Training and resources for SUPRA councillors

Council request form

The pubs team have made an online form which you can use to request them to:

  • make a flyer, poster or other publication
  • design digital content such as a graphic element or social media advertisement
  • .

If you need help with something, just fill in the form and they’ll get back to you!

Make a request now: Council request form.

Note: you can use this form for Grad Post submissions, or you can also use the instructions below. You can also use this form to request a venue booking.

If you need help with any other publications work, or something more complex, or if you have any questions, contact Louise.

Get help with publications

Who's who in the pubs team

If you need help with a publications project, contact Louise, and she’ll put you in touch with the appropriate person in the pubs team to assist. There’s no need to cc the whole pubs team when you contact her 🙂

The pubs (publications) team is:

Louise Corney (Operations Manager)
9am – 5pm, Monday to Friday
louise.corney@sydney.edu.au

Louise coordinates the publications team.

Rachel Engdahl (Administration and Publications Officer)
9am – 5pm, Tuesday to Thursday (and non-pay week Mondays)
rachel.engdahl@sydney.edu.au

Anthea Fitzgerald (Administration and Publications Officer)
9am – 5pm Monday to Wednesday
anthea.fitzgerald@sydney.edu.au

Emma Davidson (Administration and Publications Officer)
9am – 5pm, Wednesday to Friday (and non-pay week Tuesdays)
emma.davidson@sydney.edu.au

Rachel, Anthea and Emma job-share the role of Administration and Publications Officer. Note that they all work part time, and their role is split between publications and administration (including reception).

Help with editing and proofreading

When it comes to making an announcement, advertising an event, or creating a call to action, it’s not just how many people you reach, it’s what you say, and how you say it – that’s the part the pubs team can help with!

The pubs team edits and proofreads all SUPRA’s publications, and they can proofread your work for SUPRA too. Don’t be shy! Everyone who writes anything needs an editor. The pubs team even edits and proofreads each other’s work. 

If you publish an advertisement for an event or campaign on the Uni website, Eventbrite or another non-SUPRA platform,  send it to the pubs team first to be proofread. They can help you avoid typos and factual and grammatical errors, and give you feedback and suggestions to make your advertisement as clear and impactful as possible.

If you’d like a pubs officer to proofread or copyedit something you have written, please use the council request form.

Get other publications advice

The pubs team has a lot of knowledge about publications and communications, and they’re happy to share it with you! Contact them if you need advice about any publications projects you are planning for SUPRA – you can either use the council request form or email Louise.

Grad Post

Small newsletter, big audience!

Have you ever wondered whether anyone reads Grad Post?

Short answer:

Yes, lots of people do!

Longer answer:

On average, editions of Grad Post get 25–30% opens – that is, around one third of subscribers open our email every week. This is huge! 3500–4000 SUPRA members are reading our newsletter each week.

It’s important we put quality content in Grad Post to keep the attention of those 4000 members. We want them to read all the way to the bottom and follow all the links to our website. And we want them to keep opening future editions.

Why? Because we want to have the most-read small newsletter of all time and break some kind of record? No – because we know we have important things to tell postgrads, including things that could impact their lives, both positively and negatively!

Grad Post is an invaluable resource for sharing important news with our members. It’s a small newsletter with huge reach: probably more than some accounts with big-name social media corporations we could mention.

The biggest barrier to expanding our Grad Post reach is that no one likes emails.

Most emails are boring, stressful, pointless, confusing, or spam. Therefore, Grad Post needs to be interesting, sincere, joyful, useful and accessible. Given our 30% open rate, we’re already doing a pretty good job with that!

You can help make Grad Post a high-quality newsletter to be proud of by following the submission guidelines on this page. These are based on ‘best-practice’ for publishing online.

But most of all, you can ensure Grad Post is the best it can be by sharing your SUPRA work through Grad Post.

Deadline and publication days

Grad Post is published by the pubs team weekly every Wednesday, and content must be submitted by 9am Monday to be included in that week’s edition.

