Summary

There are two parts to planning an event that you also want posted on GSD Now: (1) submitting an event proposal, and (2) after your event is approved, returning to your event proposal to provide event information to be posted on GSD Now. These two parts are summarized below. If you do not want your event posted on GSD Now, you only need to complete Part One in order to propose an event. For more information and general guidelines about planning events at the GSD, students should consult Event Planning For Students and faculty and staff should consult Event Planning for Faculty and Staff.

Part One:  First you must submit an event proposal. To get started, please log into SERT and navigate to the top-left corner of your home page and click “Create a Reservation.” Detailed instructions for completing and submitting your event proposal are outlined below this summary. Event proposals are reviewed and approved by committee every Thursday afternoon while classes are in session. Proposals received by 9 am EST on Thursday will be reviewed that afternoon. Events must be approved in order to be eligible for publishing in GSD Now. Proposals that are submitted as incomplete will not be reviewed.

PLEASE NOTE:  Faculty who plan to open a course session to be attended by the rest of the school should follow this process—these proposals, however, will be expedited and approved on a rolling basis.

Part Two: After submitting your event proposal, you will receive an email notification that your event is approved or requires a different date or further information. If your event is approved and you would like your event to be posted on GSD Now, you will be asked to return to this page in SERT to complete the second half of the event proposal form, in order to provide all event information and confirm that the event is ready to be posted to GSD Now. After confirming that your event is ready to be posted to GSD Now, your event will appear on GSD Now within one business day (business days are Monday through Friday and exclude weekends and holidays). If you do not want your event posted on GSD Now, disregard Part 2.

Submitting an Event Proposal in SERT

  1. Once you are logged into SERT, navigate to the top-left corner of your home page and click “Create a Reservation.” When you are taken to the next page, click “book now” next to the reservation template “GSDNow Event Proposal, Spring 2024.”

  2. Select a date, start time, and end time for your event. All times should be Eastern Time, and SERT defaults to this time zone.

  3. Beneath the event date and time, you will see a box titled “Locations.” Please click “Search” just below it. On the right side of the page, SERT will show you a list of rooms that you can select, including the Virtual Event Space for virtual events. In the box titled “Rooms You Can Request,” click the green button showing a plus sign next to the space you want to select. Then, when prompted, enter any value for number of attendees that is more than zero.

  4. Click the blue button “Next Step” on the top right of the page. Clicking “Next Step” will take you to the portion of the event proposal form titled “Services” (please request custodial services if necessary) and then “Reservation Details,” where you are asked for specific details about your proposed event.

  5. After the screen advances to the next page—”Reservation Details”—you will see that this portion of the event proposal form is organized into a few discrete sections. The first section is titled “Event Details.” Under “Event Details,” enter a name for your event in the space provided—note that this name is used for internal reference only. Later in the process—if your event proposal is approved and you would like to post your event on GSD Now—you will be asked for the official name of the event, as you would like it to be communicated to the school.

  6. Under “Event Type,” select the format of the event that best describes what you are planning. Please note that your selection will determine how your event is categorized on GSD Now, if you choose to post your event there.

  7. Move on to the next section, titled “Group Details.” The “Group” name is related to your role at or connection to the school, and it will automatically be populated according to information collected from your HarvardKey. Under “1st Contact,” please select the name of the person whom GSD staff should contact for questions and further information. Name and contact information for that person will be automatically populated. If that person’s name does not appear in the drop-down menu, please manually enter their name and contact information.

  8. Move on to the next section, titled “Additional Information.” In this section, please only fill out the first six prompts (seven prompts, if you select “yes” in response to the first one) in order to submit your event proposal. If you do not have an alternative date and time for your event, do not enter one. After you have responded to the prompt asking whether you require media services support, please scroll down to the bottom of the page, agree to the terms and conditions, and click the “Create Reservation” button on the bottom right corner of the page. At this point, do not worry about responding to the remaining prompts. You will need to return to this form to respond to those prompts only after your event is approved and only if you would like your event to be posted on GSD Now.

Event Approval

Event proposals submitted through SERT by 9am EST on Thursday will be reviewed on Thursday morning. After your event proposal is reviewed, you will receive on that same day an email notification that your proposal has been approved or requires a different date or further information.

PLEASE NOTE: Proposals submitted by or on behalf of faculty who plan to open a course session to be attended by the rest of the school will be expedited and approved on a rolling basis.

Posting Your Event to GSD Now

After your event is approved, if you would like your event to be posted on GSD Now, return to your homepage in SERT and click on “My Events.” Locate the event you would like to post to GSD Now, and click on the event name.

SERT will then show your event details as you provided them in your event proposal. Click on “Edit Reservation Details” in the top left corner of the page. Next you will see the event proposal form and all of the details you already have provided. Scroll down to the section titled “Additional Information,” and respond to the remaining prompts on this page, beginning with the prompt that starts “Are you requiring advance registration…”

In all of these prompts, be sure you are providing information about the event that is accurate, complete, and free of errors. The details you provide in these fields will be posted to GSD Now and communicated to the school exactly as you enter them on this form, so you are strongly encouraged to proofread all details. Please note that you can enlarge text boxes in places where you are asked to provide text—doing so will make editing much easier.

When you are confident that all of your event information is accurate, complete, and error free and ready to be posted on GSD Now, please confirm “Yes” in the final prompt at the bottom of the page, and then click “Save Reservation Details.” If you complete this part of your event form by 4pm EST Monday through Friday (excluding holidays), your event will appear on GSD Now within a few hours. If completed after 4pm EST, your event will appear on GSD Now on the next business day.

Please direct questions about your event to: [email protected].