Virtual Poster Presentations

Posters are a mechanism for scholars to engage in discussion with other conference attendees about a research project. The poster venue allows scholars with similar research interests to interact by using the poster as a focal point.

Virtual Poster Presentations will be presented along with a 2-3 minute video highlighting key points. Conference Attendees can view the posters and videos from November 1-November 30 and are highly encouraged to provide constructive feedback to Authors through a contact form on the poster site. Virtual Poster Presenters will receive an email with comments and feedback from attendees and are encouraged to respond to engage in further conversation about the Virtual Poster Presentation.

Uploading Your Virtual Poster Presentation (By September 30)

The following information is needed to submit your Virtual Poster Presentation:

Poster: PDF File created from PowerPoint. PowerPoint is the suggested format as it is traditionally the easiest to transition to a PDF and has the “Check Accessibility” feature to receive feedback about your Poster. See information below on “Creating your Virtual Poster in PowerPoint.”
2-3 Minute Presentation Video: attach mpeg-4 video file created from PowerPoint. Example Outline:
- 30 Seconds Introduction and Land Acknowledgement
- 30 Seconds Literature Review
- 30 Seconds Methods
- 30 Seconds Results
- 30 Seconds Implications
Handout/Resource: A one-page resource PDF. This is optional and could provide an additional resource to your poster presentation.

These items will be submitted by September 30 at Noon Pacific at: Virtual Poster Presentation Form.

Poster Creation Tips

Posters should be informative and graphically appealing. A well-done poster should provoke interest and questions rather than overwhelm with text.
Divide the content into sections. Clearly detail the project’s topic, thesis, scope, methodology, results, and conclusions. Recommended sections are:
- A clear statement of the purpose or goals of the research (i.e., the primary research questions or issues being addressed)
- A brief summary of the theoretical or conceptual foundation for the work
- A description of the methodology being used and the project findings (if applicable), and the theoretical and/or practical significance and implications of the research.
Include Presenter(s) name(s), co-Authors, academic program, faculty advisor(s), and project title.
Maintain a good contrast between the background color and the text color. For example a light gray background and black text or a dark navy blue background with light blue or white text. Colors should be consistent throughout the poster and readability should be the top priority. Do not use bright colors, as they may not be accessible. Dark text on a light background is most accessible.
Whenever possible use graphics to represent information. Keep figures and tables as simple as possible. If you provide illustrations, a brief large type heading of no more than one or two lines should be provided above each illustration. When necessary, be sure to caption images, tables, etc. for clarity.
Use a font that is cross-platform to ensure that your poster retains the text, spacing, and look you want. Examples include Calibri, Arial, and Times New Roman. Sans-serif fonts are recommended for posters, particularly for the title, subtitle, and headers.
Use size 28-32 size fonts and headings of at least 48-point font, to help with accessibility for readers.
Consider using columns rather than rows for displaying content and arrange them in boxes.

Creating Your Poster in PowerPoint (Recommended)

We recommend the following steps to create your Poster in PowerPoint:

Open a new presentation
Delete all information on the slide
Select the “Design” tab
Select “Slide Size” and “Custom Slide Size”
Select “Landscape” Orientation
Input the recommended size for creating a virtual poster, which is 48 inches wide x 36 inches in height
Next, select “Maximize”
Select your background color by right-clicking the mouse and selecting “Format Background”. Select a background color that will allow for a good contrast between the text. If your content will be light, choose a dark background. If your content will be dark, choose a light background color. Selecting “Solid fill” and using one color scheme of background and text colors is typically easier to format compared to using pictures or Gradient fill options.
To insert text, click the “Insert” tab and then select “Text Box”
With the cursor, draw a box on the screen with the upper-left corner placed where you want your text to begin.
Begin typing your text
After typing a few lines grab the “handlebars” on the right side of the text box and bring it to your preferred width.
It is good practice to save the Poster Presentation often.
If you are copying text from a Word document, select the text from the menu of Ctrl-C on your keyboard.
Create a new textbox by following steps 9-10, left-click on the text box, and right-click to generate the options for pasting the text
Select “Use Destination Theme” or “Keep Text Only” to paste the information
It is recommended to use a small number of fonts to keep the poster cohesive and use various versions of the same font or colors to add desired variety
To help with the layout of headers and content, especially with paragraph formatting, press the VIEW tab and turn on the Ruler. You may also want to turn on Guides and even Gridlines if you think they are helpful.
While working on your poster you will want to zoom in on the areas you are doing detailed work such as Aligning text boxes, images, charts, etc.
Use the “Arrange” functions under the “Home” tab to assist in lining objects up.
Pay special attention to the Align functions, click on all the objects you want to line up, and select which alignment you want to do. Take some time to play with it; you can always undo (Ctrl-Z) if you make a mistake.
If you have multiple objects that you want to move together, select all of the objects and select Arrange > Group. If you wish to ungroup at any time, you can select Ungroup. Grouped objects can also be edited separately if you add an extra click when selecting.
Be sure to also zoom out to view the entire poster occasionally so you can keep an eye on the overall layout. You can Zoom out by using the minus symbol at the bottom right
To insert an image, under the “INSERT” tab, click Pictures
Right-clicking on the image brings up some options, including a crop tool. Crop marks appear, which can be moved to show the portion of the image you wish to keep.
Resize images by grabbing a corner handle of the image. Try to use the highest-resolution image you can.
To add a Chart, go to the “INSERT” tab and select “Chart”. This will bring up several different types of charts. You can select the one that meets your needs. After selecting one, press “OK”.
A default chart will be inserted into the PowerPoint Presentation with a spreadsheet. You can either manually replace the pre-formatted spreadsheet data or copy and paste information from another external spreadsheet.
Proofread your poster to check for formatting adjustments, grammatical errors, and spacing issues. Remember the top priority for Poster presentations is readability for conference attendees.

