Posters are used less in the Humanities than in other disciplines, but in our experience poster presentations can lead to a lot of exposure for your project and fruitful interaction with colloquium participants, much more so than the few minutes of discussion following the paper presentations.
Poster sessions and software demonstrations will take place in one large room, at the same time, during both of the two scheduled sessions. Check back soon, as we’ll be adding more detailed information about which presentations will take place at what time. The audience will circulate freely among the various presentations to listen, watch, ask questions, and use your software tools, if applicable. We think this casual structure will allow everyone to see all the presentations in a flexible and engaging manner.
Think “Science Fair”. Think of some short conversations and/or demonstrations, with the flexibility to go more in-depth with those who are most interested, rather than one longer demonstration or talk. This can be backed up by a poster or posters, handouts, looping demo movie, or other media to provide a summary of your work. As a presenter, you may want to sneak away for a few minutes to go through the other presentations, so having some materials to tell the basic story for you while you are away or conversing with another audience member is very useful.
We are very flexible as to the exact nature of your presentation. Anything that you think will effectively convey your ideas and invite interaction with other participants, within a modest amount of wall and floor space, is welcome. 17″ x 33″ (that’s a 2 x 3 array of letter-sized pages) is a good size poster to shoot for, but by no means a strict criterion. If you have special needs, such as multimedia, electrical, furniture or machine requirements, please notify us at dhcs-conference@listhost.uchicago.edu beforehand and we will strive to accommodate you. Wireless internet connectivity will be available in the poster area, as well as in most conference areas.
If you’d like some guidelines, these sites offer a good overview:
If you’d like to print your poster after you arrive in Chicago, there is a Kinkos very close to the University.