Promoting your event
In this section
Top tips
- Work on crafting an engaging title and description you can use to share widely
Give people just enough information that they want to find out more. What’s the gist of the event in two or three sentences? You should try to keep sentences short (less than 20 words) so people can take it quickly what your event is about. You can even challenge yourself to write something you could share on Twitter (280 characters or less).
Have a look at the Resonate website to see how we name and describe our events.
You’ll be able to go into all the detail, including mentioning speakers, funders, etc. on your event web page/booking form.
- Find a high quality image you can share with it
Ideally avoid using a picture of your speaker (unless its David Attenborough they probably aren’t the main draw for a public audience). If you don’t have a good image you can find free to use stock photos on websites like PixabayLink opens in a new window or UnsplashLink opens in a new window.
If you choose to make a digital flyer then make sure you have a plain text version available elsewhere that’s accessible for someone using a screen reader to read. On most social media sites you can also add an alternative description to your image, so you can write out what any text says.
- Try to keep your words simple
This will slightly depend on your audience but in general try to pick language that is easy to understand. You need your event to stand out from dozens of messages and it’s best if people can take in quickly what your event is about without needing to decipher any jargon.
- You can request a shortened web link such as “warwick.ac.uk/youreventtitle” at warwick.ac.ukLink opens in a new window
For sharing online (e.g. as part of a tweet) you can just use tools like bitly.comLink opens in a new window to shorten a web address, but for creating flyers a Warwick address looks neater and is easier for someone to type in. IT request 5 days notice but typically these are approved in one or two days.
Where to promote your event
We’ve put together this checklist of places you can promote activities. Not all will be suitable for every event so consider carefully which are right for you. For example, it’s unlikely the University social media team will put your event on their Facebook page if your audience is a very niche group of people.
Printed promotional options usually require a lot of advanced notice – at least a month in advance of your event. Digital options can be much closer to the day of your event.
We’ve mainly focussed on channels that are suitable for the local area but if you’re planning something elsewhere in the country then there are likely to be equivalent options in other places.
| Channel |
Contact |
| WIE and Resonate - Public Mailing List (we typically aim to contact this with a list of several events rather than directly about each activity) We also have local contacts in the community we might be able to share details of your event with if relevant (e.g. local community centres, Café Sci etc.) |
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| Community Engagement Team (local/online events only) - Have connections to local authorities they can put you in touch with - Community newsletter goes out regularly via email – and they also do a printed newsletter to local postcodes twice a year - Community events calendar |
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| Local libraries The local libraries are happy to display posters of events. Pop in with a poster or some leaflets and ask! This method is probably best for family events and wouldn’t typically generate large numbers.
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| Internal staff/ students - Insite events calendarLink opens in a new window - Insite regular staff newsletters - Student newsletters, MyWarwick alerts - Digital Screen and Piazza Screen – visit this page Link opens in a new window - Your departmental calendars and newsletters/Research Spotlight newsletters etc. – check department/Research Spotlight web pagesLink opens in a new window for contact info. |
internalcomms@warwick.ac.ukLink opens in a new window (explaining which audience you want this to go to). |
| What's On Magazine and Website Link opens in a new window Contact them at least 1 month in advance of your event to be included (no cost), they also share events via their Facebook and Twitter channels. |
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| Visit Coventry Website Link opens in a new window Contact as early as possible (1 month minimum) to be listed. Email with: Name of event, date, time, location of event, a small sentence detailing the event. |
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| Leamington Tourist Information OfficeLink opens in a new window Happy to display posters or leaflets in the centre for events. Pop in and drop them off! |
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| Council Events Listings |
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| Schools Warwick's Outreach Team send out termly and monthly newsletters to primary and secondary schools respectively. This typically contains information about activities for schools to take part in but they can sometimes promote family events. |
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| Press Coverage Not every event will be of interest to the press but if you think your topic might have a broad appeal to the public then get in touch with the press team to ask them to support you in putting together and distributing a press release. They will be able to advise on which publications to target depending on your event. |
warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/teamLink opens in a new window (Contact the media relations officer for your subject area). |
| Social media - Share on your own channels and tag in others/ask for retweets etc. - If you’re contacting other channels to ask them to promote your activity then write the post for them, include an image etc. so it’s quick and easy for them to do Consider approaching:
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University Social Media team: socialmedia@warwick.ac.ukLink opens in a new window (they will promote events with a broad appeal on Facebook if they have notice).
Alumni Facebook Group/ LinkedIn: alumni@warwick.ac.ukLink opens in a new window
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