Key Dates

  • January 27, 2014
    Deadline for special requests for abstract submission/registration for U.S. government agencies
  • July 2 - July 17, 2014
    Late Registration (increased fees apply)

Program > Poster Presentations

General Information

Advantages of the poster presentation format are face-to-face extended discussions that offer direct and immediate feedback and the ability to display extensive graphic or tabular materials. Poster sessions are scheduled to provide an opportunity for selected papers to be presented in greater visual detail and should facilitate vivid discussions with attendees.

Posters will be on display and poster authors will be present in person to present their posters during assigned session times as follows:

Monday 10:30 a.m. - 12:20 p.m. and 2:00p.m. - 3:50 p.m.
Tuesday 10:30 a.m. - 12:20 p.m. and 2:00p.m. - 3:50 p.m.
Wednesday 10:30 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.

Posters presented in the morning sessions must be set up between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. and taken down between 12:20 p.m. and 12:45 p.m. Posters presented in the afternoon sessions must be set up between 12:45 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. and be taken down between 3:50 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

For SPEED Poster sessions, these regular 110-minute contributed poster sessions will each hold 2 SPEED poster sessions. There will be 45-minutes for a first group of 20 presenters, a 20-minute transition period, and then 45-minutes for a second group of 20 presenters. The first group of presenters will need to set up prior to their start time and remove their poster from the screen at the conclusion of their 45 minutes. This will allow for the second group of presenters to prepare for their session.

Poster Tips

A poster session is a presentation where materials such as maps, photographs, graphs, charts, and/or tables are posted on a display board along with brief textual summaries of their work. Ideally, a well-constructed poster will be self-explanatory. Successful poster presentations are those which achieve both coverage and clarity.

Coverage: Have you provided all the obvious information? Will a casual observer walk away understanding your major findings after a quick perusal of your material? Will a more careful reader learn enough to ask informed questions? In addition to title/author and abstract, most successful posters provide brief statements of introduction, method, subjects, procedure, results, and conclusions. Ask yourself, "What would I need to know if I were viewing this material for the first time?" and then state that information clearly.

Clarity: Is the sequence of information evident? Indicate the ordering of your material with numbers, letters, or arrows when necessary. Is the content being communicated clearly? Keep it simple. Place your major points in the poster and have the non-essential, but interesting, sidelights for informal discussion. Be selective. Your final conclusions or summary should leave observers focused on a concise statement of your most important findings.

Each poster display should include a lettered sign giving the title and the name(s) of the presenter(s). This sign should be 6" in height with letters at least 2" high in a bold font. Extensive, imaginative use of captioned illustrations, photographs, graphs, or other types of visually appealing material is an extremely effective mode of communication in a poster presentation.

People attending a poster session are free to move about from poster to poster and does not allow time for people to read excessive text. Text should be limited to four or five pages of double-spaced, 16-20 point text. This will allow lettering to be read from several feet away. Do not mount materials on heavy board because these may be difficult to position on the poster board. Be sure to provide clear labels for each section of your presentation.

Prior to JSM

For every presentation (paper, panel, or poster), one copy of a complete draft manuscript must be sent to the Session Chair by May 12, 2014. This requirement applies to all types of contributed papers (including poster presentations) and to invited sessions with discussants. Invited sessions with no discussant are exempt from this submission. A draft manuscript is proof of a "paper in progress." It can be a copy of your presentation slides or vu-graphs, a copy of your handouts, a detailed draft outline of your presentation, or a draft copy of your final manuscript. If you have major changes after the May submission, please send a copy to the session chair prior to the August meeting. You will find the tips below helpful to your participation.

Reminder: We CANNOT accept LaTeX in the abstract text and the abstract text cannot exceed 1,200 characters. If you have changes to the order of authors, contact and address information of authors or additions or deletion of authors, you will need to contact the ASA Meetings Department at meetings@amstat.org requesting these changes after April 17, 2014.

