Intro to designing conference posters

In addition to the following links, you can find many great templates by doing a Google search for "free PowerPoint conference poster templates".

Set up your poster

1. Create a new PowerPoint presentation
2. Clear the layout: Home > Layout > Blank
3. Set the poster size: Design > Slide Size > Page Setup
   1. Size slide for: Custom
   2. Enter the dimensions of your poster. Common sizes include 40in x 36in and 56in x 36in.

Prepare your work environment

1. Display ruler and guides: View > Ruler and Guides
2. Customize grid line options and automatic alignment: View > Guides > Snap to grid

Create a visual theme

1. Customize the theme colors: Design > Variants (drop down menu) > Colors
   • Colorzilla: Browser add-on. Hover over any color to get RGB values
   • Design Seeds: Get color schemes and use with Colorzilla
   • DeGraeve: Color palette generator based on an image
2. Customize the fonts: Design > Variants (drop down menu) > Fonts
   • Fontpair: Free font pairs From the PowerPoint font collection
   • Tutvid free font pairings: Free fonts to download
   • 1001 Fonts: Free fonts with a nice search tool

Insert text, images, and data

1. Use the Insert ribbon to add elements to your poster. The ones you will use most often are:
   1. Text box: Use to create headers and short sections of text
   2. Shapes: Use to create discrete sections. Place text boxes over the shapes with enough white space
   3. SmartArt: Use to visually illustrate a process, cycle, hierarchy, or relationship