How Susan E. Wagner High School Does Distribution

For more than the last 20 years, Susan E. Wagner High School has hosted a yearbook distribution celebration. Every year, we choose a day at the beginning of June to distribute yearbooks to our graduating class. The event allows the seniors an opportunity to see their fellow classmates (current and past) and a chance to spend time with each other.

2:30 pm. Doors Open. Each senior is lined up in one of the 4 alphabetically situated lanes ( A-G, H-M, N-R, S-Z). Upon coming to the front of the line, each student must provide a form of ID. Once the ID confirms the student, the student gets a wristband, a yearbook and is allowed entry into the school cafeteria.

3-5:30 pm. Once inside, the seniors find tables that allow a good spot to sit down, catch up with classmates and sign yearbooks. In addition to the empty tables, there are tables full of a different variety of wraps, salads, and water bottles. The food is for the seniors to enjoy while signing each other’s books. While they eat and sign books, there is DJ playing the hits the seniors love to hear. When the seniors have signed every book, they exit the school and are greeted by an ice cream truck. The wristband identifies the senior to the ice cream operator.

Important: The event is held at 2:30 pm on a school day in order to allow our faculty to attend the event. Many of our seniors want the faculty who were a crucial part of their four years to sign their book. Our Principal is always present to say a few words on the microphone and to sign books, as well.

It is important to make the distribution of yearbooks a celebration. We don’t want the seniors to get their books and immediately leave the premises. That would limit the signatures they get. It would restrict them to only the people they find themselves around. It would prevent them from getting signatures of friends from their first three years of high school and the signatures of faculty they haven’t had contact with in the last three years.

The celebration is a thank you from the school to the graduates.

BASH PELINKOVIC
Susan E. Wagner High School Adviser • Staten Island, NY

 
 

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Notes for Great Editors

Find your truth in these gold standards

Your time is now. You’ve spent years working hard to help produce incredible yearbooks, but now you’re the EIC. You might think this is your opportunity to kick up your feet and watch everyone else do all the work. What you may not realize is that this is the most important job you’ve ever had. Here are truths of the most successful editors:

They know the importance of HAVING A PLAN. They think about what needs to get done, and they set up a plan to make it happen, working after school or during lunches with their adviser to ensure the publication runs smoothly. Their plan isn’t just for the yearbook staff, but for themselves. Highly successful EICs plan their own time, even in yearbook. They ask themselves, “When will I help other staffers?” and “Do I have a plan to get my own work done?”

They are the editor they needed when they were a staffer. Strong EICs don’t just happen without a lot of reflection. They think back to their first days on yearbook and remember what it was like knowing nothing and having everyone freaking out about deadlines. They are empathetic to the trials of being a yearbook staffer and are willing to help teach staffers skills, instead of taking it on and doing it themselves.

They write things down. Not just a note in their phone, but they put notes everywhere they or others might need to see them. The act of writing something down makes the memory process both visual and kinesthetic. A hand-written ladder gives a more concrete understanding of the book — and your plan. A planner with deadlines helps with time management. Some of the best editors I’ve ever had, covered the edges of their computer screens in sticky notes.

They had a note for everything and even color coded them so they knew what was important. Once the task was done, they were able to get rid of that note.

They go above and beyond while managing a life balance. We get it. You have an entire courseload, not just yearbook, but think of this as your first full-time job. You are managing a staff and meeting real-world deadlines while handling things you need to tackle outside of your happy little yerd world. A strong editor knows that good enough is neither good nor enough. This is where we circle back to the third point! Develop a planner system where you can manage your other class assignments but still leave room for your job. Leave a legacy for others to rise to in the future.

They still remember to have fun. Yearbook is unlike any other class. The relationships you form during your time in yearbook can be transformational. You are creating one of the most amazing things any high schooler can do, and you’re stuck together. Tensions can get high when everyone is stressing over that December deadline. Sometimes we just need a break. Proper planning allows time for fun activities for your staff. The social well-being of staffers is just as important as the skills needed to create a yearbook. Your staff is your family, and the best way to support each other is to laugh together.

