The GCal invite is an underappreciated art form that should be recognized with sculptures, paintings, music, cinematography and Jeremiyah Love hurdling the defense into the end zone. Given Notre Dame’s Type-A student body, which somehow retains something of a drinking culture, our campus has the perfect atmosphere to serve as the modern Italy in this GCal renaissance. Just as there are various art styles, including impressionism, realism, expressionism and modern art, there are many approaches to crafting the perfect GCal. However, there are a few crucial ingredients every GCal should bake in.
Every epic GCal needs an epic event. Casual GCals for lunch or a lake walk are cute, like napkin doodles. But for a true artistic masterpiece, it’s gonna need something original, alluring and, like a Memorial Day Savings event, so big you won’t want to miss it. You can capture this epicness through a poster. Canva attachments are aesthetic and accommodating additions to this art form. It is important to be inclusive of visual learners. When the 470,000 words in the English language become too much to bear, having a visually exciting poster that sums it all up makes life manageable (an argument I keep reiterating to my history seminar professor each time he assigns us reading). The more overstimulating, the better.
The greatest minds still need assistance, so collaboration is key. Even the brilliant French mathematician Bernard Lassimone, inventor of the pencil sharpener, needed help from Constant de Thierry des Estivaux to perfect the conical, hand-held sharpener. Collaboration thus keeps your pencils and mind sharp. Your peers and friends (should you have any) are full of ideas you overlooked. Notre Dame admits the brightest young minds in the nation, so you’d be a fool not to exploit them.
Lengthy clauses are crucial to event planning. GCal invites should take inspiration from medicine commercials and conclude with a long list of disclaimers. These clauses lay down the law and ensure your guests understand proper decorum. Some clauses you won’t want to overlook include anti-discrimination, land acknowledgements, tax implications surrounding the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, gambling provisions and liability waivers. But this is not a comprehensive list, and to protect against lawsuits, it should be furnished with additional event-specific clauses. And of course, in accordance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, there should always be an ethics hotline.
With Cady Heron on Halloween as my witness, there’s nothing worse than misreading the vibe of an event. So be courteous and attach a mood board to guide your guests who aren’t in the loop. However, while the mood board is a great way to spur ideas, you’re no Anna Wintour. Let the people interpret and misinterpret the theme as they please. Whether you’re going for a fun, whimsical and humor-filled event or are subjecting your guests to a melancholy night of brooding, the mood board is the perfect place to capture your vision.
For an event as epic as this, it would be selfish not to invite as many people as possible. Thus, any great GCal demands an excessively long guest list. What’s great about GCal is that, so long as you know their name, you can easily invite any Notre Dame student. No more posting desperate Yik Yaks or releasing fleets of carrier pigeons. With GCal, summoning strangers to your function has never been easier! Plus, the guest list is easily visible for every invitee to peruse, stalk and mentally prepare. At a school where everyone knows everyone, it’s good to understand what you’re getting into. There’s also a great dopamine rush and sense of validation you get when someone accepts the GCal invite, which I have used to replace my Candy Crush addiction.
After you’ve crafted the perfect GCal, the work is far from over. In the event’s lead-up, more emails should enter the inboxes of your invitees, saving them from the boredom of their 2 to 3:15 p.m. Thursday class. Such emails can include FAQs, hype videos, songs, jingles, pre-event inspiration and post-event photo dumps or feedback surveys. But try your best to refrain from inundating your guests with emails. Sending GCals and follow-ups gets addicting. As midterms wrap up, most students have either given up hope for this semester or plan to rest on their laurels. Either way, without school taking priority, event planning can become all-consuming. But fight the urge to overdo it. Rather, take your time to craft the best invite you can (months to years is appropriate). Sometimes there can be too much of a good thing, so pacing between them is important (which must be the mentality with which ND football treats national championships). And I know you’ve heard the anti-AI lectures from your professors, but this time you should take it seriously. The GCal is about highlighting your creativity. There’s nothing more rewarding than receiving AI allegations from your uncreative engineering peers on a fully off-the-dome GCal.
So next time you have an upcoming event, open GCal and get to crafting. Let these elements be the foundation as you build not only a GCal, but friendships. And if you need some validation, feel free to add me to any GCals so I can appreciate your work. I promise not to show up.