How to submit

Submit all Grad Post content to gradpostcontent@supra.usyd.edu.au

What types of things to submit

Any work you do for SUPRA can (and should!) be submitted to Grad Post:

  • notices of events
  • news about campaigns (such as letters to the University or government)
  • equity network activities
  • announcements about representative or outreach work you’ve done.

Anything that highlights what SUPRA does for its members and constituents should be advertised as loudly, proudly and clearly as possible.

We also publish a weekly ‘fun fact’ to bring some lightness to people’s day, so if you come across any facts that are suitably fun, feel free to share them too!  

Have a look at the events and news pages of our website to get an idea of the kinds of things you can submit.

What to include in your submission

Email 25–50 words that are ready to publish. If you have a longer article or statement to publish, please provide a 25–50 word summary for Grad Post and the full text for publication on our website.

Please also include any links and attach appropriate images.

If you are advertising an event, please make sure to include:

  • name and contact details for the event organiser
  • a link to the event page – e.g. Facebook, Eventbrite etc. (make sure this is created before you submit to Grad Post)
  • date and time of the event, and location if relevant
  • who is invited to the event/who you want to attend – e.g. all postgrads; HDR students; queer students etc.

Word limit

The word limit for all content published in Grad Post is 50 words. 

Summarise your content briefly in 25–50 words. It’s important to keep your Grad Post content brief so you don’t lose people’s attention.

If you need to say something more than 50 words long, a 25–50 word summary can be published in Grad Post, with the full text published on the news or events page of our website. Please include both a 25–50 word summary and the full text when you submit to Grad Post.

Image specifications

Include a photo or other graphic to be published with your Grad Post content, if possible.

Images should have a 16:9 aspect ratio so they display correctly in Grad Post, on our website events calendar, and on our website news feed.

If you’re not sure what this means, don’t worry, the pubs team can crop your image for you. But if you are designing a flyer or graphic specifically for Grad Post and/or our website, please make the aspect ratio 16:9. If you don’t have a suitable graphic or image the pubs team will use a stock image or design something appropriate.

Avoid using text in images. For readability and accessibility, text should accompanying an image rather than be in the image itself. Find more information in our accessibility style guide.

If you need a graphic for Grad Post, social media or a printed poster, the pubs team can help! Find more details below in Get help with publications.

Copyediting process

The pubs team copyedits all content submitted to Grad Post for spelling and grammar; to make sure it contains all necessary details; and to make sure it follows SUPRA’s style guide. If the pubs team have questions about what you’ve written or think it needs further clarification or major edits, they’ll contact you.

Editorial process

The pubs team checks the Grad Post email account every Monday morning for content submissions, and to follow up any submissions as necessary – this is why it’s important to meet the 9am Monday deadline.

On Tuesday morning the pubs team has a short editorial meeting to plan that week’s Grad Post. The DSP and a representative from the casework team are invited to this meeting, to make sure we cover all the important news, events and issues of the week from both council and staff perspectives. We review the content and decide where it will fit in Grad Post, whether it also needs to be published on the news or events page of our website (or on the homepage), and if there are any other ways we should advertise it (in Student News or HDR News, for example), and flag whether it needs to be re-run in future editions of Grad Post. 

Sometimes there are too many submissions to fit in one edition, or there is content that isn’t suitable for publication. In the unlikely event your submission can’t be published, the pubs team will let you know.

Late submissions and urgent announcements

We can’t guarantee content received after 9am Monday will be included in that week’s Grad Post, although in cases of emergency we’ll do our best – contact Louise if you have an urgent, last-minute announcement to make.  

Grad Post content submission at a glance

 

  • 25–50 words that are ready to publish (if there is a longer announcement to make, provide a 25–50 word summary for Grad Post and full text to be published on our website).
  • A suitable image or graphic formatted to 16:9 ratio. Graphics should not contain too much (or any) text.
  • Any relevant links: Facebook, Eventbrite, Zoom etc. Eventbrite and Zoom (or other booking site) links must be set up before submitting content to Grad Post.
  • Name and contact of event organiser; time, date, location; conditions of entry (student card? UniKey?).
  • Who is the event for: HDR students; queer students; women students; all postgrads?
  • Submit content by 9am Monday for publication on Wednesday (weekly).

