Back in the Swing of Things
This past Friday, I had the privilege and pleasure of presenting not one, but two posters at the 10th Annual OT Summit of Scholars held in Madison, Wisconsin. The OT Summit is a collaboration between UW-Milwaukee, UW-Madison, the Medical University of South Carolina, and Colorado State University. This year, four other universities joined: Washington University in St Louis, University of Florida, University of Washington, and the Ohio State University. The conference kicked off on Thursday evening, continued all through Friday, and finished up on Saturday. The poster presentation in which I participated was on Friday evening, and there were more than 40 posters presented — we took up three classrooms! The Summit ended up being a great opportunity to dip my feet back in the academic presentation pool, and I had a great time sharing my research and educating my audience. It was also a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with former professors and fellow students while making new connections, as well.
The OT Summit was my third overall poster presentation, but it was my first as a PhD student — and honestly? It felt different. The research felt more advanced, and I felt more confident in my presentation of the poster. While making my two previous posters, my advisor held my hand (metaphorically, of course) throughout the process. This time, she simply told me to send it to her when I was done. Luckily for me, both she and the other advising professor said, “Looks great!” and offered no constructive critiques! At the conference, both posters garnered positive reviews, and the research they represented was similarly received.
Now that I have a poster presentation as a PhD student under my belt, here is some advice I can offer those of you who are about to put together your first poster:
1. Use a font larger than 24! And don’t use fancy fonts. Keep it simple and readable.
2. Speaking of keeping it simple: keep the information on the poster succinct and to the point. Short sentences are key, and short paragraphs are necessary. Bullet points are your friends. The poster is supposed to give abrief overview of your research; you, the presenter, are meant to fill in the gaps.
3. Pictures! Who wants a poster that talks-talks-talks about a project and has no images associated with it? My posters had some really cool pictures, if I do say so myself: the robot, participants in the robot, participants in the AR goggles, and the images that the participants were seeing while wearing the AR goggles. But other perfectly acceptable images can include graphs, tables, and other types of data sets. The poster needs to be visually appealing, and a good set of images can really pull everything together.
4. Give credit where credit is due. A research project is rarely a one-man band. You, the presenter, are likely the first author; however, the names listed behind yours are also key players in making the research come to life. Make sure you acknowledge the roles they played when appropriate.
5. Know your stuff. If you were involved in only one particular area, it’s still your responsibility to understand (even vaguely) what the other researchers did to make the project come to life. It doesn’t do anyone any good if the presenter isn’t able to answer questions.
6. Have fun! If you are an introvert or have a general dislike of public speaking, a presentation can seem overwhelming. These types of presentations are helpful for overcoming those kinds of fears because you’re usually speaking one on one to an interested party or, at the most, a very small group of individuals. Just focus on the facts! They’re there to learn something that you know about. You hold the keys.