KATIE MERRITT, MJE
Darlington School • Rome, GA

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The Art of the Interview

Art of the interview2

 

It’s so much more than just getting a quote

I had the privilege, for several summers, of teaching at journalism workshops with Kathy Craghead, the late (and very great) long-time yearbook adviser at Mexico High School in Missouri. She often told the story of looking up from her desk and seeing a yearbook staff member preparing to exit the room.

Her question: “Where are you going?”

The student’s answer: “To get a quote.”

Ms. Craghead likened this to a student leaving the room to get a Coke: Put your money in the machine, out pops a cold can; walk up to a source, get a quote. The end.

But getting a quote is not the same as conducting an interview that will result in full, detailed responses from a student or teacher. Details that will make your yearbook copy come alive and be worth reading, not just on the day your book comes out, but also 10, 20, even 30 years later.

First, you must cover an event at the event. You cannot write about a game, play or concert if you are not there in person, from its beginning (or even before) to its conclusion (or even after). Sending a text a month later and asking questions such as, “What was your favorite part of homecoming?” doesn’t provide anything more than a canned response that could be printed year after year — after year.

If you’re covering an event, you have to show up. You have to see the sights, smell the smells, feel the chill in the air at a football game, hear the audience crack up at the line delivered by a freshman at the spring musical. Those details will add to your copy.

Talking to your sources at the event allows you to provide perspective along with their immediate reaction. Have a yearbook staff member follow a photographer as she shoots an event and interview the photographer’s subjects immediately. Asking for a response of the just-crowned homecoming queen at halftime elicits much more detail than asking her to comment six weeks later when you’re finishing the spread.

While you need to prepare a list of questions, be flexible. If your source provides you with information you didn’t expect, ask a follow-up or two.

And consider ending with this, no matter your topic or source: “Ten years from now, what do you think you will remember about this event/game/occasion?” That question provides perspective and allows your source to see and share the big picture.

Tony Willis
Cathedral HS • Indianapolis, IN

 

BREAKOUT:
FIVE TIPS FOR CONDUCTING AN INTERVIEW

Be prepared.
Collect background information and research (and this might include talking to individuals who you never quote in your copy) and preparing questions.

Be there.
Conduct the interview where the event occurs. Interview the drum major as she comes off the field at the BOA Grand Nationals, not three weeks later in the school library.

Be flexible.
Yes, be prepared, but don’t just stick to your list of written questions. A good interview is a conversation, not a question-and-answer survey.

Be in the moment.
Take complete, detailed, handwritten notes and also record the interview. Don’t depend on technology to do your job.

Be organized.
As soon as possible after the interview is over, review your notes. Listen to the recording and transcribe the interview, both your questions and the source’s answers. Doing so is the key to getting the correct information and accurate direct quotes

 

 

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Ybk: It’s a Big Deal

‘Jumbos’ help with campus relevance

It’s hard to guess exactly why the buy-rate at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park, Kansas, is nearly twice the national average, but it’s not hard to understand how important culture and tradition are in the equation.

Throughout the school’s history, students have had the option to request a yearbook at registration, and that tradition alone delivers about 1,000 orders for the staff. But the staff works hard all year to keep Illumination front and center inside the school.

Making distribution a big event is definitely a factor. The books are traditionally presented to seniors first, at their celebratory picnic. Back on campus, the other students receive their books the same afternoon at an all-school event in grade-by-grade waves.

“It’s a great tradition,” said Deborah Glenn, CJE, Blue Valley West adviser for the last 10 years. “In the end, the whole school gathers back together to sign books and reminisce about another year.”

But throughout the year, there are jumbos, poster-sized prints of candid photos, posted all around the school. The idea presented itself more than five years ago when the staff watched a documentary on Pete Souza, a photojournalist and former White House photographer with Kansas ties.

“It was kind of funny,” Glenn recalled. “At one point he was explaining these ‘jumbos’ he’d hang — and change out every two weeks — in the White House.

