Before submitting an event, be sure to confirm it has not already been posted to the calendar. Please note that an event may be created under a different title than expected.
Event title: The first thing your audience will see. Make it count!
- Event titles should be concise (around 50 characters, not words) but descriptive, clarifying what audiences can expect, e.g., instead of Music Lecture, use Neapolitan Chord Use in the 20th Century
- Events in a series: Keeping that descriptive brevity in mind, for events in a series, omit the formal series name in the title, placing it instead in the event’s description field.
- Incorrect: Mondays at Beinecke: Collecting at the Heart of the University with Roberta Dougherty
- Correct: Collecting at the Heart of the University with Roberta Dougherty
- Unless they are the first word of your event’s title, do not capitalize short prepositions like “a,” “and,” “in,” or “of.”
- Incorrect: Traveling To Montana And Wyoming
- Correct: Traveling to Montana and Wyoming
- Never use all caps (or all lower-case) unless a specific individual or entity is known or stylized as such, e.g., Author bell hooks
- Incorrect: A NIGHT WITH AUTHOR BELL HOOKS
- Incorrect: a night with author bell hooks
- Incorrect: A NIGHT WITH AUTHOR bell hooks
- Correct: A Night with Author bell hooks
Event description: Always keep your audience in mind. Here’s how:
- Descriptive text should be limited to around 300 words.
- Your event’s most important information (except for the details, which will be displayed at the top of your listing) should be included in the first 1-3 sentences. Tip: Someone outside your intended audience should be able to clearly understand what your event is about, even if it’s ultimately not for them.
- Avoid jargon, unnecessarily complicated technical language, insider acronyms, and excessive or overly promotional language—e.g., For one night only!!!!
- Employ date-neutrality to minimize audience confusion. Avoid using language like “Tonight, audience members will…” Remember, the date(s) will be listed with your event.
Event classification: Keep audiences informed about your event without overwhelming them. When selecting your event’s type, topic(s), audience group(s), and subject tags, “overclassifying” leads to confusion and a cluttered appearance, causing uncertainty around what your event is and who it is for. Overclassifying will not boost your event’s visibility.
- Be sure to limit your event to no more than three (3) classifications per section in Localist. As the “Tags” section is an open text field, include search terms that can be taxonomized and are no longer than two words—e.g., “fine arts,” not “the fine arts of 19th century France.”
As an example event, for an art exhibition at the gallery:
EVENT TYPE: Exhibitions
TOPICS: Arts & Humanities; Cultural & International; Libraries, Museums & Galleries
AUDIENCE: General Public
TAGS: painting; fine arts; collections