Policies and Guidelines for Poster Presentations

Posters are listed by number (session number–board number) in the Program Book and Syllabus of abstracts. Mount your poster on your assigned board which will be available 30 minutes prior to your assigned session. Your poster must be removed within 30 minutes after the session.

Ideally, your poster should be self-explanatory so that you are free to supplement and discuss particular points when asked. The poster session provides an opportunity for informal discussion, but this becomes more difficult if you are obliged to explain the basics of your poster to each viewer.

General Disclosure Policy

Every presenter must complete a Disclosure of Financial Interests form through the APA’s online submission site. In addition, each presenter must make every effort to ensure meaningful disclosure of limitations on data, e.g., ongoing research, interim analysis, preliminary data, or unsupported opinion.

Guidelines For Poster Sessions

There may only be one presenter for each poster and the presenter must be an investigator on the research study and included among the authors listed on the abstract submission. If the researcher who submitted the poster cannot attend the meeting and wishes to have a co-author substitute, please notify the Scientific Program Office (program@psych.org). The substitute presenter must provide contact information and a disclosure/presenter consent form in order to be included as the presenter in the Program Book.
Research scientists/authors who are pharmaceutical company employees are eligible to present a poster (poster sessions are not an AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ activity). However, pharmaceutical representatives (e.g., sales and marketing staff) are prohibited from presenting the poster or assisting during the poster presentation.
Posters must report only findings of the research. No advertising or product identification by brand name is allowed. If any or all of the work in this poster was prepared with commercial support, a statement “Supported by funding from [name of company]” must be noted in the lower left corner of the poster in Arial 72 point font, with no bold, italics, special colors, or other enhancement of the company name, product, or any other portions of the statement.
Generic names of drugs should be used throughout the poster; if brand names must be used, they must be used for all products referenced.
Information regarding unapproved uses of approved products or investigational uses of unapproved products must be clearly presented with the following statement included on the poster: “The following information concerns a use that has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.”
The presenter must wear only their APA meeting badge and not badges or insignia of companies. No company or product identification may be included on badges or otherwise worn by the investigator.
Presenters may mention to participants other CME activities at the meeting, including industry-supported symposia, which relate to the research presented in the poster.
The presenter may not engage in product detailing and may not direct participants to particular exhibits at the meeting or other company-sponsored non-CME activities such as Product Theaters or Informational Programs, or otherwise “market” the company or any product.
Research results reported on the poster may not be displayed or distributed at the meeting by industry representatives or as part of a booth in the exhibit hall.
No CD-ROM or bound books may be distributed.
Handouts must be limited to a one-page photocopy of your poster. The handouts must include the disclosure information on the funding of the research: “The research reported here was supported by [name of company].” Generic names of drugs should be used throughout in the handout. Any information regarding unapproved uses of approved products or investigational uses of unapproved products must include the following statement: “The following information concerns a use that has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.”

The Poster Layout

The poster board surface area is 4’ high and 8’ wide, and will contain the poster number assigned to your paper so you will know which board to use.
Identify your presentation by posting a lightweight sign at the top of your poster space, containing the program number of your abstract, the abstract title, and the name(s) of the author(s). The lettering for this section should be at least 1” high. You can print this information on your poster if you prefer.
A copy of your abstract, in large typescript, should be posted in the upper left-hand corner of the poster board.
Photos of slides or hand-drawn charts and illustrations similar to slides may be individually arranged on the poster board surface, using push pins provided by the APA in the poster area. Please note these push pins are to be shared by everyone. You may also arrange your presentation on lightweight construction paper ahead of time and mount the whole layout with four push pins.
Prepare and bring with you all illustrations needed for your presentations, i.e., figures, tables, schemes, equations, etc.

Tips on Preparing Posters

Bear in mind that your illustrations will be viewed from distances of 3 feet or more. All lettering should be at least 3/8” high, preferably in bold type.
It helps the viewer if you can indicate (by numbers, letters, or arrows) a preferred sequence that might be followed in studying your material.
Try to keep everything simple, avoid “arty” or overly ornate presentations. Block coloring can be useful here to add emphasis and clarity. Preferably, captions should be brief and labels few but clear.
PLEASE DO NOT WRITE OR PAINT ON THE POSTER BOARDS.
The poster area will not have projection equipment or electrical outlets.

Media Disclosure Policy

For purposes of news reporting, members of the media who have been credentialed by the APA Office of Communications may photograph, audio/videotape, and/or take notes during any or all presentations except when patient confidentiality might be compromised or a presenter specifically requests no audio/videotaping or photography by the press be permitted.