Poster writing guidance for NITARP

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I have assembled some poster information here: http://web.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/rebull/working/nitarppostertemplates/

Please be sure to include:

There is a ppt template in the directory above, with the paper size and margins set properly, and with these things included (except for the author list). You can start from there if you want, and change the background (or even the length; see description in text in ppt file).

CAUTION: do not change the poster length mid-edit, because it will then lengthen ALL of your embedded images at the same time, meaning that you have to go back and fix them to be their original sizes again.

Want to see posters from past years? They are all here: http://nitarp.ipac.caltech.edu/resource_category/8-Publications You can also browse by team, and look at all the posters per team, e.g.: box on right hand side of this page: http://nitarp.ipac.caltech.edu/team/30-IC-2118-Rebull

Want some specific examples of mine from real projects? In that website above, you will find three other totally different posters from three other totally different projects in different stages. Example 3 was already in the journal when I wrote it. Example 2 was mostly in the journal, but was reporting on some new data to add to the stuff in the journal. Example 1 was totally punting on a brand new project and I did not get as much done before the conference as I was hoping. They ALL have too much text!

Regardless of whether or not you look at my posters or use my ppt template, some words of advice:

  • use BIG FONTS. Remember that you need to be able to read this through the bubble of people standing at an adjacent poster.
  • use BIG FONTS. Remember that you do not need to be utterly thorough in a poster. People reading this will be over-stimulated and under-caffeinated. They won't remember details. Keep it BIG PICTURE, but remember the details in case you are asked questions (and you probably will be asked questions!). (In other words, for your science poster, they will not care how you used Excel to do stuff, or how many weeks/months you spent fighting with the computer to make it do what you wanted, or how much time you spent making sure all your numbers are really correct. All that stuff is expected by the folks attending this meeting, as much as they expect you to use a computer and breathe oxygen. They *will* care about why you did your work and what, scientifically, you learned. Stuff about how impressed you were at how many months it took you to get one little number should most likely go into your education poster, not your science poster.)
  • using BIG FONTS means that the big space fills up REALLY FAST, especially if you use eye-catching images or plots. I guarantee you that you will have to edit down from the first draft what you include in the poster.
  • Remember that the poster is not the same as a paper. Use BIG FONTS, and that means you should NOT have tons of text!

In any case, please do forward a pdf of your poster when you have it so that I can add it to the NITARP website.

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