According the the TRB (Transportation Research Board) the goals of a posters are:
Make sure you are available for a conversation about your research. When judges are in the room, all participants should be present and should have an equal opportunity to discuss the research. Each judge, whether they come as a group or individually, will most likely have questions. They will want to know that you understand the work you did and they may want to know about how you reacted to the research experience. Be prepared for:
Some general poster tips. Remember this is a specialized presentation form.
Good images are an important part of presenting your research. Images chosen for the poster should be:
All images NOT created by the posters authors MUST have appropriate attributes included. This includes photographs and instrument images taken by someone in the same research group but not a team member.