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Event calendars
You can use an event calendar to display and share your upcoming events with visitors to your site. Event calendars most commonly appear on department homepages, program pages, and spotlights.
On phila.gov, the event calendar component draws events from a Google Calendar. You can create and manage this calendar yourself without needing to access the WordPress backend.
Creating an event calendar
Create or log in to a Google account associated with your group.
Make a calendar and add your events. (See our advice on crafting event descriptions.)
Set the calendar to public.
Provide edit access to websupport@phila.gov.
Adding a calendar to phila.gov
To add your calendar, you’ll need to send its calendar ID to the Digital Transformation team.
Go to the calendar’s settings.
Go to the “Integrate calendar” section.
Find the “Calendar ID” heading.
Copy the calendar ID, which will be formatted like an email address. It may be the address associated with your Google account, or it might be a random string that looks like an email address.
Send the ID to websupport@phila.gov. Make sure to mention which department or program the calendar should be associated with.
From there, the Digital Transformation team will generate a calendar code and add it to the requested page.
Crafting your events
All of your events should have:
As you write the content for your events, you should follow the phila.gov standards. If you import your events into Google Calendar from another service, be sure to check that they are formatted correctly.
You may find that you have regularly occuring events that have similar details. To help you draft recurring events, we’ve included a sample structure for a monthly meeting.
Titling an event
Event titles should be brief but meaningful, and they should make sense outside the context of your specific site. This is because your events may appear on aggregated City calendars like the latest news and events.
For example, a title like “Department of Widgets monthly meeting” is clearer and more specific than “Public meeting.”
If you have related events, such as a concert series, it helps if they share a naming convention. That way, residents can draw a connection between them.
Setting the date, time, and location
Set the date and time for your event. You must estimate a start and end time for it, unless it’s an all-day event.
If your event is digital, enter the location as “Online.” Don’t put a link in this field.
Writing a description
When a resident selects a particular event on phila.gov, a window will appear with the event’s description. All event descriptions should offer:
Information on what will happen at the event.
Details on how to attend and participate, including registration links if applicable.
Contact information for the group who’s hosting the event.
If relevant, descriptions may include a sense of the intended audience and links to supporting information. This might include a link to a meeting agenda or to a related program.
As you craft your description, keep the following tips in mind:
Use headings and lists to structure long descriptions. Lengthy blocks of text are difficult to parse. A structured description is more appealing to the eye and easier to navigate.
Avoid pasting in links in plain text. If you don’t embed your links, it forces potential attendees to take extra steps to follow them. Instead, place them in some relevant copy. (For example, rather than inserting https://www.phila.gov in plain text, embed the link in something like: “To learn more, visit the City of Philadelphia’s website.”)
For event series, create standard copy to reuse each time. This is particularly useful for events like monthly meetings. Consistency will save you time and help your regular attendees find the information they need.
When you add an event, take time to review it on the site. It’s always a good idea to view your published content and check that everything looks just right.
Sample structure for a monthly meeting
Begin with a standard introduction that explains the general purpose of the meeting. You can reuse this from month to month.
Describe how to attend. For in-person events, this might include registration details or information about the venue. For online events, you may need to provide:
Instructions for joining by computer, tablet, or smartphone. Often, this will involve a link, webinar ID, and password.
Instructions for calling in, which may only require a phone number.
Describe how to participate, if relevant. For example:
How and when should the attendee submit comments?
Once the meeting is in progress, how does participation work?
Offer links to related resources, such as agendas, application materials, and meeting recordings.