Sadie Collective will have their second conference “Vision 20/20: Restore, Revive, Reclaim” for black women interested in economics and related fields. If you do not know the inspiring leaders of this group, please read here about them.
I have had the privilege of working with the early-career scholars who will share their research at a poster session during the conference.
Below are tips that I gave them on making research posters.
Advice on Research Posters
1) Know your message.
Above all else, your poster must convey the message of your research. To do so, you must know your message! Start by answering these five questions:
- What is the motivation for your research project? Why should anyone else care?
- What is your research question? Be specific. Tell us the aim of your project.
- How do you answer your question? Your methods? Data, estimation, etc.
- What are your findings? Start with your most important finding.
- How would you extend your research in the future?
Note: answers to these questions should appear in your abstract and be the central part of your conversations at the poster session. This step takes time for everyone. Get feedback.
2) Sketch your poster on paper. Try different arrangements. This is YOUR poster.
Posters allow you to visually share your research. Visuals are also important in seminar presentations. Instead of slides you have a large board to share your research. Have fun. Here are some ideas:
- Pictures are an excellent way to motivate your research and draw individuals to your poster.
- Have a chart that shows your main research finding. See my blogpost for tips on charts.
- You can use tables. Charts are better than tables, but tables can be useful.
- Draft your points and EDIT them. Short phrases are better than sentences.
- Blank space is your friend. People can only process so much information. You want them to listen to you talk ad not to stare at your poster to read it.
- Use as large a font as possible. Make charts as large as possible.
3) Give yourself TIME to plan and make your poster.
Thinking about how you want to present your research takes time for everyone.
- Do NOT wait until two days before the deadline to start. You need at least a week.
- Proofread, proofread. Avoid typos, missing axis label, etc.
- Have a friend review the messages on your poster.
- Practice OUT LOUD the five-minute talk about each aspect of your poster. The poster and your words need to work together.
- Your poster will NOT perfect. It must be DONE. Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
These are good principles to apply to all stages of your research. You need to learn when to stop running regressions or trying to make one more new argument. Likewise, you need to send your paper out for review. You cannot teach others if you do not share what you have learned.
Other Resources
If this poster is your first one, use these resources below sparingly. Doing must take precedence over reading. That said, you can find inspiration in these resources. Inspiration is fun. Thanks to everyone who replied to my #EconAdvice tweet.
- Better Posters blog: lots of great advice here and a forthcoming book.
- Population Association of America: guidelines for posters at their annual conference. This page has links to recent poster winners. Click through to see photos of the posters.
- Agricultural and Applied Economics Association: guidelines for posters at their annual meeting, as well examples of posters.
- Inside Higher Ed: webpage, including as video, on how to make a better poster.
- Karl Muth: advice from Twitter.
- Elena Falcettoni: advice from Twitter.
- London School of Economics and Political Science: webpage on how to design a poster.
- Brent Thorne: Github page on making a poster in R.
If you have more advice on posters, please leave a comment. Thanks!