Display Panels of Open-House Poster Sessions Many chemistry departments have an open house as an effective means of publicity and professional training, and a poster session can he a very effective part of the open house. Arranging equipment for a poster session, however, can be a problem. Should one rent poster boards, which are probahly too expensive to buy and are a problem to store far a once-ayear event, no matter how important? We have had a poster session as part of our annual Department Open House for the past eight years. The sessions are held Saturday morning in mid-November and consist of a welcoming session, laboratory tours, then a one-hour poster session, followed by a Lecture from s Nobel laureate, who then joins students and other guests for a box lunch provided by the Department. A kev to the poster session is the equipment, which must he easily assembled and easily disassembled and stored. Our poster uiits consist of three p a * : collipsible tables, holders, and poster mounting boards. The tables were fabricated from 0.5-in. plywood cut into 30411. circles, with legs 2 f t long, cut from l-in. dowels (4 ft lone). The dowels were threaded a t one end (usine a model No. A891 wood die thread cutter nurchased from AMT. ~iyrica"-S&hine end Tool Cu., Rugersford. PA 1&fi8),and rhey arc mounted into three small blocks of wood 11.5-in: wide X 2 in. high X 6 in. long) that weredrilled at 30°, tapped ( 1 in. model Nu.888 wood tap, AM'I',,andglued at 120' to the bottom of each tahle. The tables are painted in school colors (with the tables, we no longer need to heg for card tables from the faculty members and try and figure how to return them)
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The second item is the holder for the poster mounting hoards. These consist of circles (10.75 in. in diameter) cut from 0.5-in. plywood, and three sets of parallel strips of wood 1.25 X 1.25 X 5.5 in. mounted a t 120' angles (see figure) to provide grooves for the mounting panels. Poster mountingpanels weremade from Styrofamsheets (1 in. X 4ft X Eft) that were cut intopsnels2ft wide and 4 ft long. The bottom was notched with a cut 0.5 in. deep and 5 in. long. The cut is especially significant because the uncut portion fitsbeyond the holders and provides stability. The mounting panels slide into the parallel grooves of the holders on the bottom, then a holder is placed on top. In addition, the grooves had holes drilled into them to accept nails that would pierce the Styrofoam panels and hold them fast. When assembled, there are three 4 X 4-ft panel sections per tahle for posters. In time, of course, the Styrofoam panels become "tired2'and need to be replaced with new panels. Currently, however, we are replacing them with 0.25-in. plywood panels (2 X 4 ft) that are mounted with wood trim and covered withcork (0.125 in.). The modified poster mounting panels will last longer and may even withstand a good breeze. (A special advantage of Tampa is that the weather is terrific in Novemher, and the poster session is held outside). We are grateful to Harvey Lohr for his assistance in the design and construction of the initial poster mounting hoards. We hope that our experience will be useful to others. Dean F. Martin Stewart W. Schneller University of Soum Floriaa Tampa. FL 33620
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Journal of Chemical Education
