Guidance for hosting and promoting a Fringe event
Hello and thanks for planning an event as part of the Sheffield Digital Festival. We’ve put together a few pointers to help you with your event, but please let us know if you’ve got any questions.
The overall aim of the Festival is to explore and celebrate “where creativity meets technical excellence” this year’s theme: Our Future City. And we’ll be focusing on three streams of activity where the conversations and innovation are already setting Sheffield apart: HealthTech, Arts, Culture & Heritage and Enabling Decarbonisation. You might like to incorporate those ideas into your event, but you don’t have to stick to them - we’re keen to encourage as wide a range of digital-related events as possible. It’s fine to use your event to promote what you do, but please don’t make it just a sales pitch
Stage 1
First things first.
With the festival adaptive to the current situation with covid-19 we would recommend that you are up-to-date with current government guidelines, https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus.
Stage 2
Identifying a location.
We expect that most events will be held virtually. If you do choose to run a physical event, please make sure that you do so in a way that meets current restrictions and is safe for you and your guests. This is a great opportunity to invite a new audience to see what you do. If you’re still stuck, get in touch and we’ll try to help - info@sheffielddigitalfestival.com
Stage 3
What is your event about? Writing the event info.
Write a clear title (8 words max).
Write a short statement - be clear about what the event is and who it is primarily for (150 words). If you’re unsure what to write, have a look at existing events on the SDF events page https://sheffielddigitalfestival.com/events
Photographic images only, no leaflets with text please, we are aiming to make the festival as accessible as possible and screen readers don't work well with textual images.
If your event will be limited by number of guests, make sure you create a registration link so that people aren’t disappointed if your event is over subscribed. We are encouraging event organisers to support Tickets For Good but if this service doesn’t meet your needs, EventBrite offers a free service It is up to you whether or not you want to charge for tickets.
Finally, upload your event to the Events area of the Sheffield Digital Festival website - https://sheffielddigitalfestival.com/signup
Stage 4
Promoting your event.
Use the Festival social handles when promoting your event, this will give you further reach and open up your event to a larger audience. You can share the link from the Events calendar to promote your event across social media.
https://twitter.com/ShefDigiFest
https://www.instagram.com/sheffielddigitalfestival/
https://www.facebook.com/SheffieldDigitalFestival
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sheffield-digital-festival
Please also include the Festival hashtag along with your more specific hashtag, #SheffDigiFest
If you would like to promote your event online or create a poster, please download the Festival promotion pack, this includes logos and an A4 poster template - download the festival logo pack.
You can also download a set of graphics for use in social posts - download the social graphics pack.
Please support our organising partners by including them in your posts and they will help share your event to a wider audience.
Field / Sheffield Digital / Sheffield City Council / Sheffield College /
Stage 5
The Event.
People often arrive early for events (even when they’re virtual), so make sure you’re organised and prepared. Consider how you can make your event accessible and welcoming for everyone.
Please make sure you document your event as we will be following up to find out how many people attended your event and to also ask for photos, videos and feedback about your event. This will all help us to make next year’s Festival even better. If you are happy to record your event, we can host the recording on the Festival website afterwards so that people can view it. Please make sure you let your speakers and guests know that you will be recording.
Good luck and thank you for getting involved! Keep us posted via our social channels and we’ll help you get as much exposure for your event as possible.
The Sheffield Digital Festival Team.