We all just looked at each other and asked why we had never done that. We have all these great photographers and the benefit of a great photo services team in the district office.

Now, we send them PDFs of staff favorites, some in the book and many not, and they print out 14″ x 20″ slicks for us.”

They order two copies of each print, so staffers can deliver one to the subject of the image.

“We try to remind everyone on campus that we have photographers out there all the time capturing their memories,” she explained.

There might be as many as 50 jumbos on display at any given time, and Glenn estimates the staff has delivered thousands to those pictured.

“It definitely increases excitement for the book on campus, and we’ve been selling out in recent years,” she said. “We truly have just one copy left this year and we’ll be taking it to convention for Best of Show.”

 

01_Jumbos
Photo by Photo by Reese Wheeler

CELEBRATING THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, the yearbook staff prints poster-sized versions of its favorite photos and posts them around the school.

 

02_BlueValleyWest
Photo by Alexa Crouse

THE TRADITION and build-up to delivery day mean that the whole school wants to participate — and that means book sales are strong at Blue Valley West. Even though the picnic was rained out last year, seniors filled the gym floor to enjoy the yearbook.

 

 

ANOTHER TAKE

Traditions and twists are both factors in selling more yearbooks

As an alum of the yearbook program at Columbus North High School in Indiana, adviser Roth Lovins, CJE, smiles when he and his Log yearbook staff uncover successful ways to sell more copies.

They work hard, he says, to create a great record of the year and they want as many students as possible to have a copy of the book so those memories will be accessible forever.

“We’re always trying new things to sell more books,” he said. “More reminders in and around school. More messages sent home. Messages on more channels. They are all a part of our plan.”

Now in its second year, Lovins introduced a four-book package which allows parents to purchase a set of yearbooks for incoming freshmen.

“There’s some additional record keeping,” he admitted. “But it’s worth it because they’ll never be disappointed when we sell out, they don’t have to worry about forgetting to buy and they save some money. And we have the guarantee that those students are buying all four books.”

As word spreads among families, he hopes the package becomes a tradition that lasts. “It just makes so much sense,” he said.

Other times, the staff looks for something unexpected. Whether it’s chalking huge sales messages on the walkways at the main entrance or papering the commons with order forms just before a price increase, they want to remind people that there is limited time to purchase a yearbook.

“It’s finding more ways to get the word out,” concluded Lovins. “And making the book as easy to buy as possible.”

 

03_Another
Photo by Kaelin Hanrattie

CHALKING A MESSAGE at the school’s main entrance reminds Columbus North students to buy a book.

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When the Struggle is Real, Adapt

When the Struggle is Real, Adapt

Erinn Harris had everything figured out. She ran the well-oiled machine that was the yearbook program at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. And, she had a system in place.

“Tell them what needs to happen, print at 100%, conference, and everything will get done. Because it always gets done,” the Alexandria, Virginia adviser said.

It was like magic.

That was the plan for five years. And it was the plan at the beginning of the year. But then, she said, 2018 became the year of, “Oh So Real.”

When the Struggle is Real, Adapt

“My class was comprised of two sophomores, two juniors and two seniors,” she said. “Even though I knew only two of these six had a year of class experience under their belts, this is how I started the year. And as of December, we were behind by 49 pages and more proofs than I’d like to admit.”

It was winter break and she needed to start over. The plan from the past five years was not going to cut it anymore. So, she changed.

“The key to adapting to the circumstances of your year is to know yourself and know your kids and figure out what they need to be successful, understanding success may just look different year to year,” the master journalism educator said.

When the Struggle is Real, Adapt

This year, she said, the staff needed structure. In January, she created it.

“At the end of every class period, my students fill out a Google form exit ticket. On it, they tell me, among other things, three items they want to accomplish before the next class period, something they are worried about and something they are celebrating.”

Download an example of the form here.

The form dictated how the class ran. Each day, she used responses to create individual goals. Then, in class they followed a new agenda. They shared celebrations, moved to a short lesson, spent 30 minutes on goal work, then 30 minutes planning for upcoming deadlines. To finish the period, staffers filled out their exit tickets.

