Jostens Yearbooks Tips of the Day Yearbook Tips of the Day for

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Jostens Yearbooks Tips of the Day
This document contains all the Yearbook Tips of the Day that we have sent out since 9/1/2004. It is a searchable PDF. If you are looking for a particular
topic, just click find in Adobe Reader and type in the topic or something related to it. It should show you all the topics that relate. This update includes all
dates through today, October 16, 2015 and is updated every Friday September through May.
If you have questions please contact me.
Yearbook Tips of the Day for September 2004
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/1/04—Making your yearbook a success.
Want your yearbook to be a success? We are sure you do! Having a successful yearbook has nothing to do with winning journalism awards (although that’s
a good thing), having the most color pages or the coolest cover. You can have the most successful yearbook in the history of your school by concentrating
on just three things:
Put everyone in your school in your yearbook. At least twice if you can.
Spell their names correctly and make sure that THEIR name is on THEIR picture.
Get the book to them on time. That means MEET YOUR DEADLINES!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/2/04-Getting all their pictures in the book.
Yesterday we told you about the three things that you need to do to make your yearbook a success. Today we want to give you a tool to achieve one of
those three goals. So, if your goal is to put everyone in your school in your yearbook, here is one way a school of 1250 students found to do it.
They got a system. A system is what makes FedEx able to deliver next day packages or allows McDonalds to make the same hamburger in NYC that they
do in LA. It is a way of doing things the same way, every time. During the year you are going to hear a lot from me about systems. We think they are
GREAT! So for today, create a system like this school did to get every student in their 1250 person student body in their yearbook twice. They did the following:
They got a complete list of all students from their attendance/counseling office. (This was updated during the year with new students.)
They posted it on the wall in their yearbook room. (It’s OK if other see it. That will help sell more books if they know everyone is going to be in the book
twice.)
They got two different colors of highlighter pens. The first time someone appeared in the book (usually his or her mug shot) they highlighted their first
name in pink. The second time they appeared in the yearbook, they highlighted their last name in yellow.
Each day when entering their classroom they could see exactly who was in the book and who wasn’t. At the end of the year, there were no names without
two colors. It was their system that did it. Get one of your own.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/3/04—Spelling their names right every time.
Wednesday we told you about the three things that you need to do to make your yearbook a success. Today we want to give you a tool to achieve the
second of those three goals. So, if your goal is to spell everyone’s name correctly, here’s how.
You will need another system. If you missed yesterday’s tip, a system is a certain way of doing things that you do the same way EVERY SINGLE TIME!So for
today, create a system like this school did to get every student’s name spelled correctly in their 256 page yearbook.
Jostens Yearbook Tips of the Day
© Jim Bellomo@Koobraey Productions 2004
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They did the following:
They used that same list that we talked about yesterday for keeping track of who is in their yearbook. The list they got from the office with everyone’s
name on it. But first they did something very special to it. They displayed that list in a showcase in the main hall. Why did they do that? Because the office
often does not have the name in their files that that person might want in the yearbook. For example, the office might have James Patterson but everyone
knows James as Jim Patterson and that is how he wants to be in the yearbook.
For the first two weeks of school they ran announcements telling their student body that they should check the list in the main hallway display case and
if the name on the list was misspelled or not the name they wanted used in the yearbook they should come by the yearbook room and fill out a slip (the
yearbook staff had already prepared forms) to make sure they got the right name and the right spelling.
At the end of the two weeks, that list went on the wall in the yearbook room so that they could start highlighting it when people appeared in the book
and this is where their system for catching misspelled names comes in.
Each and every time that a name appeared in the yearbook, the person proofing that page would go to the wall and check the spelling of that name. Then
when they turned in their final pages to their section editors, the section editors would also check each and every name. Lastly, the editor or asst. editor
would check the spelling of every name as well when the pages got to them.
To make sure that the system worked, they instituted a fun penalty that said that whoever misspelled a name on a yearbook page that was later caught
by an editor, had to buy that editor their favorite candy bar. Misspellings didn’t happen too often after the first time after that.
Again it was their system that did it. Get one of your own.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/7/04—How to never miss a deadline.
