How to Setup an Evite Invitation

You must first set up an Evite account. Fill in the information on the right under "Registration." Evite will then send you an e-mail, asking you to confirm. Once you do, you will have your own Evite account.
In the tabs at the top, pick "Plan an Event."
Under "Send Invitations," choose "Get Started."

Create Your Invitation

Name Your Event — The name of the event must begin with the day and date of the event, followed by " -- " and then whatever name you want. For example, "Monday, July 18 -- Junior League Martini Madness". I do this because what people care most about is when the event will be held. Unless you are sending out an announcement far in advance, do not include the year.
To repeat — Your name must begin with the day and date of the event. Most people don't do this, which means you can't tell just by looking at the e-mail when the event is. Make it easy for your guests.
Hosted by — It doesn't matter what you enter here. The reason is that once you change the organizer to me, I will be listed as the host. If you want to demonstrate to me that you're reading these guidelines carefully, put "Bozo the Evil Clown" as the host.
Select Your Theme — Pick the most appropriate description of your event.
Once you select your theme, it will display a default design. You can choose another design by selecting "View More Designs." You can also design your own Evite.

Design Your Own Invitation

Evite allows you to create your own design. If you have the artistic skills and the time, I encourage you to do this, with one cavaet — The invitation must be readable.

There must be strong contrast between the background color and the foreground color; otherwise, the invitation is difficult to read. If you have a white background with black type (foreground), the design might not be the most interesting in the world, but one can read it. So choose foreground and background colors that provide a lot of contrast.
If you have design elements in the background (such as pictures, logos, artwork), make certain they do not interfere with the text in the invitation.

My guests are busy people. If the invitation is hard to read, they will simply skip it.

Function is more important than form. ("Form follows function" to coin a phrase.) The best design is understated rather than flashy. If you're uncertain about your design skills, show your invitation to a friend of yours who is talented at design before you send it to me. If I can't easily read the invitation, I'll ask that you redesign it, which slows down the process.

One of the many joys of Web design is that different monitors and browsers display pages differently. (This is one reason why I could never be a full-time Web designer — this would drive me nuts.) I use a computer in my home and I often use computers at the Harvard Club and at Jurys Hotel. All of them are running Internet Explorer 6.0. All of them display Evites very differently. So err on the side of caution — you can't have too much contrast. Be conservative in any design you create and err on the side of readability.

Date and Time

Enter the date.
Enter the starting time.
Do not choose "Let Guests suggest a Date and Time."
Under Extras on the left, choose "Include an End Time."
Enter the End Time.
Do not choose "Open-ended." Guests want to know what time the event will end, in case they are coming late and they want to decide if they should bother coming.

Location

Name — Enter the name of the venue or establishment.
Telephone number — List the telephone number of the place where it will be held, not your phone number. If people are lost, they need to be able to call the establishment to get directions. Your phone number should be included in the message/invitation itself.
To repeat — List the telephone number of the place where it will be held, not your phone number.
Street Address — List the street address as Mapquest would know it. You can include additional information about the street address in the text of your invitation.
City — List the city as Mapquest would know it — i.e., use "Boston" rather than "Back Bay" or "South End."
State — Make certain you choose "MA". In many cases, Evite defaults to "CA".
Include a Map on the Evite — Always check "Include a Map on the Evite." After you create the invitation, click on "View Map" and carefully examine the map that is generated.

Guest List

In order to transfer the Evite to me (i.e., change the organizer), you'll need to add me to the guest list before you change the organizer. Choose "Invite More People" and then add "jmitchell@kensingtonllc.com".
I recommend that you create two invitations, one for your guest line and one for mine. If you don't want to do that, then you should add anyone who might not be my guest list. You don't need to worry about duplicates — if you add John Smith and I also have him on my guest list, Evite will only send one invitation, not two (unless the e-mail address I have for John Smith is different than what you have).
If you would like your guest's name to appear rather than the first part of their e-mail address, you can enter their name and then include their e-mail address in brackets — e.g., "James Mitchell [jmitchell@kensingtonllc.com]". This is necessary only if they do not have an Evite account, but in most cases you will not know if they do.
Do not choose "Add New Emails to Address Book."
Do not choose "Email Me when Guests Reply."

RSVP Style

Do not change this.

Message to Guests

This is not really a message, but rather is the text of the invitation. See what to include in an invitation. The message should begin with:

"PLEASE RSVP THROUGH THE EVITE SYSTEM, RATHER THAN REPLYING AND SENDING ME AN E-MAIL. THANKS." followed by two paragraph returns.
Use an extra line to separate paragraphs. Make it easy for people to read.

Character Limit

Evite says it has a limit of 3000 characters for your message/invitation, including spaces. "3000 characters" means 3000 characters, not 3000 words. "Including spaces" means that spaces are included in the character count, not that spaces do not count. My experience has been that the supposed 3000 character limit is actually lower than that — about 2800 characters.

I usually add some commentary, such as canned language about what people should do if they want to removed from the invitation list, etc. Thus, your message/invitation must not exceed 2000 characters, including spaces.

