Listings must be sent by email. There is no other way. Start by writing your listings, then prepare your email. But you also have to know when to send it (once a month or once per season?) It depends of the type of company. Read this. The objective of our requirements is uniformity, which reduces the chance of errors, speeds up data entry and allows us to better serve our more than 500 contacts across Canada, and publish 8000 events per year. your listings There are now two accepted formats for your text: "one column" format sequential text, all left-aligned, fields one above the other, no empty line within listing, 2 empty lines after each listing. see instructions and examples This format is accepted since 2001. Word table format One column = one field, one row = one event. Some cells may be left empty. see instructions and examples This format is accepted since summer 2007, and seems to be well appreciated by those who are already familiar with Word tables. It is a relatively simple variation on the previous format. your email in this section >> list of requirements | the subject line | the attachment | sample emails Write to the right address. Our addresses have not changed. See the page when writing to us. In the subject line, write the name of the company and the period covered by the listings. See below. You can write an intro, plus any comment not for publication. Examples: Hi, here are our listings for 2008-2009. For the concert on April 15, I did not know if I should say... I really liked the table method. Then put your signature, it is required. your name your phone number the company for whom you are writing its website If you are our new official contact for the free calendars, please say so (see sample email #1 below) See our page when writing to us. Finally, add your listings if you use a Word file, attach it. we only accept Word files as attachments, with the extension .doc. We do not accept .rtf, Excel or Wordperfect. name your attachment the same as your subject line. See below. otherwise, put your formatted listings at the end of the email (see sample email #3 below) if your signature automatically goes at the end, OK, no problem. the subject line In the Subject line, write the name of your organization and the period covered. THAT'S ALL!!! Period covered expressed in months (July...), nature seasons (spring...) or business seasons (2007-2008). So even if you have just one concert, don't put the date, just the month. If you send us listings from 1 Sept to 7 Oct 2008 (as per the period covered by one issue), just put Sept 2007 (as per the issue), we will deal with it. Company name: You can shorten it, ex. S.O. = symphony orchestra, U = University, etc. But don't exaggerate, we are not mind-readers. The subject must be clear. Subject: Orchestra XYZ - 2007-2008 Subject: XYZ Recital Society - spring 2008 Subject: University of XYZ - dec-jan Subject: XYZ Conservatory - nov 2007 Subject: XYZ Festival - summer 2008 the attachment If you have an attachment (Word only accepted), please give it a name similar to your subject line, but it will have .doc at the end (automatic with Word) without accents, cédille, umlauts... because document names with those characters behave strangely when sent by email. We keep everything for one year. We suggest you do the same. Orchestra XYZ - 2007-2008.doc XYZ Recital Society - spring 2008.doc University of XYZ - dec-jan.doc XYZ Conservatory - nov 2007.doc Festival of XYZ - summer 2008.doc sample emails sample #1: a company with a fully-planned season sample #2: a company which plans its concerts once a month sample #3: an email with less than 4 listings, no attachment To: LSM free calendars <...calendar@scena.org> From: "Joy Mirth - Orchestra XYZ" <joy@orchXYZ.ca> Date: 14 Jul 2007 12:34:43 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Orchestra XYZ 2007-2008 Hi You will find attached our season listings for 2007-2008 in your required format. The single ticket prices are included. <comments at your discretion> Please contact me if you have any questions. Your new contact for the free calendars: Joy Mirth Communications assistant Orchestra XYZ 514-555-1234 ext. 08 Attachment: Orchestra XYZ 2007-2008.doc To: LSM free calendars <...calendar@scena.org> From: "Joey Mojo" <mojo@music.uXYZ.ca> Date: 5 Sep 2007 12:34:43 -0700 (PDT) Subject: University XYZ music department - Octobre 2007 Hi You will find attached our listings for October 2007. <comments at your discretion> Please contact me if you have any questions. Your contact for the free calendars: Joey Mojo Concerts & Publicity Université XYZ, music department 514-555-1234 ext. 1234 Attachment: UXYZ music oct 2007.doc To: LSM free calendars <...calendar@scena.org> From: "Joey Mojo" <mojo@music.uXYZ.ca> Date: 5 Sep 2007 12:34:43 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Trio