Poster presentation printing: what size and stock does a conference poster need?
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A conference poster is normally A0 portrait — 841 × 1189 mm — printed on 200 gsm photo satin. Check the board size in the joining instructions before the file is built, because the organiser’s board decides the size and it is not always an A format. Where the board is a fixed non-standard rectangle, the poster is printed to that measurement instead and priced by area. Poster presentation printing runs on the same wide-format machines as our poster printing and large format printing, so a single A0 for a conference is an ordinary same-day job rather than a special one.
Written by Maciej Antosz, Production Manager at Silver Image London ·
Academic and research posters arrive in a recognisable shape: one copy, a deadline set by a conference rather than by the person ordering, and a file built by somebody who has never specified print before — universities and researchers order A0 conference posters regularly, usually the night before a flight. Four decisions settle the job: size, stock, paper or board, and when the file has to be here.
What size is a conference poster?
The A0 poster size is 841 × 1189 mm, so an A0 in portrait is 841 mm wide and 1189 mm tall. Orientation comes from the joining instructions rather than from the format, and the two are worth separating: the instructions give the board, and the board may be larger than the poster it will hold. Where a board size is stated in centimetres rather than as an A format, build the artwork to the measurement the instructions give for the poster and say so when you send the file.
A0 is a full square metre of paper, and the A series halves at every step while keeping the same 1:1.414 proportion — which is why one file prints at A0 for the board and A3 for the handouts without being redrawn.
| Size | Dimensions | Usual role at a conference |
|---|---|---|
| A0 | 841 × 1189 mm | The printed poster for a conference session — charts read from two metres back |
| A1 | 594 × 841 mm | Smaller poster sessions, and posters that have to travel as hand luggage |
| A2 | 420 × 594 mm | Framed displays and posters read from a metre or less |
| A3 | 297 × 420 mm | Handout copies of the same artwork, taken to the session in a folder |
| Custom | To the poster size given in the joining instructions | Fixed boards that are not an A format; priced by area rather than by size |
Posters print from A3 to A0 as standard here, and anything larger is priced by area. A custom-size poster ordered at six and delivered the same evening shows a non-standard measurement handled without adding a day.
Which stock does a research poster go on?
Photo satin at 200 gsm is the stock we print research and display posters on, because it holds photographic detail and dark, saturated artwork under exhibition lighting. Matt at the same weight is the choice where the poster carries line work or will be written on: fine lines stay crisp and the surface takes a pencil, a highlighter or a marker.
| Stock | Weight | Chosen when |
|---|---|---|
| Photo satin | 200 gsm | Charts, photographs and dark artwork under conference lighting |
| Matt | 200 gsm | Line work, text-heavy posters, anything that will be annotated |
| Tear-proof polypropylene | — | Wet or high-traffic sites, where paper would pulp |
| Canvas | 260 gsm | Display and decorative work — see canvas printing |
| Backlit | — | Lightboxes and illuminated panels rather than a poster board |
Paper in a tube, or mounted on board?
A poster that has to stand on an easel, or fix flat to a wall without cockling, is mounted on 3 mm Foamex rather than left as paper. Paper is the right answer where the poster pins or tapes to a board the venue supplies; a printed board is the right answer where there is nothing to pin to. Both carry the same artwork at the same size, so the decision is about the venue, not the design.
Boards cannot be rolled, which is the practical difference when the poster has to travel. Foam board printing covers the rigid side and A0 and A1 board printing the formats; two A1 boards on the easel the same afternoon and six A0 panels on 3 mm Foamex are the same-day and overnight versions of that route.
Laminate goes on after printing, never before. Laminate protects a poster that will be handled through a two-day session, but the sheet has to lie flat and cool before it can be rolled into a tube — so a laminated poster wanted for the morning is a decision to take at the order, not at collection.
What the file needs before it prints
Artwork for an A0 poster wants 150 dpi measured at the finished size, and 72 dpi at 1:1 is the floor below which softness shows. Resolution is measured on the printed poster rather than inside the file: a figure exported at 300 dpi for A4 lands at about 75 dpi once it is blown up to A0, because each step up the A series stretches the same pixels over twice the area and the pixels do not multiply on the way. Vector artwork — type, logos, charts drawn as vectors — carries no resolution at all and stays sharp at any size.