When the Struggle is Real, Adapt

No longer a, “Here’s what needs to get done, now do it,” adviser, Harris focused on celebrations.

“When you’re having a rough year, that’s what’s going to get you through,” she said. “The knowledge that the experiences we’re going through are so thoroughly relatable. All you have to do is find a way to adapt to what life throws at you.”

 

Erinn Harris has advised student publications for 12 years, three at Lee High School in Springfield,Virginia and nine at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Recently earning the Virginia High School League Savedge Award for Continued Excellence, these staffs have earned NSPA Pacemaker awards and CSPA Crowns.

 

OUR PORTFOLIO IS INCOMPLETE WITHOUT YOU

Submit your 2018 yearbook.

SUBMIT YOUR YEARBOOK
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It’s Time for the Talk

It’s Time for the Talk

At the close of the year, distribution day sounds like the light at the end of the tunnel. But, it’s not for the faint of heart. Or for the unprepared.

Justin Daigle has lived through a few distribution days as the adviser at Brighton High School in Brighton, Colorado, and he knows how to prepare his staff for the challenging moments. He knows when it’s time for “the talk.”

He begins with how they communicate with each other. Negativity comes from all directions, but should never come from the staff, he said.

“Let’s face it, each time we open the book, we find some new type of error: A misspelled name or word, a graphic in the wrong place, or a bar that’s blue instead of red. First, we have to accept the book is printed and we did the best we could,” the certified journalism educator said.

As Daigle reminds his staffers to leave behind their critical eyes once the ink has dried, he tells them to stay out of the comments section.

It’s Time for the Talk

“If a student sees a negative social media post about the yearbook, I want them to be the bigger person and let it go. No staff member should post anything negative or passive aggressive about any incidents or feedback from the book,” he said.

Repeat: Do. Not. Engage. The. Haters.

And Daigle leads the charge. When those inevitable parent phone calls start, and when students post hateful comments about a page, he lets it go.

He teaches how to combat negativity by being proactive.

“I send an email to the school employees revealing the theme and the details about yearbook distribution. I ask them to squelch any negative comments they may hear in the halls or in their classrooms and redirect them to how fantastic the book is.”

Another tactic is to include a policy in each book. Staffers put them inside the front endsheet as they hand out books so buyers see they are there.

It’s Time for the Talk

The policy sheet directs students to check the book for damages, apologizes in advance for typos and mistakes, and includes a statement about yearbook being the only class where work is published for all to see so proceed with complaints accordingly, as well as the staff’s policy against refunds.

There are, of course, legitimate issues, such as name misspellings or direct quote discrepancies. Daigle has a process for those as well.

“First, take a time out. Rather than getting defensive or angry, do your research, and if a mistake was made, own it and apologize,” he said.

Distribution day should be one of the greatest celebrations of the year, and if staffers are prepared for what they will experience, it can be.

It’s Time for the Talk

“We spend hours upon hours upon hours working on our yearbooks until the final proofs are sent,” Daigle said, “so we become very close to it. We should prepare to celebrate the positive feedback while also putting systems in place to work through any negative criticism. The staff works too hard all year to let any negativity ruin anything we accomplished.”

Download a sample distribution policy here, and if you have your own, send it to us. We love to learn and to see what advisers everywhere are doing.

 

Justin DaigleJustin Daigle, CJE, has advised the Reflections yearbook at Brighton High School in Colorado for 12 years. His students’ publications have earned state and national awards including CSPA Crowns and NSPA Pacemaker honors. Daigle was the 2009 Colorado Student Media Association (CSMA) Teacher of the Year as well as JEA Rising Star in 2010 and Special Recognition (2014) and Distinguished (2016) Yearbook Adviser of the Year.

 

OUR PORTFOLIO IS INCOMPLETE WITHOUT YOU

Submit your 2018 yearbook.