On Friday I promised to tell you how to meet every deadline? To tell you the secret of never missing a deadline. Well here it is. Are you ready?Don’t miss a
deadline. Meet them all. That’s all there is to it.
Ok, just so you don’t think I am being ridiculous here is a story to illustrate what I’m talking about.
In the state of Washington there was a long-time yearbook adviser who retired about 5 years ago. He had been an adviser 37 years. In that time his
yearbook staffs had NEVER missed a deadline. Not one.
A friend of mine was teaching a workshop in Washington and he asked this adviser upon his retirement if he could teach a class at his summer workshop
called, “How I never missed a deadline.” He offered to pay his expenses at the workshop and give him a really nice stipend to get his secret.
The adviser declined. When the my friend asked him why he wouldn’t, he said something that put the entire deadline thing in total perspective. He said, “I
can’t teach a class called ‘How I never missed a deadline,’ because you can’t. You can’t miss a deadline. It’s a dead—line. Dead is the operative word. If you
miss it you are dead.” You see the key to never missing deadlines is your attitude about deadlines. This adviser had the attitude that his very life depended
on his staff meeting theirs and they lived by that. They set up systems, they planned, they worked to make sure that never in 37 years was they even one
day late. An amazing accomplishment.
To further illustrate this point one of the things I really hate to have new advisers ask me on our first meeting is, “What happens WHEN I miss deadline?”
When. Not if, but when. Plan now to NEVER MISS A DEADLINE.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/8/04—The best YearTech tip ever! (People doing YearTech Online can ignore this tip. We
promise one just for you later this week.)
I know that some of you may already have read this (because it was in the Back to School issue of our newsletter) but it bears repeating. Boy does it bear
repeating!
This week I have been getting a lot of calls with questions about installing and getting started with YearTech for PageMaker and InDesign. And so have the
people at our YearTech hotline (who are there if you ever need them at 800-328-2435).
About 90% of those calls could have been skipped if the callers had just heeded this tip:
If you have not done this yet, stop right now and go to your YearTech 2005 box in your Yearbook Kit. Open the YearTech manual and get out the first CD you
can see. It should say Teach Tech on it. That’s the one. (If you don’t find it after you check all the YearTech CDs, call me and we will get you a new one.)
Find some time (about 20-30 minutes) and run at least the first module on Installing the Software, What’s Installed and Fonts. You can go back and run
the rest later. And you should!
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The rest of the disk is great to give to your kids to learn basic YearTech, all about the bar and buttons. And you should pay very special attention to the
proofs and Panel Flow/Panel Express sections.
If you need another copy of the disk, just copy it to your server or internal hard disk and use it from there. It will run fine. That way more than one of your
students can be running a tutorial at the same time.
I know what you are thinking. I never read manuals either. But this isn’t a manual. It’s an easy to follow tutorial. And there are more of them online as well
at http://yearbookavenue.jostens.com. Call or e-mail me if you need your login.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/9/04—The best Photo tip ever!
Yesterday we promised you the photography tip to top all photography tips. Where here it is:
Take lots of pictures!
Is that the most obvious thing you have ever heard? Probably! But we decided to make it today’s tip for a reason. We have now been out to lots of schools
and in talking to advisers and editors and yearbook staffers we have found one problem. Many are not taking pictures every day. There is a lot going on
every day at your school. And now is a great time to take pictures of that. You should already have pics of fall sports practices, registration for school, the
first day of school and anything else that has happened so far. Many of you do not.
Plus, now that many of you are using digital photos, film (and the cost of developing it) is no longer an issue. If digital photography has one HUGE advantage over traditional photos it is that you can take tons of pics without wasting money. Just click and if you don’t like it or use it, delete it.
So what are you waiting for? On the average you should be taking about 15 pictures per school day. There are things that are happening today at your
school that will not happen again. Don’t miss them.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/10/04—Have you got the beat?
Yesterday we tipped you off about taking pictures every day. Today we’ll tell you how to make sure you hear everything that is going on at your school.
Give your class beats. No, not beets :-) beats! As any newspaper adviser or reporter will tell you a beat is an assigned group of people and places that each
member of the staff should check with on a regular basis.
