Bike Calgary is happy to support initiatives from members of Calgary’s cycling community and to promote events and opportunities of interest to our members. Feel free to use the discussion forums at BikeCalgary.org to post notices of events, calls for assistance, job opportunities, etc. At our discretion, we will promote such posts to the front page to display them more prominently, and to share them through our newsletter and social media channels (Facebook and Twitter).

Here are some things we will consider promoting:

• Job opportunities for cyclists or involving cycling, active transportation, or transportation planning
• Events related to or promoting transportation cycling, transportation or urban planning, or traffic safety more generally
• Organizations involved in any of the above
• Calls for volunteers or donations from organizations involved in the above
• Special, one-time promotions from local businesses aimed at cyclists (e.g., a promotion to celebrate a new bike rack at your store)
• Calls for participating in surveys, studies, info sessions, etc., related to cycling or transportation planning (e.g., from Community Associations)
• Races and other sport cycling events, provided they engage the community through resident and business participation or contain a kid-friendly event

Here are some things we will not actively promote (although you are still welcome to post such things in the forums):

• Requests to sponsor individuals in charity rides
• Bike shop sales events (except as associated with sponsorship)

Instructions for how to compose such an announcement:

• Go to the forums and select the most appropriate one for your announcement, etc.
• Email us if you have an event you’d like added to the events page
• Compose a post, or enter your event description
• Go through the checklist below
• Click preview, and when you’re happy, click save
• Send the link to your post to admin@bikecalgary.org or use our Contact Us form

Checklist for your post:

• Use an informative title for your post (e.g., “Volunteers Needed for Organization X Fundraiser” rather than “Do you have time on Sunday?”)
• Avoid all-caps and un-informative promotional phrases (e.g., “PLEASE RESPOND!”)
• Leave out addresses and signatures in the body of your post (e.g., “Hi all!” or “Thank you!” at the bottom.
• Add a picture illustrating your event if available (Pictures should preferably be 400px wide. If you can, set it to display on the right using the “Align” option in the “Advanced” image settings.)
• Include a link to a website with further information (URLs will automatically turn into links)
• Write a description in whole sentences
• Use the third person (ie, “Organization X is hosting an event Y on date Z” rather than “We are hosting …”)
• Include all relevant information, ie, who, what, where, when, how, how much (if there’s a cost)
• Include a one- or two-sentence description of the event, cause, purpose, aim, or person you’re promoting: many readers won’t know what it is!