What makes a good event listing?

The listing is the whole pitch. Someone decides in a few seconds whether your event is for them, and almost all of that happens before they read a word of the description.

The poster does most of the work

It's the first thing anyone sees and often the only thing. Square, at least 1000 × 1000 px, ideally 2000 × 2000.

What works: the event name legible at thumbnail size, one clear focal point, strong contrast. What doesn't: a flyer designed for print with six sponsor logos and text at 8pt, a photo with the name lost in a busy background, or a poster where the date is the biggest element. Nobody scrolls looking for a date.

Shrink it to the size of a postage stamp and look at it. If you can't tell what the event is, neither can anyone else.

Write a title people would search

The title works hardest when it says what the thing is. "Sunday Sessions" tells nobody anything. "Sunday Sessions: queer drag brunch" tells them everything.

Front-load the meaningful words. Titles get truncated on smaller screens, and whatever sits at the end may never be read.

The first line of the description matters most

It shows in previews, and plenty of people never open past it. Say what the event is, who it's for, and what happens. Save the atmosphere writing for the second paragraph.

Then answer the practical things: what time to actually turn up, what the space is like, whether there's food, whether it's seated or standing, what to wear if it matters. People aren't deciding whether your event sounds nice. They're deciding whether they'd feel comfortable walking in alone.

Categories are how people find you

There's no limit, and more categories means more places your event can surface. Add every one that genuinely fits.

Every one that doesn't fit costs you. A mismatched category puts your event in front of people who won't come, and they learn to scroll past your name.

Community focus, honestly

Pick up to two, or Mixed crowd if your event welcomes more than that, which puts you on every community page.

Mixed isn't a shortcut to more reach. Choosing it for an event that's really centered on one crowd means the wrong people show up and the right ones don't recognize it as theirs.

Tags answer the questions that stop people buying

Age limit, dress code, re-entry, accessibility, parking, coat check and more. Up to ten.

These look like small print and they're not. Every unanswered practical question is someone who closes the tab. Somebody who can't tell whether the venue is accessible doesn't email to ask, they just don't come. Users can also find your events through tags.

Use FAQs for everything else

The lineup, the running order, the food situation, the bag policy. Every question you answer here is a message you don't have to reply to at 11pm.

Get your times right

Your end time is what keeps your event in Happening now while it's actually running. An event still listed as live at 4am, or one that vanishes at 9pm while it's in full swing, is visibility thrown away.

Running past midnight? Make sure the end date reflects that.

Publish earlier than feels necessary

A listing that goes up three days before the event has three days to be found. One that goes up three weeks before appears in three weeks of searches, category pages, and city pages. Nothing else in this article beats that.

Updated on: 24/08/2026