So tomorrow at the start of class brainstorm all the people and places (science teacher, attendance office, ect.) that you could possibly find great photo
opportunities in and around school. Then divide those up among your staff. Each person should have no more than four. Prioritize if you have more than
that. Remember, some like coaches of certain sports will be seasonal.
Then once each week that staff member checks in with the people and places they are assigned to. They ask them quickly if there are any big photo opportunities coming up (things like guest speakers, science experiments, new stuff, old stuff done a new way or just about anything) and when it will be
happening.
Then all you have to do is make sure that you have someone there with a camera. If you can’t get someone there with a camera then what do you do?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/13/04—Disposable Photography
As promised here is ‘What to do if you can’t get someone there with a camera. We know this has happened to you. You hear from somebody that tomorrow your favorite history teacher is dressing up as Ben Franklin or that the Ski Club is going to hold a fundraiser that involves washing cars in the summer
while wearing their ski gear and you just have to have a photos. But there are no yearbook staffers available. Here is a great idea for those times and the
other times when you just need a camera in your hands—fast.
Get some disposable cameras. You know the kind that Costco or Walmart (or just about anybody) sells in packs of 6, 8 or 10? Grab a pack of those and keep
them handy for when you hear about something you want pics of but can find anyone to shoot. Then just hand someone from that club or class or even
the teacher/ adviser and ask them to take some quick snaps for you. They may not be artistic or perfect photos but they will help you accomplish what
should be your number one goal...getting everyone in the yearbook a bunch of times.
And not only should you keep these around to give to non-staffers to take pictures with, you should also stash a couple in different places around the
school like the front office and the cafeteria. Someplace where they can be safe in someone’s desk but all a yearbook staffer who sees a great photo opportunity in that part of the school happening has to do is just get that camera and take that pic.
By the way, when we have suggested this before, some advisers have told us they just lend someone their regular cameras. That’s quite a risk considering
the cost of a camera. With a disposable you still get the picture, you don’t have to teach anyone how to use it and if it gets dropped or lost you are only out
five or six bucks. And if you are all digital Kodak is now marketing a disposable digital camera. Very cool.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/14/04—Is your ladder done?
That’s the question of the day’is your ladder done? If not, why not? By this time of the year (even if you are doing a fall delivery book) your yearbook
ladder should be complete in at least its earliest stages. And when we say complete we mean not just with a section name written at the top of a column
(like Sports) and then ditto marks down 24 more pages.
We mean a complete ladder with a topic for every page. Our typical ladder entry for page 32-33 which is in the Student Life section might read: Student
Life, Homecoming, Feature: minute-by-minute homecoming feature where we follow students around during the entire day from waking up to the
goodnight kiss. Sidebar: info graphic on cost of homecoming.
Do you see what we mean? No page unplanned. And give your section staff’s some ownership and let them have a hand in planning your sections. Let the
clubs people organize the club section (with your approval of course). Have them look at other books and try not to let them make the book a carbon copy
of last years. Brainstorm great new ways to cover your school.
Lastly, avoid the word candids. That is just a way to say, ‘We don’t have a clue what is going on this page. Every page should have a purpose. Instead of
‘Candids’ at the end of the Sport section, how about a photo montage/collage on fans or your concessions at games or any one of a hundred other things
that never get covered at your school.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/15/04—Color Your Ladder
Yesterday we talked about the importance of doing your ladder and making it VERY complete with all the features, sidebars and more. Today we want to
one great trick that will really help your ladder work for you and keep you organized.
Color code it. Once you are done with it (whether you do it online or on paper) print out a copy that you are going to post in your yearbook room. Then get
one color of highlighter pen for each deadline you have. If you have three deadlines, get a green one, a pink one and a yellow one, etc.
Now you are going to highlight all the pages that you are planning to send in on the first deadline with one color. That way you can see at a glance what
has to go in when. (Remember, if you are not doing a lot of color pages, most of it will go in on your first deadline.)After you are done doing your first
deadline, do your final deadline. It is important that you mark off those ‘have-to-wait’ pages right away so you know how many you have to hold. Once
you have the final deadline color coded do the rest in the other colors.
If you really want to go all the way with this organization tool, have your staff fill out all their page envelopes for the entire book, put them in a big box
and run a strip of that same color across the top of each one. That way you can tell at a glance what needs to be pulled out when you need it.
