Introduction
Posters have become one of the most important vehicles for presenting work at conferences. Poster sessions provide a wonderful forum to meet colleagues and discuss scientific work on a person-to-person basis. In this case posters are made to attract something to the world wide reader. In this special occasion I’m going to challenge you to make a kind of poster. A few nice examples are displayed at the EFCATS website.
Task
You are the public relation of SEKAR (one of the PSIS supporters’ organization in South Semarang) your job is to get new member of it and also to spread out the existence of your organization.
1) Create a poster about your organization, to be made attractive for the readers. The main information to be included in the poster is: organization information, the pictures of the PSIS’s squad, the schedule of home and away matches. You can also include additional services of your own choice to add the value of your poster. Describe in detail the itinerary from day 1 to day 6. The poster should not exceed 1 page of A3 paper. You can add additional information in your poster as follow:
2) Present your package plan to the board of directors (the class). The presentation should be from 15 to 20 minutes.
Process
- You will be working individually. Search the information from websites the links of which are provided below. As you search the web pages, note down important information that you need for your poster.
- The message of your poster.
Try to formulate the essence of what you want to present in a single sentence. Examples of such sentences are: - I want to convince the audience that my new catalyst is the best one for converting methane into ethylene.
- Analyzing kinetic data on reaction x with our microkinetic model enables one to define better processing conditions.
- The new ABC technique yields reliable surface areas of supported oxide catalysts
Use this sentence as a guide for selecting the data you need to include. You probably won’t actually print this sentence in the poster but it helps you to make up your mind and focus on what your poster is about.
- Introduction. Write a few sentences of introduction to identify the problem you address, what is known about it, the objectives of your work and what your approach is to investigate the problem. Use short sentences and keep this section as concise as possible. Consider if complete sentences might be replaced by a bulleted list or by a graphic.
- Results. Select the most pertinent results that support your message. Remove everything that is not absolutely necessary. Think about attractive ways to present the data in figures. Try to avoid tables as much as possible. Figures and captions should be easy to read (see also Figures 4-6). Consider adding a brief conclusion below every figure.
- Conclusion. Write the conclusions in short, clear statements, preferably as a list. Finish with an assessment of what you have achieved in relation to your objectives, and, perhaps, what your future plans are.
- Attention getters. How are you going to draw the people’s attention? An attractive title serves as such to some extent, but is not enough. Select one of your most important results, a photo, a scheme explaining the scientific background, a model or the main conclusion, or whatever you consider as highlight of your presentation and give it a prominent place on your poster, for example in the middle or at the beginning. This is what the audience will see first. It should raise their interest and stimulate them to read your poster.
- Layout. Arrange all the parts of the poster around your attention getter. Add headers if necessary to clarify the structure of your poster, and add everything else that is needed, such as literature, acknowledgements. Ensure that author name(s) and affiliation are on the poster.
- Review, revise, optimize. Ask your co-authors and/or colleagues to comment on a draft version of your poster. Assess very critically if the poster indeed conveys the message you want.
- Now, you can arrange the information you have gathered, and start writing up your poster.
- After the poster is ready, prepare for the presentation.
Practise several times so that your presentation would be effective and attractive. Pay attention to the time limit.
Evaluation
1. The poster (total: 60 points)
Criteria | Indicator |
Clarity (20 points) | Concise choice of vocabulary and sentence structures |
Accuracy (20 points) | Correct information based on the information at the suggested websites |
Presentation (20 points) | Interesting layout with effective pictures and illustration to enhance clarity and attractiveness |
2. The oral presentation (total: 40 points)
Criteria | Indicator |
Pronunciation (10 points) | Intelligible pronunciation with accurate stress and intonation |
Fluency (10 points) | Smooth flow of ideas from opening, body, and closure of the presentation |
Body language (10 points) | Effective use of body language to enhance the attention from the audience |
Use of visual aid (10 points) | Effective use of visual aids to improve the clarity of the presentation |
Conclusion
Congratulations!
You are now ready to publish your own poster. The next thing to think about is how the information of your poster can be accessed by people. That would be your next task though. For now, you can celebrate your success in this project.
Acknowledgment
I would like to thank to the owners or copyright holders of the following websites from which the resources of this web quest are cited:
