A PowerPoint poster checklist for the file you will actually print.

1. Confirm the document and required elements

• Compare the slide width, height, and orientation with the conference’s current presenter instructions.
• Confirm that the file contains one poster slide and no hidden or backup slides that could enter the PDF.
• Check the title, author order, affiliations, contact details, acknowledgements, funding, disclosures, logos, and poster number against the approved source.
• Keep important content inside the organizer’s or printer’s stated safe area. Do not invent bleed or crop marks when none are requested.

If you are deciding between formats, use the A0 vs 36×48 size table before arranging the layout.

2. Check fonts and text

• Install every intended font before editing. A substituted font can change line wrapping and move objects.
• Use PowerPoint’s font replacement tool to locate unexpected typefaces, then inspect equations, symbols, superscripts, subscripts, and special characters.
• Read the poster at 100% zoom and scan it again as a whole page. Check headings, figure labels, legends, axes, references, and footnotes—not only body copy.
• Ask a co-author to proof the exported version. Spelling and factual approval are separate from visual preflight.

3. Inspect figures, tables, and margins

• Use original image files where possible. Check effective resolution at the final placed size against the printer’s requirement; enlarging an image reduces its effective pixels per inch.
• Zoom into microscopy, plots, photos, QR codes, thin rules, and small labels. Confirm that crops are intentional and no placeholder or off-slide object remains.
• Make sure colors and legends do not rely on color alone to communicate meaning.
• Check alignment and spacing around every edge. PowerPoint guides help, but the exported PDF is the final measurement.

4. Export and inspect the PDF

1. Save the editable PPTX, then export or save as PDF using the standard or print-quality option available in desktop PowerPoint.
2. Open the PDF in a dedicated PDF viewer. Confirm that it has one page and that the page dimensions match the required poster size.
3. Search or select text to detect obvious font problems. Zoom closely into images and vectors, and look for clipping, transparency changes, missing glyphs, shifted objects, or broken links.
4. Print a reduced paper proof if useful, preserving the page proportions. A small proof can reveal hierarchy and whitespace problems, but it cannot prove full-size image resolution or viewing distance.
5. Keep the final PPTX and PDF under versioned names, then upload the exact inspected PDF. Re-download it from the printer portal and compare it once more if the service permits.

Download the free checklist PDF for an offline pass. For compressed schedules, pair it with the late-breaking deadline plan.