Poster Presentation Tips

Traditional Paper Poster

Each author is provided a 4-foot high x 8-foot wide (122 cm x 244 cm) bulletin board on which to display a summary of their paper. Authors must remain in the vicinity of the bulletin board for the duration of the session (110 minutes) to answer questions. Note that poster presenters are not supplied with audiovisual equipment or electricity and posters will be grouped by sponsor.

Ideally, a well-constructed poster is self-explanatory, achieving both coverage and clarity.

Poster Tips

Coverage: Have you provided all the obvious information? Will a casual observer walk away understanding your major findings after a quick perusal of your material? Will a more careful reader learn enough to ask informed questions?

In addition to title/author and abstract, most successful posters provide brief statements of introduction, method, subjects, procedure, results, and conclusions. Ask yourself, "What would I need to know if I was viewing this material for the first time?"

Clarity: Is the sequence of information evident? Indicate the ordering of your material with numbers, letters, or arrows when necessary. Is the content being communicated clearly? Keep it simple. Place your major points in the poster and have the nonessential, but interesting, sidelights for informal discussion. Be selective. Your final conclusions or summary should leave observers focused on a concise statement of your most important findings.

Each poster display should include a lettered sign giving the title and name(s) of the presenter(s). This sign should be 6" in height with letters at least 2" high in a bold font. Extensive, imaginative use of captioned illustrations, photographs, graphs, or other types of visually appealing material is an extremely effective mode of communication in a poster presentation.

People attending a poster session are free to move about from poster to poster, making it difficult to read excessive text. With this in mind, you may wish to limit text and use large fonts. This will allow the poster to be read from several feet away. Do not mount materials on heavy board, because these may be difficult to position on the poster board. Be sure to provide clear labels for each section of your presentation. Posters should be 8 feet x 4 feet.

Helpful Online Resources for Poster Creation

How to Prepare a Poster, SIAM News: www.siam.org/meetings/guidelines/poster.php
Websites offering printing services for scientific posters:
        www.makesigns.com/scientific_posters.htm
        www.PosterSession.com
        www.scifor.com

Traditional Posters At JSM

SPEED and Invited Session Electronic Posters

Electronic poster (E-poster) presentations are similar to traditional poster presentations, but presented on a large computer screen. The ASA uses 42" LCD displays in the Landscape position. Each poster is part of a session and the speaker will need to be in place for both the speed session and the poster session on the date and time assigned.

Whether traditional or electronic, a well-constructed poster is self-explanatory, achieving both coverage and clarity. Your E-poster can consist of multiple slides or just one slide. Use the tips below as guidelines for formatting and making the most of this presentation. Save your poster to a USB key (thumb) drive and bring it with you the day of your presentation.

Formatting Tips:

For single-slide E-posters:

For multiple-slide E-posters:

Content Tips:

Coverage: In addition to title/author and abstract, most successful posters provide brief statements of introduction, method, subjects, procedure, results, and conclusions. Ask yourself:

Clarity: People attending a poster session are free to move about from poster to poster and often must view a poster from a distance, making it difficult to read excessive text and small fonts. With this in mind we recommend you:

Online Resources for Poster Creation and Templates

These sites may provide other useful templates and tips on preparing your e-poster. Be sure to adjust any template using the formatting tips provided above for best display on the ASA's monitors.

Creating Slides through beamer and LaTeX

The ASA welcomes e-posters created using LaTeX and \documentclass{beamer}. Please keep in mind that the screens where your posters and presentations will be displayed are approximately 36.5 inches wide by 20.5 inches high.

If you are using the vanilla beamer package, you might consider using the 20pt style:
\documentclass[20pt]{beamer}

If you are familiar with other beamer packages, you might consider using beamer poster:
\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{beamerposter}

You can customize this further, for example here the width and the height are in cm.:
\usepackage[orientation=landscape,size=custom,width=90,height=51, debug]{beamerposter}

We strongly recommend you test your presentation on a screen of approximately the same size as will be present at the meeting. There is a wealth of templates and examples of customized beamer commands, templates, and tutorials on the internet if you need further assistance.

E-posters At JSM

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