Email invitations are an easy way to invite people to your event. Review and follow these guidelines to ensure invitations are on-brand, accessible, are sent within a standardized timeline.
Keep in mind that your email invitation should:
- Be consistent with the style, theme, or significance of the event
- Use appropriate branding
- Be digitally accessible
- Accessibility guidelines are available on the digital accessibility website
- If you send via Outlook, and insert an image of an invitation into the body of your email, you will need to include the invitation text below the image and attach a PDF for accessibility purposes.
- Be hosted by university officials, colleges/schools, departments, or organizations, not University of Missouri or Mizzou. If you believe your invitation should be hosted by the University as a whole, contact University Events for approval (events@missouri.edu)
- Always refer to the President as President Mun Y. Choi
- Invitations for events that include the President must be approved by the Office of the President prior to sending.
Jump to:
General Timeline for Invitations | Save the Dates | Reviews & Approvals
Sending Email Invitations | Content, Layout and Design Guidelines
Invitation Examples | Print Invitations & Envelopes
General Timeline for Invitations
- 3-6 months prior to event
- If you plan to send a save the date to leadership or VIP guests, do so anywhere from 3-6 months prior to the event.
- 4-12 weeks prior to event
- Plan to send the official invitation at least 4-12 weeks prior to your event to allow guests the time to arrange their schedule to attend.
- 1-3 weeks prior to event
- Plan to send a follow up reminder invitation 1-2 two weeks prior to your event.
Prior to invitation distribution, make sure you have gained the necessary approvals and reviews from the appropriate offices and leadership.
If inviting leadership, forward the invite to their assistants after the initial send to inform them of the invitation. This can be done via forwarding in Outlook or attaching the invite to an email.
Sample Language to Assistants:
Good Morning!
I wanted to let you know that your administrator has been invited to the below event. If you are RSVPing for them, please do so with the Qualtrics link listed in the invitation.
Save the Dates
- Save the date should include date, time, and name of the event. If the location has been confirmed, it is appropriate to share that as well.
- Please style your Save the Date to match what the design will be for the formal invitation.
Reviews & Approvals
- If the invitation lists a university official or department as event host, sponsor or participant, it must be approved or reviewed by the appropriate office. For example:
- the Office of the President must review and approve an invitation where President Mun Y. Choi is listed as host
- Office of the Provost must review and approve an invitation where Provost Latha Ramchand is listed as host or speaker
- The Dean’s Office must review and approve invitations to events hosted by a school or college.
If the invitation is coming from the University as a whole (“The University of Missouri invites you to…”), it must be approved by University Events, events@missouri.edu.
Sending Email Invitations
Subject Lines
- The subject line should include a call to action, the name of the event and the date of the event.
- You’re Invited | Name of Event – Month Date, Year
- REMINDER | Name of Event – Month Date, Year
- You’re Invited | Deck the Columns – December 12, 2021
Platforms & Email Lists
- If you are sending an invitation to more than 30 guests, it is recommended that you use the mass email platform your department uses (iModules, Dotmailer, etc.). A general events email template can be found on iModules. Template name: Mizzou_University Events Invite Template
- If you do not have a mass email platform and plan to send your invite via Outlook to more than 250 people, please see the IT Mass Email Policy for more information.
Content, Layout & Design Guidelines
Follow these guidelines when developing your content, layout and design.
Content & Layout
Line 1 |
Name of the Host(s) (optional depending on event)
*If the invitation is hosted by multiple entities (colleges/departments/organizations), you may skip this line and opt for “You are invited to…”. Include the list of sponsors/hosts in the event description lower in the invitation. |
Line 2 |
Extends the invitation
|
Line 3 |
SPACE |
Line 4 |
Event type/name/purpose
|
Line 5 |
SPACE |
Line 6 |
Event date
*If you would like to combine the event date and time in the same line, you may do so. For example: Saturday, November 21, 2022 | 4:30 p.m. |
Line 7 |
Time of the event
*If using all capital letters, “AT 6:30 PM” with no periods is acceptable |
Line 7b |
Further Event Information (optional)
|
Line 8 |
SPACE |
Line 9 |
Location of Event
|
Line 10 |
SPACE |
Line 11 |
Brief description of event (optional)
|
Line 12 |
SPACE |
Line 13 |
RSVP information
|
Line 14 |
SPACE |
Line 15 |
Contact for questions
|
Line 16 |
SPACE |
Line 17 |
Alternate Location (optional)
|
Design
- Invitations should include an official University of Missouri signature or your unit signature
- Invitations should be center-aligned
- Place line breaks in long sentences to keep consistency across width of the email/graphic
- Think of it like a margin to keep white space on both sides of the content:
- Think of it like a margin to keep white space on both sides of the content: