# External Communication Guidelines

## Guidelines for members

Communicating about VCL's activities is extremely important. Good communication helps interested people to find us and your project. Press coverage can help us to find new collaborators and ways to share our members' work. It can also help us secure more funding.

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Like everything else in VCL also communications is based on the contributions by our members. That means we need material from everyone who has an ongoing project in Virtual Cinema Lab.
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## What we need from you

### Project updates

You can post these to #publish\_this channel on Slack.

* Photos with captions – these can be behind the scenes / making of photos, promotional photos etc.
* Links to press releases
* Link to the project website (if the project has one)
* Links to published articles

### Projects looking for collaborators

You can post these to [#random channel](https://virtualcinemalab.slack.com/messages/C42V43QSE/) on Slack.

Tell people what skills and what skill level is required, and briefly explain what will collaborators get. Remember to tell who people should contact if they are interested.

### Relevant Articles

We are always interested in articles that fit our [mission statements and values](/handbook/master.md#mission). This way members can stay up to date about contemporary research done around VCL. You can post in [#random channel](https://virtualcinemalab.slack.com/messages/C42V43QSE/) on Slack and quote one paragraph from the article.

### Personal projects of Active members

If you have an exhibition, film screening or other public display of work that fits with our mission statement and values, please tell about it in [#random channel](https://virtualcinemalab.slack.com/messages/C42V43QSE/) on Slack. You can also add a short synopsis or other description and provide relevant links.

{% hint style="info" %}
It's also recommended to link back to Virtual Cinema Lab when you're publishing your work in other channels like social media. You can mention VCL and our website [virtualcinema.aalto.fi](http://virtualcinema.aalto.fi) in your social media accounts' bio.
{% endhint %}


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