Creating your Poster Video for PC Users

Virtual Poster Presenters will also record a 2-3 minute presentation video which will be uploaded to the Virtual Conference.

The following steps are for people using the Windows platform. PowerPoint does not allow webcam use during recording for Mac users; additional suggestions for recording your virtual poster presentation videos for Mac users are included below.

We recommend recording over the poster you created in PowerPoint:

Click the “Slide Show” tab
Click the “Record Slide Show” under the “Slide Show” tab
Click “Settings” and select the microphone and camera you want to use to record the video
The window containing the camera feed will pop up in the lower right corner of the screen
The Record button is located in the upper left corner of the window. Click on it to start recording the presentation
Begin your video with an Introduction and Land Acknowledgement,
Record your video.
1. Make sure you are recording in an area with minimal distractions
2. PowerPoint records the presentation that is displayed on the screen as well as the video and audio that is picked by the microphone and camera
3. Annotation tools are below the poster slide, which enables you to draw the viewer’s attention to areas of the poster during the presentation
Click on the Stop button when you are done presenting and head back to the PowerPoint’s main window
The video you recorded will be embedded in the Poster slide used during the recording session.
To save your recorded Poster Presentation in PowerPoint:
Click the “File” tab
Click the “Export” option
Select “Create a Video”
Select the 1080p (default) option
Click the “Create a Video” option
Use the Title of your Poster as the “File Name”
Select the location you want to save the video
Select mpeg-4 as the “Save as type”
Review the saved file to make sure the presentation is correct
Create closed captions:
1. Closed captions are stored in a text-based file with a .vtt filename extension. You can create a closed caption file on your own or use a caption-creation tool. To search online for available tools and detailed instructions, type "create vtt file" in your search engine.
2. Prepare a text-based caption file with a .vtt filename extension before adding captions. For instructions on how to create the caption file, see Create closed captions for a video.
Add closed captions to your video:
1. In PowerPoint, in the Normal view, open the slide that has the video that you want to add captions to.
2. Select the video on the slide.
3. On the Playback tab, click the Insert Captions button, and then select Insert Captions.
4. In the Insert Captions dialog, browse to your caption file. Select the file and then click Insert.
5. If you need to add another caption file, just repeat the process.
6. Play the video and check that the captions appear correctly.
Upload the Video to the Poster Presentation Form linked above.

NOTE: The Poster video can also be recorded outside of PowerPoint, but will need to be saved as a mpeg-4 to attach to the Poster Presentation Form

Creating your Poster Video for Mac Users

Users of Mac computers are not able to use their webcam when recording on PowerPoint. For Mac users, we recommend using Zoom to record your 2-3 minute presentation video. Below we have provided steps to assist in this process.

Log in to your Zoom Account
Select “New Meeting”
Select “Join with Computer Audio”
Select “Share Screen” and the option that displays your Poster (e.g., PowerPoint or Pdf)
After you have selected the Poster, click “Share”
1. If you are sharing a PowerPoint, select the “Slide Show” tab and click “From Beginning” or “From Current Slide”
2. If you are sharing a Pdf, make sure all the content is visible
Move the video window so that you are visible but not blocking the poster information
1. You can move the video window by clicking and dragging the video window
2. You can resize the video window by dragging from the edges of the video window
Hover over the green “You are screen sharing” message and select the “More” Option
Select “Record on this Computer” to start a recording that will save as an mp4 Format on your computer
Record your 2-3 minute presentation
Once you have finished your presentation, click the red “Stop Share” button
Click “Stop Recording” at the bottom of the screen
The mp4 file of the recording will be created once you end the meeting
To end the meeting, click the red “End” button
Click “End Meeting for All”
Once the recording has finished converting to the mp4 file format, click the mp4 file from the popup folder to review the recording
Once you are satisfied with the recording, rename the file the title of your ASHE Poster Presentation.
Save the mp4 recording file in a place where you can easily find it.
Upload the mp4 recording file to the poster form you received from the ASHE Staff.

