Tips for Submitting Notes

Put the good stuff up front.  Put your key message in the first two or three sentences, because that’s usually all that appears on the main online page. That’s what tells readers whether or not to click on the link.

Write a headline and make statement.  Make your news say something.  “Lunchtime activity guidelines” is less useful to readers than “University rules forbid noon hour pillow fights.”

Keep it short.  Our format is punchy, so we recommend 100-200 words per note.  Of course you can always provide links to a more in-depth web page and we are happy to link through.

Publishing Deadlines.  The third Friday of the month.  Our upcoming deadlines are:

• January 25, 2009
  
• February 22, 2009
• March 26, 2009
• April 26, 2009
• May 26, 2009
  

Announcing an award or promotion?  Make sure that the recipient has been notified and that the people bestowing the honor are ready to go public (sometimes recipients get an early heads-up).

Please keep it simple. Avoid using multiple fonts, italics, bold, multiple font sizes and colors.  We’re trying to keep our format simple.  Our guide is to only use quotations, not italics.  We want to be have a clean look.  Please contact us if you have questions on this.

Provide links to additional info — a website with more info, and contact info, both phone and email.

Instead of forwarding an email to us, please see if your email software offers a “redirect” or “send message as new” option, or something along those lines. This preserves the original formatting, which makes it easier to cut and paste without a lot of cleanup, which means less opportunity for errors to creep in.

Can we attach documents? Yes, but we’d rather you post them on your website and send us a link.

Can we post photos? Yes, again. If you think it will enhance your message, send them along. Small jpegs please. Caption info is greatly appreciated.

We may edit your announcement. Not for the heck of it, but to clarify, simplify, conform to style conventions or to better fit the News & Notes format.

If you have questions, send them to LSNews or contact Megan Costello at 608-890-0740.

(Special thanks to eCALS for the great tips!  Thanks, Bob).

Category: Announcements  | 
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