Vergonio

Editorial

Ten Simple Rules for a Good Poster
Presentation
Thomas C. Erren*, Philip E. Bourne
osters are a key component of
communicating your science
and an important element in a
successful scientific career. Posters,
while delivering the same high-quality
science, offer a different medium from
either oral presentations [1] or
published papers [2], and should be
treated accordingly.Posters should be
considered a snapshot of your work
intended to engage colleagues in a
dialog about the work, or, if you are not
present, to be a summary that will
encourage the reader to want to learn
more. Many a lifelong collaboration [3]
has begun in front of a poster board.
Here are ten simple rules for
maximizing the return on the timeconsuming process of preparing and
presentingan effective poster.

P

Rule 1: Define the Purpose
The purpose will vary depending on
the status and nature of the work being
presented, as well as the intent. Some
posters are designed to be used again
and again; for example, those making
conference attendees aware of a shared
resource. Others will likely be used
once at a conference and then be
relegated to the wall in thelaboratory.
Before you start preparing the poster,
ask yourself the following questions:
What do you want the person passing
by your poster to do? Engage in a
discussion about the content? Learn
enough to go off and want to try
something for themselves? Want to
collaborate? All the above, or none of
the above but something else? Style
your poster accordingly.

Rule 2: Sell Your Work in TenSeconds
Some conferences will present
hundreds of posters; you will need to
fight for attention. The first
impressions of your poster, and to a
lesser extent what you might say when
standing in front of it, are crucial. It is
analogous to being in an elevator and
having a few seconds to peak someone’s
interest before they get off. The sad

truth is that you have to sell your work.
Oneapproach is to pose your work as
addressing a decisive question, which
you then address as best you can. Once
you have posed the question, which
may well also be the motivation for the
study, the focus of your poster should
be on addressing that question in a
clear and concise way.

Rule 3: The Title Is Important
The title is a good way to sell your
work. It may be the only thing theconference attendee sees before they
reach your poster. The title should
make them want to come and visit.
The title might pose a decisive
question, define the scope of the study,
or hint at a new finding. Above all, the
title should be short and
comprehensible to a broad audience.
The title is your equivalent of a
newspaper headline—short, sharp, and
compelling.

Rule 4: Poster AcceptanceMeans Nothing
Do not take the acceptance of a
poster as an endorsement of your work.
Conferences need attendees to be
financially viable. Many attendees who
are there on grants cannot justify
attending a conference unless they
present. There are a small number of
speaking slots compared with
attendees. How to solve the dilemma?
Enter posters; this way everyone can
present. In other words,your poster
has not been endorsed, just accepted.
To get endorsement from your peers,
do good science and present it well on
the poster.

Rule 5: Many of the Rules for Writing
a Good Paper Apply to Posters, Too
Identify your audience and provide
the appropriate scope and depth of
content. If the conference includes
nonspecialists, cater to them. Just as the
abstract of a paper needsto be a
succinct summary of the motivation,

PLoS Computational Biology | www.ploscompbiol.org

0777

hypothesis to be tested, major results,
and conclusions, so does your poster.

Rule 6: Good Posters Have Unique
Features Not Pertinent to Papers
The amount of material presented in
a paper far outweighs what is presented
on a poster. A poster requires you to
distill the work, yet...