A guide to using Markdown to create long descriptions for your event, Rooms and Sessions.
In Arena, our Room, Session and event long description fields are very powerful. They use Markdown to enable you to include headings, lists, tables, images, quotes, links and more. That way, you can tailor them exactly to your needs.
Here, we’ll give you a basic lesson in using Markdown so that you can use each field to its full potential.
Basic formatting
| Formatting | Markdown |
| Heading 1 (for main headings) | # Main heading |
| Heading 2 (for subheadings) | ## Heading 2 |
| Heading 3 (for the next level of subheadings) | ### Heading 3 |
| Bold formatting | **bold formatting** |
| Italicised formatting | *italicised formatting* |
| Format a numbered list |
|
| Format a bulleted list |
- Number one - Number two - Number three |
| Insert a checklist |
[x] Number one is done [ ] Number two needs doing [ ] Number three needs doing |
| Horizontal line |
--- (method 1) *** (method 2) ___ (method 3) |
| Strikethrough | ~~This text will be crossed out.~~ |
| Add a hyperlink | [anchor text](https://www.website.com) |
Insert elements
| Element | Markdown |
| Insert an image |  |
| Insert code | `This is code` |
| Insert a table |
| Column 1 heading | Column 2 heading | | ----------------- | ------------------ | | Column 1 entry 1 | Column 2 entry 1 | | Column 1 entry 2 | Column 2 entry 2 | |
| Insert a footnote |
This sentence has a footnote. [^1] [^1]: This sentence is the footnote. |
| Heading ID (allows you to link directly to headings) |
## Heading 2 {#heading-2-custom-id} |
Using elements like these will allow you to make your long descriptions more engaging and aesthetically pleasing. To learn more about using Markdown, head over to Markdown Guide. Or, for more information about setting up your event, creating Rooms or adding Sessions on Arena, read our dedicated articles.