Poster FAQ

Deadlines & Upcoming Dates

Deadline	Activity
April 26	Deadline to correct/edit title, abstract, and author list
April 26	Deadline to alert organizers of time/date restrictions in scheduling posters
May 4	Initial scheduling assignments sent
May 17	Presenter response to scheduling assignment deadline
May 24	Final Session assignment announced
June 1	Deadline to register for conference to hold speaking slot
June 14	Whova conference platform will open to all registered participants
June 28	Prerecorded poster teaser recordings and slides should be submitted by 9 am EDT (New York)
July 7	Poster Sessions will be held on Wednesday, July 7

Q: How do I request a certificate of attendance or participation?

A: Please use this form to request a certificate. We will have to verify your attendance through Zoom signins, so please be patient as we process requests.

Q: How and why would I need to update my abstract, title, or author list?

A: You may update your entry here. You will need your OpenConf ID number and the password set by your corresponding author.

Many authors submitted abstracts as pdfs only, with figures and special formatting. In order to have an abstract associated with your talk in the conference platform, you will need to have a brief, text only abstract.

Your abstract may be as much as 500 words long, but we encourage you to be more succinct (200-300) and write in the form you might use in a journal article in your field. You will have an opportunity to upload a file to the Whova platform at a later date (slides, a pdf, or an image).

Please take a moment to review your author order, presenter designation, and your title for accuracy. Please recall that a presenter is limited to two talks in the main conference: one oral contribution OR lightning talk and one poster presentation. If you have a presenter who is still listed as presenter for more than two contributions, please designate another speaker to the conference or withdraw the additional submissions.

Q: What if I have a formula or an image I would like people to see in my abstract?

A: The abstract field for the Whova platform is text-only. We recommend you do not include complex formulas and images are not allowed. You will have an opportunity later to upload an additional file in the Whova platform.

Q: How will you schedule poster sessions, given the diversity of time zones represented by speakers?

A: Good question! We have committed to working with authors in all time zones to find slot that is within waking hours for their time zone and sent out a reques in April to all presenting authors to get a list of scheduling conflicts. Eighty percent of our poster presenters responded, and all indicated they will available at some point on Wednesday, July 7. So, we will have three poster sessions on those days.

Session 1: 09:00 EDT (New York)/15:00 CEDT (Rome)/ 21:00 CST (Shanghai)
Session 2: 13:00 EDT (New York)/19:00 CEDT (Rome)/ 01:00 CST (Shanghai, next day, July 8)
Session 3: 19:00 EDT (New York)/02:00 CEDT (Rome, next day, July 7)/ 07:00 CST (Shanghai, next day, July 8)

Q: How will the poster sessions be organized at this conference?

A: Poster sessions will be comprised of an hour-long virtual session in which attendees can join in and speak directly to presenters. Speakers will be expected to be online during their entire assiged hour-long session to answer questions.

Q: Why are you requiring I prerecord a teaser to my poster and submit my slides by June 28?

A: Think of the recording for your poster session as a "elevator speech" version of your talk, that gets people interested. In addition, by having a short presentation and slides published, you will make it possible for attendees who cannot attend your session in person because of time differences to engage with your work and leave you comments. Finally, unlike all other contributions in the conference, your poster presentation will not be recorded and available for participants to watch asynchronously.

Q: May I list more than one presenting author?

A: Yes! Especially if you have prerecorded, authors both being present for a poster session is no problem. However, each presenting author must be registered to the conference in order to be listed as a presenting author. And keep in mind, at least one presenting author MUST be registered by June 1 in order for the poster to remain in the program.

Q: How will I submit our prerecorded teaser and slides?

A: Presenting authors may upload video and slides directly to Whova. You should have received an email with a link. If you did not, please contact us.

Q: I want to be considered for a poster award! How do I apply?

A: All posters that are uploaded into Whova by June 28 will be eligible for consideration. No additional application is needed. You can decline to be considered if you wish.

Q: What if I need help?

A: You can always email us at iuni@iu.edu.

You may talk to someone directly through posted conference office hours. Once the conference starts, we will have posted staffed info desk hours, where you can chat live with a conference staffer or jump online to a Zoom help desk and speak to a staffer directly.

Q: What do you suggest about the best ways to organize my poster presentation and my poster talk?

A: You will have two different sets of materials to prepare: a poster or slide set you can display in your poster session, and a a 2-3 minute recording to summarize your work.

Layout and Design of your Poster

To ensure a diverse range of submissions, we are not distributing a template.If you are stuck on how to organize your poster, consider making the classic four areas - Problem, Research Design, Data, and Conclusion.
Remember your audience: step back from your design and approach your layout with the eyes of a viewer from a screen. Is it readable without zooming in?
Use engaging graphics whenever possible, and limit the amount of text.
Leave white space between components—you may be tempted to cut into this invisible section, but it’s an important part of making your content approachable.
Visuals are important, but use them judiciously—for each image you consider using, ask yourself, how does including this visual help a viewer understand my project?
You can use software you’re probably already familiar with to create a poster, including Microsoft Powerpoint or Google Presentation. Keep the size of your elements large. The content should remain legible when you zoom out to a view the size of a sheet of paper
Abridge, cut, and rephrase - and aim to communicate your project’s essence in as few words as you can.

Tips for a a good poster talk

Think of this video as a trailer for the conversation you would like to have during your poster session. Emphasize the highlights, but don't worry if you can't fit all the details in - that's why you want people to come to your session!
It is not required that you appear on the screen of your recording - you may choose to use audio-only. However, consider appearing on screen at least in the beginning and the end of your presentation.
It is tempting to speak quickly to fit more in a short time. However, please recall this is an international conference with many different dialects and accents, and many non-native English speakers. Enunciate as carefully as you can.
Presenting posters in a virtual context is tricky - you can create a short slide deck, or have a single image you refer to, but if you use a single image, be aware that viewers may not be able to read much in your recording, unless you zoom in and out. Remember that you may prepare a traditional poster in pdf format to upload to Whova as well. The video does not have to display it.
Plan to do at least one trial run of your recording. You will learn a lot through the experience, and it is, after all, only three minutes.

Check your video recording setup

Please provide captioning if you can. Your video will be viewable by all conference participants before your live session. Recording in Zoom offers a good option for this, and Zoom allows free account users to request captioning access. There are also some other workarounds, notably YouTube.
If you can, place your camera in a room with natural light. Consider having light sources in front of your camera, not directly in front of you but to your left and right. Windows are often better than lamps.
Do a test recording to check your voice. Make sure you’re speaking in a consistent tone.
Review your recording after it is finished.
We highly recommend a mp4 format. There can be some issues with playback and embedding with mov files.