You can count the number of spaces using Microsoft Word:

Tools / Word Count / Look at "Characters (with spaces)"

If you don't have Word, most likely whatever word processor you use has a way to count characters. Alternatively, just enter your text in the Evite system and if it is too long, Evite will tell you so.

Please do not prepare Evites for me to send with messages/invitations that exceed 2000 characters, including spaces.

Guest List Options

Would you like to hide the guest list so only you can see it? — Choose No. People like to know who else is coming, and when they see a lot of people coming, it builds excitement. Also, people often post comments that are humorous and others like to read these comments.
Is it OK if your guests invite other people? — Usually you should choose Yes, but that is your choice.
Can your guests bring other people to this event? — I would recommend Yes, but that is your decision.
Maximum number of people who can attend — I would recommend that you do not enter a number, which means there will be no limit. A lot of people on my list say they are going to attend and then do not. Some get cute and say they are bringing 500 guests, and thus the limit could easily be reached, when in reality you have almost no one coming.
Allow guests to email everyone on the list? — You should choose Yes, which is the default. If you choose No, people cannot see the profiles of other people on the invitation list.

Other Options

Ask Guests to Bring Something — If applicable
Poll Your Guests — If applicable
Payment Options — See the next section.
Guest Reminders / Event URL — Evite's default is to send a reminder two days before the event. Change the number of days if you want — you can choose from 2 to 7 days. In general, I think about 3 or 4 days before is the optimal time to remind people, but that is your call. I strongly recommend that you have a reminder sent, since people are so forgetful.

PayPal

Do not choose the PayPal option, even if this is how you prefer that people pay in advance. The reason is that you will be changing the organizer to me, and once you do, any payments by my guests will go into my PayPal account, not yours. As much as I am always willing to have people send me money, I don't think this is what you intended.

Evite offers you two options:

Payment of $___ required for this event.
No payment is required for this event

Even if a payment is required for this event, choose the second option ("No payment is required for this event"). If you choose the first option, then PayPal will automatically be activated, some of my guests will choose to pay in advance via PayPal, and the monies will be transferred into my PayPal account rather than yours. This will create an enormous amount of confusion, so please pick the second option when you create your Evite.

Some have asked if I could receive any payments and then write them a check. The answer is "No." I publicize about 100 events a year. If John Smith is making a payment for party I into my PayPal account, Sally Jones for party II, and Rachel Greenwald for party III, I would need a full-time bookkeeper to figure out the mess.

If you want people to pay in advance, mention this in the text of the message and then refer them to your Website. At your Website, you can have a PayPal link, or any alternative mechanism you prefer.

Irrespective of whether you want people to pay in advance, and by what mechanism, if there is a cost to your event, you must mention this in the text of the message. It's just that you should the second option ("No payment is required for this event") even if there is a cost.

Test Your Invitation

After you create your Evite invitation, view it in Guest mode. Test everything. Click on "View Map" and see if the map that is generated is accurate. Click on all hyperlinks and see if they link to the correct Web pages.

Change Organizer

After you do so, and I've approved the invitation, it is time to Change the Organizer to me. To find this option, on the main menu, click on the event. On your left, it will say "Host Tool Box." Under that, there is "Other Options." "Change Organizer" is the second choice. After you click "Change Organizer," enter my e-mail address. It will give you a note that the organizer has been changed to me. Please note that "Change Organizer" is different than changing the Host.

Once everything is set up, you will want to change the organizer to me, so I can send out the Evite to my list. You do this after you have Saved or Sent the invitation. Invitations are always saved in draft form until you invite at least one person. If your invitation is saved in draft form (Evite says draft next to it, and it is in italic), then you cannot change the organizer. It will remain in draft form until you invite someone to your event.

That someone should be me, so I can look at the invitation. Make certain you have already invited me, as you can't change the organizer to someone who is not currently on the guest lists. "Host Tool Box" is on the left of the screen. Under that, there is "Other Options," and "Change Organizer" is the second option. Choose this and then enter my e-mail address: jmitchell@kensingtonllc.com. After you do this, Evite will not let you edit the invitation, since I now control the invitation rather than you, so please do this only after you are certain the invitation is perfect.

You cannot change the organizer to someone who has not been invited. So after you create the Evite invitation, add me to the guest list and let me look at it. Once you receive an e-mail back from me, then changer the organizer to me.

You Will Probably Not Receive a Copy of the Initiation

Most of the people who ask me to publicize events are on my invitation list. Assuming you create your invitation using a certain e-mail address, if that e-mail address is also the address to which that I send invitations, then when I send out the invitations to my list, you will not receive an invitation. The reason is that when you created the invitation by logging into an Evite account that is tied to that particular e-mail address, you are already on the invitation list for the invitation you have just created, even when you change the organizer to me. Even though I tell Evite to send an invitation to your e-mail address, Evite is smart enough to realize that that e-mail address has already received an invitation, and Evite will not send an initial invitation to the same e-mail address twice (which is fairly smart of Evite, when you think about it).

Since you are now registered for the invitation you have created and then transferred to me, you can log into your account and see how many people have RSVPed (assuming you have decided that the guest list should not be hidden — if you have decided it should be hidden, then only I (as the person who now controls that invitation) can see how many people have RSVPed).

