Poster Session Instructions

Thank you for participating in URSA's Research and Creative Activity Day! Your participation is critical to the success of our event each year.

Please CAREFULLY read all the information below. You will find all the information you will need to be ready on this page to prepare for this year's event.
 

Checklist of what you will need to complete:

  1. Register for the event by DATE TBA  and invite others to attend, too!

  2. Prepare your poster (see instructions below) and save as a PDF.

  3. Create a 2-3 minute presentation video on your research poster (see tips and instructions below and examples from previous years in the archive).

  4. Submit your materials (see yellow button below): one poster (PDF) file and your 2-3 min video (Deadline TBA).

    ** Important: Even if you have already sent these materials to the URSA office over the past year,
    please do so again using this form. This will facilitate our work and ensure we are using the right materials.**
    2023 Student Materials Submission Form (Link Forthcoming)

 

 

 

 

 

photo

PROGRAM & TIPS

There are 4 poster sessions scheduled over 2 days:

  • You will be expected to present at your college's time slot, as well as attend the others in support of our colleagues.

  • Each college will have a separate webpage with the listing of all the presenters and their respective Zoom links, poster, pre-recorded videos. 

  • Here is a snapshot of what it will look like. 
TUESDAY APRIL 5, 2022
1 - 2:30 p.m.
  • College of Engineering and Mines (CEM)
3 - 4:30 p.m.
  • College of Liberal Arts (CLA)
WEDNESDAY APRIL 6, 2022
 1 - 2:30 p.m.
  • College of Natural Science and Mathematics (CNSM)
3 - 4:30 p.m.
  • College of Business and Safety Management (CBSM)
  • College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS)
  • College of Rural Community Development (CRCD)
  • Community and Technical College (CTC)
  • School of Education (SOE)
THURSDAY APRIL 7, 2022 
*Mandatory for all award winners
1 - 2 p.m.
2022 RCA Days - Award Ceremony


Moderated by Trent Sutton, URSA Director

Welcome remarks by Dan White, UAF Chancellor

Mandatory for all winners

  • A link to the webinar will be sent a few days ahead to all attendees and presenting students.
  • The URSA office will contact everyone with the list of winners on Wednesday April 6, the day before the award ceremony. 
  • We ask that you ALL block this time in your calendar to ensure your availability should you be selected as a winner.

 

 

DEANS' CHOICE AWARDS:

  • The Deans of each UAF colleges/schools will pick their top project(s) and award them a Dean's Choice Award.
  • Those monetary prizes will be sent to the recipients Student Account in the weeks following the event.

Winners will be announced at the Award Ceremony on April 7, 2022.

ATTENDANCE PRIZES

  • URSA will be drawing 2 names from all presenting students, and offer each of them a $500 scholarship, to be deposited in their student accounts sometime in April 2022.
  • Winners will be announced at the Award Ceremony on April 7, 2022.

POSTER
Most of you  will prepare your poster using PowerPoint and save it as a PDF. We ask that the file size be no larger than 50MB.

SLIDE SHOW
For creative projects, you may choose to create 5 slides to convey your research. 

Either option should be sent as one PDF

  • Title of the poster
  • Name and institutional affiliation of each author
  • Department
  • Name of your mentor
  • URSA logo (You can find our logos on URSA's Poster Resource page)

  • PDF files should be NO MORE than 50MB max.

A poster is intended to provide a visually compelling and totally understandable presentation of your results. The poster should be self-explanatory. 

See these tips to creating a strong and easy to read poster.

  • A 4:3 (standard) ratio in PowerPoint is recommended.

  • Figures, tables, and charts should be large enough to be read easily when you share your screen. Be sure such items are labeled very clearly.

  • Design is an important element of posters. Simply pasting the pages of an abstract or paper to the poster constitutes a very poor presentation. You should aim for an attractive layout that gets your message across clearly. If you need so many words to convey your message that you run out of space, maybe the problem is the message itself. Simplify what you present. If there are subtleties or complexities, these can be conveyed verbally.

  • Your poster should have a clear message, a logical layout and be easy to comprehend in a couple of minutes.

