To ensure your events are fully publicized, these are some steps you can take:
Events digest: Please work with your department staff to add your events to the School of Humanities' calendar at least two weeks in advance and click "Show to Humanities website." This ensures the event gets pulled into the SOH events digest, which goes out every Friday to all staff, students and faculty in the School of Humanities.
We pull the events digest every Thursday and send it out Friday morning. Any changes made after Wednesday are not reflected in the Friday digest.
To ensure the digest is as impactful as possible at targeting this audience, please note these best practices: Ensure your event titles are descriptive (rather than just the title of a talk, also add the speaker) and include the name and contact information of the person people can reach out to for reasonable accommodations.
Ask any co-sponsors to add the event to their web calendars and to promote on social media.
If you have an email list that includes your target audience, email them about the event.
Think thoughtfully about your target audience. Who should be targeted for this event? Where do they spend their time online and in person? Advertise in those places.
If you are hosting an inter-school or interdisciplinary event that is geared to the public and has capacity for a large turnout, consider these steps:
Work with Communications and your program coordinator to create a Zotmail (all faculty & staff across UCI + all SOH students). When publicizing events for a public audience, define academic terms and answer the question "why should I attend this event?"
Ask speakers to share the event on their social media, leading up to the event.
If you're hosting a very large public event with a recognizable keynote, talk to Communications about a social-media strategy. With a solid social media strategy, the UCI Forum for the Academy and the Public earned 18-million Twitter impressions of its event hashtag #UCIclimate and the UCI Center for Critical Korean Studies' Afro-Korean Hip-Hop Conference and Concert earned 1 million Twitter impressions of its event hashtag #KoreanHipHopUCI.
Create hard-copy flyers or event postcards to send to co-sponsoring institutions and to have on hand at other large events preceding yours.
Additional considerations:
Managing the event promotion for a program or center? Consider sending out a quarterly email to your mailing list that lists all of your upcoming events in one place. Here is an example of such an email.
Hosting a conference? Here is an example of an email you could send to your mailing list.
Hosting a virtual event? Here is a list of considerations for producing a successful virtual event.
Does your department, center or program have a Facebook page? Add upcoming events as event listings. Here is one example; here is another. Both of these Facebook event listings reached thousands of people. Be sure to add any co-hosting departments/schools/organizations as co-hosts of the event in the listing.
Is your event location a classroom rather than a large event space? Please indicate that space is limited on any of your marketing materials.
Please add accommodation/accessibility language to your marketing materials. Here is an example: Please direct requests for reasonable accommodations to (name) at (include phone and an e-mail address so that someone with a hearing or verbal disability can make inquiries) by (date).
Consider capturing the event live via social media. Utilize Instagram and Facebook stories, Facebook and Instagram Live, and live-Tweeting.
Want to collect RSVPs? Use Google Forms or Eventbrite to do so. Collecting RSVPs allows you to capture the email addresses of attendees and build your mailing list. Not collecting RSVPs digitally but want to grow your mailing list? Capture new event attendees by having a sign-up form at the event or a feedback card (see Graphic Design Resources).
Send a thank you to event attendees. Thank you emails average twice as many opens and clicks as other mailings. Be sure to include a "call to action" (invite attendance to an upcoming event, ask for support of your center, program, etc.)
Be clear about the action you would like recipients of your communications to take. Is it to RSVP? To join your mailing list? Emails with a single call to action increase engagement by 1617%.
Would you like to consult with Communications for additional strategy? Please set a meeting with Callie.
Additional resources:
Hosting a public event with an expected 300+ in attendance, or potential for controversy or some type of issue? Please see UCI's Major Events policy here.
Need additional event support staff? Consider the student volunteer group, Anteater Ambassadors. These students can help direct guests to the event location, assist with registration and more. Request this service here.
Photography, videography and live-streaming resources can be found here.
A guide on accessibility in email marketing can be found here.
