How To Create a Poster Using Microsoft PowerPoint

If you are like me, everyone around you uses a Mac and you’re the only one with a Windows machine. So, when you have a computer question about something, you can’t lean over and ask your co-worker (because they just laugh at you and say ‘Apple has a sale on MacBooks right now’). Instead you have to search the Internet for a how-to guide. Luckily I have created one here for you. All of my advice is based on my own personal trials and tribulations. If you know of something that works better, please let me know by leaving a comment below.

Set Poster Dimensions

The first thing to do is open PowerPoint. Click on File -> New Presentation -> Blank (if your system opens to a blank presentation automatically you can obviously skip this step). Choose Blank under “Slide Layouts”. Next, go to File then Page Setup. Here you can enter the desired dimensions of your poster. Standard landscape dimensions are 48″ high and 96″ wide, but you can also orient your poster according to portrait dimensions which are 35″ wide and 47″ high. You probably don’t want to use all the space, I actually think it’s too much to have an 8 feet wide poster.

Control Zoom and Add Grid Lines

After setting the size of your poster you can adjust the Zoom so that you can actually read what you are typing. When starting off and placing large items I like to use the fit option. That allows me to see the entire poster. Later, after I’ve got a general idea of how I want the poster to flow, I’ll zoom in so that I can clearly see the type. Something else I find useful is to add grid lines to help me space things out. Choose View -> Grid and Guides. After the box appears, make sure the Snap objects to grid and Display grid on screen options are checked. I don’t like the Snap objects to other objects option, it can cause a lot of problems with images. Also, the Display drawing guides on screen option will divide your slide into four quadrants. I don’t find this particularly useful but you might.

Add the Title and Other Text

Now you’re ready to add content to your poster. It’s best to add the title first because it will give you some perspective as to the size and positioning of things as you continue with the poster. Select Insert -> Text Box. Place the cursor anywhere on the slide and drag out a square. Don’t worry about positioning or size yet, you can change it after you’ve add your text. Once your title is entered, play around with the font. I would suggest staying away from Arial. I normally use Times New Roman, but you might prefer Courier. Also play around with the font size until you find something that you like. I typically have my title in 90 pt. Remember that people will be reading this from 4 feet away Remember, you want people to read this from a distance of about 4 feet (~12 meters) easily. Depending on the orientation of your poster and length of title, you will need make adjustments until everything fits nicely. You might want to consider shortening your title if the letters get too small for everything to fit on one line. I also make my title Blue. It’s a color that stands out on a white background but still looks professional, and adds a little color. Center the title within the text box by selecting it and clicking the center button. Now I want to center my title on the poster, and this is the one time that I actually use the drawing guides. Select the text box. The outline of the box should appear with dots at the corners and in the middle of the sides. At the top, there should be a green dot at the mid-point of the box. Use the arrow keys to move the box so that this green dot (and the line connecting it to the text box) is centered over the drawing line. You will need to do this after you have added your name and affiliation (e.g. company or academic department) text as well. I typically use a font size of 50 for the authors and 40 for the affiliation, and I also use a shadow effect so these items stand out from the rest of the text. You can turn off the drawing lines at this point because all other text and images will be positioned based on the local arrangement so you won’t need the lines after adding the title and your name.

Add Content to your Poster

The most difficult part of the poster (the initial setup) is done. Now let’s talk about adding content. I usually divide my poster into three parts with headings Background, Results and Conclusions. I use red vertical lines to establish three different regions on my poster that will correspond to each of the sections I mentioned above. If you think about the poster being divided up into quarters, then the Background is in the first quarter, the Results section is positioned in the middle of the poster (second and third quarters), and the Conclusions are placed in the last quarter. I’ve found that a font size of 26 works well for this text and I keep it just black.

Print Your Poster on Letter Sized Paper

Once you have a draft of your poster you probably want to print copies that fit on a letter sized piece of paper. Be sure to choose Print from the File menu and not the “quick print” option. After you select Print from the drop down, click the current slide option. Make sure to select Scale to Fit Paper at the bottom of the dialog box. Now you’re all set! Have fun making your poster.