Posting an event
Four ways to post. All four land in the same place — pick whatever’s easiest right now.
The four channels
The most precise option. Open swirl.events/host/start (or hit Host an event in the top nav) and fill in the form.
Required fields: title and start date/time. Everything else can wait — you can publish with nothing else filled in and add details later.
Text a sentence, a flyer photo, or both to +1 (415) 688-2444. We feed it through Claude, build a draft, and reply with a link to confirm.
Something like “Open mic at Lyrical Lemonade, Fri Jan 31 8pm, $5 at the door” is enough. A flyer photo with no text? Also enough.
Same number as SMS — +1 (415) 688-2444 — on WhatsApp instead. Same flow: send what you’ve got, we parse it and reply.
Send or forward to events@swirl.events. Subject line, body, and any attachment all get read. You’ll get a reply with the draft link.
What we ask for
Two required fields, the rest is optional:
| Field | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Yes | Up to 280 characters |
| Start date/time | Yes | Local time at the venue |
| End time | No | Defaults to “no end time” |
| Venue name | No | Free text; we’ll match to an existing venue if it’s close |
| City | No | Autocompletes from cities we already have events in |
| Street address | No | Geocoded for the map and the location pill |
| Description | No | Up to ~16,000 characters; supports plain text |
| Tags | No | Free text; we’ll suggest the popular ones from upcoming events |
| Cover image | No | See below |
| Visibility | No | Public (default) or Invite-only |
Cover images
You’ve got two options on the web form:
- Upload your own — a flyer, a photo, anything. This is what shows up on the home grid by default.
- Generate one with AI — click Generate cover and we’ll build something editorial-looking from your title, description, venue, and date. You get a preview before anything’s committed, and you can regenerate as many times as you like.
You can switch back and forth — generate a few, decide you preferred your upload, revert. Whichever cover is “live” at publish time is what attendees see.
For SMS / WhatsApp / email, any attached image is kept as-is. There’s no AI cover generation in the inbound flow today.
What happens after you submit
Web form, with Publish now checked (the default): the event goes live straight away. Uncheck it to save as a draft and publish later from your dashboard.
Inbound channels (SMS / WhatsApp / email): we always make a draft first and send you back a link. Skim it, fix anything we got wrong, and one tap publishes.
Anything you post you can edit, unpublish, or delete from swirl.events/dashboard.
Tips
- A clear title beats a clever one — people scan fast.
- Recurring? Post each occurrence as its own event with the same title. We collapse them into a single tile with “+11 more upcoming” automatically.
- Try the AI cover before reaching for a flyer photo. For most event types the result reads cleaner.
- Address matters. Even “neighborhood, city” is enough for the location filter to surface your event; a bare city with no venue lands less reliably.