This page explains the steps that are the same regardless of which format you choose.
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 on the type of company).

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.

Listings that meet our requirements will be added to our database.

write your listings There are now two accepted formats for your text: Please note that as of June 2011, there is a new required field. So please download our new table templates or take a look at the revised "one column" format. single column 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. If you have more than 3 listings, put them in a Word file, name the file appropriately, and attach it to your email. Word table templates 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. You can use the table template even if you have only one event. the "database" option Si vous utilisez une banque de données pour gérer les détails de vos concerts, vous pourriez exporter les champs dont nous avons besoin, les mettre dans un document Word, convertir ce texte en tableau, et nous l'envoyer, pour voir si nous pourrions l'utiliser. Nous discuterons des détails cas par cas. read this you may already have a text we can use Par exemple, les compagnies qui publient une brochure de saison ont probablement un brouillon sans graphisme, ni description. Nous discuterons des détails cas par cas. read this in all cases: (re)naming the attachment Please rename the Word file similarly to your subject line, explained below, 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. 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 prepare your email in this section >> steps, requirements | 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 your organization and the period covered. THAT'S ALL!!! name of your organization: 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. period covered: expressed in months (July...), nature seasons (spring...) or business seasons (2007-2008). So if you have just one concert, don't put the full 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 (because it's for the "September issue"). 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 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: 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) Finally, add your listings if you wrote them in a Word file, attach it. we only accept Word files as attachments, with the extension .doc. We do not accept .rtf, .docx, .pdf, Excel or Wordperfect. 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. Send your email :) We keep everything we send and receive for one year. We suggest you do the same with our correspondence. 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 >> recommended timing patterns | deadlines, late fees | exceptions 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. recommended timing patterns Based on past experience, we recommend the following patterns. orchestras, ensembles, choirs recital societies festivals 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) SEASON METHOD send listings for all your events for the whole season (sept-may or june-aug) in one shot, as soon as it is available. For example, when you announce your season to the public. if only half your season is planned at a time, that is OK too, but please tell us when you will send us the second half. schools, conservatories, universities, municipal cultural centres TV or radio stations (all music series combined) MONTHLY METHOD send us your listings for each month. remember our monthly deadlines if your text has repeats of concerts sent in previously emails (ex. a concert tour), please mention it. companies that have a number of listings planned in advance, and with additional listings throughout the season, example: some universities send us the "big concerts" during the summer (they even have a brochure for it), and the student recitals each month because those are planned closer to the event year-round touring companies who continually add gigs to their tour the advantage of using this hybrid method is that you will have as many concerts in our web calendar ahead of time as possible. HYBRID METHOD send your first batch during the summer (like the season method, see above) in the same email, inform us there will be more to come on a monthly basis send us your additional listings using the monthly method (see above) examples of intros to help us get back into context: On June 3, we sent you our first batch of listings for our concert tour this year. Here are a few more that have just been confirmed. On July 3, we sent you most of our season listings, there were just 2 concerts to finalize. Here they are: one in Nov, one in March. On July 3, we sent you our major concerts (orchestras, professionals) for the whole season. Here is our first batch of student concerts for Sept-Oct. organizations with sporadic events, ad hoc programming any other organizations with unplanned seasons send us your listings as soon as you have the info. remember our monthly deadlines exceptions If you would like to choose a pattern other than the one recommended above for your type of company, please inform us, tell us your reason. In some cases, it is preferable to use a different pattern. Let us be the judge. If we accept, please write the reason in each one of your emails, to refresh our memory, so we don't have to go looking through all emails exchanged in the last year. We will not accept the reason "because it is simpler"; if you don't understand something, ask questions. unacceptable reason >> "because we will have some changes during the season" We know fully well there will be a few changes during the season of a major company (a few works, a few guest soloists). But that doesn't mean you should use the monthly method. We know you have a text for the whole season that we could use, and that text has been available at least as long as your brochure. See our 4th option If it's good enough for your season brochure, it's good enough for us. And when those few changes will occur during the season, just send us the corrections for those particular concerts, using the method explained in step 2 proofreading. deadlines, late fees 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, even if you don't want to pay the late fees; it will go at least in the web calendar. Our double issues >> For the Dec-Jan issue and for the Jul-Aug issue, send us your listings for both months, before June 10 and Nov 10 respectively. 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. 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. It may take weeks, or it may be the same day. It depends on circumstances (overload, vacations, availability, staff changes, etc.) 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.