Virtual meetings are rapidly gaining popularity, due largely to the necessity of continuing knowledge exchange during the social isolation brought on by the Corona pandemic.

Even before the pandemic, EMBL´s Course and Conference Office was already exploring options to improve our services and the event experience on-site, including the option of digital poster presentations.

Our software provider iPosterSessions comes with easy to use WYSIWYG templates. Users can display high-resolution images, videos & animations, and the content can be updated at any time right throughout the conference – allowing poster presenters to present their research digitally and dynamically.

If you are presenting a digital poster at an upcoming (virtual!) meeting, here are eight tips to help you on your way:

1. Download the official template from the software provider

Most digital software providers have an official template that you can download – use it! This will reduce the risk of glitches, resolution problems and sizing issues in the final product, and you know from the outset what you have to work with.

2. Check out the tutorials

No two digital poster tools are the same, so take the time to browse through the online tips and tutorials to make sure you are comfortable with the software before starting. It will save you a lot of frustration in the long run!

3. Make your design eye-catching – it should stand out from the crowd

This is the same principle as creating a printed scientific poster – there are so many of them, so make sure yours stands out! It should be eye-catching and visually appealing. Include clear data representations, and make sure the text is to the point. It should grab attention but not explain every little thing about your results – that’s your job during the discussion.

4. Use media – images, sounds, video. Check that they work and display properly

Graphics and media can express details more quickly and memorably than paragraphs of text, so have a think about how you can present your work in this way and put some time into it. Be sure to check that the media files work with the software, and test every file to make sure they display or play properly.

5. Link to external resources

Digital posters differ from printed posters in that you can generally link to other pages online – so if there is a great external paper or online source you want to link to in order to explain your point in more detail, do it! Your audience will be grateful to have further reading handed to them on a plate if they want to find out more after the poster session.

6. Check your work

This should really be a no-brainer. Check your work is complete, correct and final before publishing your poster! Silly mistakes only show that you haven’t put as much time and effort into the work as you probably should have, so get someone else to go over your poster before you release it to the conference community.

7. Practice your presentation

Yes, it’s a digital poster presentation, and no, you won’t be talking face-to-face with your audience as you normally would, but you still need to practice your presentation beforehand and know exactly what you want to say and how you want to say it. It may feel strange online, so try presenting the poster online with a colleague or your boss (e.g. with Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts) and get them to give you feedback and pointers.

8. Stick to the publishing deadline

There are deadlines for a reason, so please stick to them! You don’t want to risk your poster being excluded from the poster presentation because of tardiness. Give yourself plenty of time in case of any issues that may arise with uploading or compatibility (this shouldn’t be an issue if you followed the template and guidelines, but sometimes computers have a mind of their own!).

So why not check out our list of upcoming virtual events to see where you can try out your digital poster presentation skills!

For general pointers about creating posters, see 10 tips to create a scientific poster people want to stop at.