SUPRA logo and style guide

Download SUPRA writing style guide

Our writing style guide consists of a word list of our preferred spelling and usage of words commonly used in  SUPRA publications, and a guide to our ‘house style’ for everything from bullet points to formatting dates and using textual dashes.

The pubs team uses the writing style guide to ensure consistency across all our professional publications. You don’t need to be totally familiar with these documents, but you’re encouraged to refer to them when writing communications for SUPRA.

Download SUPRA writing style guide (including word list) as a Word document [72KB].

Download SUPRA accessibility style guide

Our accessibility style guide contains important information on how to write for and design accessible print and online publications.

Download SUPRA accessibility guide as a Word document [55KB].

Download SUPRA graphic style guide

Our graphic style guide contains information on our brand colours and typeface, and how to use our logo. It also contains some general design tips to help you make publications that are clear and accessible.

Download SUPRA graphic style guide as a PDF [8.8MB]

Download SUPRA logo files

Our logo comes in a few variations suitable for different design situations. Refer to the graphic style guide for how to use our logo effectively. Download PNG and SVG files of our logo below. PNG files are for screen/online use only. Use SVG files for print.

JPG and EPS files, and monochrome version of the logos, are available on the SUPRA server – contact the publications team if you need help accessing these.

Full logo (black text)

Use this verstion of our full logo on light backgrounds.

Download full logo (black text) as a PNG file [132KB].
Download full logo (black text) as an SVG file [6KB].

Full logo (white text)

Use this version of our full logo on dark backgrounds.

Download full logo (white text) as PNG file [126KB].
Download full logo (white text) as an SVG file [29KB].

Basic logo

Download basic logo as a PNG file [192KB].
Download basic logo as an SVG file [6KB].

Logo with date

Download logo with date as a PNG file [34KB].
Download logo with date as an SVG file [9KB].

Level 1 (A09 Holme Mtg Room 104) meeting room bookings

The meeting room on level 1 of the SUPRA office (which is called ‘A09 Holme Mtg Room 104‘) can be booked by council and staff for meetings, including hybrid Zoom meetings.

You can use the meeting room at any time, as long as no one else has booked it – if you’re using it without a booking, please vacate it if someone with a booking arrives.

If you need help booking the meeting room or using any of its facilities, please contact Louise.

How to book A09 Holme Mtg Room 104

The meeting room can be booked through your Outlook calendar. Please use your SUPRA email address (if you have one) and use a clear title or notes so others viewing your booking understand who and what it’s for.

1. Create a ‘New event’ in Outlook.

2. In the field to ‘Invite people’, invite ‘A09 Holme Mtg Room 104‘, as well as any other invitees.

3. Complete the other relevant fields – time and date etc.

Hybrid meetings

If you intend to have a hybrid (Zoom and in-person) meeting, it is easiest to use the Zoom add-in for Outlook to add the link to your meeting while you make your booking. Then, the meeting room computer will have the details already when your booking starts. If you don’t use the Zoom add-in for Outlook, you can add your Zoom meeting link to the computer’s panel in the meeting room at the time of your booking.

Read instructions for installing the Zoom add-in for Outlook on the University website.

Check meeting room availability

To check if the meeting room is available, it is easiest to save the room’s account to your Outlook calendars. If you anticipate using the room a lot (for example, if you’re a member of the executive), you might want to do this. Otherwise, you can use the ‘scheduling assistant’ in Outlook when you make a booking.

Download a Word Document with instructions for adding the meeting room to your calendars [2.9MB].

Venue bookings

The admin/pubs team can book University venues for your SUPRA events and activities. Please use the council request form to make a booking.

It’s important to note that the University Venues team requires 10 working days to confirm bookings, so the SUPRA admin/pubs team needs 12 working days to make your booking, so that they have time to complete it around their other work.

Sometimes, the University Venues team processes bookings faster than 10 working days, but the admin/pubs team can’t influence this – so make sure you always give plenty of notice.

SUPRA councillor instatement manual

Get all the benefits of SUPRA membership

 • Connect with your postgrad community.

• Have a say in decisions that affect your studies.

• Use our free, confidential, independent and professional casework and legal services.