Topics for 2026 Poster Sessions:

• Building Basics (rethinking core concepts or practices)
• Material Movement (looking at materials and mediums in a unique or novel way)
• Processed Processes (new or improved processes or protocols)

Abstracts may be submitted from all USITT commissions:

• Architecture
• Costume Design & Technology
• Digital Media
• Education
• Engineering
• Lighting Design & Technology
• Management
• Safety & Health
• Scene Design & Technology
• Sound Design & Technology
• Technical Production

Poster presentations are widely accepted as meeting the requirements for scholarly publication. Those who work for an educational institution may be able to receive full or partial funding to attend the conference. To maintain the scholarly rigor, the acceptance rate for posters is 20% or less - this has meant 15 abstracts (5 for each topic) have been selected for presentation at each conference. An additional 4-5 abstracts have been selected as “view only.”

The timeline is as follows:

• Wednesday, June 18: Submission portal is open.
• Friday, Sept. 26: Submission portal is closed.
• Oct. 3 - 29: Abstracts are under peer review for selection.
• Friday, Nov. 7: Applicants notified of acceptance or non-acceptance.
• Friday, Dec. 12: First draft of poster due for editing process.
• Friday, Jan. 16: Edits and comments due back to presenters.
• Wednesday, Feb. 18: Final poster due to the national office.
• March 18-21, 2026: USITT’s Annual Conference and Stage Expo in Long Beach.

In your abstract, please include:

• Title of your poster
  • In 250 words or less, address the following questions:
    • How is this topic relevant to your specific area?
    • What do you imagine the content of the poster to be?
    • How does your poster advance the professional discussion of this topic?
    • How is your work an innovative solution to the identified problem, or how does it address a new problem?‍‍

‍Do not include your name or any personal identification on your abstract. This includes the file name for your abstract. This is a blind jury selection. You will be identifiable to poster administrators through the website submission process.

Posters may be selected for presentation at the conference or for viewing online only. Ideas need to be presented in the form of an abstract. When submitting an idea, be aware that your research must be complete before you submit your first draft of your poster.

Only submit your abstract idea one time. Please do not submit the same abstract under multiple topics/categories. You may submit more than one abstract idea.

Submission File Information

• NEW FORMAT- Supported file format: PDF ONLY
  • Posters should be created in a program designed for digital presentation with PDF export tools
• Max file size: 25 MB
• Use common/ universal fonts: Arial/Helvetica, Times New Roman/Times, Courier, etc.
• Recommended minimum font sizes (if working in Power Point):
  • Titles: 60-point font
  • Subtitles: 30-point font
  • Body of text: 20-point font
  • Citations: 14pt
• Each PDF poster document should be no longer than 5 pages, slides, or plates.
• Posters must be in wide screen (16:9)
• All PDF poster content must be included in the poster file.
• Posters may include QR codes for citations and links to additional content, particularly sound and video resources.

Digital Accessibility

• Use format headings instead of large or bold fonts
• Use high contrast color themes when considering font color and the background
• Do not use imported images of text for content
• Include additional visual cues when text color differences are used to convey information

Embedded Content (images files only)

• Only image files can be included in your PDF poster file
• Audio and video content cannot be included in the PDF poster file.
• Image files:
  • Images should be limited in size to 2160 pixels by 3840 pixels
  • Images should be no smaller than quarter-screen size, or 270 pixels by 480 pixels
  • Images should be saved at a resolution of 72 dpi

All submissions will be blind juried by your peers in the poster review process. In this process, each submission is adjudicated according to a rubric by at least 2 peers, at least one of whom will be from the discipline under which the abstract has been submitted.

Copyrighted material includes:
Literary works; Musical works, including any accompanying words; Dramatic works, including any accompanying music; Pantomimes and choreographic works; Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works; Motion pictures and other audiovisual works; Sound recordings; Architectural works.

Remember, material found on the Internet has the same copyright protection as material distributed through other media. Exceptions include materials found in the public domain, which can be used without permission, which refers to any material published before 1923 or 70 years after the creator’s death.

Fair Use: In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner.

• Examples of what may be considered ‘fair use’ in a poster: Quoting a short passage for illustration or clarification of the presenters’ observations or using an image of a costume in a poster that analyzes the costume design.

There is no exact science to fair use. This is just a guide.
Some uses of copyright-protected material are permitted without explicit permission of the copyright owner. Uses of protected material outside of those parameters cannot be permitted on posters or in poster presentations.

General Note: Never quote more than a paragraph from a book or article, take more than one chart or diagram, quote more than one or two lines from a poem, use more than a few seconds from a video or song, or indicate an illustration or other artwork in a book or newsletter without the artist’s permission.