Presentation Guidelines
Contributed presentations are 10 minutes with 2 minutes for questions. We ask that you please stick to your allotted time as a courtesy to the other presenters and to audience members who might want to attend talks in different rooms.
Poster Guidelines
The poster session will be Friday October 10. We seek to provide a welcoming environment and lively discussion for all presenters.
Important Information
Posters will be displayed on a single 66″ wide and 48″ long panel. Landscape oriented posters should be no more than 60″ wide x 42″ high. Portrait oriented posters can be mounted side-by-side (2 posters that are each up to 30″ wide and 42″ high), however it is strongly recommended that you produce a single landscape poster. You must print and bring your poster with you.
Some Suggestions
- The poster should include (1) a short title, (2) student’s name, (3) collaborator(s) and adviser(s) names, and (4) their department(s), (5) funding sources, (6) research objectives, (7) scientific background and significance to the field, (8) methods, (9) results/findings, (10) interpretation of results, (11) conclusions and directions for future research, (12) references.
- All language should be clear and unnecessary jargon avoided. Don’t assume everyone has the same scientific vocabulary. Remember what it was like when you first started research. Limit the length of text – well thought out pictures, drawings, charts, figures, etc. can convey more information than a large block of text.
- All components of the poster should be easy to follow even in the absence of the presenter.
- If you’ve never made a research poster before, look at examples from your department or online. Practice explaining your poster to friends, labmates, classmates, etc. Get excited!
- As you prepare your poster, you can consider whether you have answered the following questions:
- Background/Introduction: What research project did you perform? Why is this project important? Any background info we need to understand the project.
- Research Tasks: How did you perform this research? What steps did you take to answer your research question? Which method/software is being used to analyze results (if any)?
- Findings: What were your findings? Here would be a good place to include well-labelled graphs/data collected from the research with explanations.
- Conclusions: How do your findings tie back to your original research question? What’s the big picture of this research project? Again, why is it important?
- Future Work : How do you expect your research to progress in the future? Where will you go from here?
Student Outstanding Presentations and Posters Awards:
For several years, TAOAPS has sponsored cash awards for outstanding presentations by both undergraduate and graduate students at its annual meetings. Undergraduate and Graduate Student Outstanding Oral Presentation and Poster Awards will be given to the meeting presenters based on the excellence of the physics research and quality of the presentations. Details about this award can be found at this website. This award program is underwritten by the general operating fund of the Section but has benefited in the past by contributions from industry sponsors. Such contributions to the award program are always welcome.
Rules for Entering Undergraduate and Graduate Student Competition:
(This should be read by both students and faculty who help students submit abstracts)
Prizes will be awarded for outstanding papers presented by undergraduate and graduate students in both oral and poster sessions at the TAOAPS Fall Meeting. To compete, the following must be criteria must be satisfied:
- The student must be the first author and presenter of the paper.
- Students may compete in only one paper. In general, only one APS abstract is accepted with the same first author.
- Undergraduate and graduate students should identify themselves as such when giving their oral or poster presentations to help the judges identify which presentations are eligible and need to be evaluated.