SUBMIT YOUR YEARBOOK
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Book Sales Efforts Way Beyond Posters

Book Sales Efforts Way Beyond Posters; Yearbook Angels and Pursuing Non-Buyers

It’s spring. You still have books to sell. Something has to happen.

This is when Lisa Sherman kicks off her annual telethon.

“We run a non-buyers list report in eBusiness, which tells us who hasn’t ordered and provides contact information for their guardian,” the 16-year adviser from Edwardsburg, Michigan, said. “Then, each of my staff members takes a section of the list and makes personal phone calls to each individual.”

The cold calling adds another practical skill to the class. She posts a script on the whiteboard reminding students how to introduce themselves, talk about the yearbook and give ordering instructions.

“Week one, we call all non-buyers with the last names starting with A–L. In week two, we contact the remaining non-buyers with last names M–Z. Week three is for going back through all the lists and emailing parents who have still not purchased, even after the phone contacts.”

Book Sales Efforts Way Beyond Posters; Yearbook Angels and Pursuing Non-Buyers

The last week of the month, staffers send out a final reminder to the students’ email accounts. At that point, the guardians had heard directly from the staff twice and the student heard once. In one month.

An extra bonus: the staffers gained skills and confidence in business communications.

Each staffer has a goal of selling 10 more books by the end of the month. And that adds up. Sherman has seen a dramatic increase in sales through the telethon. Maybe this is the last-minute sales push you need.

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Light Bulb Moment

Adviser and staff change the way their yearbook takes shape.

His light bulb moment happened in church.

Willamette University’s Cone Chapel to be exact. That was the site for Yearbooks Northwest’s 2015 opening session, and where adviser Chris Wells had a revelation.

“Sitting at Willamette — it was the first camp we’d ever attended ­— we saw these blue boxes and pink things on the screen. It was revolutionary. We realized, ‘This is what we want to do,’” the Cottage Grove High School dean of students and yearbook adviser said. “We wanted to cover all these things, get all these kids in the book and still have the book be beautiful.”

Those blue boxes and pink things are a part of  Herff Jones’ Square One™ approach to space allocation and page production modeled after how professional publication designers work. Yearbooks Northwest is one of the Pacific Northwest’s top workshops, and it turns out, was a perfect testing ground, among others around the country, for the pilot.

“Until we switched to work with Herff Jones in 2014, our process was ‘Let’s make stuff look interesting. We like this. We like that.’ We had no rhyme or reason. We had no template for how to make things look cohesive,” the Oregon adviser said.

Seeing Square One™ for only minutes, Wells said he watched his staff members have light bulb moments.

“It was clear. It was design with purpose. It set us on our way.”

Wells and his Lion Tracks staff members produced their 2016 book as part of the Square One™ pilot group, and while they always had natural strengths in coverage, these before-and-after images show the staff’s progression to more refined scale, space use and all-important coverage or more students.

“As a teacher, it made my life easier,” he said. “We can snap spreads together. The approach lets me be more efficient with my time, and the kids are more attentive to their duties. For the designers, for instance, it made it so we didn’t have to think about it. Back in the day (meaning, oh, before May 1, 2017) we had to over think every decision, each spread started almost from scratch. Now, it has become part of our DNA. It’s just what we do.”

2016 LAYOUTS WITH SQUARE ONE™

 

Wells and his staff already had a well-developed workflow, which was only enhanced by the logical, “real-world” adoption of Square One™ and its modern, grid-based approach to formatting spreads.

“We follow our own set of principles creating modules,” he said. “Save it. Drop it in. Rotate it. Flip it. Once you get something going it just becomes a game of shapes. At first, we were nervous about reusing something. Then, at camp, we saw how leading yearbook staffs and the top magazine designers artfully repurpose to create consistency. As long as the mods are on different pages, it still looks good.”

If you’re worried the approach is hard to learn or takes too much time, don’t be Wells said.

“This is the first year I have four designers. When it finally clicks, one can show the other and say ‘Hey, let’s work together.’ They are able to carry things through because they work together and follow the same principles. Three of the four had never used eDesign before, and three weeks into school they are collaborating and making these beautiful spreads. It’s that simple — if you follow your principles.”

