Some facts: Poster presentation at conferences has been around for at least 45 years. In science and academia, it is the second largest means of knowledge dissemination behind journal article publication. Posters are produced in large amounts on all 5 inhabited continents of the globe by over 50 specialities ... but we still give them little real appreciation and out attitudes do not match our behaviours.
Does what we call our poster presentations have an impact on how they are perceived?
How do these frequently used terms describe the process and product of poster presentation?
Does poster presentation practice need to be standardized to enable better critical evaluation, and bring our attitudes in-line with our behaviours ?
Dear Nicholas E Rowe
Posters are more efficient in term of direct contact with the author.
Regards.
Dear Nicholas,
I think the big advantage of poster presentations is that you get into direct contact with several people (well, usually) over an extended (compared to an oral presentation) amount of time. This is more difficult following an oral presentation: Time is limited there, and people may loose sight of each other afterwards in large conferences. Thus personally, I do like poster presentations a lot, however, I agree they usually are considered to be of lower significance, at least in my community.
Thinking about this, I wonder whether this could be handled by changing the rules, and communicating: If one offered the poster presentation (this is just a rough and spontaneous idea) as kind of, say, match-making, speed-dating or the like, or gave each poster presenter at table at which he could "host" the interested parties ... this might give the event more appeal to some people. The drawback would be that it would require much more space than a normal poster session, for example.
Please let me know what you think of this.
Best regards,
Dirk
Dirk - match making, speed dating ... how very un-conservative ;-)
I like the round-table idea & it would be similar to the cafes which we see as concurrent sessions in eg. medical conferences. Space is an issue, because space=money. I think though, that conference organisers are going to have to demonstrate more value for money, if they are going to continue to charge large fees for attendance. Likewise, funders (institutions etc.) are going to want to see more return for their outlay. Going back to the previous thread, I think the virtual world can play a key part in providing some cost-effective solutions.
Bringing it round to the theme of this thread, I would like to see a more standardised practice that could demonstrate its function and effectiveness. Sessions could be standardised, 'publication' in proceedings / web could give more than just a 300 word abstract, interaction & exposure could be improved and expanded beyond the conference setting. Combining some / all of these would increase both the kudos and effectiveness of the poster medium.
Dear Nicholas E Rowe
Posters are more efficient in term of direct contact with the author.
Regards.
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