Guidelines for the Poster Plenary Session:

ICA’s annual poster paper session will take place during the afternoon on Thursday, 20 June at the London Metropole Hotel in the Sandringham Suite.

No other sessions are scheduled during the this plenary time slot, meaning the poster session will be one of the most widely attended events at conference. Over 100 papers will compete for attention, so make sure your presentation receives the attention it deserves!

Whether or not your research draws a crowd depends largely on how much effort you put into the presentation.The plenary poster paper session consists of aisles of freestanding boards, grouped by divisions, on which individual authors present concise summations of their research. Each board is numbered so that colleagues can find the presentation they are looking for by referring to their programs and finding the corresponding display board. However, many will scour the aisles looking for something that catches the eye. By putting a little thought and effort into designing and executing your presentation, you can help assure that it will attract the attention your work deserves.

• Design your display to fit a 4 ft. x 4 ft. space. You will be sharing an 8 ft. wide board with another presenter. (ICA will supply push pins to fasten your materials to the display boards).


• Use 1- to 2-inch letters to create a prominent label for the top of your display, giving the title of your paper and authors’ names. Keep in mind that you’re trying to draw an audience from 8 to 10 feet away.


• Prepare the remainder of your display for reading at arm’s length, using no smaller than 1/2-inch letters (tacking up a copy of your paper simply does not do it in this format).


• Determine the key points of your paper and highlight these, rather than trying to cover the whole paper.


• Use display elements — bullets, enumeration, tables, clip art, graphs, figures, photos –rather than paragraph style, to get across your most salient points in a clear and concise manner.


• Take advantage of your computer’s design capabilities — boldface important points, use borders, lines, font type variations — whatever it takes to enliven your presentation.


• Consider using color to draw attention to various portions of your presentation through type, background, or visual display elements.


• Get advice from your university’s graphic design unit or a photocopying center to help you visually communicate your ideas. The success of your experience depends largely on how creatively and effectively you get your ideas across.


• Give yourself plenty of time to set up your display, so that you are ready to discuss your research and answer questions when the session opens. The room will be available beginning at 08:00.

For additional ideas, click here to see last year's top posters.