Promoting Events in “This Week@Georgetown”

This Week@Georgetown is a twice-weekly events newsletter (Sunday and Wednesday) that informs the Hilltop Campus community (faculty, students and staff) of upcoming events and lectures. Our Speech and Expression policy does not prohibit speech based on the person presenting ideas or the content of those ideas, even when those ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. The inclusion of an event on the Georgetown Events Calendar or in “This Week@Georgetown” does not indicate University endorsement of the content of the event or the views of its speakers. Descriptions of events listed are written by their sponsor(s).

This Week@Georgetown is paused during university breaks, as well as during study days and final exams.

This Week@Georgetown is intended to share general-interest academic and community lectures and dialogues. Please note the following criteria for inclusion:

• Events must have an events page on the Georgetown Events Calendar. Submit a request through this form.
• Events must be general-interest and intended for a broad audience.
• Events must have an official university entity as a sponsor (e.g. schools, departments, programs, institutes, centers, offices, initiatives).
• Student-organized events are not included in This Week@Georgetown, but can be shared and promoted through several other channels.
• Each This Week@Georgetown edition will include events taking place over the next eight (8) calendar days (for example, the Sunday edition will include events occurring Monday through the following Tuesday). You are welcome to submit your event earlier, but only events taking place over the next 8 days will be included in each edition. That means that your event can be included in multiple newsletter editions for greater awareness if submitted early. (For example, you submit an event taking place on Tuesday, November 15 by the Thursday, Nov. 3 deadline – this event will appear in the Nov. 6, Nov. 9, and Nov. 13 editions).
• Your event will be included in a maximum of three versions of the newsletter.
• We limit each sponsoring unit to no more than one event per newsletter.
• Departmental/program-level events, such as major/minor/program/fellowship information sessions, departmental lectures, and dissertation defenses, are not included in This Week@Georgetown should be routed through school-level communications teams.

To request inclusion of your event in This Week@Georgetown:

1. Create your event page on the Georgetown Events Calendar.
2. When your event page is posted on the Events Calendar, you can now submit your request through the This Week@Georgetown Submission Form. Your event submission should include:

• Your hyperlink to the event  Please complete this process before submitting.
• Event date
• Event time
• Event title
• Event host(s)
• Brief event description (300 characters or less – recommend focusing on description of key speakers and topic)

Please note that This Week@Georgetown is only sent to students, faculty and staff on the Main and Medical Campuses. The School of Continuing Studies and Georgetown Law have separate processes for distributing event-related messages. 

If you are sharing information about a multi-event series, please coordinate with Lydia Sullivan, Director of Internal Communications & Operations Communications, at ls1522@georgetown.edu.

You must submit your event by the following times for inclusion in the Sunday or Wednesday editions:

• For Sunday edition – submit by Thursday at 5 p.m.
• For Wednesday edition – submit by Monday at 5 p.m.

This Week@Georgetown includes events occurring over the following eight (8) days. If you submit your event early, events can be included in up to three separate editions of the newsletter (For example, you submit an event taking place on Tuesday, November 15 by the Thursday, Nov. 3 deadline – this event will appear in the Nov. 6, Nov. 9, and Nov. 13 editions). 

It is recommended to submit your event as early as possible, as the newsletter is not sent during university breaks, study days and final exams. Additionally, during times of the year with fewer events (in particular, the summer semester), we will not send a newsletter if there are fewer than four events scheduled to be included. If you have questions about whether a newsletter will be sent on a specific date, please reach out to Hannah Williams, Internal Communications Manager, at hw590@georgetown.edu.

Georgetown University is committed to providing an accessible and welcoming experience for our students, guests and community members. When planning an event, please keep in mind the inclusion of disabled participants and speakers in all aspects of planning, from choosing a physical space or venue and promoting the event, to when participants exit the event.

Planning events:

☑  Check entrances and exits, and tour the path of travel for participants

☑  Consider placement and height of tables and seats, and designate seating for wheelchair users, allowing sufficient space to accommodate participants with service animals

☑  Connect with Georgetown Event Management Services (GEMS) (or the applicable office if the event is off-campus) to determine whether the space is equipped with technology to allow for closed-captioning, ASL Zoom spotlight and any other necessary services

☑  Encourage effective communication at your event, including use of captioning for video footage and livestreams

Promoting events:

☑  Use clear and concise link text; don’t use “click here” & “learn more,” etc.

☑  Use alt text for images to make them accessible to those who use screen readers

☑  Identify a designated individual to respond to accessibility requests and provide their email address on promotional materials

☑  Include an access statement in your GU Events Page, such as: “This event is ____ (wheelchair accessible, ASL interpreted, CART captioned, etc.). Please contact _________ with accessibility requests.”

• We advise setting up a Zoom webinar room rather than a regular Zoom meeting to help avoid “Zoom bombing.” Setting up an RSVP form and sending the meeting link only to those who registered is another way to help protect your virtual event.