If you want to receive a copy of the invitation when I send it out to my invitation list, then you will need to create a separate Evite account with a different e-mail address that Evite has not linked to the e-mail address I have in my invitation database for you.

Creating Your Own Evite

Some people create an Evite, invite 50 people through it, and then change the organizer to me. I don't believe this makes sense. Once you change the organizer to me, I control the Evite, and you've lost control of it. Presumably you would want control of your own mailing list — e.g., in case you want to send messages to your list of guests

If you will be using Evite to invite your own list of people, I would recommended that you create your Evite, send it to your list, and then create a separate copy for me. You don't have to do this. You can add your own people, change the organizer to me, and let me have control of your list as well as mine. It's your choice.

To create a copy of an Evite you have already created:

Select the specific invitation in question.
Find "Host Tool Box" on the left.
Under Other Options, choose "Copy This Event."
Most of the information will be carried forward, but some of it will not be carried forward (see below).
Edit the copy Evite.
Delete everyone from the guest list, which are all of your people.
Add "jmitchell@kensingtonllc.com" to the invitation list.
Change the organizer to "jmitchell@kensingtonllc.com".

The following information is not carried over to the copy Evite. Thus, after you create the copy, you need to add the following information to the copy Evite invitation you have just created:

Name of the event
Beginning time
Ending time
Any note you have created for this event ("Include a note to your guests in the email")
Any guest list options you have changed from the default
Any changes to made to their default reminder choices

Summary

Most people forget to begin the name of the event with the day and date of the event, and they forget to list the telephone number of the place where the event will be held. It makes me wonder if they are reading these instructions very carefully. If you prepare an Evite and these instructions are not followed, I'm probably not going to send out the invitation. I do this stuff for free, I receive over 500 requests a year, and I try to make it easy for guests by making certain everything is included that should be included.

Name Your Event — The name of the event must begin with the day and date (including year) of the event, followed by " -- " and then whatever name you want. For example, "Monday, July 18, 2005 -- Junior League Martini Madness".
Telephone number — List the telephone number of the place where it will be held, not your phone number.
PayPal — Even if you are charging for your event, do not choose the PayPal option, as that will mean that payments go to me, rather than you, once you change the organizer to me.

How to Indicate You've Read These Guidelines

Most of the people who ask me to publicize events for them do not read these guidelines carefully and they don't follow them. I then have to ask them to read them again, and sometimes they get irked, as if it's my fault they can't read. My time and energy are scarce, and if people are unable to follow basic instructions, I really can't spend the time fixing their mistakes.

So as a shortcut, after you've read these guidelines, you've followed them, and you've printed these pages out and then checked each item to make certain each step has been followed, I would ask that you send me an e-mail saying, "I've carefully read and followed your guidelines." If I receive that, I'm going to assume you've done so. (And if you send me such an e-mail and it turns out you have not, I'm probably not going publicize your event.) If I don't receive such an e-mail, I will assume that you've haven't made it all of the way to end of this page, and I'm simply going to ask you to read the guidelines again. It will save both of us a lot of time and energy if these guidelines are simply followed the first time. I developed these guidelines to make certain my guests receive all of the information they need to attend your event, as well as to minimize the time and energy I spend publicizing other people's events..

If you haven't followed these guidelines or if I don't receive an e-mail from you with the phrase listed above, you'll receive an e-mail saying, "Could you take another look at the guidelines? You'll want to make certain that you've read all three pages?" If you receive such an e-mail from me, that means you have screwed up. I will send such an e-mail once and only once. If everything is not perfect after that, I'm going to conclude that publicizing your event — which I do for free — is simply too much trouble, given the 1000+ other people a year that ask me to publicize their event. So please please please follow the guidelines the first time.

Two Other Pages to Read

In addition to this page, you should read:
My criteria for sending invitations
Information to include in an Evite invitation

Will I Create an Evite for You?

In a word: no. In the past, several people have asked me if I would create an Evite for them. "I'm too busy." "It looks too hard. I'm not very good with computers." "You know Evite much better than I do."

Yes, it is probably true that I know Evite better than most people. I also know Microsoft Word better than most people (including all of the Word gurus I know who work for Microsoft), yet I have never volunteered to do word processing for others.

Running these parties frankly takes a lot of time. Since I do them to benefit people in Boston, I'm always deciding how to allocate my scarce time and energy. I'm willing to publicize events hosted by others, but that does not mean I am going to run their parties — they have to do that. And I simply don't have the time to create Evites, given the zillion other things I want to do in my life.

For those who say preparing an Evite is simply too hard, my advice would be to get better at computers. I think it is very unlikely that computers will become less important in the future. I doubt the Internet is going to go away. These are skills one can use the rest of your life — why not learn them now? If you find preparing an Evite to be challenging, this is a perfect chance to become slightly more skilled. It's not as if Evite is going to go out of business. And I've prepared some really detailed instructions for you.

If after reading these pages, you're unable to prepare an Evite, ask a computer-savvy friend of yours to read these pages and then show you how.