Undergraduate Research Program

Information for Poster Presentation Participants

Preparing Your Poster

Your poster:

  • Should be 40″ wide x 32″ tall.
  • Should be attached on a foam board of 1/8” or 3/16” width (or similar firm board, material may vary) and ready to display on the easels we provide.*

* You may purchase foam board at the University Book Store, or other locations. You do not need to pay for mounting, you may clip your poster to the foam board. URP will provide binder clips at Symposium. Please note the URP does not provide foam board for mounting posters. On occasion, we do receive donations from previous presenters and will make those available for pick up about a week prior to Symposium.

Tips for Designing your Poster

Below are some resources for designing your poster and getting feedback from design experts.

URP Poster Design Workshops

  • These workshops can help you get started and provide advice about how to create an effective poster presentation. If you are unable to make one of the workshops, you can download the slides from this year’s workshop.

Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium:

UW Posters:

  • Design help, including the nuts and bolts of making a poster with MS PowerPoint (PC and Mac versions), Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe InDesign.

UW Design Help Desk @ the Research Commons

  • The Design Help Desk offers free advice for members of the University of Washington community who are seeking to improve their visuals for presentation and publication. You can bring any visual work related to your research — including figures, diagrams, data plots, presentations and posters — and receive help from a designer on staff. Design consultants are Design Division graduate students.
  • Drop-in hours: Check their website for current drop-in hours in the Allen Library Research Commons. No appointment necessary.

Printing your poster

The best on-campus options (and usually the most cost-effective) for large-format poster printing are:

Additional locations near campus include:

Submit your printing request by Monday, May 11 in order to guarantee your poster is ready on the day of the Symposium.

Don’t forget to request a proof of your poster prior to printing the full-size version if available. There is a small cost for the proof, but this helps to check that the layout and colors.

On the day of the Symposium

Bring your poster to the Mary Gates Hall Commons and check in at the registration table between 8:00 and 10:30 a.m. on Friday, May 15.

Set up your poster on your assigned easel using the instructions you receive at check-in. There will be up to 4 posters clipped to their own board on each easel. Please make sure to place your poster on the easel, with posters labeled session 1 on top.

You will present your poster during the formal Poster Session you are assigned. Presenters are asked to remain at their posters during your session time. Prepare a three- to five-minute summary for visitors using your poster as a visual guide. Some visitors may ask additional questions. Additionally, we highly encourage you to attend the presentation, performing arts, and visual arts & design sessions.

Plan to retrieve your poster between 6:00 – 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 15.

If you are unable to pick up you poster, make sure to let URP know before Symposium day. Posters left behind will be available for pick up the following week in 171 Mary Gates Hall. Any posters not picked up within a week will be recycled.