  • Make sure that the specific sections (such as the background, methods, results and conclusions) are easy to locate on the poster.

  • Design the individual sections of your poster so that they can be quickly read; avoid large blocks of text and long sentences.

  • Try to keep your word count as low as possible.

  • Make sure that there is enough contrast between the color of the text and the poster's background.

There are many resources available with information and tips on how to make a good poster.  And talk to your advisor/mentor - they are a great resource!

Here are some of the many options for poster templates available online for free:

 

All poster presenters are required to book their own meeting in Zoom, and to follow the following template:

Topic: Poster title
Description:  Details about poster
When:  Day of event
Start Time: See your college's time slot in the program above
Duration: See your college's time slot in the program above
Recurring meeting:  OFF
Registration:  OFF
Passcode: ON
Waiting room: OFF
Host video: ON
Participant video: Choice
Audio: Both
Meeting options:
        - Enable Join before host: OFF
        - Mute participants upon entry: ON
        - Only authenticated users can join:  OFF
        - Automatically Record to the cloud:  OFF 
        - Alternative hosts: Group projects - please add here your other team members

**IMPORTANT:  

  • Please ensure that you log into the University's Zoom account at alaska.zoom.us to set up your poster presentation/zoom meeting.
  • If you need assistance, please contact the OIT Video Conferencing Team at ua-video@alaska.edu, or (907) 450-8300 option #1.
I’ve never made a video - do you have some helpful tips/tricks?


 Check out these links:

Other links related to poster presentations in Zoom:


**If you need assistance, please contact the OIT Video Conferencing Team at ua-video@alaska.edu, or (907) 450-8300 option #1


FAQs​

Once you have submitted your items:

  • Posters, videos and titles along with presenter names will be uploaded on a separate website for viewing prior to the event. Only registered attendees and participants will have access to this website for added cyber security, and a link will be sent to all participants one week prior.

  • Access to that website will be sent to all participants a week before the event.

  • This will give attendees a chance to view all the submissions prior to the event, therefore be ready to answer questions at your Zoom meeting. The Deans will also review all the submissions and choose their college's selections for the Deans' Choice Awards. 

Day of the event:

  • At the advice of OIT, each individual poster presenter (you) will host a Zoom meeting during your college's assigned time slot (see program above).

  • YOU are responsible for your own Zoom meeting*:
    • this means testing your computer
    • log in your Zoom account early
    • starting your Zoom meeting on time.
    • You will decide if you want to enable the chat  function during your meeting.  
  • Attendees will go from meeting to meeting (poster to poster) much like a “real” poster session.  You will share your screen to show your poster/slide deck, and will likely encounter slower and busier times. 

  • For now, each time slot is scheduled for 1.5h in case we have many participants for each session. Should we feel this is too long, we will reduce it to 1h, and makes sure to let you know of that change. 

  • The day of your session, URSA staff will be available via a separate Zoom link to help with any technological issues. The link to those sessions will be posted in the main program on the 2022 RCA Days website closer to the event.

  • Please prepare carefully, but also be ready to be flexible when problems occur.  There may be delays and problems related to connectivity.  

*See above for full instructions on how to set up your Zoom meeting.

YES, you need to host your meeting for the whole hour and a half  just like you would stand next to your poster during a poster session. We won't know when attendees will drop by in your meeting, it could be in the last half hour, so please do not terminate the meeting until the end of the scheduled time slot in the program.

You will be fully responsible for the good running of your meeting, so please be on time.  

Yes, you can submit your research or creative project even if it is not completed.

ALL UAF undergraduates that have participated in research or a creative project are welcome to present at our event, from all departments and disciplines.

 Due to the conference shifting to an online format, we will not be printing posters this year.


Do you have questions?

For questions about making your video or scheduling your Zoom meeting, please contact UAF's Video Conferencing Team at ua-video@alaska.edu or (907) 450-8300 option #1.

Any other questions about the event, please contact the URSA team at ursa.uaf@alaska.edu.  We are here to help!

Edited January 24, 2022 by MSO