Pennsylvania Economic Association

Undergraduate and Graduate Student Poster Session:
Requirements & Guidelines

 Requirements:

1. Students must provide their own poster boards sized at 36” by 48”.
   

2. Boards/posters should have no attachments that either pose a hazard to viewers or interfere with people walking past.  Do not mount illustrations on heavy board because these may be difficult to keep in position on the poster board.
   

3. Posters may include handouts for distribution to participants.
   

4. Include these basic elements or their equivalents on the display poster: introduction, objective, approach, results, and discussions/conclusions, data references, and bibliography.
   

5. Student must be present with their boards/posters at the scheduled presentation time in order to facilitate discussion with conference participants.  No boards/posters will be accepted at the conference without the authoring student.
   

Guidelines:

1. Prepare a label with the title of your paper and the author(s) for the top of your poster space.  A copy of the poster abstract must be included on the poster in its entirety.  The abstract should be a maximum of 200 words.
   

2. You are not required to fill up the entire available space on the display board.  However, posters should be oriented to maximize usage of space.  Be sure to provide clear labels for each section of your presentation.  The sequence of information should be clear.
   

3. Use graphs, charts, and diagrams when possible.  Make sure they are clearly labeled.  Remember, “A picture is worth a 1000 words.”
   

4. Everything on your poster should be readable from a distance of two feet or more.  All lettering should be at least 3/8 inch high, preferably in bold font.  The use of PowerPoint to prepare the poster often yields very good results.  Avoid putting too much information on a single page.  Bulleting may help you accomplish this outcome.  Expect to include roughly 16 pages printed landscape or 12 pages printed portrait in your poster.  Consider color printing the pages of your presentation.
   

5. A well-constructed poster will be self-explanatory and will free you from answering obvious questions, allowing you to discuss particular points of interest to observers.  A successful poster will be thorough and clear.
   

6. From your poster, observers should be able to comprehend your major findings.  Be sure to include descriptive statistics for any data sample.
   

7. Coverage:  Have you provided all the obvious information?  Will a casual observer walk away understanding your major findings after a quick perusal of your material?  Will a more careful reader learn enough to ask informed questions?  In addition to a title/author label and abstract, most successful posters provide brief statements of introduction/literature review/data/model/results/conclusions/implications.  Ask yourself, “What would I need to know if I were viewing this material for the first time?” and then state that information clearly.
   

8. Clarity:  Is the sequence of information evident?  Indicate the ordering of your material with numbers, letters, or arrows, when necessary.  Is the content being communicated clearly?  Keep it simple.  Place your major points in the poster and save the non-essential, but interesting sidelights for informal discussion.  Be selective.  Your final conclusions or summary should leave observers focused on a concise statement of your most important findings.