To present a poster with little data or not to present it at all? - (May/19/2008 )
Hi, everybody!
I was wondering what is your opinion on this:
Someone is in the beginning of their PhD, they have little data, some preliminary results but nothing really really conclusive. Then a very interesting conference comes up and the department has enough money to send them over, no troubles at all.
1. Is it ok to present a poster with whatever little data you have, so you get the experience of preparing and presenting it, and may get in contact with other ppl working with similar stuff and get to discuss your work/ideas etc?
2. Or is it better to not present it at all and wait until you have something more solid, since the impression they will have is that you are not doing serious science, that you were not supposed to be there or at least presenting there if you have nothing interesting to show?
I've seen posters that are pretty much an introduction/background to somebody's work with a couple of graphs to look nicer, but I don't know what is the critical view the scientific community would have on that.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Julianne.
Don't loose a chance to present a poster.
1. It will not affect your future, nobody remembers any poster or presenter.
2. It will give you good practice at preparing poster (where to print it, how to use powerpoint)
3. It will prepare you for presentation when in fact you have good data to present.
4. There is wine.
5. You can start thickening your CV.
6. Your ideas about your project will solidify, and with luck, you will get some feedback.
7. A trip in summer..
8. Don't feel bad if nobody visits your poster, average visit to a poster is zero.
I think it was a topic covered in my ethic course. ...lol
I was wondering what is your opinion on this:
Someone is in the beginning of their PhD, they have little data, some preliminary results but nothing really really conclusive. Then a very interesting conference comes up and the department has enough money to send them over, no troubles at all.
1. Is it ok to present a poster with whatever little data you have, so you get the experience of preparing and presenting it, and may get in contact with other ppl working with similar stuff and get to discuss your work/ideas etc?
2. Or is it better to not present it at all and wait until you have something more solid, since the impression they will have is that you are not doing serious science, that you were not supposed to be there or at least presenting there if you have nothing interesting to show?
I've seen posters that are pretty much an introduction/background to somebody's work with a couple of graphs to look nicer, but I don't know what is the critical view the scientific community would have on that.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Julianne.
I would agree to cellcounter. If you have many results and good data and have an idea (or more) how to interpret them reliable you can give a talk. And with a good elaborated presentation you can cover some weaknesses. Anyway you have so little space on a poster (if it is not overloaded), a short intro (or as starter a bit longer), 1-2 graphs, some explaining sentences and 2-3 sentences as discussion. Perhaps one good photo. For a poster sufficient. Even elaborated statistics are not necessary
And if you are wondering how to make and present a poster, this link will make it abundantly clear! Waw 
http://search.vadlo.com/b/q?keys=poster+pr...mp;sn=158621799
..
Thank you so much, guys!!! You definetely convinced me!! 
I'll present it then!
All the best,
Julianne.