The poster as a form of presentation at scientific meetings is here to stay. It is not supposed to be less prestigious than the spoken presentations and has certain advantages. Interested colleagues will have read the abstract in the programme and will make a bee-line for the poster and its author and well-informed discussion will then ensue. Such people may not mind if the poster is detailed and lengthy in its description of the work done, but other more casual visitors will only stop if the eye is caught.

Whilst there are no set guidelines for designing a research poster, the key points below should help you:

• The poster board size is 2m wide by 1m high (landscape format). When construction/designing your poster remember to leave enough room for you to be able to stand next to the poster and not in front of it.

• The majority of posters are now produced electronically and printed using a large format printer. We encourage delegates to use this method and not to use individual sheets of paper where possible.

• The abstract need not be displayed in full, as it will be in the programme. The abstract title and authors should be displayed across the top of the poster and should be visible from at least 6 feet away.

• Use key headings such as “Introduction”, “Methods”, “Results” and “Conclusions” in large font with text under each. Key headings should be visible from at least 6ft away. Try to ensure the final main body text size is at least 28pt in size – if necessary cut out text so you can increase the text size. San-serif fonts work better for large font sizes. Paragraphs should be short, and in most cases bullet points work better. Ideally your poster should be readable to the viewer from 3ft away.

• Graphs and tables should be clear and as large as possible. It is usually worth sacrificing some detail for the sake of clarity. Colour is an advantage to highlight points and lower case lettering should be used as far as possible as this is easier to read. The text, tables and graphics should look integrated. The same typeface should be used for all if possible and ruled lines separating different types of information should be avoided

• The most difficult aspect of making a poster is getting the layout correct. Try to ensure the poster “flows” and that the contents of each section are clear to the viewer. Usually, the simpler the poster, the better

• Try to make your poster genuinely attractive and eye-catching to look at. It needs to have some of the same properties as an advertisement – effectively you are selling your research data/ideas to other delegates. A well designed poster will effectively sell your research, whereas a poorly designed poster will almost certainly detract from the content

This year we have continued our relationship with Scienceposters, a specialist poster design and print service for delegates to use if they wish. Scienceposters can professionally design and print your poster for £125 + p&p for a colour A0 poster on satin photo paper. All proofing is carried out using pdf drafts, and the service is extremely hassle-free with a quick turnaround. Scienceposters also offer a print-only service whereby they will print your A0 poster from a pdf or Powerpoint file for £38 plus p&p.

Savings can be made if files are sent to them before 16 November and also if posters are delivered direct to the meeting venue.

Standard delivery charges are £7.50 for one poster (next day delivery by Royal Mail Special Delivery).