Where the file is built at the finished size and printed 1:1, type set at 6 pt in the artwork prints at 6 pt; a file built to a stated scale is enlarged, and the type grows with it. Either way the printed size of a letter is a different thing from whether it reads across a poster hall — how it reads from two metres back is a design question, not a printing one. The failure runs the other way: a chart pasted in as a screenshot, or a photograph dropped in from a slide deck, which was never bigger than the screen it came from.
| Requirement | What we need | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Page size | Built at the finished size, or the scale stated clearly | Photographs and scans in a file built at half the finished size print at half the effective resolution; vector artwork is unaffected |
| Bleed | 5–10 mm on every edge | Posters are trimmed after printing, and without bleed a white hairline appears at the cut |
| Safe margin | Text and logos 5 mm inside the trim | Large sheets move slightly on the trimmer |
| Colour | CMYK, with Pantone references for brand colours | Bright RGB blues and greens sit outside the CMYK gamut and print duller than they look on screen |
| Resolution | 150 dpi at the finished size | An A0 poster is usually read from two metres or more, and 150 dpi is the working target at that distance |
| Format | PDF preferred — but send what you have | Every file is checked here before production, and small fixes are usually just done |
Checking a figure takes a minute: our preflight checker reads the pixel dimensions in the browser, without uploading the file, and returns the largest size it will print cleanly. The arithmetic behind it is in what DPI an A0 poster needs, and preparing artwork for large format covers the export.
Poster presentation printing London: how the poster gets to the venue
Posters leave rolled in a tube as standard, and travel flat if you ask at the order. Rolled is what survives a courier bag; flat is worth asking for when the poster goes straight into a frame. Posters collected in person are bubble-wrapped, and posters sent by courier are protected in a tube or a box — say which you want when you order, because a laminated poster has to lie flat and cool before it can be rolled at all.
Within Central London a job is typically with you inside the hour of coming off the press, by direct courier; addresses further out are quoted with the job. Same-day printing also covers the exhibition halls at ExCeL and Olympia, the Business Design Centre, and offices in the City of London and Holborn — give the hall, the stand or room number and the name that will sign for it. Collection from our London print shop runs round the clock; tell us when you plan to arrive, and call first after 8pm.
Poster presentation printing City of London
Conference venues in the EC postcodes are a short courier run from our London print shop. Give the venue address, the room or stand number and the name that will sign for it when you order. Addresses outside Central London are the same print job and are quoted against the address.
Where the poster is part of a stand rather than a board in a session, poster presentation printing stops being the right product: exhibition graphics are cut to the stand drawing and delivered to the hall instead.
When does the file have to be with us?
Print-and-trim work such as a poster typically takes 2–4 hours during the day once the file and payment are in, and the time is confirmed at quotation rather than promised in advance. Files and payment by 21:00 are printed overnight for the morning, subject to that night’s capacity. There is no fixed cut-off — capacity decides, so a call at any hour gets a straight yes or no on the deadline rather than a hopeful maybe.
Where the conference is a week away, same day or next day is worth choosing deliberately. Where the file only exists at 9pm the night before a flight, printing at night explains what happens to it — and 4,000 posters printed in a day is the scale version of the same night shift.
Checklist before you send a conference poster
- The board size from the joining instructions — A0, or the measurement in centimetres if it is not an A format.
- Portrait or landscape, matched to the board rather than to the file you happen to have.
- Photo satin or matt — satin for charts and photographs, matt for line work and annotation.
- Paper or mounted on board, decided by whether the venue supplies something to pin to.
- Rolled, flat or folded, and whether you are collecting or it is going by courier.
- The date and time the poster has to be in your hands, not the date of the session.
- A3 handout copies if you want them — the proportions match, so the same file prints at both sizes, though type sized for a board reads small in the hand.
Q&A
Can a poster be printed larger than A0?
Posters run from A3 to A0 as standard, and anything larger is priced by area rather than by format, so send the measurement and it comes back on the quote. Above A0 the job often stops being paper altogether — a PVC banner or a set of exhibition graphics instead — and both are covered on the large format page.
What if the poster has to survive rain or a full day of handling?
Tear-proof polypropylene is the stock for wet and high-traffic sites, because it does not pulp and wipes clean. Where the poster also has to stand up on its own, a board rather than paper is the stronger answer.
Can the poster be reprinted if a figure changes the night before?
A poster is a single sheet, so a corrected file is a fresh print rather than a repair, and production runs through the night — but the reprint takes a ready time confirmed at that point, not the one on the first order. Send the replacement with the original order reference in the subject line so both land in the same place.
Where else can posters be printed in London at short notice?
Our own answer, with what to send and how long each route takes, is in where to get posters printed in London. For the A1 format specifically, A1 poster printing covers turnaround and delivery.
Poster presentation printing is quoted on its specification, like every job here, because the board, the stock and the deadline all move. Stocks, sizes, mounting and what a quote covers are on the same day poster printing service page, and the A0 and A1 side of the same work is on large format printing.
Send the poster file
Send the artwork with the board size, portrait or landscape, the stock you want and the date it has to be in your hands. The quote comes back with the stock and the ready time confirmed on it — and if the file will not carry the size, we say so before it prints.
Open 24 hours, 7 days a week. Files and payment by 21:00 are printed overnight for delivery in London the next morning, subject to that night’s capacity.
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