While modern conference papers have evolved almost universally to exploit the potential of digital technologies to enhance the effectiveness of their presentation, academic posters still largely ignore the novel affordances of digital tools and media, rather continuing to operate almost entirely within the constraints of their traditional material format. This paper offers an explanation of this anachronism and suggests a more dynamic vision of poster presentations. First, it distinguishes posters as a unique genre of academic presentation with its own set of communicative purposes. Next, with these purposes in mind, it identifies key considerations in effective poster design. Finally, it offers a practical proposal for leveraging the novel affordances of digital technologies to enrich this design, such as by integrating rollover text, audio, and video links into posters that can be downloaded through QR codes to permit local user control. [For the complete volume, see ED578177.]