Student Virtual Poster Competition Information

Evaluation and Judging

Students who present in the Student Virtual Poster Competition will be evaluated in two areas:

• Scientific Content (50%)
  • Introduction & background with pertinent literature cited (10 points)
  • Objectives clearly stated & concise (10 points)
  • Materials & methods (study design) clear & concise (10 points)
  • Results & discussion clear, concise & accurate (10 points)
  • Significance of results to field of study (10 points)
• Virtual Poster Display (50%)
  • Organization
    • Logical order, minimum redundancy (10 points)
    • Effective use of space; smooth transitions (10 points)
  • Text, Figures, and Tables
    • Legible with large fonts, color contract, no conflicting backgrounds (10 points)
    • Text with no grammatical errors; not excessively wordy (10 points)
    • Effective use of figures and/or tables, coordinated with text (10 points)

The letter scale used is similar to those of classroom instructors or granting agencies: E = excellent or “A”, VG = very good or “B”, G = good or “C”, F = Fair or “D”, and NI – needs improvement or “F”. Numerical scores are proportioned accordingly. Each poster display is judged independently by three judges.

In the event of a tie, the Student Competition Co-Chairs will use the submitted abstract as a tie-breaker. Abstracts will be judged according to how informative and well written it is and how well is correlates with the presentation.

A sample Student Virtual Poster Competition Scorecard is available for reference.

Sessions

Students compete only against the students in their virtual poster session and not against other students in the same topic area who were assigned to other sessions. The size of each session is dependent upon the initial number of papers submitted to each topic area.

Suggestions for Posters

Each poster must be contained within the size of the Sample Virtual Poster template provided.

Poster design can significantly enhance or severely diminish the effectiveness of your presentation. The following guidelines are general considerations:

• Focus of attention: The focus of attention must be on the subject content. If the design overshadows the subject matter, the message is likely to be lost.
• Size and selection of visuals: Larger visuals attract more attention. Visuals not relevant to the content will distract the viewer.
• Density of visuals and text (labels): Too many visuals (pictures) and text (labels) in a small space decreases readers’ attention, because each object is in competition with the others. Minimize these to prevent stimulus overload! Generally, a maximum length of 50-75 words per label results in a higher probability of people reading it.
• Ability to read text: Letters should be large so that they can easily be read from 2-3 feet away. Letters should be easily read (avoid Old English and other “fancy” fonts).
• Poster layout:
  • Use a consistent layout with heading and subheading font and size standardized;
  • Use bulleted lists to facilitate reading;
  • Relate the content of the text to the picture it describes;
  • Reduce competing stimuli—Avoid placing a large number of labels and visuals next to one another; and
  • Provide good contrast between the text and background (avoid white on white, blue on navy, etc.).