Daily Messages Guidelines
Your Audience
There are three editions of the Daily Messages: for students, for faculty, and for staff. You will be asked to select your target audience(s) on the submission form.
Do not post messages for a predominantly student audience to the faculty or staff editions of the Daily Messages.
Deadlines
The deadline for submission of messages is 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Messages submitted after 3 p.m. on Friday and before 3 p.m. on Monday will appear in the Tuesday edition of the Daily Messages. There is no service on Saturday or Sunday.
You may submit a message and mark it for delivery many days hence. It will be delivered on the day you've marked.
Message Approval
Based on the criteria listed below, the Office of Public Affairs approves daily messages submissions. If your submission is approved, you will receive confirmation and if not, an explanation.
- Messages should pertain to news, events, and information concerning Williams College and be of interest to the intended audience(s).
- Faculty and Staff editions of the Daily Messages: Only one message per event or announcement will be accepted except for critical or urgent matters (for example, service updates from OIT and facilities or messages from deans, registrar, and security) and these should be arranged by calling Jo Procter at x4279.
- Student edition of the Daily Messages: No more than two messages per event or announcement will be accepted.
- Messages intended for particular groups or specific offices or departments as well as commercial messages, including lost and found notices, fund raising, or to sell goods or services will not be accepted. On-going weekly event notices will not be accepted. You are expected to maintain your own email notice list.
- To be eligible to post a message, you must have a Williams.edu email address. Submissions are accepted only from representatives of administrative and academic departments, programs and centers, and recognized student organizations. If posted by a student, the message summary must include the student organization's name.
- Events hosted by someone who is not a member of the Williams community may not be posted to the Daily Messages. Off-campus events, unless sponsored by a Williams College department or registered student organization, may not be posted to Daily Messages (these are appropriate for the Daily Advisor).
- Do not capitalize the headline of your submission; use caps and lower case. Make the headline as specific as you can in the limited space, including day, date, and time.
The Office of Public Affairs does not guarantee publication of submitted material and is not responsible for information incorrectly received.
Corrections to Submissions
The event submitter is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of each submission. Once uploaded, content is not available to edit.
If you are uncertain about a message, holiday schedule, or any other information, call the Daily Messages editor Jo Procter at (413) 597-4279.
A Quick Overview of the Online Submission Process:
- Go to the Daily Messages home page, www.williams.edu/messages or the college's homepage, www.Williams.edu, select the News and Events menu (top bar), then Publicity, then Daily Messages.
- Log in with your Williams user name and password. If you have trouble with authentication, call the Faculty/Staff (4090) or Student (3088) support desks in Jesup.
- The submission form will appear on your screen. Follow the onscreen instructions, which include selecting the audience your message is intended for and the date you want the message run. If you are a student, you must note what student organization you are representing in the department/organization box.
- Messages must have a headline (65 character limit; please use caps and lower case; do not use all caps). The message is limited to 330 characters (a message preview appears below the message you enter). If you have a longer message, put a summary in the message box, and then post the message in the box marked "Long message." (Attention: The long message box isn't as big as one might like.)
- Please make event messages specific as to the day and date of the event advertised (for example, Tuesday, Sept. 1); if you use "Today" instead of the specific day and date your message may be rejected.
top