Put the Date Where People Look

The fall festival graphic looks great. Big, warm title. Leaves everywhere. A pumpkin. And at the very bottom, in small type, the date and time.

Then on Sunday someone asks you in the lobby, "When is that fall thing?" It's been on the screen for three weeks.

Most event graphics aren't missing information. The information is just in the wrong place. People look at the title, then they look for the date. If the date is tucked in a corner, they don't find it.

The fix: put the date right under the title, big enough to read from the back row.

What people actually need

For almost every church event, people want three things:

1. What is it?
2. When is it?
3. Where is it? (only if it isn't at the church at the usual time)

Everything else (what to bring, cost, sign-up details, who it's for) can live on the sign-up page, in the bulletin, or in the announcement. The graphic just has to get those three across.

Make "when" the second biggest thing

Think of it as an order of sizes. The event name is biggest. The date and time come right after, clearly bigger than anything else. The rest is small or gone.

If you squint at your graphic and can only read one line, it should be the event name. If you can read two, the second should be the date.

Write the date the way people say it

Put the day of the week in. People plan by "Saturday," not by "11/7."

• Instead of 11/7 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
• Try Saturday, Nov 7 · 4–6pm

Before it goes out, check the day against a calendar. A graphic that says "Saturday, Nov 8" when the 8th is a Sunday will get you a lot of questions. (In 2026, Nov 7 is the Saturday.)

Put the same date on every size

The event will show up in more than one place: the screen before service, a feed post, a Saturday-night story, and maybe a flyer for the welcome desk or a poster by the kids' check-in.

Every one of those needs the same words in the same order. If the story says "Nov 7" and the flyer says "Saturday the 7th" and the screen slide forgot the time, people trust none of them.

In Church Graphics, you can pick the screen, feed, story, flyer, and poster sizes in one project, so the title and date land in the right place on each size from the same words. Your logo and colors go on all of them.

A few that are coming up

This is the season when the calendar fills up. A few dates churches are already promoting:

• Fall festival or trunk-or-treat: Halloween is Saturday, Oct 31 this year.
• Thanksgiving meal or service: Thanksgiving is Thursday, Nov 26.
• Christmas Eve service times: Christmas Eve is a Thursday this year, Dec 24.

Each one gets the same treatment. Name, date, and place. Nothing else competing with them.

Do this today

1. Pull up the next event graphic on your list.
2. Squint at it. Can you find the date in one second?
3. If not, move it right under the title and make it bigger.
4. Add the day of the week, and check it against a calendar.
5. Use the same words on every size.

People can't show up to something if they never figured out when it was.

Keep reading: Your "New Here" Graphic Should Answer Three Questions · One Title. Every Size. · Reformation Sunday: One Idea