Poster sessions and research showcases

Poster sessions and research showcases are where conferences display work in progress. Rows of posters, small groups gathered around, and presenters explaining their findings make a lively scene. They also carry content that may be unpublished, sensitive or subject to agreements. This page, within our guide to conference and convention photography, explains how to plan photography for them.

What should a poster session record?

A good record shows the atmosphere and the exchange: presenters talking to visitors, delegates reading, questions being asked, the scale of the hall. It also usually includes a clear image of each poster, or at least of its presenter standing beside it.

What you want depends on your purpose. A conference proceedings page may need an image of every poster. A report on the event may need three or four strong images of discussion. Decide first, then plan around it.

How do we coordinate with presenters?

Presenters are usually at their posters only during scheduled windows, and they may move between conversations. A photographer who arrives at the wrong time finds empty boards.

Ask the organiser for the poster session schedule and the list of presenters. If you want a portrait of each presenter beside their poster, set aside time in the schedule, since this takes longer than general coverage. Our event portrait appointment planner can help estimate how much time is required.

Presenters should know in advance that photography will take place. A short message from the organiser covers it and gives presenters a chance to say if they prefer not to appear.

What about unpublished work?

This is the most important decision. A poster may contain results that have not been published or patented. A readable close-up image may allow someone to copy or share those results before the author is ready.

Possible approaches:

Approach	Effect
No close-ups of poster content	Safest for unpublished work; images show context only
Close-ups allowed for internal record only	Content is recorded, but not shared publicly
Close-ups allowed for all uses	Needs presenter or institutional approval
Presenter decides per poster	Most flexible but needs a clear process

Ask the organiser or the presenters' institutions which applies. Our guide on permission to photograph and permission to publish explains why these are different.

What about identifying details?

Posters may include names, institutions, funder logos, patient or participant details, or images of people. Some of these are routine and some are sensitive.

Malaysia's Personal Data Protection Act 2010, as amended, regulates personal data processed in commercial transactions, and research may also involve ethics approvals and institutional policies. We do not interpret these for you. Check with the Personal Data Protection Department, your institution's research office or a qualified lawyer, and keep apart what the law requires, what your contracts and the venue require, and what you decide as policy. For image ownership, see copyright ownership and permission to use event photographs.

An example scenario

For example, a two-day research conference holds a 90-minute poster session on day two with 60 posters in a hall. Many are from early-career researchers, and some involve clinical data.

The organiser tells presenters that photographers will be present and that close-ups of posters are not allowed unless the presenter agrees. The photographer takes wide images of the hall, discussion groups and presenters beside posters, with their agreement. The organiser provides a list of presenters who have agreed to portraits and the photographer works through them in a ten-minute sequence at the end of the session. A separate record of approvals is kept using an image-use and approval register.

How do we handle sponsor and funder logos?

Posters may show funder logos, and a showcase may have a sponsor. If these must be visible in the record, say so. If not, they can appear as they happen to. Tell us if any are to be excluded from public images.

How does this change the deliverables?

You may want two sets: a complete internal record of the session, and a smaller public set that excludes restricted content. The guide to photographs for company websites and annual reports shows how this selection is usually made. For individual research presenters who want portraits, see speaker portraits alongside conference coverage.

What to tell the photographer

Please share the schedule, the number of posters, the rules for unpublished work, how presenters have been told, and who gives approval for exceptions. We then plan the timing and framing around these, and confirm them in writing.