Creating a Poster Presentation in Power Point on the Banner Printer Step-By-Step Tips

by Josephine Li

These suggestions are based on my experience in creating a poster presentation using the new banner printer at Perk Place in the Student Center and may be adjusted as needed. Using these general guideline should save you some time in finding the correct tools for creating your poster.

  1. Create your individual slides in POWER POINT as you normally would, except select Slide Setup and adjust the size to 18 inches wide and 14 inches tall (assuming a maximum of 12 slides per 3 x 5' poster). Vertical slides should be adjusted to 14 inches wide and 18 inches tall but these must be created in a separate file from the standard slides. Save your creation as you go!
  2. Select Format and then Custom Background to choose the background of the slide. For a textured background, do not use this selection in POWER POINT, since it doesn't print correctly and the slides are difficult to read. Instead, find a background you like from the web and save it to your disk. Then select Picture under Custom Background and insert this file.
  3. Use bold type in a font size of 80 or above for the titles of slides. Use as large a font size as possible for the text of the slides as well as for the labels of graphs and figures.
  4. Select a new POWER POINT blank slide which will become the actual poster. Select Slide Setup and adjust the size to 56 inches wide and 36 inches tall. The banner printer has a maximum height limitation of 36 inches but virtually unlimited length. [Talk to Victor or Sam at Perk Place x2203 if you need to produce a larger poster]
  5. Select Format and then Custom Background to choose the background of the poster.
  6. Use the Text Tool to create the title of your presentation. Bold type with a font size of 100 for the title and 66 for authors works well.
  7. Copy and paste the individual slides into the poster slide and center the slides as necessary. You may also include other graphics by selecting Insert, Picture, and the desired graphics file from your disk (do not violate copyright laws).
  8. Create a border around the individual slides by selecting the slide and then Format, Colors and
  9. Windows Users: When you are ready to print on banner paper, go to Windows Explorer and find your MOON drive. Example: Phadewj$ on MOON (U). Double click on this and you should find your username in the list. Copy the file that contains your poster and place it in the directory with your username on it. If you do not find your username in the list, ask the IT person at Perk Place where they would like for you to put your file.
    Macintosh Users: Open Chooser under the Apple Menu and select AppleShare. Choose the SC zone and PerkG3 machine. Copy your file into this folder.
  10. Go (next door) to Perk Place and tell them that you are ready to print your poster. For best results, have them pull up your poster on their computer to make sure that it looks the same as how you wanted it. Colors or background may vary if you do not have the same version of Power Point as they do, but they can make adjustments from their computer as needed. NOTES: Cost is $6 per linear foot. The paper is 36" wide. Perk Place will accept SURs, Cash, P.O.s, Check. Perk Place has the following software installed: Windows; MS Powerpoint, MS Publisher, Coral Draw, Coral Photopaint, Coral Presentation - Macintosh; MS Powerpoint. Talk to Victor or Sam at Perk Place about other software. Amended slightly by David Bourne (2 April 98).