The essential idea of an informational exhibit is to convey the essence of your work in a visually pleasing and condensed manner. Your demonstration/display should serve both as a stand-alone representation of your project and also as a starting point and catalyst for questions and discussions.

  • You are expected to be with your exhibit for the session so that observers and judges may ask questions about your topic and presentation.
  • Be prepared to describe and discuss your work in an understandable manner for a non-expert audience including students, faculty, and the general public. Descriptions should be clear and concise and should include the major points presented on the exhibit.  Limit your presentation to 2-3 minutes.
  • You may have summary handouts of your project or even copies of your original paper available for distribution at the demonstration/display site if you wish.
  • Please use large fonts for any printed information and sufficiently large representations of figures, table, and illustrations so that they may be read and understood from a distance.  Observers should be able to read your exhibit heading from 4-6 feet away.
  • Each demonstration/display should prominently display the following: Your name, your major, and year at Penn State, and your mentor’s name. Include a list of all references used in your work, cited in appropriate bibliographic formats (e.g., APA, MLA).
  • Your abstract should be displayed either at the top of your demonstration/display or on the table (depending on the type of project).
  • Professional dress is expected.

Criteria you will be judged upon

Each exhibit will be given a score from 10 (excellent) to 0 (poor) based on ten different criteria.  More specifically, 10 - 9 = Excellent, 8 - 7 = Very Good, 6 - 5 = Average, 4 - 3 = Inadequate, and 2 - 0 = Poor.  Each judging form will include the project number, the name of the judge, the individual score for each criterion, the total points awarded (out of 100), and a space for comments (one for each criterion) to be shared with the student(s).

Note that if a required component (criterion) is missing, a 0 will be given for that component of the project.

  • Appeal
  • Title
  • Abstract
  • Content
    • Purpose
    • Outcome
  • Organization
    • Flow
    • Style
    • Use of visuals
  • Presentation
    • Preparation
    • Style

Recommendations

If your work is the result of a class project, be sure to display the assignment requirements as part of your demonstration/display.

It is recommended that you work closely with your faculty adviser to develop an appropriate demonstration/display organization.

(Adapted from the PSU Beaver Undergraduate Fair)

For additional advice on creating poster presentations see: http://www.uwlax.edu/biology/communication/PosterPresentations.html