Guest Post: Electronic Posters—Quick Tips and Ideas

[This post is from science writer and editor Parvathy Hariharan. Thanks, Parvathy! —Barbara]

More and more research conferences now include electronic posters (e-posters). Some of these conferences require e-posters to show only static images. (In other words, they display traditional posters in electronic format.) Others require e-posters to include dynamic elements, such as videos or animations. They may also allow other features such as audio. Here are some tips to keep in mind when creating e-posters.

• Conferences typically indicate the device on which the e-posters will be displayed and its specifications. Some posters are designed for viewing without interaction. Others may need the viewer to press a “play” button or zoom in on an image via touchscreen. Knowing these aspects and the operating system of the device will help avoid last-minute compatibility problems.
• If you might want to use the Internet in a dynamic poster, find out the availability, speed, and pricing of Internet access in the room where the posters will appear. This can help you determine whether, for example, you can stream online videos from links embedded in your poster.
• As in other public communication, ensure that confidential information is not viewable or searchable under any circumstances. Neither the conference organizers nor the viewers should be able to access items such as patients’ names and identification numbers.
• As a precaution, save an extra copy of your e-poster. For instance, do so on a USB drive, external hard disk, or cloud-based computing system. Also save the individual elements of the poster (such as text, audios, animations, videos, and photos) in a separate folder as backup.