Preparing Yourself

What will happen at the poster session is that strangers (faculty, students, others) will walk up to your poster, give it a glance, and do one of three things:

  1. Walk away
  2. Read it
  3. Talk to you
  • If they walk away, you feel rejected. No one can adequately prepare for that. But be aware that people that have different interests, and the topic of your poster is not on everyone’s “A list”.
  • If they read it, you will wonder what to do with yourself while this is happening. Again until it happens you can’t know how to prepare.
  • But if they talk to you, you can be prepared. That is because they all say approximately the same thing: “Tell me the quick version of what you did.”
  • You went to all the trouble of making it artistic, easy to read, self-standing. Yet this lazy stranger wants you to tell it? Shocking! But you can be ready with the speech that you have prepared.
  • Go for the visual space that you have designed to stand out, point to it, and give your already prepared quick oral version.
  • Because this is an in-house event, you will most likely have non-psychologists in attendance. So, prepare a version in lay terms.

During the Poster Session there will be busy times (e.g., between classes) and very slow times. You will need to adjust your behaviors accordingly:

  • Your poster should be in place on the bulletin board at least a ½ hour prior to the start of the Poster Session.
  • You, or someone from your group, should be by your poster during the entire Poster Session, unless your instructor specifically tells you otherwise, and you’ve arranged to only be by your poster specific times.
  • Stand most of time. One or two chairs will be provided every two or three posters; however, those are there for times when you are either very tired or no one is looking at posters. When someone is looking at either your poster or other posters nearby, you should stand and be prepared to discuss your project.
  • It is particularly important for you to stand when faculty or administrators are looking at posters.
  • Bring as little as possible to the Poster Session. You will be standing in the first floor hallway of Physical Sciences, so there is little room for stuff.
  • Coats, backpacks, etc. will be checked in room 1180 – we will have actual check tickets for you, and someone will be there the duration of the Poster Session monitoring your stuff.
  • However, the Psychology Department will not assume responsibility for any lost or stolen items.
  • Everyone in your group should wear his or her name tag. These will be pre-printed and available to you at the Poster Session.
  • You may be asked to talk to other presenters, and evaluate their “presentation” of their research. Forms will be handed out for you to do fill out after talking to these other presenters.