Smoke Signal

Events

Events are the reason Smoke Signal exists. We want you to be able to create and manage events in a way that gives you ownership of your event data.

Creating events

At the top of every page on Smoke Signal is a button that brings you to the Create Event page.

An image of the create event form.

1: The event title is the first thing people will see when viewing the event. It should be brief, easy to read, meaningful, and informative. It's important to note that event titles are displayed throughout the site, but the event descriptions are not.

Event titles have a 100-character limit, but that's a lot of text to play with. Consider the following example that is about 2/3 of that at 67 characters: "Oktoberfest, Sponsored by The German-American Club of Dayton, Ohio". You have the freedom to be creative and informative in your event descriptions. alt text Good event titles:

  • October 2024 Monthly Dance
  • Christmas In The Park
  • ILHC 2024
  • Summer Camp Week 3
  • Handwriting Workshop

Not-so-great event titles:

  • Dance
  • christmas
  • OKTOBERFEST, SPONSORED BY THE GERMANAMERICAN CLUB OF DAYTON OHIO

2: Event descriptions have a 3000-character limit. That's between 500-700 words. Event descriptions are rendered markdown and support https://commonmark.org/ with additional support for tables, strike-through elements, and footnotes.

3: Events have a start time and an end time. Use the Day Of input to select the day that the event occurs on, and the Starts At and Ends At inputs to select the times that the event starts and ends.

There are some practical constraints imposed on what the start and end values can be:

  • The event cannot occur before 1 month ago.
  • The event cannot occur after 13 months from now.
  • The end of an event must be after the start of an event.

Editing Events

You can update event titles, descriptions, and start and end times. The same constraints apply to creating events and updating events, including the start and end times ranges.

Common Conventions

Events have multiple purposes. Sometimes, they tell a story. Other times, they are informative. The following conventions can help be informative, descriptive, and convincing:

Easy To Find

It is important to make events easy to find for the people that would want to attend them.

  • Using clear and common language that describes the event and relevant the location.
  • Using words and phrases that are specific to the event and the people attending.

Examples include:

Making it clear who the audience is

Calling all table-top role playing gamers to Nick's TTRPB Bar on Friday the 13th! ...

Calling out constraints (21+ and cash)

Fluffy Kittens is going to rock your world at Nick's Tavern on Saturday. 21+ and cash only. ...

Time-sensitive updates like weather

Update: Light rain expected.

Meet up at Nick's park for Pikachu day ...

Cancelled Events

Update events when they have been canceled using clear and direct language.

  • Change the event title from "Cincinnati Reds vs. Chicago Cubs 3/31" to "CANCELED Cincinnati Reds vs. Chicago Cubs 3/31".
  • Update the description to include the same information with a possible explanation: "The Reds vs. Cubs games on 3/31, 4/2-4/3 have been canceled due to the MLB lockout."
  • Leave the start and end times unchanged for canceled events to make it easier for people to find information about the event that would have taken place.

Event Series

Event series should include date references to make them easier to distinguish.

  • Multiple dance events in October 2024 should not be all titled "October Swing Dances", but should include dates like "Weekly Swing Dance, 10/1/2024" and "Weekly Swing Dance, 10/8/2024"
  • Annual events should include a year like "ILHC 2024" and "ILHC 2025"

Long Events

Create a single event for a single, larger occurrence of a thing that someone would attend and include a schedule in the description for things that may change or shift during the event.

  • For a book signing event, create it for the range in which the entire event takes place and list the activities involved. For example, "John Smith Dayton Booksigning" from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM would have a description that includes a 3:30 PM to 4:00 PM reading and a 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM book signing.
  • For a multi-day swing dancing event, create it for the 6:00 PM Friday through 11:00 AM Sunday range and include a breakdown of the by-day schedule in the description.

Venue and Accessibility

Include information about the venue and location by asking yourself if the description answers any of these questions:

  • If someone traveled to the event, what would they need to know to get there?
  • How would someone go from the general location to a specific area, like a particular conference room in a library?
  • Who is greeting visitors and how can they be recognized?
  • Is the event accessible to people with disabilities?
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