University of Puerto Rico at Ponce

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DATE: February 11 , 2021
TO: Professor Pier A. LeCompte Zambrana
FROM: Adamaris Maldonado Irizarry
SUBJECT: “How to Prepare a Scientific Poster” conference

On February 11th, 2021, I attended to video conference "How to Prepare a Scientific Poster" by the student
Armando Ruiz held remotely via Google Meet platform. The conference convened at 12:30 p.m. and adjourned
at 1:30 p.m. Students mainly from the biology department attended and participated in this conference where
they emphasized the following parts: why present at national meetings and how to prepare for national
meetings. This report highlights the most important points discussed at the conference that helps for
professional development.

Why present at national meetings

Present investigations at national meetings are important, in general terms, because aids in disseminating your
findings and furthering the fields. The student Armando Ruiz emphasized that are more practical and personal
reasons as a sub-graduated student. Among these, he mentioned that presenting at national meetings helps you
to develop your national reputation. Because at this conference attend professionals and experts in the area of
your investigation. Since you present your investigation, experts will begin to know your name and associate it
with the topic you are presenting. Besides, Armando Ruiz mentioned that national meeting provides an
opportunity to network and collaborate, which can lead to other projects. In addition, he emphasized presenting
allows you to get immediate feedback from experts, which can then make the manuscript/research project
stronger before it is submitted. Also, it allows you to develop skills like effective scientific communication,
have major experience in data analysis, transmit your investigation effectively, and show your abilities to stand
out in future opportunities.

How to prepare for national meetings

The student Armando Ruiz discusses three points as recommendations of how preparing for a national meeting:
research about the conference, start writing the abstract, and preparing the poster. First, in research about the
meeting, Armando Ruiz explained that is necessary before going to a conference looking for requirement
regarding what material can be presented, regarding the abstract submission like fields, deadline, times zones
and word limits.
Second, start writing the abstract. Though the abstract is written later to finish the investigation, it is crucial to
do it with time. Because professors can give feedback and corrections, and other people who have not been
primarily involved in the project, a "naive" audience understands the abstract's message. The student Armando
Ruiz emphasized and clarified that abstract/poster does not have to represent all of the data for a study and can
just present an interesting piece of the story.
Third and last, preparing the poster. It is important to take care of the specifications of the scientific conference.
The student Armando Ruiz emphasized the sizes of the poster, requires or prefers templates, and emphasized
reviewing the meeting instructions and trying to make your poster as close to the maximum dimensions as
possible. Also, he mentioned that the poster is not in a strict format. The investigator needs to be confident and
comfortable with how all the parts of the poster are distributed, taking care of the parts' dimensions.

Closing

This conference helps students develop skills in how to make a scientific poster correctly for future
investigations. The importance of know this information is this it attracts job opportunities, master's degrees,
and graduated school.