turned on in the Grids and Guides settings (see above).
   • Select the first object you want to be lined up with other objects, and click-and-drag it to move it to any position. It will snap into place at a grid point. Don't worry about getting this first object into its final position at this point, just get it lined up with grid.
   • Select the second object to line up, and move it as well, placing it at another grid point that is in line with the first object in the axis of interest. For example, if you ultimately want to line up the objects along their left edge, just focus on using the grid to get their left edges in line. Do not worry about the vertical spacing between them yet.
   • Once you have dropped the second object in place, you can then move it a second time to adjust its spacing from the first object. As you do this, hold down both the Shift and Alt keys. The Shift constrains the movement of the object to only one axis (only vertically or horizontally, depending on the direction you move the object) and the Alt lets you position the object without the influence of the grid points.
   • Repeat as necessary with additional objects.
   • Once you have aligned and spaced all the objects that you will need, then select all of them at the same time by holding down the Shift key and clicking on each in turn. When they are all selected, they can be moved as a group (holding down Alt if you want to ignore the grid) into their final position as a set.
   • With practice, you will easily be able to precisely control your layout for professional results.

   As you design your poster, it may be tempting to adhere to a rigid structure that emulates a dozen letter-size pages pasted to a large sheet in a tabular grid. Instead, use the flexibility of the large format to emphasize and enlarge the main interesting elements of your work, and reduce the visual footprint of secondary or less important charts and references. Structure is good, but not at the point of creating a wall of identical boring prison cells.

   If you get stuck or confused, and are not sure of the best way to design your graphics or how to execute your design, contact Don for help. He is available for consultation and training at any time.

8. See Don for an appointment to print your poster during staff hours of 8:30am-5:00pm Monday-Friday. For administrative reasons, printing directly to the DesignJet from the SSRL workstations is not supported.

   Allow at least 60 minutes for a high-quality print. 90 minutes is better to accomodate initial problems. We expect heavy demand of the printer in the three weeks leading up to the PAA annual meeting, and we will schedule printing sessions in 2-hour windows.

Make the maximum impact with a handout

Admittedly, most conference attendees are pressed for time just to complete their poster before getting on their plane. However, it is very effective to also create a one-sheet paper handout that describes the key points of your presentation and provides contact information. When you hand this to interested viewers of your poster, they can take away the core story of your work, and have a handy reminder of who you are and how to reach you if they want to approach you for more detail. Additionally, it shows that you have enough confidence in your work that you want to leave a permanent trace of it on paper.

Of course, if you do create such a handout it should be created as professionally and effectively as your poster, and is best produced on high-quality paper.

Transporting your poster

When you have completed your piece, we provide cardboard shipping tubes, suitable for packing and carrying your poster, at no cost. Carry-on handling is recommended for these tubes.

Credits

Adapted from an original document by Prof. Naresh Kumar, PSTC