Information for Poster Presenters

We are so excited to welcome you as a poster presenter at the virtual 2021 ICEC! Because this year’s conference is virtual, poster preparation will be somewhat different this year than it has been in the past. Your poster materials will be available to attendees on-demand throughout the week of the conference as well as for three months following the conference to anyone who has access to the virtual event platform.

We encourage you to download the Poster Presenter badge  and use it in your email signature, on your website, on social media, etc. to let your colleagues know that you will be presenting a poster at this year’s ICEC.

Below you will find all of the information you will need to prepare and submit your poster presentation.

ICEC organizers encourage poster presenters to watch this YouTube video on creating a better scientific poster in less time. You are not required to use this format, but the conference organizers think it may improve the poster presentation experience. Mike Morrison, the graduate student who created this video, has also shared free poster templates for implementing his recommendations, which you can adapt to your needs.

Please submit your poster in ONE of these formats:

1. A traditional one-page poster as you would have prepared and printed it for an in-person conference. Your PDF poster should be no larger than 48” X 48” square (the usual size of physical posters at ICEC).
2. Up to three (3) slides prepared in a presentation software such as PowerPoint. These should include no more than (3) standard widescreen format slides.

Poster Guidelines:

• Let the poster do the work – your audience should not have to interpret the message.
• Make your poster simple and to the point. Avoid jargon.
• Use your poster to show, not tell. Express your points as graphics (graphs, charts, illustrations, and photographs). Make sure to include captions.
• Keep it visually clean; avoid many jagged edges; guide the viewer by using a visual logic with a hierarchical structure with section headings to emphasize the main points.
• State your main points in large typeface headings; use smaller typeface for details.
• Summarize your results/findings with bullet points.
• Catch your reader’s attention with accent colors for contrast and to highlight main points.
• Use borders or white space to separate sections and increase legibility.
• Make all elements, even the figure legends, visible to the person viewing the poster or watching the video.
• Use large, bold fonts. Text color should highly contrast the background color for legibility for all attendees, including those who are colorblind.
• Use standard fonts. Generally sans serif fonts (e.g., Helvetica) are good for titles. Use a font with serifs for text (e.g., Times New Roman) – they help guide the viewer’s eye.
• There will be a space in your virtual poster board to share additional PDF files or handouts if you would like.

In order to preserve the portion of the poster session that involves authors verbally sharing their work with attendees, each poster presenter is asked to submit a video of no more than 5 minutes discussing their poster. Some helpful tips on recording your video are include:

• Time your presentation and stay within your allotted time frame (5 minutes)
• Make sure you are in a well-lit and quiet area
• Dress as if you were providing the presentation in person
• Adjust your screen so that your eyeline is level with your camera. Use a stand, stack of books or boxes if needed to raise your laptop or screen
• Consider your background, and choose a background that does not interfere with your presentation; or you may consider using a “virtual” background under “settings” in Zoom
• Look into the camera while you are presenting; attendees will feel much more a part of the presentation
• Deliver your message so that you sound sincere, believable, and prepared
• View the recording of your presentation before submitting it so that you can edit or re-record it if needed
• Please note: You should NOT record a voiceover of your poster. We need you to record yourself discussing your poster.

Record your presentation using any program/platform you choose. We need to be able to download a copy of your video so it can be combined with the other presentations in your session, so you will be asked to upload an *.mp4 video of your recording using our online form. If you record it in the Zoom cloud, you will be able to find your presentation in the Recordings section of your Zoom account. Zoom will email you when the recording is ready. (Note: Zoom cloud recording is only available to paid subscribers; those with a free Zoom account can record to your local device.)

Review the instructions for recording a presentation in Zoom using a computer. Zoom also lets you use your PowerPoint slides as a virtual background with controls to progress through the slides, which could be an interesting way to record your presentation as well!

Throughout the conference, poster presenters will have the opportunity to communicate with conference attendees via the chat function or private messaging available on the event platform or via email. Poster presenters will only need to be present on the platform when it is convenient to them and will be able to respond to chat messages and emails as they are able. When a private chat is started, the author will receive a notification and can answer the chat at their convenience. Attendees can also send the poster presenter an email with any questions.

Attendees will be able to initiate a private chat or email on the poster presenter’s page:

The author receives a notification when a private chat is started (top right corner of the screen) and can answer at their convenience:

The poster image, abstract, and video will be easy to locate, and attendees will be able to click on a link to go to the live poster session taking place on 15 October 2021.

Poster presenters will also be asked to be available, if possible, for an interactive poster session taking place on Friday, 15 October 2021 from 12:15-1:45 PM EDT. This will take place in Zoom. Posters will be set up in groups by focal area, and you will be assigned to one of three 30-minute sessions. The link will be available to attendees in the schedule, and they will be able to choose the break-out group to attend. A moderator will facilitate questions during the session. If you agree to have your poster included for this interactive poster session, you will be asked to stay in that session for the duration of the 30-minute timeframe assigned to you. The interactive session is not a part of poster judging.

As usual, unless you opted out of having your poster judged (an opt-out was available during the abstract submission process), at least three poster judges will rate your poster using a pre-established set of criteria. Poster judges will evaluate posters by viewing the information on the platform (video presentation, PDF, and abstract information) and will also ask the poster presenter one question related to the poster via public chat in the event platform.  Click here to view the poster judging criteria for Research posters (page 1) and the Practices posters (page2).

Downloads

Click below to download the presenter badge for use on social media, email signatures etc.

Download the ICEC 2021 Zoom Backgrounds
Option 1, Option 2, Option 3,

Download the ICEC 2021 PowerPoint Template

After the Conference

Posters and the recorded videos will be available in the conference site for up to three (3) months following the conference, potentially giving your work additional exposure.

Questions?

Feel free to contact Diane Cole at dcole@aaceonline.com for questions or if you need assistance in uploading your presentation.