Poster Guidelines and Templates

Poster size and display
Poster type
Poster design help
Accessibility
Printing

Poster size and display

We will provide free-standing display boards that are 4 feet tall by 8 feet wide. Two posters will be displayed on each side of these display boards. Therefore, your poster should not be wider than 40 inches*. If your poster is larger than 40 inches wide, please indicate this in the “special needs” comment box in the “Submit a Learning Story” form.

(*Please note: We cannot print posters on campus that are 40 inches wide. Please see below for printing guidelines.)

We will provide a tabletop. We cannot provide multimedia equipment such as laptops, projectors, speakers, etc. If you need access to an electrical outlet, please indicate this in the special needs comment box. Wireless internet is available in the room.

Poster type

We recommend that you create a full-sized poster in MS PowerPoint or other presentation software and allow the university to print it for you on one of the campus full-size plotters. Posters created this way look more professional than posters created by printing many individual pages and piecing them together. See the printing guidelines below.

Poster design help

The most important thing to keep in mind while designing your poster is that posters are visual. Don’t just write a paper and print it out as a poster — create a poster. There are many internet-based resources to help you create a good-looking, effective poster. Start with these:

http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/infolit/poster.htm
http://www.soe.uoguelph.ca/webfiles/agalvez/poster/
http://www.waspacegrant.org/posterdesign.html

Or, just use one of the poster templates we have provided:

Accessibility

The templates above have been created to meet accessibility standards if objects are not moved around within the templates. All posters must be created so that they may be displayed online in accessible pdf format.

Click here for directions on how to create an accessible pdf from MS PowerPoint 2007.

Printing

To submit your poster for free printing, please follow these steps:

  • Create your poster in MS PowerPoint 2007 or other presentation software. MAKE SURE to include ALL THE NAMES of the authors ON THE POSTER!
  • MAKE SURE that your poster is no more than 24 x 36 inches.
  • Convert your poster to a pdf-type file, ENSURING that the dimensions of the pdf are the correct dimensions of your finished poster.
  • Put both forms of your poster, the Powerpoint (or other native file format) and the PDF version, on a disk and drop it by University Advancement (CLA, T5) by the due date FRIDAY, APRIL 12 @ 5:00 PM.
  • PLEASE WRITE YOUR NAME AND CONTACT NUMBER ON YOUR DISK.
  • Your finished poster will be available for pick up at the event on April 30 beginning at 9:00 AM.

The deadline is a firm deadline for free printing. The size restriction of no more than 24 x 36 inches is a firm limit. If you do not submit your poster for printing by the deadline or you submit a poster larger than 24 x 36 inches, you will need to print your poster at your own expense at Graphics Communications Services at a special reduced rate that we have negotiated for Stories participants. Graphics Communications Services can print a max of 24” wide by any number of inches long. Other sized dimensions would need to be printed off campus.

Posters cannot be reprinted. Please make sure that you like your poster and that it is correctly sized before submitting it.