Events system policy

• Purpose

  Staff and students at the University run hundreds of events each year, supporting research, teaching, student experience and engagement with the local community and those visiting the town.

  This policy outlines the standards and procedures needed in order to publish and promote events via the system, allowing the University to:

  • communicate the large number of events on offer
  • encourage attendance at relevant events
  • keep a single central calendar of events which can then be used to showcase specific events on other areas of the University website
  • maintain a record of the events organised by the University.

• Scope

  This policy applies to any University event which a student or member of staff would like to promote on the central events calendar. By submitting an event you consent to it appearing on other University affiliated sites and applications.

• The events system

  All University staff and students running University events are able to publish their event to the events system. Events can be scheduled so they can be made public at any time.

  The event system can be viewed by the public, and any individual can attend an event unless otherwise detailed on the event listing.

  Invite-only events must not be included on the events system.

  Events that are limited to a specific audience (for example, only students in a specific School or programme) must be correctly labelled as such with details included in the event description.

• User roles

  Whilst any individual will be able to reserve a place at a University event through this system, only matriculated students and University staff members will be able to submit events to be published. All users must authenticate themselves through single sign-on in order to submit an event.

  An event author is a member of staff or a student user who has accessed the system with single sign-on and submitted an event. The event author must:

  • ensure content contains the required information when submitting an event listed below
  • consent to their name and email address being published externally
  • accept personal responsibility for the content and accept accountability to policies governing staff and student conduct.

  An event manager is an additional member of staff or a student user who has been assigned to a specific event with the same privileges and responsibility as the author of that event. The event manager has the ability to submit changes, view bookings and delete the event entirely. An event manager must be authenticated via single sign-on and can only be assigned to an event by an event administrator.

  An event organiser is a verified group or organisation that can be assigned to an event, providing the ability to filter events by a single organiser. This list of approved event organisers is maintained by the event administrators.

  An event administrator is the highest page role and is only available to members of the central events team. To contact an event administrator email centralcalendar@st-andrews.ac.uk.   

• Accepted events

  Events must meet the following criteria:

  • The event must be an event which takes place at a specific time and at a specific location. Announcements such as the launch of a product or service are not considered events and will not be published in the events system. The following are regarded as examples of events:
    • conferences
    • seminars
    • lectures
    • concerts
    • chapel events
    • debates
    • presentations
    • performances.
  • The event must have official University sponsorship. An event must be hosted by the central University, an academic School or department, a society affiliated with the Students’ Association, or a sports club affiliated with Saints Sport or similar.
  • The event must be hosted in a University building or in a third-party venue with official University sponsorship (for example, a society ball). Private parties, including casual social gatherings, will not be published through the events system.
  • The event’s submitted details must adhere to the University's house style, be free of spelling and grammatical errors and written to a standard that upholds the University’s reputation for academic excellence. 
  • The event author must have gained express permission from the event organiser prior to submitting the event.

  The events administrators within Corporate Communications are responsible for:

  • selecting which events will be shown as ‘featured’
  • removing events that don't meet the criteria listed above
  • the overall support of the system.

  Corporate Communications can be contacted by emailing centralcalendar@st-andrews.ac.uk.

• Publishing events

  Approval process 

  Event authors can amend, publish, cancel or delete their event by accessing the ‘my account’ area.

  It is the responsibility of the event author to check for spelling and grammatical errors prior to submission. Content must adhere to the University’s house style when entering event information.

  The name and email address of the person submitting the event will be published on the event.

  Corporate Communications reserves the right to remove or amend events that do not meet the required standards (see the 'accepted events' section).

  Cancelling published events 

  Events authors can delete events that are in a draft state, but cannot delete published events. Instead, event authors can cancel their published events. It is the event author’s responsibility to both mark the event as cancelled and to notify any ticket holders of the cancellation. 

  Managing events 

  Event authors can request that additional event managers are assigned to their events by contacting an event administrator by emailing centralcalendar@st-andrews.ac.uk.

  Managing bookings

  A list of attendees for an individual event is held within the events system for seven days after the event ends. After this date, the list of attendees will be automatically deleted from the system.

• Recommended information when submitting an event

  Title

  • Max length: 60 characters.
  • Must be descriptive (for example, include the title of a seminar and not just the name of the seminar series).
  • Must not contain any other information other than the title (for example, marketing messages).
  • Should not contain the location name or date and time of the event.
  • Should be consistent in style across similar events you are uploading.

  Date and time

  • Events that span multiple days must have the start and end time for each day included in the event description.
  • You must include a start time and end time where possible.

  Description

  • This must include information about suitable audience types when access is restricted (for example, if an event was only open to students in a specific School).

  Location

  • An online only event should be set to 'online'.
  • Locations used for events should be the building in which the event is taking place.
  • Specific room details should be included.
  • If an event requires a location that is not available, then a request must be sent to centralcalendar@st-andrews.ac.uk.
  • It is the sole responsibility of the event author and event managers to arrange the booking of their event’s location and comply with relevant health and safety requirements.

  Organiser

  • If an event requires an organiser that is not available, then the event author should send a request to centralcalendar@st-andrews.ac.uk, providing the new organiser's full name and contact email address.

  Categories

  • A maximum of three options can be chosen for each category type.
  • If an event requires a category that is not available, then the event author should send a request to centralcalendar@st-andrews.ac.uk.

  Images

  • Images must meet the University’s image standards.
  • Images should be 750px wide by 500px high.
  • Only one image can be used for an individual event.

  Tickets

  • Only free bookings can be collected via the event website.
  • If free bookings are used for ‘pay at the gate’ events, it is the sole responsibility of the event author and event managers to honour these tickets.
  • Online booking of paid tickets must use a third party solution. This will be linked to from the event listing. The event website does not offer an online payment solution.
  • The responsibility of verifying all free bookings belongs to the event author and event managers of that specific event.
  • The event author must specify if there is a limit to ticket availability.

• Featured event criteria

  In order for an event to be included in the featured events section, it needs to meet the following criteria:

  • The event is taking place at least two weeks in the future and no more than one month (from when the event is first set as featured). This is to maximise the coverage the event will receive and reduce the amount of overhead maintenance for updating featured events.
  • The event has a wide audience and is not limited to a specific group (for example, an event for ‘Art History’ students only would not be a suitable featured event).
  • Typically, the event should fall under one of the following categories:
    • lecture, seminar or academic talk
    • community-wide event
    • cultural event (for example, a musical concert or a theatre production)
    • timely event (for example, an event related to an upcoming holiday or University event, such as graduation).
  • The event must include an image at 750px by 500px resolution.

  In order to request your event to be featured please email centralcalendar@st-andrews.ac.uk. The central events administration team will check to make sure the event meets the featured event criteria and that it will not be replacing an event which has higher strategic importance. They will then let you know if your event can be featured or not.

• Events on University web pages

  All events on the University website should link to the central events system unless there are exceptional reasons for not doing so. In which case, please email itservicedesk@st-andrews.ac.uk and mark the email FAO Digital Communications.

• Support

  Events within the events system are managed by Corporate Communications. Support and maintenance of the events system is provided by the Digital Communications team.

  If you notice any bugs or issues with the events system, please email itservicedesk@st-andrews.ac.uk and mark the email FAO digital communications.