Creating A Professional Roll-up Poster Using Microsoft PowerPoint

1
Creating A Professional Roll-up Poster Using
Microsoft PowerPoint Michael P. Schenk, MSMI,
CMI, FAMI1, Laura K. Schenk, PhD, RN, CNNP2,
Meaghan C. Schenk, BS 1Biomedical Illustration
Services and 2School of Nursing, University of
Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39216
Step III Title Create a text box click on
the text box icon (A with a series of
horizontal lines) and drag across the top of the
exhibit from left to right. Inside the box begin
typing, or go to the PPt folder. In the folder
highlight the desired text, right click on the
text, select Copy, go back to the exhibit,
right click in the textbox and select Paste. If
the text is too large/small change the pt. size.
Titles need to be emphasized and made BOLD. Do
the same for the author(s) and institution(s)
lines. When using superscripts to designate
author with institutions or department, highlight
just the number, go to Format ? Font, in the
dialog box, check Superscript ? OK. The default
automatically changes the size to be
proportionate to the text pt. size. The
title should be centered in the exhibit, line up
the little toggle at the tope of text box using
the arrow keys. Remember to move any text box in
any direction the cursor (hand icon) needs to be
on the selected text box. All other text boxes
justified left alignment. Step IV Text Boxes
Repeat the above process for all new text
boxes. After creating the first text box in
a column, you can maintain the same column width
to the preceding text box(es) by duplicating it.
Select the text box and go to Edit ? Duplicate.
Hold down shift key and drag the text box down.
You will notice a slight shift in the duplicate
text box, with the text box in position and
selected, realign with the arrow key (left) and
click twice. Remember, the cursor has to be
on the text box. A column can also be
duplicated by holding down the Shift key and
selecting each text box(es) to be duplicated, go
to Edit ? Duplicate. With the cursor on a text
box drag entire selection horizontally. ?
Avoid using a combination of different fonts or
type faces. Exception to the rule would be when
referencing or identifying a Latinized organism
or quotation. ? Avoid excessive amounts of
text. Remember we are emphasizing the high
points of your research or study. Step V
Visuals To incorporate visual images, go to
the folder again. Right click on the image, copy
and paste in the PPt. exhibit and position. To
position, select and drag to the desired
location. Scale to fit (reducing or enlarging the
image) clicking on a corner of the box and
dragging toward or away from the center, Pulling
any of the sides of the box will distort the
image. If the image is in another location,
to retrieve go to Insert ? Picture ? From File,
select image ? OK to insert. Position and size
the image accordingly.
Abstract
HELPFUL HINTS
Technology has made it easier for the health
professionals to create their own exhibit.
Microsoft PowerPoint software, created primarily
as a business application for in-house
presentations, has now allowed one to venture
into creating poster layouts with final output as
an oversized one-piece poster.
As you complete the layout, remember that
the readers eye will be drawn to the center of
the poster at eye level. Put the most important
information there. The least important
information should go in the lower left and right
corners. If you have a dominant image, put it
top center. You can move things around on
the page by right-clicking on the border, then
using the mouse or arrow keys to move it where
you want. Ctrl-arrow will make smaller
movements. Abstracts and References Text size
can be smaller than body text size. Figure
legends Text size should be smaller and Figure
s bold. Headers To create a header select
the Rectangle icon, click and drag a rectangle
above the desired text box. They can be reduced
or enlarged as needed. Go to the Paint Bucket
icon (bottom tool bar) and select the color you
desire. Inside the rectangle, type in the desired
header title. The font color can be changed by
going to the A icon on the bottom toolbar next
to the Paint Bucket icon. Headers can be all caps
or upper and lower case, and bold. Note
White text looks great in dark backgrounds.
Header boxes can be duplicated the same way as
text boxes. You can make a
nice-looking roll-up poster yourself using
PowerPoint. As you become more familiar
with this process, experimentation with colored
outlines, text boxes and backgrounds can be an
option to enhancing your material.
Depending on which service bureau you use, make
sure of the specifications they require of you as
to how to save your documents.
Tribell R The single unit concept for medical
and scientific posters. J. of Biological
Photography 5397-104, 1985. Schenk MP,
Manning RJ, Paalman MN Going Digital Image
Preparation for Biomedical Publishing. Anat Rec
(New Anat) 257128-136, 1999. Hutchins JB
How to Prepare a Roll-Up Poster Using
PowerPoint. Unpublished.
METHODS

• Setup for using actual point size of selected
  text
• Determine the final size of the poster you want.
  In the example shown, it is 72 wide x 42 high
  (this is a common poster size). Usually, the
  Call for Proposals or the Website for the meeting
  has this information.
• PowerPoint has a maximum slide width of 56
  inches. To set this exhibit up we have three of
  the four dimensions already established. Now we
  need to determine the fourth. To do so we apply
  them to a simple formula
• Desired width of our exhibit ? 72 42 ?
  Desired height of our exhibit
• Maximum PP width dimension ? 56 X ?
  Unknown height to be determined
• Now you cross multiply to find X
• 42 ? 56 72 ? X ? 2352 72X ? 2352
  72X ? 32.7 X
• 72 72
• 
  (round off 32.7)
• The exhibit layout will be 56 x 32.7
• An alternative way would be to create a downsized
  version of the final output, i.e. 4 ft. X 8 ft.
  could be laid out as 24 in. by 48 in. Whichever
  ratio you use, remember the point size of your
  text must also be the same ratio as the final
  output, i.e. 96 pt. text title would be 48 pt.,
  and 18 to 24 pt. body text would be 9 to 12 pt.

CONCLUSIONS
Initial preparation Put all of the text (if
not typing in the textboxes), charts/graphs,
photographs, illustrations, etc. in a folder on
your desktop. When ready to work on the exhibit,
open the folder and minimize. Step I Start
Launch PowerPoint go to File ? New or Blank
slide click OK. Again, go to File ? Page Setup ?
Slides sized for (drop down menu) ? Custom, in
the Width put desired width, in the Height
desired height, Slide ? Landscape and click OK.
Step II Presets Under Format ? Font ?
scroll to the desired text font (Arial), Font
style Regular and Size 18, 20 or 24. You can
always change the pt. size if needed. Under
View ? Zoom ? scroll down and select Fit.
Under View ? Grids and Guides, check the Snap
object to grid, Display grid on screen, and
Display drawing guides on screen boxes, under
the Grid setting box, change spacing to 1.
Again, under View ? click on Rulers.
References