On Tuesday July 20 at 11pm EDT/PT, MTV will premiere a new weekly series called “If You Really Knew Me” based on the Challenge Day program. Each episode will be shown on MTV multiple times during the week and streamed on MTV’s website.
“‘If You Really Knew Me’ is an incredibly authentic and compelling docu-series that takes us on a 24 hour journey through a high school’s social transformation. It shows us what happens when kids from various cliques decide to break down the walls that divide them and commit to change,” said Tony DiSanto, President of Programming from MTV. “It’s an intense and dramatic experience, but ultimately uplifting and universally relatable for all of us who have gone through high school or are about to.”
Each episode takes place at a different high school with its own set of issues and its own unique set of cliques. In the series premiere, viewers go inside a Northern California school divided by race and cliques, a symptom of a newly-diverse student body that has grown from 500 to 2,400 students in just 10 years. As the season progresses; the show profiles a variety of schools struggling with everything from cyberbullying to small town rumor mills.
Discussion Guides (sponsored by Herff Jones) can be downloaded from the Challenge Day website at: http://www.challengeday.org/mtv/.
What’s this got to do with yearbooks?
We all know that yearbook sales are directly related to school spirit. If your school is not participating in Challenge Day, maybe Yearbook could sponsor it! Visit the Challenge Day website for more info: http://www.challengeday.org/how-challenge-day-works.php
Teambuilding is key to an efficient yearbook staff. Try watching the episodes together as a group, and downloading the discussion guides. Download the discussion guides here: http://www.challengeday.org/mtv/
If your school is already participating, don’t forget to cover it in your yearbook! Make sure to interview the participants for their point-of-view!
Angela’s side note: I participated in a Challenge Day as a high school student (A LONG TIME AGO), and it was definitely worth it. Let’s just say a lot of tears and hugging were involved. I highly recommend it!
You know ESPN hosts both Summer and Winter games of Extreme Sports with events like skateboarding, BMX biking, street luge, snowboarding and snowmobiling. Well, what about the Yearbook X-games? Once the book is done, have an X-Game Celebration after school. Have staffers sign up ahead of time for events like these:
Big Wheel Slalom
Skateboard Paddling
3-legged Cross Country Skipping
Nerf Skeet (Frizbee) Shooting
It’s a great way to burn off all that built up stress, and it’s a great prelude to a nice Yearbook banquet where winners receive their medals along with the other staff awards. Or, be really X-treme, and ask ASB if you can host the Yearbook X-Games for the whole school over a couple of lunch periods and have students pay a dollar or two to participate. Instead of gold medals, give away golden tickets to your yearbook signing party!
*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “X” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com
We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…
Yes, we know, YERDS and Advisers are very under appreciated, but there are other individuals on campus who deserve some appreciation, too — whether it’s a note, a gift card, or a nice acknowledgement at a staff meeting.
The custodian (who cleans up the classroom after the pizza parties on your late work nights)
The secretary (who answers a million and two questions about yearbook)
The counseling department (who runs off all the class lists and always knows what class someone is in)
The IT person (who answers all your panicked phone calls when the computers are whacky)
The bank clerk (who collects all the money from book sales, ad sales, parent ad sales, and fundraisers AND pays your bills on time!)
*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “U” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com
We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…
Not a laughing matter, but can result in a lot of smiles. Tweets, Tweeps and Retweets are the basis of communications on Twitter, the social network site second in popularity only to Facebook. If you are not using this powerful tool yet, here are three reasons to become a tweeter:
Status updates of 140 character or less. No Farmville, Mafia Wars, or “What Shoe Are You?” news feeds to sort through (like that other site). Just the facts in every tweet (post).
Thousands of professional designers, photographers and artists post tips, tricks and tutorials free for you to view and use as mini-lessons.
Great way to communicate with other yearbook staffs, professional YERDS, and your school community about what your staff is currently working on, coming events, and yearbook sales.
While you’re there, follow The Yearbook Ladies at Twitter.com/YearbookLadies
*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “T” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com
We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…
Producing a yearbook is a lot of fun, but it also carries a great responsibility. A yearbook lasts forever and cannot be reproduced once the year is over. Because of this, every picture, every caption, every quote in every story, and even every graphic has to be true and accurate. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind as you record the year’s memories for your school community:
Check and double check names. No one wants their name misspelled forever.
Captions and Senior Superlatives are a part of the coverage. They are not a place for inside jokes.
It’s our place to record history, not make it up. Make sure your scores, quotes and sources are verified.
*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “R” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com
We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…
We know you’ve got ‘em: “When’s the next deadline?”, “What happened to my pictures?”, “Does anyone know this person?”, etc. But here are a few questions that good designers and copy writers should continually ask themselves and each other as they work. Keep these in mind as you look over your spread/copy before you call it “done”:
Is it fresh? Current? Original?
