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Poster Presentations

This guide provides information on creating posters for conference presentations.

Why Make a Poster?

A poster is a visual representation of your research. Your poster should:

  • be eye-catching
  • tell the story of your research - concisely
  • enable the viewer to engage with your research

The viewer should walk away remembering you and your work, not the way the poster looked.

Examples of Effective Posters

"A Novel Approach to Campus Health and Wellness: The UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative," by Tyler D. Watson and Ryan Babadi. Click to enlarge. 

sample poster

What You Need

Most people use Microsoft Powerpoint to design their posters - it's a common program that's easy to use. In this guide, we'll assume that you're using Powerpoint.

If you'd like to explore other options, you could also use graphic design software such as Photoshop or InDesign, or a program meant specifically for creating posters.

Advice from the Web

UCLA Undergraduate Poster Information