Lastly, don’t forget to get a large black marker so you can put a big page through the page numbers on the ladder when the pages go to the plant. When
all your numbers are crossed out’YOU ARE DONE! YAHOO!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/16/04 —The Best Place to Do Your Ladder
Surprise! It’s not on paper! It’s on Yearbook Avenue. Please surf on over to http://yearbookavenue.jostens.com, log in and click on the Plan menu. Choose
Planning Ladder and a complete ladder organized by signature (16 page printing groups) will open. This is the best place to put your ladder, even if you
are not using our new YearTech Online program. You should be doing your ladder there! Why, well, a number of reasons but the biggest one is that it will
be easier for me to check if for you when you finish.
Plus, it’s a breeze to do it there. You can indicate color by multiple, assign staff to pages, assign pages to deadlines and so much more. And then when you
are done, you can print it out and have a hard copy as well that you can post in your classroom. Very cool! And when you finish don’t forget to e-mail me
that it is done so I can check it for you and make sure your color placement is correct and offer my humble opinions.
So if you have not been to your Yearbook Avenue website yet, e-mail me for your password and login and I will send it off ASAP!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/17/04—A Hot Yearbook Avenue tip!
The last line of yesterday’s tip was, ‘So if you have not been to your Yearbook Avenue website yet, e-mail me for your password and login and I will send
it off ASAP!’ And we mean it. We’ll pass on your login and password as soon as you ask for it. Maybe before. Maybe we already have. But either way, the
most important tip we can give you about your login is to change it.
That’s right change it. As soon as you log in as the adviser, click on Site Logins in the upper right corner of the page. That will take you to a page that will
allow you to change the logins for all three groups (adviser, editor, staff) to something a human can remember. In case you are wondering the original
strange and weird logins were generated by a computer. So be smart and generate one yourself.
And here’s another hot tip (WOW-2 for 1) change that login in (especially the adviser’s) about once a month. And never, Never and we mean NEVER give
our your login to a student. If you do, they will have the ability to submit pages and once they are submitted, getting them back can be next to impossible
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or very costly or both. So plan now to change your password on a regular basis (we’ll give you reminders) and to NEVER give your password to a student.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/20/04—Fake Your Deadlines on Yearbook Avenue
We want you and your kids to use Yearbook Avenue a whole bunch. But as you probably saw when you were on Yearbook Avenue, it shows your deadlines.
Right there on the front page. And believe me, that is not something I would want my staff to know. Not the plant deadlines anyway. If you let them
know the actual plant deadlines, you are going to find that they will wait right up until the last day to turn things in and no matter how you scream, they
know it’s not due until that day.
So, fake your deadlines. Login at the adviser level and go to the Create menu. Choose Page Submissions. When it opens you will see your actual deadlines
AND a set of boxes that you can fill in with staff deadlines. Pretty cool! Then when your kids see deadlines on Yearbook Avenue, they see the ones you set,
not the actual day they have to be in the plant.
We suggest you set them at least a week ahead of the actual deadline if not two to give you time to edit them and mail them. Remember, your deadline is
the day the pages need to be in the plant. Not the day you mail them.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/21/04—Give your newspaper adviser a great gift.
Especially if it’s you!In case you didn’t notice it, your YearTech disks this year included a super disk labeled Newspaper Templates. Now I am sure that
some of you wondered why you had newspaper templates in a yearbook kit. Well a wonderful lady named Betty Bacon (who is in charge of YearTech for
PageMaker and InDesign) saw these great newspaper templates and realized that in some schools the yearbook adviser and the newspaper adviser were
one and the same person. So she decided to include the templates as a free gift for those advisers.
But if you aren’t the newspaper adviser at your school, what should you do with them? Well, make a friend and alk that disk over to your school’s newspaper adviser. They will love you for it. They are really cool templates.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/22/04—Great ways to be creative.
Maybe one of the hardest things to be is creative. And at this time of the year, if you do yearbook, you have to be creative. Themes, designs, color and
all the other great stuff in the yearbook all need a big dose of creativity to be part of the incredible book you are hoping for. So here are three ways to
promote creativity in your staff.
Allow yourself (and your staff) to be crazy, to try new things. Professional creatives don’t hide from stuff you might think is nuts they just jump right in
and try it.
