When you’re hosting an academic or research conference, whether it’s for just a few students or thousands of international delegates, there’s one important step to make sure the time, money, and effort you put into your poster session is worth it: ensure each presenter feels valued.
ANES (ASA) 2022
Think about it from a presenter’s perspective: you’ve worked really hard on your abstract, you turned your research project into an engaging poster, and you’re going to have a chance to display it in front of an audience. Would you rather show up to a lonely poster board that you have to stand by for hours, hoping someone walks by, or walk in knowing you can count on the opportunity to share your research with at least one interested listener?
If the latter, you’d probably work a bit harder on preparing what you want your audience to take away from your poster. You’d probably make more of an effort to attend the full conference, and show up prepared.
See? The key to a successful poster session is in making sure everyone understands how much of a privilege it was to be able to attend and get a platform for their research.
So, what can you do to make every presenter feel valued for their time and effort?
- Have one or two people (formal or informal moderators) visit every poster to listen to the presenter, whether it's official or not. This interaction shows that the presenter's work is heard and appreciated, enhancing the overall session’s importance.
- Organize a competition that rewards the top poster(s), to give people extra motivation when designing their poster. The winners will feel recognized for their efforts and everyone else will be driven to try again next year.
- Use technology to make the session more interactive. ePosters (on monitors) and new live-voting tools like InstaJudge add novelty to your conference that your presenters will appreciate and remember.
Have you tried any of these at your conference? How did it go?
Let us know @ePosterLive on socials or [email protected].