Does it relate to the theme? the year? the school?
Is it specific to the theme? the year? the school?
Is it my best work?
If you can answer “yes” with confidence, then your work is complete. When the book arrives, you’ll be glad you took the time to ask these critical questions, because “good enough” never is.
*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “Q” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com
We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…
We know what it’s like: deadlines, missing pictures, lots of stress. Sometimes it’s so overwhelming that production seems to come to a standstill. So how do you keep your students going through even the toughest circumstances? First, appoint a staff social director, and then try these methods of motivation:
Celebrate staff birthdays and 1/2 birthdays (for those born during the summer months.)
Institute a “Staffer of the Month” award with a small token of recognition: a crown or sceptor for the day, a Staffer of the Month certificate, and a perpetual plaque or poster on the wall. Throw in a cake, cupcakes, doughnuts or cookies, and you’ve got a great 10 minute celebration!
Plan a theme (think The 80’s, Pirates, Disney, Valentine’s Day) for each deadline week or deadline work night.
Decorate the room, have students bring theme-related food, and play a mixed CD of theme-related music. You’ll be surprised at how much work gets accomplished when fun is in the air!
*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “M” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com
We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…
A great interview requires a little bit of preparation. Take some time beforehand, and you’ll get a lot more than “Yes” and “No” from your interviewee:
Prepare open-ended questions. Unlike close-ended questions that just require a one-word answer (i.e. “What is your favorite color?”), open-ended questions
have more than one answer
could have a different response from every person you ask
requires the respondent to describe actions and reactions
is asked with the intention of collecting a quote
If you must ask a close-ended question (i.e. “What is your favorite subject?”), be prepared to follow-up with an open-ended one (i.e. “What do you like about it?”)
Remember, your list of questions is just a starting point. Pay attention to their answers, and you might discover something more interesting than what you had anticipated.
*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “I” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com
We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…
Let’s face it: the yearbook classroom isn’t just another set of four walls with cutsie kitten posters inside. Find ways to make it your “Home Sweet Home”:
Make sure you have a place for communication, using stacking plastic holders, envelopes, or actual mailboxes for each staff member (or team)
Add a room mascot and name it. Of course we’ve seen the standard stuffed animal, but also a growing ball of stickers, a store-bought piñata, and fish on a stick (made from construction paper, of course)
Make room for a “rant wall” where staff members can write funny sayings, quote other staffers during the year, and doodle.
*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “H” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com
We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…
Editor: AKA best friend, worst enemy, that mean person making me stay late, dude, student who responds to an urgent scream of “help,” late-night karaoke champion, and permanent fixture in the yearbook room. All editors should:
Besides the Editor-in-Chief, consider section editors, a photo editor, a copy editor, and a business manager
Model the best behavior for the staff. That means showing good planning, being on time, not putting things off to the last minute
Must be present at every deadline (clear your social calendar for the next few months!)
Has the fewest pictures in the yearbook, but the most power over what it looks like
*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “E” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com
We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…
Deadline, shmedline: it’s no big deal when you have the proper planning.
Work backwards, setting up mini deadlines necessary to achieve the final one
Plan your ladder well, consulting with your school calendar to check for school events and sports seasons
Always add up to 10% more pages to each deadline to allow for unexpected problems (if 36 pages are due, assign an additional 4 just in case)
Have deadline parties or celebrate when you’ve successfully met a deadline
*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “D” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com
We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…
Regardless of your position on the yearbook staff, find ways to infect the room with a positive attitude!
Make a birthday board on the wall for all of the staff members. Be sure to celebrate.
Give out awards after each deadline like most creative copy, most helpful person, best photo on a spread, etc.
Make a slips of paper that say “Thanks for. . .” and let staff members write notes to each other
Two words: candy jar
*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook” project. If you’d like to download the “A” card, go to the “Adviser Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com
We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…
Building a team is more than just working together. Save time for playing as well
Designate one staff member as the social director
Go to the movies together after a deadline
Look into indoor rock climbing to learn trust and facing fears
Instead of individual page assignments, create teams and give them a few spreads each
*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook” project. If you’d like to download the “B” card, go to the “Adviser Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com
We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…
It’s a new year, new theme, new kids, new ideas… It’s so easy to get caught up in all the fun stuff and lose focus on what really needs to be done. Use this list of the 12 most important things that need to be done by October 1st to help your staff stay focused. (But that doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun!)
Open Your Kit
Your yearbook kit contains all the materials necessary to produce your yearbook.
Start with the “Start Here” Envelope.
Check the Kit Guide to make sure all items have been included
Use the order form on the back to order any additional supplies you will need.
