TL;DR - a New Staff Blog Series

Submitted by Leslie Marinelli

Just because we are in the information industry does not mean our brains can handle ALL THE INFORMATION thrown at us every day.  

Sometimes we just need someone to break something down for us into a few key takeaways. 

So, I'm starting a new staff blog series called "TL;DR" (Too Long; Didn't Read) where I attempt to summarize in as few words as possible the bare bones of something we're supposed to know at FCPL. 

Our first topic is for anyone who uses Communico. If that's not you, feel free to skip this one. But if you create, facilitate, or oversee any programs for our patrons, please read on for an important refresher on how to properly use the main fields in Communico.  

I conducted two trainings recently for all Information Staff called "Your Program Marketing Begins in Communico." If you missed it, you can see the whole slide show here, but here are the key points all Info Staff need to know: 

1. Each program you create is a gift to our community. Your Communico entry is how you wrap that gift.

2. Beautifully wrapped gifts (programs) are more appealing to your potential audiences, so use all the gift wrap tools at your disposal to make your programs as enticing as possible. 

3. Your event image MUST be a landscape image with a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9. If you use a square or portrait oriented image as your main event image, it will be cropped in certain views, and probably not how you would like. Supervisory Staff and the Programming Manager will no longer accept Communico event images that are not 16:9.  

4. The right Communico event image will evoke emotion and promote sharing. Images of people are usually the best for this. Avoid text and clipart in event images. This is NOT the place to put most series logos. 

5. Have an image you love but it's not the right aspect ratio (16:9)? Open it up in Windows Photos, click the Edit Image button (CTRL + E), and crop it! Or create a presentation slide in Canva and save it as a jpg.  

6. Strategically use the event title, subtitle, and short description to grab interest. 

7. Use formatting (sparingly) in your long description to highlight critical details. The long description is a great place to put those beautiful series logos too! 

If you have questions or need clarification about any of this information, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. Leave a question below, email me at marinellil@forsythpl.org, or call me at x9392 if I can answer any questions.