There are many benefits to presenting your work as a poster at a conference. It is a perfect opportunity to showcase your hard work and share your findings with a wide range of pharmacy colleagues from all over the UK and beyond.
The opportunities to discuss your poster presentation will shine new light on your work, bring fresh ideas, suggestions for further improvement, or even sow the seed for a future collaboration. But not only will you gain from discussing your work with others, you can inspire others too.
It is also an opportunity for you to meet colleagues who are interested in your area of practice. Networking cannot be underestimated in terms of sparking ideas for future improvements to patient care or even career opportunities.
By the end of the conference you will know how to describe your work in a few short sentences
You will develop your visual and written communication skills. Poster presentations need to be eye catching yet professional, and they need to highlight the key messages of your work without giving too much detail.
Your spoken communication skills will also be honed. By the end of the conference you will know how to describe your work in a few short sentences, you will be better at answering questions succinctly, and you’ll be practiced in being open to discussions and inviting others’ opinions.
There are tangible benefits too. Presenting your work at a conference can be used as evidence in your Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Foundation or Faculty portfolio. It has the potential to cover a whole host of competencies including communication, gathering and analysing information, research, innovation, project management, and professional development. You can also use your work as the basis for a peer discussion, an element now required by GPhC for revalidation.
So next time you see a call for abstracts for a conference, think about the benefits you could reap.
