Oral/Poster Instructions and Forms

2008 Annual Meeting

POSTER PRESENTATION INSTRUCTIONS

1. Your presence is required during the entire 2 hour session to facilitate discussion with the attendees, however, you may leave your poster to attend either of the Moderated Poster Sessions (held during the last hour of your session).

2. Assemble and mount your poster on either the evening before your session from 6:30-7:00 pm or the morning of your session from 7:00-7:30 am. Participants presenting in the Friday, May 18th poster session will only be able to mount their poster on Friday morning.

3. The posterboards are 4' x 8'. Your presentation number will be affixed to your assigned posterboard.

4. Don't forget to bring thumbtacks, pushpins, or drawing pins to attach your poster to the posterboard. SAEM will not have supplies available for use by the poster presenters. You may cover the posterboard with colored paper for a background if desired. Another option is to apply stick-on Velcro strips to the back of each panel. (However, Velcro will not work if you cover the posterboard with a colored paper background.)

5. You are encouraged to bring up to 100 photocopies (8.5" x 11" or 11" x 17") of your poster to distribute to attendees.

6. Organize the poster with sections in order: title, objectives, methods, statistical methods, results, limitations, and conclusions. Start the introduction and objectives under the title in the upper left portion of the poster. Use the middle portion, top to bottom, for methods, results, and limitations. The conclusion should be in the lower right corner. Be sure to disclose any funding sources; we suggest they be displayed at the bottom center of the poster.

7. Lettering and illustrations should be legible from a distance of five feet. Charts, drawings, and illustrations should be similar to those used in making slides, but more heavily drawn. Do not mount illustrations on heavy material because of the difficulty in keeping them in position on the posterboards.

8. Posters may be removed immediately following the poster session or between 6:00-6:30 pm that evening. Dismantling must be completed by 6:30 pm as the posterboards will be used for the next day's poster session.

9. SAEM staff will discard posters not dismantled by 6:30 pm. SAEM cannot assume responsibility for loss or damage to posters.

MODERATED POSTER PRESENTATIONS INSTRUCTIONS

1. Your presence is required (the hour prior to your scheduled session) during the poster session to facilitate discussion with the attendees.

2. In addition to the regular poster session, you have been selected to participate in a one-hour Moderated Poster session, that is held the last hour of the interactive poster session.

3. Assemble and mount your poster on either the evening before your session from 6:30-7:00 pm or the morning of your session from 7:00-7:30 am. Participants presenting in the Friday, May 18th poster session will only be able to mount their poster on Friday morning.

4. The moderated posters will be set up slightly apart from the other posters to minimize noise and disruptions during the remainder of the interactive session.

5. During the Moderated Poster Session you and the other abstract presenters selected for your session will be given 3-5 minutes to present your study. Please bring approximately 50 photocopies of your poster (letter or legal size) for distribution to allow the participants to follow along. After the presentations a moderator will open the session for discussion. It is expected that discussion will be broad and comprehensive and will focus on future directions for research.

6. The posterboards are 4' x 8'. Your presentation number will be affixed to your assigned posterboard.

7. Don't forget to bring thumbtacks, pushpins, or drawing pins to attach your poster to the posterboard. You may cover the posterboard with colored paper for a background if desired. Another option is to apply stick-on Velcro strips to the back of each panel. (However, Velcro will not work if you cover the posterboard with a colored paper background.)

8. Organize the poster with sections in order: title, objectives, methods, statistical methods, results, limitations, and conclusions. Start the introduction and objectives under the title in the upper left portion of the poster. Use the middle portion, top to bottom, for methods, results, and limitations. The conclusion should be in the lower right corner. Be sure to disclose any funding sources; we suggest they be displayed at the bottom center of the poster.

9. Lettering and illustrations should be legible from a distance of five feet. Charts, drawings, and illustrations should be similar to those used in making slides, but more heavily drawn. Do not mount illustrations on heavy material because of the difficulty in keeping them in position on the posterboards.

10. Posters may be removed immediately following the poster session or between 6:00-6:30 pm that evening. Dismantling must be completed by 6:30 pm as the posterboards will be used for the next day's poster session.

11. SAEM staff will discard posters not dismantled by 6:30 pm. SAEM cannot assume responsibility for loss or damage to posters.

POSTER MAKING HINTS

Posterboards are 4 feet high x 8 feet wide. Lettering and illustrations should be legible from a distance of five feet. Charts, drawings, and illustrations should be similar to those used in making slides, but more heavily drawn. Do not mount illustrations on heavy material because of difficulty in keeping them in position on the posterboards.

SAEM encourages the use of inexpensive methods for generating posters. Authors are encouraged to consider creating their posters on 8.5" x 11" sheets of paper (black type, not less than 36 font or 1.5" lettering), mounted on 11" x 14" posterboard using double-sided tape or adhesive spray (caution: adhesive spray can soak through standard paper). A word processing or drawing program can be used to print the title in large letters on up to 3 pieces of glossy legal paper (8" x 14"), which can be put together at the poster site using double-sided tape. Another inexpensive option is to format the poster yourself using Word, Pagemaker, or Quark Express and take it to a Kinko's or similar establishment where it can be printed out onto poster-size, non-glossy paper at very low cost (usually under $35).

Please note that posters must disclose any funding source(s).

SAEM suggests that authors use the following outline when developing posters for presentation:

1. TITLE (including authors names and institutions)

2. INTRODUCTION

Give perspective emphasizing no more than 4 points:
Importance of problem
Previous Studies
Central Issue (questions, concerns, next move)

3. OBJECTIVES (Study Purpose)

Focused study question
Hypothesis

4. METHODS

Laboratory: Overall experimental model, Basic modelling system
Clinical: Study design, Participants, Inclusion/exclusion criteria
Experimental conditions and interventions
Specific Grouping
Outcome measurements

5. STATISTICAL METHODS

Sample size/power calculations
Analysis (i.e., T-test, ANOVA)
Significance (i.e., p<.05)

6. RESULTS

Up to 4 placards, graphs and charts preferred

7. LIMITATIONS

Model and design
Data (numbers, variance)
Interpretation (translation to humans or other settings)

8. CONCLUSIONS (3 major points)

9. FUTURE DIRECTIONS (optional)

Next step
Clinical effects
Implications

10. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (optional)

Funding sources
Technical help
Bibliography