Abstract
Mailing poster presenters a brochure suggesting ways to improve their posters led to visually better posters. A brochure describing 24 ways to improve poster presentations was mailed to a random sample of presenters two months prior to the 1994 Annual Convention of the Swedish Medical Association. Three pairs of observers, unaware of who had received the brochure, evaluated 146 posters [88 recipients (n = 105), 58 nonrecipients (n = 70)]. Brochure recipients made use of more suggestions than nonrecipients, and they produced posters giving a better over-all impression. The procedure best correlated with receiving an above-average rating concerned placing conclusions in the upper left-hand corner of the poster. The results show that it may be possible to improve the quality of scientific posters by empirically deriving standards for presentations.
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