XYZ music department - fall 2007 Hi You will find attached our two listings for fall 2007. <comments at your discretion... for example> These are our only two concerts before February. We will send you the rest of our season around November 10, when our season planning will be final. We have 4 concerts this year. Please contact me if you have any questions. Your contact for the free calendars: Joey Mojo volunteer for Trio XYZ 514-555-1234 ext. 12 = = = = = = = = = <correctly formatted listing 1> <correctly formatted listing 2> when to send it > timing patterns, deadlines, late fees Basic principles : send us your listings as soon as you have them the more listings we import in one shot, the less time we waste do not send us tentative or incomplete listings just to "hold a spot" we do not want to receive the same listing twice. Based on past experience, we recommend the following patterns. orchestras, ensembles, choirs recital societies festivals any company with a subscription series radio or TV shows that are planned a whole season in advance (like the Saturday opera) any company which has a completely planned season (or almost completely) send listings for all your events for the whole season (sept-may or june-aug) in one shot. if only half your season is planned at a time, that is OK too, but please tell us in the same email when you will send us the second half. schools, conservatories, universities, municipal cultural centres TV or radio stations (all music series combined) organizations with sporadic events any other organizations with unplanned seasons send us your listings for one month. exception >> for the Dec-Jan issue and for the Jul-Aug issue, send us your listings for two months at a time. You may also choose to send us the known listings at the beginning of the season (indicating there will be more to come throughout the season), and later on, send additional listings on a monthly basis (without sending again any listings sent previously). EXAMPLE: ensembles who go on nation-wide tours, it is normal that you know a good number of your listings before the season begins, and also that more concerts will be added throughout the season because the tour is successful. EXAMPLE: the music department of one university sends all its known listings (concerts by professionals, i.e. staff and guests series; department orchestras; department choirs) at the beginning of the year, because they have that info already in their annual flyer; and then they may or may not send us their new listings (i.e. student recitals that are determined over the course of the year, based on students' schedules) on a monthly basis. If you choose a pattern other than the one recommended above, please write the reason in each one of your emails. In some cases, it is preferable to use a different pattern. Let us be the judge. We will not accept the reason "because it is simpler". If you don't understand something, ask questions. In all cases, please respect our deadlines. We send them to our contacts every month and they are displayed permanently in this guide. We have late fees for the magazine calendars. See the page deadlines and late fees. If your info is late, send it anyway; it will go at least in the web calendar. afterwards, just wait for our reply Here is what happens while you wait for our reply. When we get your email, we check the text to see if we can use it. If we can't use it, we will send you an email with an explanation of the problem so you can solve it and send again. If we can use it, we will correct anything we can correct finetune the format; correct spelling, facts, insert questions about missing info (this is not a criticism of your work, it's just us, the calendar team, doing our thing) we may correct some factual details, either from memory (ex. spelling of famous names; but we are not walking encyclopaedias), or by using what we already have in the database (venue names and addresses); but we cannot, for example, check the accuracy of numerical fields (date, time, phone, price). We don't have the time to do research. before being imported, your text will have been proofread by 2 calendar staff; if it is published in our magazine, it will have been proofread by a 3rd person import it into our database. It may take weeks, or it may be the same day. It depends on circumstances (overload, vacations, availability, staff changes, etc.) Our reply will come in the form of an email with the subject line "Here is what we have" with all your listings as they are in our database. You will then be at step 2 proofreading. you have questions? If you have questions about step 1 sending, see our page more info. If you don't find your answer, write to us. Don't worry about things not being perfect. If there is a problem, we will let you know. We won't bite.