Most students create their posters in Microsoft PowerPoint, but you may use other software (e.g., Microsoft Publisher, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, etc.) if you prefer. There are many instructional videos on YouTube, such as the one below, that can help you create a poster.NOTE: You will need to convert your poster into a PDF file before submitting.

In PowerPoint, this can be done by going to Design → Slide Size → Custom Slide Size.

Do not let PowerPoint “fix” the dimensions you enter if it asks to. All posters must be this size and orientation.

Avoid fonts that are hard to read or distracting from the actual content of your poster. Since the poster will be much larger than it is on your screen, avoid using anything below a 24 pt font size.

Academic posters generally present the following components in some manner:

• Title
• Authors and their affiliated institution(s)
• Introduction
• Methodology
• Results/Conclusions
• Acknowledgements
• Funding attributions (if applicable)

When selecting images for your poster, remember that they will be printed on a large poster. Ideally, the images on your poster should be 300 dpi (dots-per-inch) or higher.

You may reupload your poster as many times as necessary until the submission deadline. Once that deadline has passed, however, resubmissions to correct typos or other errors will not be accepted.

Send your poster to your faculty mentor for review and incorporate their suggestions.

NOTE: Simply changing the file extension name of your poster to “PDF” does not convert the file to a PDF.

If you're using PowerPoint:

• Go to “File”
• Click “Save as” or “Save as Adobe PDF”
• In the “File name” box, type the name of your poster.
• In the “Save as type” box, select “PDF.”
• Click “Save.”
• Open the PDF to ensure the file saved properly.