5 Tips for Hosting Virtual Poster Presentations in 2022

Why are virtual poster presentations important?

Nowadays, the world of education has moved from a physical to a virtual classroom. Many assignments and coursework have changed from physical to online too. It can be difficult for students to make the transition to virtual assessment without any tips. But don’t worry, we’re here to set the record straight. Are you in the process of creating virtual poster presentations and feeling a bit lost? Although making a virtual poster can be intimidating, it has a lot of benefits for students:

• Virtual posters are more eco-friendly as you’re cutting down on paper waste.
• Virtual posters are more professional as they have a sleeker finish.
• You can add virtual poster presentations to your CV skills which will impress employers.
• You can easily share your virtual poster on social media with more people than you would in person.

So be sure to make the best poster you can and take a look at our 5 top tips for your virtual poster presentation:

Follow your institution guidelines

Not all poster presentations follow the same guidelines. There are certain things you need to watch out for before you start on your design. Look out for some of these criteria:

• Font: Your educational institution may have already assigned a certain font for the poster. If you are selecting the font make sure you prick something readable and avoid fonts that are unclear.
• Text size: Again, your institution may recommend a certain font. Make sure you put the main text in a large size so it is clear.
• Poster format: It is best practice to present your poster in pdf format so that the dimensions will not change when you download it.

The main thing is to follow the guidelines as much as possible and follow up with your institution if you have any issues with your virtual poster.

Content is key

First of all, you need to present your virtual poster under certain headings. You should have your text divided into headings to make it easier to read. The key headings you need are background, methods, results, and conclusions. Be sure to keep the text easy to read and concise. The virtual poster should have a clear message, a logical layout, and be easy to understand.Try to use bullet points or images when you can. If you present your virtual poster with large crowds of text, the main points will get lost. Diagrams and graphs are a good way of presenting a lot of information with limited space. Try using a variety of visuals like scatter plots, bar graphs, or pie charts. Also, if you’re using watermarks make sure they don’t block the text.

Pick the right tool

There are a variety of different tools you can use to design your poster depending on your device and the layout you’d like. If you're working from a Windows device, you can use Powerpoint to design your virtual poster. Check out this guide on how to use PowerPoint to design a poster. It also has some useful tips on how to perfect your design. Or on the other hand, you can use Apple’s Keynote on a Mac laptop. Keynote is easy to use. It is your first time presenting a virtual poster. If you already have some experience with these tools you could try using Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or InDesign. These tools have additional features as well as a higher resolution but are more difficult to use.

Use interactive media

The good thing about presenting your poster virtually is that you can use a variety of media. You can add features to the poster to help to engage people viewing it. For example, you could add an audio file or video to the virtual poster that people can play. This will help you express a lot more content than a physical poster. You could also add a video that helps explain some of your ideas. Just make sure that the software that you use allows you to add videos or audio.

Make your poster accessible

Make sure that your poster is accessible to all groups of people so that you can engage a large audience. You can add alternative text for all images on your poster so that it is accessible for the visually impaired. Powerpoint has step-by-step directions on how to add alternative text to help you. You can also add subtitles to your video files so that deaf and hard-of-hearing people can interact with them. Plus, it may be easier for non-English speakers to follow your video, so increasing your poster engagement.

What next?

Looking at the event trends we’ve seen in 2020, hybrid and virtual events are here to stay. It looks like your poster presentation will be virtual in the future. If you’re searching for a virtual events platform to present your poster on, try out Remo. With our interactive features, your poster presentation will be a success. We offer a free 14-day trial or you can check out our success stories to see how other customers have used our products.