Posters are widely used in the academic community, and most conferences include poster presentations in their program. Research posters summarize information or research concisely and attractively to help publicize it and generate discussion.
Posters are ways of communicating your work visually and concisely to interested viewers. As viewers walk through the poster display area, they may skim your poster, stop to read, or ask questions. A poster session is a good opportunity, not only to explain and promote your research or project, but to get feedback on it, make connections with researchers working in related areas, and possibly even meet a future employer.
The poster is usually a mixture of a brief text mixed with tables, graphs, pictures, and other presentation formats. At a conference, the researcher stands by the poster display while other participants can come and view the presentation and interact with the author. They allow you to reach a large audience more informally than a prepared research talk and to interact directly with interested viewers.
You might be preparing for a poster session for a number of reasons:
Regardless of the purpose, the same basic principles of poster design and presentation apply. Some details may vary depending on the requirements of the session organizer and whether you are presenting for a class assignment or for a conference.