Generate all the ideas you can. Never stop at one idea just because it looks good at first. When you have a problem to solve, yearbook or otherwise, generate at least 10 good ideas before deciding on one.
Don’t force it. This means that to get the best ideas you have to start thinking about them early. It is seldom easy to be creative fighting a deadline. Start
today!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/23/04—Beating the World
In case you missed it, this is an election year. Of course I am kidding. You would have to be living in a hole to not know we are in the middle of one of the
most hard-fought Presidential elections in years. And Iraq is in our minds every day as well as the recent Olympics and so much more in the outside world.
Well, we think your kids will want to remember what happened in this year of their high school careers. Especially the seniors! So, we want to recommend right now that you add World Beat to your yearbook. World Beat is our 16 page, full-color, mini-magazine that covers the world. All the news, social
trends, the styles and so much more. And it is easy to add it to your yearbook when we do your cover specifications. So if you have not thought about
adding World Beat, now is the time. Just drop us a note and tell us to ‘add World Beat. We’ll make sure you get it.
And if you are a middle school or Junior High adviser, maybe World Beat is a little too much for your kids. Then try What’s Up. A younger, more upbeat
version of World Beat.
I can get you copies of either from last year so you can decide what will work best for you. But either way, you are going to want to cover the world this
year, and these are the best ways possible. Plus you add some cool color to your yearbook.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/24/04—Be the Admin
If you are using YearTech Online you can skip this tip.
I know I promised you a great place for design ideas but it will have to wait until Monday. Today I need to address something I am getting a bunch of calls
about from schools who are attempting to install YearTech for PageMaker or InDesign. Especially trying to install it on a network.
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Before you install YearTech 2005 for either PageMaker or InDesign you must be sure to do the following:Put the YearTech CD in the computer.
Open the folder on the CD called PDFs.
Inside you will find a PDF titled admin.pdf.
Print it out!
Give it to the tech person at your school.
Have them read it before they try and install YearTech for PageMaker or InDesign.
And if you are trying to install YearTech 2005 for InDesign CS make sure you are using a white CD that has black print on it. The CD that came out in your
original YearTech box is only for InDesign 2. If you need an InDesign CS disk, please call me today and I will get you one.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/27/04—Some great places to find design ideas.
I get asked a lot where I can find great design ideas. I want to recommend the following: Before & After Magazine. Hands down this is the best design
resource I know of. You can subscribe to this 24 page, full color, no ad design digest at http://www.bamagazine.com. If you ask, they have an educational
discount subscriber rate. They also have a special rate if you want an entire classroom set. If you are teaching graphic design, I can suggest nothing better.
Jumpola.com. On the web, for great design ideas check out http://www.jumpola.com. Jumpola is the best set of links any designer could ever want.
Absolutely fantastic. This website is the brainchild of Chuck Green, a long-time designer knows all and teaches it well with his other website, http://www.
ideabook.com.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/28/04—Gag captions make us gag.
Most of you know that the word gag has two meanings’a joke and a choking reflex. Well the choking reflex is what we sometimes experience when we
read a caption that is supposed to be a joke. So we are doing our best to encourage you to ask your students to stop writing funny captions...for two big
reasons. We’ll give you one today and one tomorrow and by then we hope we will have convinced you.
Reason #1: They hurt people’s feelings. We recently saw a caption in a yearbook below a wonderful picture of a determined but sweaty female athlete
that read, ‘A sprinkle a day keeps the odor away.That probably makes you chuckle, but believe it or not, it is very possible that the comment (which will
be in print forever) will embarrass the girl in the picture. When producing yearbooks, always remember that they last forever and someday your students
children will probably look at them. Your students don’t want to be embarrassed now and they don’t want to be embarrassed later.
