As always, AGU was a whirlwind. There have been times in the past where I’ve gone into the conference gung-ho, but ultimately ended up burnt out and somewhat disappointed. I wanted to try something different this year, since I had recently heard about the #betterPoster movement and wanted a poster that stood out. More importantly, I wanted to generate meaningful, insightful interactions with other researchers stopping by my poster. I feel as though I absolutely achieved that this year.

The #betterPoster movement is introduced in the video below by its creator, Mike Morrison (@mikemorrison on Twitter). The message resonated with me as someone who has been disappointed by conference poster sessions in the past (both with the interactions my own poster generated, as well as with the accessability of other posters).

My institution, like many others in academia and industry, has its own poster template we are encouraged to use (because of #branding). In the past, I’ve put a lot of time into making the best poster I could using said template. Despite my best efforts, I always ended up with a final product very similar to what was mentioned in the video above, while generating many of the same issues.

This year, I decided to try something new to me and give the #betterPoster a go. I am extremely happy with how my final poster ended up, and it ultimately paid dividends in my interactions with visitors during the poster session. Every person I talked to was very invested in the topic, and I felt that the poster flow was able to naturally guide questions and topics of conversation. Obviously, it’s impossible to say whether this was all due to the poster layout, but my gut tells me that visitors were able to quickly glean whether my poster was something they were interested in without having to stop for a long time and read. In all, I highly recommend giving the #betterPoster a try and seeing if it works for you.

Had a great poster session at #AGU22! Tried something new with the #betterPoster guidelines and will not be going back! Felt like it generated all meaningful interactions @mikemorrison pic.twitter.com/BorcyXgN3G

— John P. Ortiz (@JohnPOrtiz14) December 24, 2022

Plus, it’s so easy, even a baby can do it!

Extracurriculars

It was also amazing to finally make the pilgrimmage to the Field Museum of Chicago and meet Sue! It has been a dream of mine for a while. I highly recommend visiting the Field Museum if you are able.

You can’t see how how big I’m smiling in this photo.