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Summer Poster Day 2014

Overview

Summer Poster Day is your time to share the research you have been conducting at the NIH and at the same time develop your communication and networking skills. Any student (high school, college, medical/dental, or graduate) working in an intramural research group this summer may present. You may not have final results. However, you can still present background information on your project, any data you may have collected, or a discussion of the technical problems you encountered.

We encourage all current summer interns in Bethesda/Rockville, Baltimore and Frederick to present at this event. During the session, you will spend a period of time at your poster discussing your project informally with your peers and other members of the NIH community.

Summer Poster Day 2014 is scheduled for Thursday, August 7th. It will be held in the Natcher Conference Center (Building 45) from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. If you want to participate in Summer Poster Day, you must sign up in advance. You should also make certain that your mentor approves of your poster title. You can sign up to present a poster beginning June 10. The deadline to sign up is Tuesday, July 8 at 5:00 pm (EDT). Confirmation of participation in the event will be e-mailed by July 22. At that time you will receive information regarding your poster board assignment (board number, session, and time) as well as instructions for putting up your poster.

Creating Your Poster

Summer interns participating in this event will be a assigned a bulletin board-like surface three and a half feet high and three and a half feet wide on which to display their information. Under no circumstances should your poster exceed this size. Posters should include

  • an introduction (providing background information),
  • a brief statement of the purpose of the project,
  • a description of materials and methods used, and
  • a summary of results and conclusions.

We recommend that you begin to write and proof-read your poster several weeks in advance. You should also develop and practice a short verbal description of the work that you can present to colleagues who visit your poster.

Here are some other general guidelines for laying out your poster:

  • A light background with dark text is easiest to read.
  • Use one font and style to integrate all portions of your poster.
  • Make sure the poster can be read from at least 4 to 6 feet away.
  • Label graphics directly and use tables for small data sets.
  • Keep your title simple and use it to state the conclusion or focus of your study.
  • Figures, diagrams, and bullet points are better than paragraphs of text.
  • A general rule of thumb is to allow 40% of your space for graphics, 20% for text, and 40% for white space.

If you are uncertain what scientists mean when they talk about presenting a poster, register to attend the workshop on "Creating and Presenting Dynamic Posters" on July 10 or refer to the video and handout developed by OITE Staff on the same topic. NOTE: posters presented by prior NIH trainees will be available for viewing after the poster workshop on July 10.