Sharing Your News with the Dawson Community

To communicate information about an activity, event or item of interest at Dawson, one or a combination of the following media may be deployed:

It is important to understand the distinction between these media and how to use each one to best effect to promote your news.

Website homepage + Events Calendar

To promote an activity, event or accomplishment on the Dawson homepage, you should send all pertinent information and images to dvarrica@dawsoncollege.qc.ca AND elroy@dawsoncollege.qc.ca for consideration. Please remember that it remains the prerogative of the Communications Office whether to post or not in the News section, and the prominence that will be attached to the item. These editorial decisions are made based on College priorities.

Also on the homepage is the Events Calendar. Clicking on the icon will bring you to a page where you can submit your event or activity (not accomplishments/news items). You must enter your activity or event here to be considered for the homepage news section.

MyDawson Portal

To promote an activity or event on the Dawson portal (mydawson) that will be seen by students or employees, but not publicly (requires entry by network username + password, you should send all pertinent information and images , if applicable, to gkloos@dawsoncollege.qc.ca.

To have your event or activity entered in the portal, you must also have submitted it on the Events Calendar. Click on the icon on the homepage and it will bring you to a page where you can submit your event or activity.

E-mail

E-mail distribution lists are a convenient way to send messages to pre-defined groups of employees. Note: There is no such list to reach students. The College maintains standard lists, such as all_dawson, dawson_community and all_faculty.

General Guidelines for all mass e-mails

All messages posted on the College distribution lists must adhere to the following:

  • Messages must be sent from a Dawson email address, i.e. @dawsoncollege.qc.ca
  • Messages must be signed, with name, department and title, or alternatively the group or committee you represent
  • Messages must include a subject line
  • Messages must include a text body, i.e. not merely consist of a file attachment
  • Hyperlinks may be used as long as there is enough information regarding the link in the text or in context
  • The preferred format for attachments is PDF. Standard images and Microsoft Office may also be used.
  • Total attachment size should not be over 1MB

all_dawson

All_dawson, are used to send official and important messages to all employees, such as interruptions to services (including if the College must close), emergency directives, if it is appropriate, changes in procedures or policies, announcements of senior appointments. There is no opt-out feature for all_dawson.

Posting to all_dawson can only be done by a pre-determined and approved list of senders, as are messages sent to all_faculty and all_staff, which are meant specifically for teachers and non-teaching employees, and all_support staff, respectively.

Dawson_community

Dawson_community is intended to serve as a kind of electronic bulletin board for employees, to inform members of the Dawson community about events, activities, accomplishments or items of general interest to the entire community about academic and para-academic matters.

If a message is about a College event or activity, it must be submitted first on the Events Calendar, see instructions above. Include the hyperlink to the Events Calendar in your message.

Messages are moderated, i.e. they must be approved by a moderator before being distributed. The moderators are the Coordinator of Communications and the Director of Information Systems and Technologies.

Sometimes, messages are rejected by the moderator. This may be because:

  • The general guidelines spelled out in section 1 were not followed
  • The hyperlink to the Events Calendar in a message about a college event is missing
  • A message on the same subject was sent by someone else at the same time
  • The message was sent with a ‘High Importance’ flag
  • The message’s aim is to sell or advertise commercial items of any kind
  • The message’s aim is to raise money for profit; Dawson_community cannot be used as a vehicle to raise funds for an individual or company’s gain
  • You responded with a personal reply on dawson_community instead of directly to the original sender, i.e. discussion threads are rejected
  • Employees raising money for a reputable and recognized charity may use dawson_community, but only once per year, at the moderators’ discretion
  • The information in the message is of no pertinent interest to the Dawson community
  • Members of the Dawson community may use dawson_community to send messages that are of a peripheral interest to the community, but the frequency of such messages, especially from the same sender, will be limited, at the moderators’ discretion.

Flatscreen monitors

To promote an activity, event or announcements on the flatscreen monitors, you should send all pertinent information and images to elroy@dawsoncollege.qc.ca for consideration. Images must be saved in 16:9 format. Make sure to give 1-2 days’ lead time to render the material live. It is the prerogative of the Communications Office to post or not, based on College priorities.

If the item is an event or activity, consider other media to use to promote it, and most definitely, enter it on the Events Calendar via the Dawson website homepage. Instructions above.

My Dawson College Facebook

To promote an event or activity of interest primarily to students, Dawson’s My Dawson College Facebook is one of the most effective ways to do it. The page has close to 15,000 likes and some 5,000 to 6,000 regular uses. Most posts are seen by 1,500 people, mostly current students.

If you would like an event or activity posted to My Dawson College Facebook page, please send pertinent information and images to elroy@dawsoncollege.qc.ca or gkloos@dawsoncollege.qc.ca.

Bulletin boards

The traditional poster or flyer on physical bulletin boards located around the College entails the design and production of promotional materials in varying degrees of professionalism that have to vie for the student and employee population’s attention along with other, similar materials. This may not be as effective a tool, although it is still used to a large degree. Just remember that each individual piece of paper to be affixed must be approved and stamped by Campus Life and Leadership (2E.6).



Last Modified: April 22, 2016