And at Cottage Grove, those principles are clearly outlined.

“We are in our third week of school. We had a week of writing, a week of photo — all my kids have to be able to shoot, write captions, upload and tag images. Now we are into design. It was so quick. Instead of design grinding out over months, I have inexperienced designers churning out pages within a week of actual training.

“The separators are key,” he said referring to the pink strips of paper in Herff Jones’ industry exclusive hands-on packet, and to the pink pop-ins in eDesign and InDesign libraries so named after the graphic design premise of having “separation space” between elements. Separators separate.

“The kids see the spacing, and it’s so nice,” he said. “Then, they just drop modules in. It’s been incredibly quick. It’s always been my goal to get me out of driving the design process, and this is the first year the kids are confident enough to drive it. Finally, I have the inverted pyramid staff structure we hear about at Yearbooks Northwest where the kids are focused on creating that meaningful content, feeding that to leaders, editors and designers and then it comes to me to review before they submit. Square One™ has set all that in motion.”

Lion Tracks staff members design their own modules, sometimes using one from more than 500 supplied examples as their starting points.

“We have come to the conclusion it’s a book done faster, so we can focus on turning zeros on the coverage report to ones. It’s super fast to use the modules and to teach the kids how to create their own following the design principles we’ve learned. I see a lot of original stuff this year, now that they are more confident. We are varying from overly modular (or “digest”) spreads to intentional feature spreads leading into sections. But, our rules still hold true. The separation space between copy packages and dominants, for instance.

“They had no place to start before,” he said. “This gives us that. They see it right away. They reach decisions and regenerate existing ideas to fit the modular spaces. Again, it’s revolutionary. I can have a ‘legit’ staff where the kids can just go get ‘em. I can advise. One of the most foreign things was always setting up all the different components of a page. To have all that at your fingertips gives us time to focus on getting photos and stories. We don’t have to spend late nights trying to get what we want.”

Following their hearts to have an impact on their community, staffers have seen their yearbook can be an instrument for social change by telling more students’ stories and including more student voices ­— making students feel included, important and heard.

“The best thing I realized is Square One™ let us create more than a yearbook,” Wells said. “My staff is now showing kids at our school they matter. It’s bringing kids into feeling a part of the school.”

Chris WellsChris Wells is in his fifth year advising the Lion Tracks yearbook at Cottage Grove High School in Cottage Grove, OR, where he also teaches graphic design and serves as dean of students. He took over the school’s print media program in 2013, his first experience with yearbook since graduating as the yearbook editor in 1999. A graduate of the University of Oregon with a degree in philosophy, Chris’ pastime has been graphic design and digital illustration for the last 15 years.

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Marketing Your Books

Marketing Your Books

It’s not enough to create a beautiful yearbook and hope it sells so you can pay your final bill. It takes strategic planning and implementation of the plan to experience a sell-out and true success.

There are a variety of successful strategies that can be used to sell yearbooks so you’ll want to consider all of them and choose the one(s) that best fit your school. Next, you’ll want to use as many different ways to get the information about sales into the hands of the people buying the books — the parents.

Don’t forget about social media which is playing a larger role than ever in helping to boost sales. While Facebook may not be the most popular site with the students at your school, it is still a very popular site with parents and if used correctly, can help drive more sales. Other sites like Instagram, Twitter and even Pinterest can be used by your staff to get the word out that books are on sale by giving sneak peeks at images that are actually being used in the book. Don’t worry if you’re not a power user of all of these social sites, yet. Use this social media guide to get started today or better yet, assign one of your savvy staffers to the post of social media manager.

For even more great videos to help you make the most of your marketing efforts, you’ll want to log in and watch these Yearbook Academy Marketing videos. If you’re not currently a Herff Jones customer, contact your local representative who would be happy to share these with you.

And, no matter what you do, always remember that students really only want to own a book if they know that they are in it so you’ll want to do everything in your power to have as many of your students featured in the book at least two to three times.

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