Contact Photographer
Schedule a meeting with you school photographer during the first few weeks of school.
Discuss your full color needs and be sure he understands the importance of deadlines
Give him your deadlines. Predate them one week as a safety margin.
Discuss what you expect from him and what he can expect from you. Find out what services he is willing to perform and schedule his services for important school activities, such as homecoming.
Have senior portraits or DVD delivered to your school at least 10 days prior to your senior deadline
Set dates for underclass and faculty portraits and determine when you will receive your Quick Panel Plus CD
Determine Deadlines
Check your deadline packet from your reps. Make a note of your deadline dates and number of pages due.
Check your deadline packet to determine when your color pages are due, if your book is not all color.
Check with photographer to determine when DVD of senior portraits
Develop a Theme
If you have not yet chosen a theme, select a small group of staff members, preferably returning ones, to work on the theme.
Have them discuss what is new and different this year, and have them make a list of these changes in order to find a theme that fits your school and is unique to this year.
Conduct brainstorminwg sessions with the entire class and present the group’s ideas.
Plan to have the theme appear in some way on the cover, the endsheets, the opening section, the division pages, and in the closing.
Make a Ladder
Before any pages can be assigned, a page ladder for the entire book must be completed.
Check your publication agreement to see how many pages there will be in your book. Obtain enrollment figures for your school from the administration.
Decide on the number of pages you will need for seniors, underclass and faculty.
Make a list of every club, sport, organization, and event you wish to include.
Compute the number of pages needed for each section. Be sure to leave enough space for your opening, closing, divider pages, index and advertisements
Use a pencil for your first draft of the ladder; or laminate it and use a dry-erase pen, or use the HJ Planner program.
Design the Cover
If you attended the Spring Cover Workshop, be sure to finalize your cover design.
Consult your yearbook representative to see what types of covers are available and within your budget.
Decide on the type of cover that best fits your theme and ask your reps to show you examples.
Assign a few staff members to develop a sample design.
Once the style and design are decided, determine exactly what type of material you wish to use, the color of the material, the applied color or colors, and meet with your reps to put it all together.
Decide whether you will order individual name stamps or name plates for the books, and choose the color for these name stamps/plates.
Select Endsheets
Several choices of endsheet materials and styles are available to you including company designed full color, colortext, and solid color. Check with your rep to see what options best fit your budget.
Select an endsheet that will complement your cover and will carry your theme forward. Be sure that the endsheet colors coordinate with the colors of the cover.
Discuss other endsheet options with your reps such as printing on the endsheet, four-color endsheets, die cuts, short-trim endsheets, foil stamping, embossing, and tinted embossing.
Sell Ads
Make a card file that contains the name, address and phone number of every business that has advertised in your book over the last five years as well as merchants who have advertised in other yearbooks in the area.
Add cards for businesses that are owned by parents of students in your school.
Expand your file further by adding businesses in your area from the Chamber of Commerce directory for your city and from the yellow pages. Pass out an equal number of cards to every staff member, letting them select those that they know.
Students must contact each business. Require that a business card or design is submitted for each ad sold.
Give commissions or a bonus to students who sell ads.
Plan Full Color only if you’re not doing an all-color book
Take four Roughing-Its, staple and fold them down the middle. Number them from 1 through 16.
Take this 16-page signature and use it to “rough in” your title page, opening spreads and student life spreads and/or any other signatures that will include color pages.
Plan the color for one flat or the other or both. Try alternating 4-color with spot color on different flats.
Plan to cover activities on your color pages that will occur at least one week before your color deadline.
Refer to your “Basics” booklet (in Your Kit) for more explanation on signatures and flats.
Make a Style Guide
Have each member of the staff make a notebook of graphic and typography samples collected from magazines and brochures. (Ask your reps for a list of good publications.)
Review the samples and choose ideas that the staff would like to include in the yearbook.
Make a style guide for each section that will include the layout style for that section, the type of headline to be used, and the style for copy and captions.
Using Roughing-Its, have staff members use photos and copy from magazines to mock-up double page spreads for each section of the yearbook.
Organize Staff
Select and Editor-in-Chief who is experienced, knowledgeable, and most of all, a coordinator of people. He/she must be able to encourage others to perform.
Choose a good writer with strong personality as copy editor and a good organizer as photo editor. Finally, you should have a financial editor or business manager who is very responsible and who can also motivate people to work.
Divide up the remainder of the staff into sections of the book: Student Life, Academics, Clubs and Organizations, Sports, Seniors, Underclass, and Faculty. Be sure that each section has a good writer and a computer expert.
If you wish, you may select editors for each section.
Sell Books
Decide whether to have a one-day sale or a one-week sale. You will sell more books in a short period of time than you will sell all year.