Poster Handout/Resource Tips

For the in-person conference, we typically encourage poster Presenters to have a one-page handout with additional resources, your contact information, etc.

For your virtual poster presentation, you can do the same. We welcome you to also upload a one-page screen reader accessible PDF handout. This may include highlights from your presentations, citations, additional figures, etc.

Creating An Accessible Poster Handout/Resource Handout

Open the PDF that you’d like to make accessible using Adobe Acrobat.
Select Tools from the upper left corner, then select Action Wizard > Make Accessible from the sidebar. Select the Start button.
1. Add Document Description — Enter a descriptive page title. Other fields are optional.
2. Set Open Options — Runs automatically
3. Recognize Text using OCR — If your PDF is not true text, it will be converted into true text during this step. If you are not sure if your PDF is true text, one easy test is to search for a word that you know occurs in the document. If no results are found, it needs to be converted to text.
4. Detect Form Fields — Only necessary if your page contains fillable forms.
5. Set Tab Order Property — Runs automatically
6. Set Reading Language
7. Add Tags to Document — PDF “tags” provide accessibility information to screen readers. If your document does not have tags they will be added during this step. You will need to check the quality of these tags later on.
8. Set Alternate Text — A window will appear that allows you to add alternative text. Use the arrows to move between images and check the Decorative figures if the image should be ignored by a screen reader.
9. Run Accessibility Full Check — This checker will show additional issues. Right-click errors and warnings and select Fix to address the issues, Skip Rule if the issue has been addressed, and Explain to read the online help.
Add/Change tags
1. The TouchUp Reading Order tool allows a user to quickly add and edit PDF tags and view the reading order of elements on the page. To edit tags, do the following.
  1. From the right-hand menu, select Tools.
  2. Then select Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order. If the Accessibility option is not listed, use the Options button to check Accessibility on the menu.
  3. When selected, the view on the screen changes. All of the content is enclosed in numbered boxes. Each of these boxes represents a tag and the number corresponds with the reading order in the Order panel.
  4. Select the Structure Types radio button. The page will now display tag types instead of reading order.
  5. Within the TouchUp Reading Order window, you will notice a group of buttons with the names of several common tags. You can use these buttons to assign tags to selected text or objects. Use the Text button for body text and the Heading 1-6 buttons to assign correct heading levels.
2. You can also add/edit the following tags in the TouchUp Reading Order tool:
  1. Images and alternative text
    1. To tag a part of the page as an image, drag a box around the image and select the Figure button.
    2. To add or change alternative text, Right-click on the image, select Edit Alternate Text.
    3. Enter the appropriate alternative text in the dialog box.
  2. Table headers
    1. Select a table and then select Table Inspector. Table header cells will be identified in red.
    2. Select a table or cell by dragging a box through the cells (not around them or you might select additional cells). Right-click on a selected cell(s) and choose Table Cell Properties. A dialog box will appear.
    3. If the selected cell(s) needs to be tagged as a header, select the Header Cell option and assign a scope of either Row or Column.
  3. Move items to/from the background
    1. Select an element you wish to move to the background (i.e., it will be ignored by a screen reader) and press the background button. This may include repetitive headers or footers.
    2. If a part of the page is not in a gray box then it is already in the background. If it should be read by a screen reader, select the item and press the appropriate button (e.g., Text, Heading 1-6, Figure).
3. Check/edit reading order
  1. The TouchUp Reading order tool can also allow you to change the reading order of the page content so it matches the visual reading order.
    1. Select the Page Content Order radio button. Reading order will now be displayed on the page instead of tag type.
    2. Select Show Order Panel. The Order Panel will appear in the left sidebar with numbers that correspond to the numbers on the page.
    3. To change the reading order of an element in this panel, click and drag the tag to the location that reflects the correct reading order

Here are some videos/resources with additional information:

Viewing Your Poster Presentation

Once you have successfully logged into the Conference Virtual Ticket website as an Attendee, you can view your poster presentation materials:

Click on the Poster Gallery tab to see the list of poster presentations
Scroll and click on the title of the poster to view your submitted poster materials.

Feedback on your Virtual Poster Presentation (beginning November 1)

Each Virtual Poster Presentation contains a contact form that allows attendees to submit a contact form, which will be sent as an email through the PlaybackASHE system to Poster Presenters. Your email is not shared with attendees unless you respond to their message. Poster Presenters should expect to receive communication about their presentation from attendees between November 1 - November 30.