Tips for Hosts

There is a bit of a list of things to do when hosting.

– Firstly, make a note of when you’re hosting, and be sure to arrange your schedule. The work will primarily be in days 3-5 of the month, collating the submissions and putting them all into a post.

– Consider an optional theme. Post explaining the theme, and invite people to post on this theme during the catchment month of your carnival.

– Post at the start of the catchment month and near the end (and whenever else you like) to remind people to submit their posts. Please include a link to this page, the carnival logo, and your email address for submissions. Spread the word about the carnival through your networks, through Twitter, etc.

– As soon as you can, but definitely by the 3rd of the month, when submission deadline has passed, start sifting through submissions. Check content; generally, we post most or all appropriate submissions, but if there is something you’re just not willing to link to, you’re not obliged to include it.

– Collate the carnival, however you like. You’ll likely need to fiddle with categories, add your own, etc. Use whatever organisational scheme you like!

– You might like to make special note of new bloggers. It’s best to include just two blog posts per blogger (that’s two per blogger, not two per blog for group blogs!) or three if you really want to. The idea is to highlight new and less prolific voices.

– Images from the posts can dress up the carnival nicely – add alt tags, descriptive link text and descriptions for accessibility, please. If you are unsure about what web accessibility involves, contact Chally. Consider adding warnings to links if the content may be particularly disturbing.

– Put the carnival logo at the top of your carnival post, linking to this page.

– Put your carnival up around the 5th of the month, notify DUFC co-ordinator Chally of the link, and spread the word! Chally’s email is chally dot zeroatthebone at gmail dot com.

– Consider also committing to promoting and submitting for future carnivals, to spread the workload around a little and improve the range of the carnivals.