Prior to the sale, put up posters, make announcements over the PA, send letters home and in general, try to get the students excited about the yearbook.
Remember to include dates and prices in your advertisements.
Juat before the sale, have a yearbook rally and have guest speakers talk about the importance of their yearbooks. Be ready to take orders that day.
During the sale, assign several students to man the tables at convenient locations.
Between setting up your classroom, staff meetings, planning lessons for all the other classes you teach, and just general denial that summer is over, it may be hard to get back into yearbook mode again. If that sounds like you, or if you’re new to this whole yearbook thing, here are 15 ideas for the first week of school that will get the ball rolling:
Expectations - Review your class requirements, grading policies, any planned staff work nights/weekends and the importance of making deadlines.
Information - Complete a staff directory that includes phone numbers, other contact numbers (i.e. email, cell phones, work numbers), class schedules, birthdays, parent’s names, etc…
Theme - If it isn’t already decided or in the works, discuss theme and cover ideas
Critique - Go through last year’s book and have students list and discuss things they liked best and the things they would change
Deadlines - Finalize and post the ladder. Color code it by deadline and list specific spread assignments, which pages will be sent with each deadline, etc. Indicate which pages are going to be printed in color and/or spot color.
Sell - Discuss and plan your book sales campaign. Have students brainstorm ideas to increase book sales.
Ads - Discuss and plan your community, parent, and friendship ad campaigns. Decide whether every student must sell a certain number of ads, if they get bonuses/commissions, how to organize, etc…
Team Building - Start each day with 10 or 15 minutes of icebreakers/team building activities. This will help students get acquainted and get over any fears, shyness, etc. and begin to become a cohesive team.
Ideas - Have each staff member bring in 5 ideas from magazines that could be used in the yearbook. Or, have each student bring several magazines and have a “look for ideas” class.
Practice - Have students refresh and reinforce their design skills by drawing layouts and pasting up photos and type from magazines.
Photograph - Buy disposable cameras, have students shoot photos around campus and “discover” who your best photographers are.
Improve - Have students rewrite 5 captions and headlines from last year’s book. They should try to make them more informative and adhere to the caption writing formula.
Brainstorm - Have students come up with and discuss ideas for feature stories, profiles, polls, and side-bars
Delegate - Ask what special contributions/talents each staffer plans to give to the yearbook. From this conversation, decide each staffer’s strengths and what each student’s responsibilities will be.
Bond - Try to plan one outside of class activity. You could go for pizza, go bowling, go roller-skating — anything that will allow staffers to get to know each other and just have fun.
Yay! You’re done with your yearbook! All you have to do now is wait for them to arrive. Here are 5 things you should do in preparation for your book delivery:
Observe the 48 hour rule - Do not say anything negative about the book or find any errors for 48 hours. You and your students have worked hard and you deserve to celebrate your accomplishments.
Remember that it’s the process, not the product - The yearbook is done by students, and it is truly incredible what they have produced. There will be mistakes, and that is OK.
Don’t panic - If you find a major error or omission, call your rep! We have quick and easy fixes for many common errors. (Example: If you find inappropriate copy and your book is printed on 100# paper, you can remove type with a pencil eraser.)
Secure your books - Yearbooks are a hot commodity, and even the best kids can be tempted. Store your books in a safe location with limited access. Organized, supervised distribution can minimize the potential for theft.
Overrun copies - Sometimes, the plant sends extra books to cover damages and additional sales. You are charged for these books on your final invoice. If you find a damaged book or do not sell the extra copies, tear out the title page of those books and return them with your bill for a credit (HJ Customers only. For overrun policy of other printers, please contact your rep).
Here’s to a happy delivery and stress-free distribution! Whatever you do, remember to take time and congratulate you and your staff for a job well done!!!
I know. Your first thought to this headline is, “I run my yearbook program like a real-world business. How come I’m not getting recognition?”
It’s amazing how many people still think of yearbook as a “glorified photo album”. Many administrators still believe they can just throw anyone into your yearbook class because all your doing is “taking pictures and putting them in a book. How hard is that?”
Well, kudos to the yearbook advisers at Nauset Regional High School in Massachusetts for getting their local paper “The Cape Codder” to publish a story about their yearbook program. It probably helped that a yearbook staffer, who wrote the article, is an intern at the paper. You can read the article here:
Maybe if more schools got local papers to run stories about the “behind the scenes” in yearbook production, schools and administrators will start appreciating yearbook class as a program that teaches students much more than “scrapbooking” skills.
What a great idea! First of all, if you’re not using the power of YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Texting, etc… to promote your book, you’re missing out on a lot of FREE publicity. Check out the video North Forsyth High School created using Adobe After Effects:
Wondering what to do with the kids after the final deadline? Have them create video commercials for next year’s book!
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