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    Poster PDF Guidelines

    Poster Uploads for SPIE Photonics West

    Presenting your work

    In place of the traditional poster session, poster authors are expected to create a poster PDF and preview video for their poster presentation at Photonics West 2021.

    Please read the following guidelines and information to facilitate the successful creation and uploading of your poster presentation. Give considerable thought to the design and preparation of your presentation so that it is effective and informative. 

    All presentations received by 12 February will be published by the start of the meeting. 


    All presenting authors will need to register to enable full participation.

    Abstracts Due
    26 August 2020

    Post-Deadline Abstracts
    Launch Submission Site

    Acceptance Notification
    2 November 2020

    Preliminary Program Online
    1 December 2020

    Manuscripts Due
    12 February 2021

    Poster PDFs/
    Preview Videos Due
    12 February 2021

    Creating your poster PDF

    The most successful posters are graphically rich presentations of your research that highlight and summarize the main points, with the poster presenter filling in the details with a poster preview video (see below). The least effective poster format is an enlarged copy of your manuscript.

    Your poster should include:

    • The paper title and all authors at the top of the poster
    • A brief introduction, goals, experimental detail, conclusions, and references; presented in a logical and clear sequence
    • Explanations for each graph, picture, and table

    File Type/Size, Fonts, and Color:

    • Please make your poster 44” x 44” inches (112cm x 112cm). View the SPIE Poster template.
    • Poster presentations can be created in a number of software applications but must be exported to PDF format for submission
    • The PDF file size must be less than 100 MB
    • Use easily-read type. Suggested minimum font sizes:

    > Title: 36 point type

    > List of authors: 25 point type

    > Body copy should be double-spaced text: 15 point type
    •
    Choose your colors to provide strong contrast and avoid pairing red and green elements to assist those with red-green color blindness

    Reviewing your poster PDF

    Avoid uploading multiple versions of your poster PDF. When you finish creating your PDF, check the following:

    • Is your poster PDF saved with the .pdf file extension?
    • Is your file size less than 100 MB?
    • Do all your graphs, pictures, and tables include explanations?
    • Is your text color and size easy to read on screen?

    Submitting your poster PDF

    • Upload your poster PDF by 11:59 PM PST on 12 February 2021
    • Using any modern web browser, visit https://spie.org/myaccount and sign into your account
    • From the Account Dashboard, look under “Submission and Review System” and click on the symposium link
    • Scroll down until you find your paper
    • Click on the Upload poster file link to submit your poster PDF and follow the steps to upload your .pdf file
    •

    Only the contact author can submit the poster PDF. The contact author can temporarily or permanently change who the contact author is via the submission system or by sending a request to authorhelp@spie.org with the following information:

    > Written request to change who the contact author is

    > Paper number

    > Paper title

    > Name of new contact author (must be an existing co-author with an spie.org account)

    Creating a 5-minute poster preview video

    You are encouraged to create a short preview video to go along with your poster PDF. The preview video will help explain and promote your poster and your research to individuals and institutions that may be interested in your work. 

    • This video recording can include a few narrated slides or be a video of you expanding on a few key points of your poster presentation.
    • If using slides, you will need to have audio narration embedded, and then the presentation exported as an MPEG-4 (.mp4) movie.
    •
    Create your poster preview video in the widescreen format, using the 16:9 aspect ratio, to utilize the full screen.
    •
    If narrating slides within PowerPoint, follow these step-by-step instructions on recording your audio in PowerPoint and exporting a PowerPoint file to .mp4
    • If you’re using a web-based presentation program, such as Prezi, Slideshare, or Google Slides, you will need to use screen capture software to record your screen and presentation narration. 
    • Be sure to save your poster preview video as an .mp4 movie file – other movie formats will not be supported.

    Reviewing your poster preview video

    Avoid uploading multiple versions of your poster preview video. When you finish creating your video, check the following:

    • Is your poster preview video saved as an .mp4 movie file?
    • Is the audio consistent and clear, free from static, hums, hisses, or interference?
    •
    Is the audio at the right level, without having to adjust your volume very high or very low?
    •
    Does your talk start promptly? (your narration should begin within the first 3 seconds)
    • Does your recording end promptly after your closing remarks, without being cut off early or continuing for too long?
    •
    Do all your slides, movies, and animations appear correctly?

    Submitting your poster preview video

    • Upload your poster preview video by 11:59 PM PST on 12 February 2021
    •
    Using any modern web browser, visit https://spie.org/myaccount and sign into your account
    •
    From the Account Dashboard, look under “Submission and Review System” and click on the symposium link
    • Scroll down until you find your paper
    •
    Click on the Upload video link to submit your poster preview video and follow the steps to upload your .mp4 video file
    •
    Only the contact author can submit the poster preview video. The contact author can temporarily or permanently change who the contact author is via the submission system or by sending a request to authorhelp@spie.org with the following information:

    > Written request to change who the contact author is

    > Paper number

    > Paper title

    > Name of new contact author (must be an existing co-author with an spie.org account) 

    What happens next?

    • The contact author will receive an email confirming receipt of poster PDF and poster preview video
    • SPIE will check your files for technical issues and notify the contact author if any revision is necessary
    •
    SPIE will publish your poster PDF and preview video. All poster PDFs and preview videos received by the deadline will be published by the first day of the meeting. Posters/videos received after the deadline will be published as soon as possible.

    Further resources and assistance

    You may find the following resources helpful as you develop your video:

    • FreeConvert.com – a third-party site for compressing a video file into an MP4 file
    • Online-Recorder.com – a third-party site for testing your microphone or recording a voice-over file.
    •
    If you still need assistance with either your poster PDF or preview video, please contact SPIE at authorhelp@spie.org.