Recently, as I was working with a professional organization to put together a poster session at a national conference, it dawned on me that the staff members tasked with making the practical arrangements with the hotel hosting the conference had no idea what a poster session was or how to “do” it. It simply has not been a big part of how people in my discipline (art history) communicate our research. But it should be, I think, because poster sessions are much more inclusive than panels and help shape the future of the discipline in ways that panels cannot. With their less structured format, their casual, chatty atmosphere, and their emphasis on a wide variety of research and creative work as opposed to a narrow focus, they provide many more opportunities for discussion, idea-generation, and networking than the traditional panel format does.

Essentially, the purpose of a poster session is to give presenters a chance to talk to a diverse audience about the nature, process, and significance of their work, and the audience a chance to learn about the scope of research taking place within a field. Furthermore, through the conversations that take place at such sessions, new professional relationships are seeded, new critical perspectives on the presented work and perhaps also work by the visitors hatched, and work gets a healthy dose of fresh air.

I wanted to help the staffers understand the mechanics of a poster session, but I was shocked to find that while there are a plethora of resources out there on how to make a good poster, how to present your poster, and why poster sessions are great, there was absolutely nothing on the fine art of organizing a poster session and actually having it not look and feel dreary or chaotic. I have put together this resource page containing CURAH’s tips for putting on a poster session that will hopefully demystify it a bit for the uninitiated.