Poster presentations

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Be prepared to be asked questions about anything and everything! Learn to say I don't know and I will look into that for you. Be relaxed and you'll be fine! Most of the time people will know nothing about your poster---be ready to answer questions that may be obviously found on your poster! Good luck---
 
^Good advice above. Most of the questions you get will probably be pretty basic, i.e. specifics about your methods, sample, measures, etc. You'll also probably get a couple people who ask questions that are beyond the scope of your study, to which you'll just reply with "That's a great question, I hadn't thought of that." Most people will just walk by, look at your poster and give you a smile and a nod, and say "interesting..."

The poster presentation experience is much more laid back than most first timers realize. Relax and enjoy yourself. No one (mostly) is there to rip your research apart.
 
Or you'll get put in the back and nobody will come by your poster.

/not like I'm bitter or anything
 
sunshine008 said:
What kinds of questions may people ask when presenting a poster (or even a paper- just your research in some way)?

Anyone been asked ridiculous things?
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Think about it this way: A poster or paper presentation is a time for you to get peer-feedback...often from those who are advanced in the field. Be open to anyone's question (you'll be able to confidently answer most of them) and get a mini-discussion out of each person who comes by your poster, finding out their interest in your work. Sometimes people who stop by have links to their own research and can shine some light on your work. Then, all the comments and feedback you receive can help you formulate the future direction of your poster or paper-presenation into a manuscript draft! So think big!

For example, I presented a poster and used a mediating model for my statistics. I got significant results for one of my hypotheses. But, someone came by and we discussed what my data would like if I used a moderating model. I have yet to rerun the stats, but I'm sure it would be statistically stronger than my original idea. When I get a spare moment, I intend to run the stats & add these modifications to the original work, which can be done because the data are mine. That person's expertise really helped spin the meaning of my work in another way and improved my understanding.

Good luck! :luck:
 
People might ask you to walk them through the poster, so you'll want to have a high level of comfort with the material without having to look at it. You'll also want to have an answer to, "Well...what are you planning next?" or "What would you have done differently?" I had a great idea come from a conversation that started with a "What's next?" kind of question. I didn't end up having time to do it, but it would have been an interesting follow-up. I then had a great response to that question for the rest of the poster session.😀
 
I made some handouts for my first presentation. It was a one page summary organized by Title, Objective/Questions, Findings, Discussions and my contact information.

You never know you will meet and it looks good to reference that document at times.

Also be prepared to say "that's a great question and something i need to further investigate" because you will unfortunately have some hot shot stats/methods guru ask you why you didn't do something advanced instead of your chosen method.
 
I would say engage in the conversations. Chat people up if they seem to be interested in either your research or you. My experience has been such that poster presentations are great networking opportunities. I met this person during my presentation last year who became my lead to a potential employment.

Good luck!
 
futureapppsy2 said:
Don't bring handouts. They are a waste of money and trees.
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I've actually had a number of people ask me for handouts about posters I've made, although I'm sure there are now electronic ways to handle all that instead if someone would prefer. I definitely wouldn't suggest going overboard on the number of copies, though; 20-25 should likely be enough.
 
AcronymAllergy said:
I've actually had a number of people ask me for handouts about posters I've made, although I'm sure there are now electronic ways to handle all that instead if someone would prefer. I definitely wouldn't suggest going overboard on the number of copies, though; 20-25 should likely be enough.
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I've found having people write down their email and emailing them the poster or a handout works well. In my experience, people rarely take handouts, even if they are legitimately interested in a poster. Plus, they are probably more likely to refer to something that they have electronically rather than go through and dig out a handout from a conference. YMMV, of course.
 
Some conferences require handouts and some faculty view not having handouts as a lack of preparedness. I think it is silly but I never would do a poster without handouts.
 
futureapppsy2 said:
I've found having people write down their email and emailing them the poster or a handout works well. In my experience, people rarely take handouts, even if they are legitimately interested in a poster. Plus, they are probably more likely to refer to something that they have electronically rather than go through and dig out a handout from a conference. YMMV, of course.
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I definitely agree that emailing would probably end up being more convenient for most people, although as Pragma mentioned, I could see how attendees might think of you as unprepared if you didn't have any handouts available. I'd think it could vary depending on the typical tone/atmosphere of the conference, though. I've also seen people starting to use QR codes, which saves you from even having to write down email addresses.
 
Yeah, I've had the same experience with bringing handouts.
 
I learned a bunch of great networking tips from biz trade-shows that I like to employ at academic conferences. None of these will make you rich, so I don't mind sharing. 😉

1. ALWAYS have a handout...usually 1 page and include your contact info...not just a printout of your poster. If possible use push-pins to hang up some handouts, in addition to having some on a table/near your poster. The push-pin'd ones are more visible, and the table ones can be for the more shy conference go'ers.

2. ALWAYS have an e-mail sign-up list to offer updates about your research (e.g. publications coming, follow-up plans, etc). The only caveat is that you better send out some kind of update.

3. ALWAYS have business cards. I like having them on the table bc they are easy for me to grab and I don't have to fumble around if I have a snack in my pocket bc I didn't have time to get food because I had to set up my poster.

4. ALWAYS bring push-pins...as you never want to be stuck trying to tape a poster bc there were no thumb tacs around/left.
 
You get tables by your poster? I have nothing to set anything on, ever.
 
If people are truly going to knock you for "preparedness" for not printing out a bunch of handouts that will quickly get thrown away or recycled, that's a really poor operational definition of it, IMO. There are much better ways to judge preparedness--namely, how well does the presenter know his or her poster and the quality of the poster itself. I gave up on handouts after realizing that the poster presenters (self included, and my poster won an award, so it wasn't just an awful poster 😉 ) were literally begging each other to take them, tbh.

I think I've gotten a table for a poster presentation only once, but I frequently has gotten repurposed chairs.
 
I guess I was asked a "ridiculous" category question this past weekend at a conference. My poster had to do with different religious viewpoints and a lady actually had the audacity to go down the list of religious viewpoints in the poster asking me if I was that one or this one and then proceeded to say negative things about my religious viewpoint. Yeah, that was fun. -_-
 
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