Combating poster fatigue
http://www.100md.com
《美国医学杂志》
1 Department of Paediatrics, University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Delhi, India
2 JN Medical College, AMU, Aligarh, India
A poster is actually a bulletin board that displays several large pieces of paper - an opportunity to display a very short article and discuss it with peers.[1] Posters in the past have presented techniques, experiments, approaches, case - studies, technical topics and problems but what we found in PEDICON-2004 was, while some spent hours to plan their presentation others had cursory approach before putting fingers to poster-display board. On day 1 of the poster-presentation, to our surprise we found that some presenters have not put their posters on the display board at all and many presenters did not follow standard guidelines circulated well in advance by the PEDICON-2004 organisers. So keeping this in mind, a study-design was formulated quickly and was carried out on the second day (10-1-04) of poster-presentation.
Three researchers were present at the poster-display lobby about half an hour before time and noted down the display time of posters. After about 1 andhour of display, each paper was scrutinized according to the standard format viz. name, place, introduction, aims and objectives, methods, results and conclusion. Attempt was made to define visual quality of the presentation. In all, 72 presentations were displayed; 71 poster were from India and from Nepal; There were 68 full papers and 4 case reports. Medical colleges [n=51(70.8%)]; non-teaching institutions [n=19(26.3%)]; and a pharmaceutical company [n=1(1.3%)] participated in the poster session. About 84% posters were displayed at the appointed time; 2(2.7%) posters were put up 3 hours behind the schedule. Almost all posters but one were prepared by computer typing, and as many as 24-26 papers were used by 2 presenters, and 8 (11.1%) authors used < 6 pages table1. Interestingly, name of the author and place of the work were missing in one poster.
An important aspect of any research is dissemination of findings arising from the study. In general, it is assumed that paper accepted for oral presentation is worthier than poster presentation, which is not true. The best reason for offering a poster, however, has to do with the content of presentation. If materials are especially complicated, it might be a better idea to present them in poster form, rather than speak to room full of folks who may not be interested in this particular topic. The difference between poster and any other presentation is that one should let poster do most of the talking. Unlike oral presentations where some ultra smooth speakers attempt to divert the attention from a poorly planned presentation; with posters, poor planning is visible to all.
The best posters generally follow guidelines of a published paper, with sections like Introduction, Aims and Objectives, Methods, Results and Discussion/Conclusion.[2],[3] The poster should, at first glance, provide enough information to the reader, and all elements, even the figure legends should be visible from a distance of 4 feet[4], so that he becomes curious and reads further. Instructions provided by PEDICON-2004 were comprehensive and demanded all the facets described above.
However, in the PEDICON-2004 it was discovered that standard format was not adhered to in general; even name and place was missing in one paper. Eleven computer-generated, single, colored chart paper gave pleasant view, but this form of poster-presentation is costly. The poster-viewing time allotted by organizers was at the lunch break, which was not appropriate.
Following suggestions will be helpful making a good poster presentation. (a) Arrive early at a display site and remaind (b) one can hardly go wrong with beautiful photos which always catch the eyes for discussion and; (c) a slot may be given for poster-viewing in overall academic sessions. It would be desirable that judges pick few interesting papers and ask the authors to present their work during the "poster session".
References
1. Call for Posters. http://www.xmlconference.org/xmlusa/2003/posters.asp. Accessed: 3rd Feb. 2004.
2. Expanded Guidelines for Giving a Poster Presentation . http://www.asp.org/education/howto_onPosters.html. Accessed: 3rd Feb. 2004.
3. Poster Presentation of Research Work - Tips and Guidelines. http://lorin.ncl.uk/ming/Dept/Tips/present/posters.htm. Accessed: 3rd Feb. 2004.
4. Tosney, posters home page. http:// www.biology. Isa.umich.edu/research/labs/ktosney/file/PostersHome.html. Accessed on 3rd Feb. 2004.(Faridi MMA, Narang Manish)
2 JN Medical College, AMU, Aligarh, India
A poster is actually a bulletin board that displays several large pieces of paper - an opportunity to display a very short article and discuss it with peers.[1] Posters in the past have presented techniques, experiments, approaches, case - studies, technical topics and problems but what we found in PEDICON-2004 was, while some spent hours to plan their presentation others had cursory approach before putting fingers to poster-display board. On day 1 of the poster-presentation, to our surprise we found that some presenters have not put their posters on the display board at all and many presenters did not follow standard guidelines circulated well in advance by the PEDICON-2004 organisers. So keeping this in mind, a study-design was formulated quickly and was carried out on the second day (10-1-04) of poster-presentation.
Three researchers were present at the poster-display lobby about half an hour before time and noted down the display time of posters. After about 1 andhour of display, each paper was scrutinized according to the standard format viz. name, place, introduction, aims and objectives, methods, results and conclusion. Attempt was made to define visual quality of the presentation. In all, 72 presentations were displayed; 71 poster were from India and from Nepal; There were 68 full papers and 4 case reports. Medical colleges [n=51(70.8%)]; non-teaching institutions [n=19(26.3%)]; and a pharmaceutical company [n=1(1.3%)] participated in the poster session. About 84% posters were displayed at the appointed time; 2(2.7%) posters were put up 3 hours behind the schedule. Almost all posters but one were prepared by computer typing, and as many as 24-26 papers were used by 2 presenters, and 8 (11.1%) authors used < 6 pages table1. Interestingly, name of the author and place of the work were missing in one poster.
An important aspect of any research is dissemination of findings arising from the study. In general, it is assumed that paper accepted for oral presentation is worthier than poster presentation, which is not true. The best reason for offering a poster, however, has to do with the content of presentation. If materials are especially complicated, it might be a better idea to present them in poster form, rather than speak to room full of folks who may not be interested in this particular topic. The difference between poster and any other presentation is that one should let poster do most of the talking. Unlike oral presentations where some ultra smooth speakers attempt to divert the attention from a poorly planned presentation; with posters, poor planning is visible to all.
The best posters generally follow guidelines of a published paper, with sections like Introduction, Aims and Objectives, Methods, Results and Discussion/Conclusion.[2],[3] The poster should, at first glance, provide enough information to the reader, and all elements, even the figure legends should be visible from a distance of 4 feet[4], so that he becomes curious and reads further. Instructions provided by PEDICON-2004 were comprehensive and demanded all the facets described above.
However, in the PEDICON-2004 it was discovered that standard format was not adhered to in general; even name and place was missing in one paper. Eleven computer-generated, single, colored chart paper gave pleasant view, but this form of poster-presentation is costly. The poster-viewing time allotted by organizers was at the lunch break, which was not appropriate.
Following suggestions will be helpful making a good poster presentation. (a) Arrive early at a display site and remaind (b) one can hardly go wrong with beautiful photos which always catch the eyes for discussion and; (c) a slot may be given for poster-viewing in overall academic sessions. It would be desirable that judges pick few interesting papers and ask the authors to present their work during the "poster session".
References
1. Call for Posters. http://www.xmlconference.org/xmlusa/2003/posters.asp. Accessed: 3rd Feb. 2004.
2. Expanded Guidelines for Giving a Poster Presentation . http://www.asp.org/education/howto_onPosters.html. Accessed: 3rd Feb. 2004.
3. Poster Presentation of Research Work - Tips and Guidelines. http://lorin.ncl.uk/ming/Dept/Tips/present/posters.htm. Accessed: 3rd Feb. 2004.
4. Tosney, posters home page. http:// www.biology. Isa.umich.edu/research/labs/ktosney/file/PostersHome.html. Accessed on 3rd Feb. 2004.(Faridi MMA, Narang Manish)