How do I get my event on Today@Mason?
Posted: September 6, 2017 at 2:29 pm
University Information, University Events, and Digital Communications are working with various partners across the university to update the university calendar. The calendar will be populated by entries from 25Live.
The calendar will allow any viewer, from internal or external to Mason, to see events that are open to particular audience types (Alumni, Community, Current Students, Faculty/Staff, Prospective Students). This allows an ease to share information for all audiences to engage with events connected to George Mason University.
For events and trainings to appear on the Event Calendar, a request should be submitted on 25Live directly from a campus department/college/school or recognized student organization.
REMEMBER: Think from the calendar user’s perspective. Pretend that if you are brand new to Mason and/or from the outside community and are planning on attending an event you should be able to find out all of the information you need from a calendar entry (i.e. what the event is, where it is taking place, what day, what time, cost, who to contact with questions, etc.)
Information submitted should include
Title – Descriptive, yet short
An event description – It does not need to be lengthy. Do you understand what the event is? It is recommended, but not restricted that event descriptions do not exceed two paragraphs of more than 50 words each – for a rough total of 100 words.
Note: CVPA events are being edited by the CVPA marketing staff. For now, please do not edit for length.
Event Descriptions should follow Mason brand guidelines, for example:
Correct spelling and proper grammar. To highlight:
No words in all capital letters
No “th”, “st”, etc. after numbers
Time format must be: (example) 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. (if in a list) or 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (if in a line of text)
Price information:
Fees should be written as a dollar sign and amount (i.e. $20), with no decimal point. There is no need to include decimal points unless the fee is $20.25 or $20.50, for example
If an event has multiple prices, list as follows: $40, $35, $25. Prices should be listed in descending order
Events should only be listed as Free when that is clearly stated
If the event space is not listed in 25Live (e.g. is off-campus or in multiple locations), the event description must include the physical location where the event is held or the main registration/welcome area for the event.
Location format must be: Building, Room 123
The word “campus” is lower case unless connected to Fairfax, Arlington, or Science and Technology (e.g. “Arlington Campus” or “Science and Technology Campus”).
Off-campus events should be listed as location and city/town (e.g. Nationals Park, Washington, DC) *only Mason-affiliated or Mason-sponsored off-campus events should be listed.
Avoid acronyms, unless introduced. For example, an event description includes, “The Office of Communications and Marketing (OCM)…”, then later in the description uses “OCM” is fine. However, an acronym should not be used without describing what it is first.
“School of Business” should never be “SOB”
“Mason” is the short version of saying “George Mason University”. “GMU” is not allowed inside descriptions. The exception is some entities have “GMU” in the title of their organization (e.g. GMU Baha’I Student Association – there are very few. Please confirm doing a search on gmu.edu).
“SciTech” is only used for the “Science and Technology Campus” when space is limited.
“George Mason University” receives all capital letters, but the word “university” alone is not capitalized.
Any stated websites should have a clickable link.
Delete uses of the word, “please”.
It is recommended that contact information is listed at the bottom of an event description (e.g. Philip Stamper, University Information, 703-993-5308, pstamper@gmu.edu) when possible or requested. (Note: we are working in the system to more clearly identify who to contact)
Either a contact organization/office/department/ or a person’s name (a specific name is not required, but a specific organization/office/department is)
Phone numbers are required and should be entered at 703-993-1000, not (703) 993-1000.
An e-mail address must be listed
University Information determines if an event or training meets the stated criteria, and reserves the editorial rights on all content submitted. Should your event or training need to be edited, we will make the edits for posting, unless more information is needed.
University Information actively reviews various sources for events and trainings that are sponsored orco-sponsored by, as well as larger hosted events at Mason, and posts these events and trainings.
If more information is needed, we will contact the sponsoring/requesting entity directly.
If you would like to adjust your event’s description or title, hide the event from the calendar, or would like to make it viewable.
Write to Samantha Price at sprice22@gmu.edu