Events

Events are a great way to promote your upcoming programming on your website. Because they are feedable content, events can be cross-listed across multiple richmond.edu websites. Events typically appear together within a row on a webpage. Each event receives its own webpage and URL, where event information can be housed, including a lead image and a registration button, among other features. Before creating your event, you may want to consider these items:

• Naming an Event: When giving your event a title, keep in mind that it becomes part of the general University calendar feed, so please specify the campus unit if the title is generic. (Example: "School of Law Commencement" rather than "Commencement")
• Promoting with Other Departments: If you are creating an event that is sponsored by more than one department, please coordinate with each department so that the event is not listed multiple times. Events should only be listed once and tagged for each appropriate department. Similarly, if you are trying to promote your event within non-participating departments, please coordinate with those offices before posting your event to their sites.
• Public Content: All events shared within Cascade are listed publicly. Event pages expire after the date of the event has passed. Events can still be accessed for reference in Cascade after they have passed.

Creating an Event

In the site selector, select _events and then open the calendar folder. This folder houses all events and is organized by site, then date. An event should live in the event owner’s folder. For example, a Human Resources event in 2025 will live in calendar > hr > 2025.

To create your event, select the site/year/month folder, then select Add Content at the top of the screen. In the menu that appears, select Calendar and then select Create Event Page.

Note: Once an event is published, you must contact Web Services if you wish to move it to a different folder.

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Editing an Event

After selecting the option to create a new event page, the Edit screen will appear. The first three fields apply to the event’s listing in Cascade:

• Page Name: This is the file name that will appear in Cascade. Events should follow the convention MM-DD-YYYY-event-name. Standard naming conventions call for lower-case letters and no spaces between words. You cannot change this after an event has been published.

• Placement Folder: This is where the event will be saved in Cascade.

• Page Status: An active event will appear on any assigned sites. An inactive event will not. To take an event down from your site, simply mark it as “Inactive” and then re-publish the inactive event. Do not delete the event in Cascade. 

Then, enter your event information in the relevant remaining fields.

Event Name

This is the title of the event in the public calendar and is a required field. Keep in mind that your event becomes part of the public University calendar, so please specify office/school/department if the title is generic. (i.e. “Lecture Series” could become “Department of English Lecture Series”)

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Event Date

This is where you can indicate the exact timing of your event, and whether it is a one-time or recurring event.

• All-Day Event: No is selected by default, but select Yes if your event spans multiple days.
• Start Date & Time (required): Select date and time of the event from the calendar picker.
• End Date & Time (optional): Select this date and time if relevant to your event.
• Separate Card for Each Day: For events that span multiple days, select Yes if you would like each day to appear as its own calendar item in an event feed. No is selected by default.

Event Location

• Campus Location Name: This adds our campus map to your listing when you select your building from the dropdown list. Please note that this is not a reservation system, and that all room reservations should be made at ems.richmond.edu.
• Campus Room Name and/or Number: Add specific details about the location of the room for your event. For example, enter "Alice Haynes Room" in this field after selecting "Tyler Haynes Commons" from the Campus Location Name dropdown menu.
• Off-Campus Location Name: You can alternatively use this text field to enter another location off-campus. (For example: TASTE)
• Off-Campus Address: For off-campus locations, please enter the full street address for the location, including city, state, and zip code. (For example: 5706 Grove Ave Suite 100, Richmond, VA 23226)
• Off-Campus Google Map URL: This creates a Google Maps button on your event page when you enter a location's "share" link from Google Maps. From any Google Maps listing, select the "Share" button, copy the link to your clipboard, and paste it into this field. (For example: https://maps.app.goo.gl/8VVKhabstQoSKR6y8). 

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Event Description

Enter the body copy or summary description of the event, making sure to add any relevant contact information to this section. If this event references another page on your website (such as a lecture series or events that are part of a larger program), please include a link back to the page on your site.

• Button Text: This field programs a button on the event page that is fully customizable. Enter the name of the button into this field, such as "Register" or "Purchase."
• Button URL: Enter the external URL for this button (such as a registration page or a webpage on your site)
• Button Active On: Select the date and time for when this button appears (such as when an event's registration window opens).
• Button Active Off: Select the date and time for when this button no longer appears (such as when a registration window closes before the event happens).

Lead Media

If you would like to have a lead image at the top of your event page, please use the Hermes Promo Image field to enter your image. Images in this space may be photography or artwork, and should contain no more than 10 words of text. Any text used in the image should be included in the image's Alt Text for accessibility purposes.

Keep in mind that only a promo image is required in this field, and its image resolution must be set to 3840×2160 pixels. Promo images should be uploaded to _cdncontent. For more information, follow our Lead Media image guidance.

Enter text into the Alt Text Override field to replace the alt text original attributed to the image when it was uploaded. This text should generally describe the image for accessibility purposes, and will not appear as a caption on the page.

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Display Groups

• Feed (formerly Categories): Select the appropriate sites where the event should appear using the drop-down menu. Click “+” for additional site assignments. You may begin typing the name of the site to narrow the list options. You can add as many sites as are applicable, but please coordinate with organizers outside your department if your event crosses into other areas. You can also remove the site assignment manually by clicking the “-“ when you want to take the event down from a particular site.
• Public Calendar Audience: This controls where your event appears when an audience is selected from the University Calendar homepage. Simply check whichever audiences apply to your event.
• Public Calendar Category: This controls where your event appears within a list of additional category filters on the University Calendar homepage. Simply check any category that applies to your event. If none apply, do not select any from this list.
• Acknowledgment (required): Check the box next to any audience group for whom your event is relevant. Then please check the Yes box to acknowledge that your event listing will be displayed on the public calendar.

To publish an event, be sure the page status is set to Active, and then select Publish.

Once your event is ready, review our guidelines for Connecting to a Page and Deleting, Moving, and Renaming.