How I can help spread the word about your event
The LAHA Calendar and LAHA/SDI mailing list, which I administer, can help you spread the word about your dance and history events, but you need to help me help you.
The first thing you can do is have a web page. It doesn't have to be fancy, but it should be up to date. I really like linking to a web page, rather than putting a lot of information on the calendar, so that if anything changes, I am not sending out obsolete information. People find the link on the calendar, click through, and get your current information.
The second is that I would really appreciate it if you used the "Submit an Item to Our Calendar" link you can find on the calendar page, rather than send me a free form email or (the worst) a press release.
I'm a busy guy, and if I have to sort through five paragraphs of hyperbole about what a cool event you have to find the key "What, where, when, how" sorts of information, it goes to the bottom of my list, and I get to it when I can. However, if you submit it on the form, and keep it brief, I can cut and paste it and you can get listed pretty quickly.
Having said that you should have a web page I can link to, I should also mention that the domain lahacal.org has a very strong ranking on Google and most search engines. I won't go into why just now, but it does mean that the listing for your event on our calendar will probably pop up on Google well above your own website. If you have given me a good website link, that should all be for the good, but you should be aware of that. (Example: type "Tea with Teddy" into Google).
Finally, PLEASE give me the listing as soon as possible. Do not send me something two days before and expect it to make any difference. If I know about your event well in advance, I will include it in my weekly "upcoming events" emails, which currently go out to almost 2000 people (except AOL subscribers).
Also, if you get your event on the calendar, and stake out a particular date, others who are organizing similar events, if they are wise, will check this calendar, see your event, and choose another date.
And finally, a crass commercial announcement: if you want to do a better job of presenting information on the web--especially setting up a website that can be found by search engines and can be updated easily by non-technical staff without special software, please let me know. I don't work for free any more, but my rates are reasonable.
Cheers,
Walter Nelson