Basic set up

• Open a new blank presentation
• In the menu bar, choose file and then setup
• The slides option should be set on landscape
• Change the height and width to exactly half the size of your desired height and width.  For example, if your final poster is supposed to be 40 inches by 80 inches, the settings should be 20 inches by 40 inches.

Making backgrounds or borders

• Backgrounds can be selected by choosing format and selecting apply design template. 
• A border can be created using the square tool in the drawing toolbar.  Just draw the square and adjust it to the desired size. 

Text

• Size 20 Arial font is a good font to choose for the writing.  Once the poster is printed at twice its size, the size 20 font will be the right size for a conference poster.
• Do not use seriff based fonts for the type.  It becomes hard to read since the letters look connected at the top and bottom.

Inserting pictures

• From the menu bar, select insert, then picture, then from file.  This will allow you to browse your computer to select a file.  Once selected, powerpoint will automatically paste that file into your slide.  You can adjust the size of the picture by highlighting it and dragging one of the corners.

Printing your poster

• Any Kinkos can print the poster straight from the power point.  They can use their own software to convert the powerpoint into a pdf file and print the file at 200% of the size of the power point slide.