Deadline for submitting a poster for large-format printing: Tuesday, April 2, at 12 noon!

A highlight of the Mount David Summit are the three poster sessions that run in the Perry Atrium throughout the Summit. Here, students display research posters and talk to Summit-goers about their work in an informal, arena-style setting.

Though a handmade poster is perfectly fine for the Summit’s poster sessions, nearly all students presenting posters at the Summit design their poster in Google Slides, PowerPoint, or InDesign, and submit it to Bates Post & Print for large-format printing.

We cover the cost of one poster per student or presenter group. So, no cost to you, unless you are late!

With more than 120 posters on display at the Summit, we work closely with Bates Post & Print to coordinate poster printing. To ensure that all the posters get printed in time, the deadline for submitting a poster for the 2024 Mount David Summit is TUESDAY, April 2, at 12 noon. Poster files received after that time will be printed if possible, but students personally are charged for the poster ($40) plus a late fee ($20).  So it’s really important to submit your poster by the deadline!

Here are important instructions from Post & Print about designing and submitting your poster file:

1) Poster size: Summit posters must be horizontally oriented (landscape) and 48” wide by 36” high.

2) Credits: Remember to put your name (and any co-authors) on the front of your poster! Putting your discipline and your advisor’s name isn’t a bad idea either.

3) Bates logos and wordmark files for Posters in EPS and PNG format.

Bates logos, or wordmarks, are available for download in EPS (for print) and PNG (for digital) formats. EPS is a vector format, you may scale the logos to any size you may require. Follow this link https://www.bates.edu/communications-marketing/design-services-1/downloads/

4) Printing deadline: Deadline for submitting a Summit poster for large-format printing: Tuesday, April 2, at 12:00 noon!

5)File Submission: All files must be submitted electronically via email. Submit to posterprinting@bates.edu. The maximum file capacity is 25 megs.

6) Naming convention for poster files: Please name your poster file with your Bates network username (underscore) your contact phone number with area code, Example:  lhenders_2077771234.pdf

7) Acceptable file format: Your poster must be submitted as a .PDF file or Post & Print will not open the file. Beware that when you design a poster in InDesign, some fonts and formatting may not render in a PDF when viewed on a different computer. Once you have saved your poster file as a PDF, you should look at it on your own computer to make sure it looks OK.

8) Payment:  The Mount David Summit will pay for the cost on one poster per Summit registration. The cost of additional copies must be covered by the student ($40/poster). Post & Print accepts cash and all major credit cards, cash, or check payment at Post & Print. Make checks payable to Bates College.

9) Late submissions: If a poster file is submitted after the Summit printing deadline, the student is charged for the cost of the poster ($40) plus a late fee ($20) for a total of $65. So you want to avoid that! Just submit your file on time and get your poster for free!

If you have any questions about poster submission, please email postandprint@bates.edu.

Poster Design Tips for Printing                                                                               

If you will be creating a poster to print to the HP Z6200ps printer from PowerPoint, please use these guidelines to ensure your poster will print at the appropriate size and quality.

You will need to determine the size of the poster for PowerPoint to work with BEFORE you start adding information to the file. Typically page set-up should be 36” by 48”.

1. Launch PowerPoint 2016 and select the Design tab and at the far right select under file, select slide size, then select custom size and enter 48” wide by 36” tall,  landscape slide orientation.
2. Leave a 0.5” margin on the poster for printing purposes. Do not insert images flush with the edge of the poster- or they may be cut off.
3. When choosing a background, the best option is to insert an auto shape (square) select a fill color and “send to the back” to function as a background. Remember, while gradients look nice on the screen, they rarely print out as nice. If at all possible, try to avoid gradients or reduced opacity/transparent images.
4. Be sure that your text and image boxes fit their content – you don’t want a box that is too small or too large because the printer “reads” the out limits of the box before it “reads” the content inside.
5. Check your poster for extraneous boxes that may be hidden and delete them. You can do this by using “Select All” to find the unnecessary boxes.
6. For images, use high resolution images and be careful with “stretching” them larger.