Special Announcements vs. Events
Thanks for your interest in posting content on The Dirt! website. Keep in mind that a summary of all "events" are also listed in our weekly email newsletter that is sent out to more than a thousand readers that are separate from our current users that access their information via our website.

"Special announcements" are also featured in this weekly email newsletter but appear in a different fashion. They also are different in terms of their purpose and the scope of information that they are conveying.

Originally, prior to upgrading The Dirt! to include our spiffy current website, The Dirt! existed only in email form. There, events were things that occurred at a particular time, for a particular duration, on a particular day. Events then exist as opportunities for people to actively get out, get involved and do something concrete to help the environment for part of their day.

Special Announcements now, they also present opportunities for people to get involved but in a different manner. The time span may vary: as in a few minutes that people spend when they personally write a letter to their representative in Congress; extend for longer than 1 day like a conference or multi-day training for a volunteer to take on a leadership role, or simply may entail a piece of information or news that may have a deadline attached to it or may affect a person's personal behavior at any time.

Now  that we have an understanding of the basic differences between these two things as they exist in our email newsletter, let's take a quick look at how to create a Special Announcement vs. an Event on our website.

• For an example of a special announcement check out the link to view
  Mt. St. Helens Institute 2006 Schedule
• For an example of an event check out the following link to view
  Sewallcrest Park's Pesticide-Free Park Work Party

Now you might think that, as an organizer that has a lot of upcoming events that maybe listing one Special Announcement is the way to go? We would encourage to think NO on this account. What is the use of a calendar that does not accurately reflect when the events are actually taking place? Mt. St. Helens Institute may be somewhat of a special case. Consider that for their trips they are requiring RSVP in advance since their trips book up quickly. Also, they took the time to individually enter each event separately as well. Once that has been done it become an easy task to link the Special Announcement to the actual events where details specific to that event (like meeting place and cost) are described. Redundancy then is eliminated!

Question: How do I enter a Special Announcement?

This also is a bit of a trick on the website, since Special Announcements, depending on what they are, can have very different final purposes and therefore show up in different place on our website (although they show up in the same place in our email newsletter!). To help you decide how to go about it, think about:

• 1) If your main purpose is to describe an-event-that-is-taking-place-over-a-period-of-many-days, then perhaps it is best to post a special announcement by filling out our event form on the web.
• 2) If the main purpose of your special announcement is introduce our readers to a current campaign or letter-writing opportunity, or lifestyle that will make a positive impact on society, then it is better to post your special announcement by creating a new forum topic.
• 3) If your special announcement tends more to be something like piece of news, then perhaps the best place to post it is as "story."

Hope this helps clear up any confusion! Remember, if you are posting something that you would like to show up as a Special Announcement, WRITE THE TITLE IN ALL CAPITALS!