During the pandemic, activities on campus will continue to be focussed at research, education and the student experience and these will remain a high priority. Current College guidance is that all non-essential events and meetings should be held remotely or postponed/cancelled until further notice.  Information on the return of events to campus framework can be found on the College Safety pages.

Virtual events 

Microsoft Teams is supported by the College and staff should consider using this software for any virtual events. Our guidance on how to set up and run a virtual event can be found here.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams can be used for virtual meetings and support up to 300 attendees at one meeting. See information as well as a video about how to do this.

For meetings of more than 300 people, ICT recommends you hold a Teams Live Event. For more information on Teams Live Events please contact the ICT Service Desk.

We are continuing to look into what other kinds of virtual events are possible and any alternative options with links to detailed guidance and any support will be posted on this page as they become available.

Essential steps in cancelling / postponing your event or moving to a virtual event 

If you are cancelling or postponing your event, it is your responsibility to ensure the following is done as soon as possible: 

1. Contact all your attendees to ensure that they are aware of the postponement / cancellation / change in event format 
2. Contact your speakers to ensure that they are aware of the change 
3. Cancel any outlook or diary appointments 
4. Notify Campus Services and any other relevant teams or suppliers that may be involved 
5. Update the event on the Imperial College What's on pages (this will happen when you update your event) 
6. Update the event on Eventbrite (see below) if you are using it 
7. Update or remove any other registration methods (e.g. Qualtrics)  

Updating the Imperial College What’s on page 

Please do not delete your event from the What's on pages as attendees may be checking the website for information. For each event please do the following: 

8. Enter the word ‘CANCELLED’ or ‘POSTPONED’ or ‘VIRTUAL EVENT’ in front of the event title 

9. Under ‘Event status’ click the most appropriate radio button: ‘postponed’ or ‘cancelled’. If you are moving to a virtual event, please leave the status as ‘open’. 

10. In the ‘Event details’ section, please enter the relevant text as per the below: 
     
    This event has been cancelled. 
     
    This event has been postponed. 
     
    This event will now be held virtually.

11. Ensure that event organiser contact details are up to date so that attendees can contact you 

12. If moving to a virtual event, in the ‘Location’ section, please tick the box for ‘online only event’ 

13. If you have it, for virtual events, please enter the relevant link into the ‘Link’ box for livestreams 

For assistance with anything related to the What’s on pages, please contact your Faculty Web Officer or events@imperial.ac.uk. 

Eventbrite 

If you have used Eventbrite to register attendees, please take the following steps to cancel your event as per these Eventbrite instructions. 

Please note that Eventbrite automatically sends a reminder email 48 hours ahead of your event. You therefore need to disable this email as part of the cancellation or postponement process. 

If you are moving to a virtual event, please ensure you update your description on Eventbrite to reflect this. 

Social media 

We recommend the use of any social media channels to make any cancellation, postponement or virtual event announcements where relevant.