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01.26.2022 | SSP News & Releases

Tips for Creating a Compelling Poster Proposal

Submissions for poster proposals are being accepted via ExOrdo from now through February 4.

Not quite ready to take the stage and present to a large audience? New to the industry and not sure how to participate? Did you miss the session submission deadline? Posters present an opportunity to share information and to have interactive conversations with meeting attendees. Your poster submission will be evaluated based on the abstract only—you don’t need to have your poster design completed before submitting your proposal.

Posters may have a single author or multiple authors and will be on display during the course of the meeting, but we ask that at least one author is in attendance alongside their poster during your assigned poster session. Consider content and presentation ideas that can stand on their own, but that can also spark conversation! Whether a very specialized topic or a broader concept, we are interested in proposals that touch on all aspects of the scholarly communications ecosystem.

For a strong proposal:

  • Create a title that is descriptive of your poster content
  • Appeal to a broad audience. SSP Annual Meeting attendees value networking opportunities, insight into new developments, and practical applications they can use to advance their careers.
  • Write an abstract that is no more than 250 words that describes the content of your poster. For accepted proposals, this abstract will be included in the online program.
  • Describe the ideal audience for your poster, such as publishers, editors, academics, librarians, marketers, production personnel, etc.

Indicate the educational level your poster will address:

  • Foundational: Focus on awareness and relaying information; appropriate for those with limited experience of the subject seeking an introductory understanding of the content area(s).
  • Applied: Focus on understanding and comprehension; appropriate for those with some experience seeking to build on, apply, or enhance existing knowledge using content in practical applications/implementations.
  • Strategic: Focus on analysis, evaluation, and decision-making; appropriate for those with substantial prerequisite knowledge seeking the most up-to-date information to heighten expertise and advance best practices.
  • Mixed-learning: Includes both applied and strategic perspectives on an issue; appropriate for those with at least some experience of the subject area seeking a mix of immediate/practical and future/planning information.
  • Networking: Provides an opportunity for peer-to-peer interaction among groups with similar interests and/or geographical locations, for all career levels. May be purely social in nature, have a specific topic (e.g. speaker or panel), or focus on an element of career development (e.g. mentorship).

The Annual Meeting Program Committee will review poster proposals and rate them on the following criteria:

  • Topic is timely and relevant
  • Original concept and/or fresh analysis
  • Focus and learning outcomes are well defined
  • Sufficient opportunity for an interactive conversation with meeting attendees during a poster session
  • Technical details to keep in mind:
  • Must fit within a 48×48 inch area; 28×22 inch landscape orientation is recommended.
  • Full color
  • Design with social distancing in mind—main points should be visible from 6 feet away.
  • The author is responsible for printing the poster—there is a FedEx Office store onsite.

Although very different in format, explore last year’s posters to get an idea of what is possible. Research questions, case studies, infographics—formats of all kinds are welcome! Poster proposals are being accepted through February 4, 2022.

Highlights from our virtual poster session in 2021:

Best Content
An OKR Story: Objectives & Key Results at The MIT Press
Gabriel Harp, The MIT Press

Best Design
The Journal of Ethics in Publishing from The George Washington University
Gabrielle Bethancourt-Hughes, George Washington University, Lois Jones, American Psychological Association, and John Warren, George Washington University

Best All-Around
Is Implicit Bias Impacting Your User’s Experience?
Rachel Volentine, University of Tennessee

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