How I create scientific posters

You have to prepare a scientific poster and don’t know where to start?

Here I describe my approach in creating posters for conferences. While it might not the best approach for everyone, it works for me, and hopefully provides some inspiration for you.

Short Step-by-step Guide

Without focussing on the content too much do the following:

1. Set up a poster template PowerPoint. This provides an empty digital canvas.
2. Print the publication in color one page layout.
3. Distribute the single pages in a space (floor, whiteboard, …)
4. Cut out parts of the paper, i.e. figures, tables, paragraphs.
5. Re-arrange parts on a big surface of choice (floor, table, whiteboard with magnets) until the layout is finished.
6. Arrange elements in PowerPoint correspondingly.
7. Collect feedback from people of choice.
8. rinse-repeat.

Reflection and comments

You might wonder why I use PowerPoint if the paper is written with LaTeX. In fact in the past I used LaTeX, but found PowerPoint more flexible, because:

1. it is WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get).
2. I like to move pictures, and textboxes freely by hand, and feel that it gives me more flexibility and less troubles than LaTeX.
3. Equations: In the past I used LaTeX for posters specifically because it was easier to write equations. However, since I discovered the plugin IguanaTex for PowerPoint, this sealed the deal for me.

In conclusion: PowerPoint might not the best tool for posters in general, but it works for me.