Your yearbook is not a place to ever insult anyone. Even if you think it’s funny when your students write it, ten years from now, it probably won’t be.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/28/04—Gag captions make us gag, Part 2
Yesterday we talked about the two meanings of the word gag’a joke and a choking reflex. And how the choking reflex is what we experience when we
read a caption that is supposed to be a joke. If yesterday’s tip showing how hurtful these captions could be did not convince you that you should ban them
from your yearbook, try this:Reason #2: Gag captions are the number one cause of yearbooks being involved in litigation. Yearbooks find themselves
in hot water legally more often as a result of gag captions. Across the country about once every three or four years we hear about a lawsuit that results
from a person being libeled in a yearbook. Libel, in case you don’t know, is lying about a person in print. The number one cause of caption libel is called
false light. In legal terms that is when you imply, rather than state literally, something to be true in a picture that isn’t. For instance, I have seen a lawsuit
involving a photo of a female student seated on a teacher’s lap as a gag with the caption, ‘Mr. Weitz, (the teacher) where’s your other hand. This does not
state that Mr. Weitz is doing something wrong with his other hand (the one that could not be seen in the picture) it just implies it. It is putting Mr. Weitz in
a false light.
If your book had funny captions last year, check them out now. Are there any that could have caused you legal problems. We hope not. And we hope you
ban them from all your books in the future.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 9/29/04—Only slightly better than gag captions
What kind of caption is only slightly better than a gag caption’no caption at all. Now it’s better because it insults no one and can’t get you in trouble but it
is not what a real yearbook needs. Every picture needs a caption. Every picture. I can not stress this enough. And a caption that tells the reader the who,
what, when, where (and possibly why and how) of the photo.
Why do they ALL need captions? Because memories are a strange and fading thing. The longer I am out of high school the less I can recognize people who were
friends. In some cases even seeing candid pictures of close friends in my yearbook (which had very few captions) causes me to have to look through the Senior
section trying to find out who they are. So do your readers a favor. Help them save their memories and put a caption, a good caption, on every photo.
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Tips of the Day for October 2004
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/1/04—Better than no caption at all
What’s better than a gag caption or no caption at all but still not the caption we want on the pictures in the yearbook? A caption we call a no-brainer. And
we still see lots of captions like this in lots of yearbooks. It’s the caption that takes no brains to write and when the reader reads it, you are almost assuming they are brainless as well. It’s that caption that just states the obvious.
For example, let’s say you have a great picture of a guy named Joe running with a football. Even though Joe may be a superb player and great runner and
even though it may be the final play of the state championship game and Joe is on the one yard line, the caption still says, “Joe runs with the football.” See
what we mean? Duh!
Remember, the easiest way to write a great caption is to always list the who, what, when, where and possibly why and how of each and every picture. For
example on this picture our answers would be:
Who: Tailback Joe Smith
What: He is sprinting. He gained 30 yards.
When: During the Adams High game.
Where: Around right end.
Why: Not needed. We know why people run in a football game.
How: Not needed. We know how people run. Their legs just go.
The caption you write:
Tailback Joe Smith sprints around right end for a thirty yard gainer in the Adams game.
Much better caption. It not only tells us everything we need to know but it gives us both Joe’s first and last name as well as an identifier that puts him in
context with the picture; tailback.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/4/04—Getting rid of fonts you don’t need
In the October issue of YourBook, our monthly newsletter (that you should have just received or are about to receive), there is an article about removing
fonts. I have been asked about which fonts you can safely remove and how to do it.
Well, removing fonts is different depending on your operating system. And I don’t just mean Windows vs Mac. I am also talking about all the different
versions of both. Fonts are handled differently in Windows 3, 98, 2000, NT and XP as well as Mac OS 9, 10, Jaguar and Panther. So consult your computer’s
manual for the way to remove fonts for each system.
But we can help with which fonts to not remove. On a Mac, don’t worry about it. You can’t remove any fonts that the computer needs. It will not allow you
do to that.
For Windows, you always need to leave the following fonts:
Arial (TrueType)
Arial Bold (TrueType)
Arial Bold Italic (TrueType)
Arial Italic (TrueType)
Courier 10,12,15 (VGA res)
Courier New (TrueType)
Courier New Bold (TrueType)
Courier New Bold Italic (TrueType)
Courier New Italic (TrueType)
Marlett (Windows 95/98)* Modern (Plotter)
MS Sans Serif 8,10,12,14,18,24 (VGA res)
MS Serif 8,10,12,14,18,24 (VGA res)
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Roman (Plotter)
Script (Plotter)
Small fonts (VGA res)
Symbol (TrueType)
Symbol 8,10,12,14,18,24 (VGA res)
Times New Roman (TrueType) Times New Roman Bold (TrueType)
Times New Roman Bold Italic (TrueType)
Times New Roman Italic (TrueType)
Wingdings (TrueType)
Any font with a red A for its icon.
