The President’s Office receives a large volume of meeting and event invitation requests from colleagues across the University, as well as requests for communications items such as event remarks, letters, quotes, and messages. The President’s Office remains committed to fulfilling as many of these requests as possible, and to doing so in a timely manner.
Inviting the President to a Meeting or Event
All requests for the President’s participation in a meeting or event should be submitted using this form. We ask that requests be submitted with as much notice as possible, at a minimum of 4 weeks in advance.
Requesting a Communication from the President
Requests for communications items such as letters, quotes, and messages from the President should be emailed to the communications team at pocomms@yorku.ca, along with a draft version for review, any supporting information or materials, and preferred deadline for the communication. Minimum turnaround times for communications items are as follows:
- Quotes and invitations: 1 week
- Congratulatory letters: 2 weeks
- Messages for reports, programs, proactive presidential statements, and other publications: 3–4 weeks
Making an Urgent Request
We recognize that there are, at rare times, legitimate reasons for urgent requests to be made that would necessitate response within a timeframe shorter than the service standards noted above (e.g. issues-related media requests, time-sensitive condolence letters, etc.). We will do our best to accommodate these requests wherever possible. Unfortunately, we are not able to guarantee expedited turnaround timelines for urgent requests made without a strong rationale.
Best Practices for Quotes, Letters, Messages and Statements
- Requests should include as much detail as possible, including deadlines.
- All supporting materials should be considered final and fact-checked in advance (the President’s Office is not responsible for fact-checking).
- The requesting unit agrees to provide supporting materials in a timely manner to ensure deadlines can be met.
Best Practices for Event / Meeting Requests:
- Requests should include full details including dates, names of VIP attendees, event rollout, speaking points (not full remarks).
- Requesting unit fills out the “Invite the President Mach Form” once confirmed, at least four weeks prior to the event.
- Once the event is confirmed, the “President Event Details” mach form should be filled out at least 3 weeks prior to event.
- All supporting materials should be provided (event rollout, draft speaking points) at least 3 weeks prior to the event. Remarks are drafted by the President’s Office Communications team at least 2 weeks prior to the event.
- Remarks are edited and final changes to remarks and event rollout are completed with at least one week for the president to review.