Descriptive tags are labels you wear on your chest at the large and smaller cocktail parties. They contain a short amount of information about yourself. (Whether you want to tell the world about your sex change is up to you.) They serve as an ice-breaker, a few words to provide a "hook" for someone to strike up a conversation with you. You're limited to 150 characters, including spaces.

At our parties, there are three separate colors of nametags and descriptive tags:

Descriptive tags are different than descriptions, which are sent beforehand to the people attending via e-mail. Descriptions are much longer, with a minimum of 1000 characters.

You can include anything you want on a descriptive tag, subject to the 150 character limit. If you're short of ideas, you may want to look at examples of descriptive tags, as well as what to include in descriptions and examples of descriptions.

Until we give you the ability to edit your descriptions online, I ask that you not include information that will change quickly, since my secretary doesn't have the time to change your information several times a year. If, before the November 2004 election, you stated, "I'm voting for George Bush," that would be interesting at that time (and would make you among several hundred people in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts who did so), but this would be less interesting after the election. I make an exception for "Single and looking" because many want others to know that, so even if it changes back and forth a few times a year, I don't mind my secretary spending time on those changes.

Here's some examples of what not to include:

  1. "I came to the U.S. 3 years ago." Instead, say "I came to the U.S. in 2002."
  2. "I am a first year medical student." Instead, say "I am a medical student."
  3. "I have two children, ages 12 and 15." Instead, say "I have two children."

The limit is 150 characters, including spaces. I ask that you come reasonably close to the limit. Please note that 150 characters with spaces means 150 characters with spaces. There's simply no way to print more than that on the descriptive tag. If you send me a longer descriptive tag, I'm going to shorten it, and it's better if you choose what text to eliminate rather than me.

If you use Microsoft Word, Tools / Word Count will tell you how many characters you have. Make certain you look at Characters (spaces), NOT Characters (no spaces). (If Word Count does not appear, choose Tools / Customize / and then unclick "Menus show recently used commands first.") Then copy the text into a new e-mail and then e-mail to me. Alternatively, you can include the Word file as an attachment.

Please remember that the limit is 150 characters (including spaces), not 150 words. If you send me something too long, I will probably just edit it as I see fit, and you may not like my editing.

Things to remember when you write your descriptive tag:

  1. Please come as close to the 150 character limit as possible. If you write a short descriptive tag, I'm simply going to ask you to write a longer one.
  2. Spaces count as a character, so that's 150 characters with spaces, not without spaces.
  3. If you write a descriptive tag that is too long, I will simply shorten it myself.
  4. Don't include any carriage returns, new lines, or paragraph marks in your description; the label your descriptive tag will be printed on doesn't have the space for them.
  5. Please don't include information that is topical (i.e., will change reasonably soon) — e.g., "I am 34 years old" or "I am a first year medical student." You could say "I was born in 1972" or "I am a medical student."

For further information about descriptive tags, including how to use descriptions to strike up a conversation with someone, please read the section on them in our "Frequently Asked Questions."