What is this thing?
This is a scientific poster.
They spelled my name wrong.
You know how in middle school and high school,
sometimes you would do a project and then you'd
have to make a poster about it?
And you would go into Microsoft Word,
and you would make 3D text to put up
at the top as your title, and then
you'd have different sections about the introduction,
and the conclusions, and the middle, and the body,
and all the stuff that you did?
Well, I remember thinking, why am I doing this?
It was fun.
Like, I kind of liked it.
But I remember thinking, you know,
adults don't make posters at their real jobs.
Science adults do.
Scientific posters are actually a really common way
of getting your research out there
at places like conferences.
You make a poster, and you set it up,
and you often stand next to it and talk
to the people who come up to see your poster about it.
So it's sort of a visual thing that you
can point to show them your data while you're trying
to talk about your project.
And it's a really great way for you
to both get your information out there,
often before it's fully published,
and also to get feedback on your project
while you're still doing it.
Most posters are glossy paper, you
know, giant, printed out sheet.
But some posters are now made of fabric.
And so this is really nice if, like me, you're traveling,
and we need to bring your poster and put in your suitcase,
and then you just want to iron it
when you're there, rather than having to carry a giant poster
tube.
You can also wear it as a science cape.
Very "in" this fall.
Now, I can't show you this poster
because this still has a whole bunch
of unpublished stuff on it.
And honestly, this one does too.
But I've already presented it on the internet,
and you could go watch that here.
I've presented this poster at a conference last fall.
And it's not the greatest poster in the world.
But I want to use it to demonstrate some science poster
stuff.
So it's really got all those same basic pieces
you would think about if you were making one for. school.
You know, you get a title.
And then there's an abstract or introduction.
And then I give a whole bunch of background information.
I talk about the methods that I used to do my project.
Then I talked about the results to do the project.
And then at the end, I've got conclusions and stuff.
Is this working for you?
This is real helpful, I know.
But what I hope you can see is that there
are lots of pictures.
OK, this is a visual way of trying
to get across my methods, and my results, and my data.
I try to make my posters visual because posters
are unique in that they have to play this dual role where
sometimes they have to stand on their own
if you're not there by the poster.
Often at a conference, you'll hang up your poster
one morning, and it'll stay there for a couple days.
And people can sort of walk around.
So the poster needs to be able to demonstrate
a lot of the things that a paper would.
It really needs to be able to tell the story on its own.
But also, there are often poster sessions
where you are standing with it, where you are using the poster
to help you tell your story.
So you don't want it to just be text,
because you want to be able to talk about those things
and to really use them and utilize them.
So, what have we learned?
Scientists make posters.
Posters are both visual aids and storytellers on their own.
And they can be kind of big and unwieldy.
I have to give three posters this fall.
One, I presented at my department retreat
a couple weeks ago.
One, I'm presenting at the American Society of Human
Genetics up in Vancouver.
And then one, I'm presenting at the American Heart
Association in New Orleans.
And that's really one of the nice things about a poster,
is that my project isn't at a stage where
I'm going to give a giant talk at any one of these three
things.
But still, a poster allows me to present my project
to the community there at all three of these events,
and get feedback.
So I already got some great feedback
at the genetics retreat.
And I'm hoping to get feedback from people
way outside of my department at these two conferences
I'm going to.
So, posters allow lots of scientists
to present a lot of science all at once,
and get great feedback from lots of cool people.
And poster sessions often have great snacks.
So if you want a lot of people to give you
feedback on your poster, set up right by the cookie stand.
That's where you got to be.
Go forth and make science posters.
Hey, hey, we've got to talk.
So, you might have noticed that my posting schedule has
been a little erratic lately.
Things have been kind of crazy.
But I have a couple really cool, really
great video projects lined up that I'm working on in October,
November, and December.
I'm super excited about them.
I think you guys are going to be super excited about them.
And the best way for you to help me right now
is to share your favorite video of mine
with your social networks, and your peeps, and your friends.
Get people excited.
And get people here before these big projects come to light.
I hate asking for this kind of stuff.
I am never one of those YouTubers
who is like, "comment, like, and subscribe."
Something about that feels super weird to me.
But it really does make a huge difference
when you guys share my videos and spread them around.
So if you want to help me out, if you
want to make it a little easier for me
to keep making these videos in the next few months
while I have a bunch of cool projects that I think you
guys are going to love coming up, take my favorite video
and share it with somebody.
That's all I ask.
Put it on Twitter.
Put it on Facebook.
Send it in an email to your mom.
Whatever you're going to do, it really helps a lot.
And I appreciate it so, so much whenever
I see you guys sharing my videos.
Because just the fact that you like it enough to share
it means a lot to me.
So, yeah.
I'm excited.
I think you're going to be excited to.