Skip to content

Medical Conference and Poster Guide

Poster Design Guidelines

A well-structured poster should be visually appealing, easy to navigate, and effectively communicate your research. It is a short visual story that should be able to answer these core questions: 

  • Why? Why does your research matter?
  • What? What did you discover?
  • So what? What is the clinical or scientific impact?
  • Now what? What are the next steps?

Someone walking by should be able to grasp the main points without having to stop and read the entire poster.

Your poster should follow the same basic guidelines of a well-structured scientific paper or presentation: 

  1. Title Banner
  2. Introduction & Objectives
  3. Methods
  4. Results
  5. Conclusion

Title Banner

Your title is the first thing viewers see—make it compelling and informative.

Best Practices for an Effective Title:

  • Keep it concise: Maximum of two lines.
  • Highlight a key finding: Combine your main result with the method or population.
  • Use clear, simple language: Avoid jargon and focus on relevant keywords.
  • Sentence case: Do not use ALL CAPS unless required by the conference.
  • Ensure readability: Use a non-serif font like Helvetica or Arial. Font size should be 75–85pt for maximum visibility.

Additional Website Elements:

  • Conference name: Italicized, 24pt font.
  • Authors & affiliations: 40–50pt font for clarity.
  • Institutional logos: Add credibility with university or organization branding.
  • Contact information: Include an email address and a QR code for quick access.

Example:
“Telemedicine Follow-Ups Reduce Post-Surgical Readmissions by 40% in Rural Communities.”

Introduction and Objectives

Modern poster designs should avoid long introductions and full abstracts. Instead, keep it minimal:

  • Background: Provide only essential context to fill any knowledge gaps.
  • Research question or hypothesis: Clearly state what you aimed to investigate.
  • Graphical abstract (optional): A simple diagram summarizing your study’s purpose.

Methods

Ensure clarity in your study design:

  • Use simple flowcharts or diagrams to explain the study design.
  • Clearly define sample size, data collection, and key measures.
  • Highlight anything innovative or different in your approach.

A well-placed diagram is more effective than a long paragraph of text.

Results

Be selective with your data — your poster is not a manuscript. Focus on:

  • The most impactful findings (avoid overwhelming viewers with too many numbers).
  • Graphs over tables—bar charts, scatter plots, and heat maps are more engaging.
  • Legends that tell a story (e.g., “Physicians with higher burnout scores were XX times more likely to make a medical error” instead of “Medical errors”).

Viewers should grasp the main findings in seconds without having to read detailed captions.

Conclusion

Your conclusion should answer three key questions:

  1. What did you find? State the main conclusion clearly.
  2. Why does it matter? Provide clinical or scientific relevance
  3.  What’s next? Mention next steps if applicable (e.g., ongoing trials, future research directions).

Use bullet points for clarity. If space allows, include a future directions section.

Invite collaboration — include contact details or a QR code linking to more information.

Resources

Presentation Skills Toolkit for Medical Students

Tips on Poster Design & Presentation

Poster Presentation 101: Make Your Work Stand Out at a Conference

University Guides on Poster Presentations

Research Poster Templates

How to Create a Better Research Poster