Any font that begins with the letters MS.
Have a great time taking them out.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/5/04—Getting the fonts you do.
Yesterday we tipped you off about removing all the fonts that you don’t need in order to speed up your computer. Now how about adding some in. Again,
how you add fonts will depend on your operating system. Check the manual that came with your computer or the YearTech manual for how to do this.
But what fonts should you load? Well as far as we are concerned we would recommend adding at least:
Palatino
Palatino Italic
Palatino Bold
Palatino Bold Italic
Helvetica
Helvetica Italic
Helvetica Bold
Helvetica Bold Italic
These fonts are the ones that are in all the Jostens templates that you can open.
We also would recommend adding the fonts for PageSurfers and Click’N’Gos from the folder that you will find on the YearTech install CD.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/6/04—Synchronize your fonts.
One last font factoid. Most of you are working with numerous computers and many of you are on a network. And your kids move from one computer to
another depending on which one is free. The problem is keeping all the fonts on each computer the same so that when Bobby opens his page on computer A today and all the fonts are there he can also open it on computer B tomorrow and all the fonts will still be installed.
If you have this problem, you need to synchronize your fonts. Here is a three step process to do just that.
Remove all but the system fonts from all computer workstations.
On one computer install the exact fonts you want to have for all your computers.
Copy those exact fonts to your server (if you are networked) or a CD-ROM.
Copy those to each machine in your classroom.
Now you are all set. You have the same fonts on every computer.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/7/04—Protecting your digital memory cards
Memory cards (on which you store your digital photos in your camera) can become damaged very easily. To protect your memory cards, as well as any
pictures you have stored on them, follow these care instructions.
Don’t remove the card while the camera is turned on. Doing so poses a big risk to the card and all the pictures it holds.
Don’t turn the camera off while it’s in the process of writing the last picture file to the memory card. An indicator light on the camera should let you know
when the camera is done with this step.
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Try not to touch the contact area of the card ˜ that is, the part of the card that interfaces with the camera’s recording element.
Keep the card in the storage case, if one came with it. Or keep it in the camera.
Although memory cards aren’t exceptionally fragile, they can be damaged by heat, humidity, dirt, static electricity, and a strong magnetic charge, as well
as your puppy’s teeth and the heel of your shoe. Don’t leave your memory card anywhere you wouldn’t leave your camera or other sensitive equipment.
Don’t use memory cards for long-term storage of your pictures. Instead archive pictures on a more secure, non-erasable storage media, such as a CD-ROM
or DVD disc, or your computer’s hard drive.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/8/04—Fill-Flash Mode: Out of the Shadows
Many users of point-and-shoot cameras never take their flash off of autoflash mode, but most cameras come with a mode called fill flash (or fill-in flash,
flash-on, anytime flash, or something close. They all mean the same thing: that the flash fires every time you take a picture. Why would you want flash
when the subject is bright already? To fill unwanted shadows with light.
High sun in particular creates unattractive hollows under facial features. Bobby Student might come to your sunny day pep rally wearing an huge
brimmed baseball cap. You want to document what could be his last only yearbook appearance, but the brim of her hat throws her entire kindly face into
darkness. Add fill flash and that shadow lightens up. Fill flash is really as much a no-brainer as autoflash ˜ and no less automatic in its operation, pumping
out the right amount of light for the occasion.
You have to select fill flash with the flash mode button, of course. But once you do, you can leave fill flash on, and if you go indoors, it does the job there,
too. And how do you get fill flash if your point-and-shoot doesn’t have any way to display a fill-flash icon? Even cameras with few controls often have a
fill-flash button, usually marked with a lightning bolt. But to get fill flash, you must hold down this button until the flash-ready light comes on, and only
then take the picture. You can do the same thing with most one-time-use cameras. Fill flash compensates for the inability of photographic film, or the image sensor in a digital camera, to capture good detail in both the brightest and the darkest parts of some subjects. Though fill flash adds the same amount
of light to both bright and shadowy areas, the extra light is more visible in the shadows.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/11/04—Getting your Title right.
