Stay in the Know with the Duke Event Calendar

Online campus resource is an easy way to find events and spread word about them

A collage of event photos
The Duke Event Calendar can keep you up-to-date on the wide range of events taking place at Duke. Photos courtesy of Duke Marketing & Communications.

Few people appreciate the Duke Event Calendar as much as James Todd, the Communications Manager for Duke University Chapel.

Tasked with spreading the word about the steady stream of performances, worship services and gatherings unfolding at the chapel, Todd usually lists around 400 events per year – from 15-minute daily carillon recitals to holiday musical performances that draw hundreds – on Duke’s online event schedule.

And with 20 years as a staff member at Duke, Todd sees the Duke Event Calendar as a constant reminder of Duke’s vibrant community life.

“I look at it as the authoritative schedule of Duke,” Todd said. “It’s so valuable, as a citizen of Duke, to be able to see all of the things that are being offered here. And it’s also valuable, as someone who’s communicating about what’s going on at Duke, to be able to place our events in the larger context of life at Duke.”

The Duke Event Calendar is the primary online resource for promoting campus events, including speakers, conferences, performances, exhibitions, athletics and cultural activities.

Entries on the Duke Event Calendar are searchable by date, topic, type and group.

“This is the central place to find information about what’s happening on campus,” said Duke University Marketing & Communications Assistant Director for Digital Communications Ben Kimmel, who helps oversee the calendar. “You can send information out a lot of different ways and hit specific audiences. But this is, without question, the most universally accessed calendar at Duke.”

The events on the calendar are posted by credentialed administrators. Administrators representing a Duke department, unit or group must request credentials and can take advantage of an online guide and video training to learn how to post their events.

While the online form to fill out a calendar entry has fields for location and time, Kimmel said that to ensure the entry is most effective, it’s important to offer as much information as you can in the summary field. Adding a web link and contact information are crucial, too.

And if an event has an especially broad reach, it may be selected by calendar organizers as a “Featured Event” and appear on the calendar’s home page. Event organizers wishing to add their entry to the “Featured Events” spot can email featuredevents@duke.edu.

Lindsay Helm, Communications Strategist with the Duke Department of Neurology, uses the Duke Event Calendar to share information about lectures and seminars organized by her department. While this information is often also shared through department emails and listed on websites, she knows Duke community members trust the Duke Event Calendar as a reliable source.

“The calendar is just a nice way for people to find whatever they need,” Helm said. “I always link to the calendar because people know that’s where you can find information that’s up to date.”

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