Share a Story
Share Photos
Post an Event
CLICK: Find the action tabs at the top of the site that says “Share a Story”.
STYLE: First of all, you don’t have to write like you’re composing a newspaper story. Think of it as a conversation with a friend or like writing a postcard to a relative. Give the details, like the who, what, when, where, why and how of the story, but don’t worry about journalistic style. However, make the headline something informative and include the town if you can. That way, if we decide to feature your story on the regional or town page, folks know exactly where your headline link will take them.
TOWN: You can post your story to the most relevant town; the default is the hometown you selected when you registered. But you can select any one of the towns represented in the drop-down menu.
CATEGORY: Then pick the categories that match the story. These categories are used for searching the site to find your story, so be as accurate and complete as possible. We do check your stories and may add categories or towns if we think a wider audience might want to hear your news.
PHOTOS: You can also add up to six photos to your story. You can upload a picture just like you attach or upload any document…by clicking the “Add a Photo” link, browsing your computer to find the image file, selecting the file, and then clicking Save. The first photo you upload should be the one that best illustrates your story as it is the default image shown when the story is selected by a user. We accept .jpg file format and high-resolution images. Be aware that larger file sizes will take some time to upload.
POST/MODIFY: Click “Post Story” and it immediately becomes available for others to find on the site. You can “Save as Draft” if you’re not quite done and want to wait. If you need to find your story to post it or you want to edit your story, you can go into “My Stuff” under your login and find all the items you’ve created. You can edit or post any content or remove any stories you’ve posted.
That’s it for stories. Now for photos.
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CLICK: Find the action tabs at the top of the site that says “Share Photos”.
HEADLINE: OK, so you may not be the best wordsmith, but boy can you take some pictures! The “Post an Image” option allows you to create a gallery of images with just the briefest of text…just a short caption to explain the photos and a descriptive headline.
PHOTOS: Think of this as a photo album where you can store images on a related topic. Say you want to post photos from a Little League game or of your day trip to a local park. Put these all in one “album” by uploading the images. Browse your computer to find the image file, select it, then click Save. Just like stories, the first photo you upload becomes the “cover” of your photo album, so put the best image first. We accept .jpg file format and high-resolution images. Be aware that the larger file sizes will take some time to upload.
POST/MODIFY: Click “Post My Photo” and it immediately becomes available on the site. You can email the photos to friends and family or modify the photos by going into “My Stuff” under the login and making your changes.
That’s it for photos. Now for events.
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CLICK: Find the action tabs at the top of the site that says “Post an Event”.
WHAT TO POST: We want our calendar to be the best resource in Volusia and Flagler counties on EVERYTHING that’s happening. You can make that happen by posting your events from your daughter’s soccer team games, to you son’s Boy Scout troop meetings, to the book fair at the local school. We ask that you do not post events that are commercial in nature, like drink specials at the local bar or your personal garage sale. We will remove these listings from the site.
TOWN: Select the most relevant town for the event you are advertising. We do try to review these and will modify the towns selected if we think your event deserves a wider audience.
DATES: Select the date or range of dates in which the event will be held. If you are holding a series of meetings, one a month for the next three months, you should post these as separate events so that they show up in the calendar for others to see.
DAY: Select the day(s) of the week on which the event falls. Use CTRL + Click to select multiple days.
EVENT NAME: Pick a name that is informative like “Port Orange Family Days” or “Lake Helen Crafters’ Fair”. Be as specific and brief as you can, but don’t sacrifice descriptive for short.
EVENT TIME & LOCATION/CONTACT NAME/CONTACT NUMBER/WEBSITE: Although, these fields are optional, you should include this information just in case we want to send a reporter/photographer to your event or we need to contact someone for more information. Site users may also want to contact someone for details and this information becomes part of the calendar listing.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS: What will entice someone to want to come to your event? What age groups are most appropriate for your meeting? Is there a cost involved? What are the directions to the event. Make these additional details as informative as you can to ensure that you don’t get 20 million calls about parking.
CATEGORIES: Select the categories that are most relevant to your event.
PHOTOS: If you have a photo or two from last year’s event showing how much fun it was, post that along with your listing. Show rather than tell.
POST EVENT/SAVE AS DRAFT: You can post your event by clicking the button at the bottom of the page. The event will immediately be available on the site under the calendar if it is an upcoming event. If you want to post it later “Save as Draft” will hold the posting until you choose to post it. You can find your saved content under “My Profile” under the login.
EDIT/MODIFY: You can go into “My Profile” under your login to access any of the content you’ve posted on the site to make changes or to delete a posting.
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Email us at info@mytopiacafe.com or call (386) 681-2572 if you have additional questions. Happy posting!
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