September 15, 2022
You’re a Yearbook Advisor! Now What?
Welcome back to school! Classes have begun and you’re preparing for your next yearbook. That’s awesome!
So…What’s Next?
Here at Friesens we want to help, so here’s a list of some things you can do to make sure that you and your yearbook team have a wonderful year.
Start Taking Photos Right Away
You want to start taking pictures as early in the school year as possible – whether that’s your admin returning in the summer, your students first day of school, or even your graduates painting the pictures of their parking lots; these are all very important events that happen at the very start of your school year, and you don’t necessarily have the time to wait until your first yearbook meeting to start collecting those photos.
Meet With Your Print Consultant
Arrange your first meeting with your print consultant and your customer service representative. Your first meeting with your company team allows you to set up time for software as well as training and allowing you to arrange for the best methods of communication between you and your print facility.
Sign Your Contract
Review or sign your preliminary quote or contract from your print provider. Signing your quote or contract allows your printing company time to reserve paper, book press time, and in general make advance preparation for your yearbook to be printed eight months down the line. This really helps them ensure that you get your yearbook on time and get the materials that you need.
Set Deadlines
Get your yearbook set up for success! Make sure that you have an idea of what pages can be completed and submitted to your plant, and you’ll make sure that you never have to worry about late pages.
Assign Roles to Staff
Make sure everyone knows what they’re responsible for, whether that’s assigning equipment to your photographers, or allowing your writers to arrange time for interviews, as well as training for all your staff. You will want to make sure that you’ve got everyone assigned as early as possible so that they can hit the ground running.
Review Last Year’s Yearbook
Reviewing last year’s book with your team gives you the chance to see what went well, see what might need improvement, and tell you how you can make changes for this year’s project. Nobody wants to see it look the same as last year, and this is your best chance to go through and see what changes you personally would like to make.
Get A List of Events
Talking to your admin team about the events that they are hoping and expecting to happen throughout the school year can greatly impact your page ladder. We all know that at the beginning of the year events are possibly a little more fluid than they will be in a few weeks, but this is a really good basis for how you’re going to set up your yearbook.
Prepare a Page Ladder
Preparing your page ladder can tell you all sorts of things. From “oh no we missed this event last year” to “we actually need more pages than we thought we did.” So make sure that you’ve got your page ladder well organized and that way you are prepared later down the road – no one likes surprises!
Get Inspired
Inspiration for photography and design exist everywhere from fashion to video games, to your local library, to even your old yearbooks! You’re going to find design ideas everywhere – make sure that you’ve got a good collection before you start building your yearbook.
Pick A Theme and Create Your Style Guide
Your theme and style guide are the foundation of your whole yearbook. From photography, to writing to layout and design; everything stems from that original setup, so make sure that you’ve got that well arranged.
Plan The Selling of Your Yearbook
Unless you’re a school that has included the yearbook in fees, you’re going to have to sell your yearbook. Working with your print consultant or customer service representative can give you many options on selling and advertising your book. Make sure that you are sending out as many copies as possible because that’s going to ensure the success of next year’s book.
What are your first tasks in Yearbook?