Today I got a box of sample yearbooks from Jostens (more about that tomorrow) and as I was going through them one just stopped me cold. These are
supposed to be top of the line, journalism-wise. And one of them did not have a complete title page. So I thought, what better to cover today than title
pages.
To be brief, your title page is PAGE 1 of your yearbook. A complete title page should have the following:
The title of your book (if you have one—some schools don’t)
The school
The complete address (city, state, zip)
The web site address
The phone number
The school’s e-mail address
The year
The school’s current enrollment (pick a particular day and use the enrollment that day)
Why all these? Well, your yearbook is a history book. Someday your school may increase or decrease enrollment dramatically or it may be closed or moved
to a new building at a different location. These things need to be noted for posterity.
You need some of the other stuff because your yearbook is also a reference book. Someday your student readers will move away and need to contact the
school for transcripts, reunions, letters of reference, etc. Even if the building is moved, the e-mail and website address should remain the same.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/12/04—Strike a Pose.
When posing a group of people for a photo, remember that people tend to get impatient in such situations, especially if they’re among the first to get
posed. Staying enthusiastic and cheerful buys you time and patience from your subjects. Some of the following ideas have proven to work in the past:
Don’t worry, mon. It helps to explain to your subjects not to worry about posing until everyone is in place. Keep them relaxed as long as you can, because
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posing is tiring and stressful for most people.
Please, stay put. Stress to people that you’re going to take more than one photo and ask them not to flee like startled deer the first time the flash goes off.
(Every time they laugh at one of your jokes, you’ve gained a couple more minutes of patience from them.)
Flashers. If your digital camera uses a preflash or red-eye reduction of any sort, either turn it off (if possible) or alert your subjects to ignore the preflash.
Otherwise, they will release their poses just as the main flash fires. When you’re ready to shoot, tell everyone to look directly into the camera lens. Look
carefully through your viewfinder and quickly check each person to make sure that you can see everyone’s face. If you can’t, stop and correct poses. If you
can, start shooting!
Keep your sense of humor, no matter how challenging the group shot may get. If you can keep everyone smiling and relaxed, you’ll get a good shot sooner
or later.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/13/04—Sampling the best there is.
Some of you may not know this but we can get you some of the best sample books in the country. Anytime you would like a set of sample yearbooks to
call your own, please just let us know and we can order one for you. Jostens stocks three different bundles of sample yearbooks. There is a bundle of award
winning Spring delivery books, award winning fall delivery books and a bundle of the best of middle schools/junior highs. All three bundles can be an
excellent source of ideas for you and your staff.
And believe me, if you are trying to upgrade your yearbook journalistically, it is hard to do when you don’t have examples of what you are aiming for.
The bundles are moderately priced (less than $20 per book for some books that are more than 250 pages) and chock full of great ideas that you can adapt
to your yearbook. Just call me if you would like me to order you some.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/14/04—A Yearbook Avenue request.
As today’s tip, we would like to ask you a favor. Would you please (sometime this week) go to your Yearbook Avenue website. Once you are there and
have logged in, please click, the Plan menu and choose School Info. Once the School Info screen opens, please fill it out! We really need this information.
Especially your e-mail address.
One of the big reasons we need it is that just in case you ever lose or forget your login the only way we can give it to you is to have tech support e-mail
it to the address that is listed on the School Info page. So it is VERY important that we have at least your correct name and e-mail address. For security
reasons, we can not just give it to you on the phone. We don’t want to take any chances that a student might get his or her hands on an adviser password
which (in the case of YearTech Online schools) would allow them to submit pages.
If you have not been to your Yearbook Avenue website yet. Please try to visit this week and just take care of this little record keeping matter for us. We will
be eternally grateful. Really! If you need your original login, e-mail or call us and we will give it to you. If this is your first time on the site, we highly suggest you change the login to something you can remember. You can do that by clicking the Site Logins link in the upper right corner of the screen.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/15/04—Another cool thing for those who adviser newspapers.
A couple of weeks ago our daily tip was about sharing a CD that Jostens had sent you that has newspaper templates on it. A lot of you wrote us back
about how great the templates were and to say thanks. Well, here is another little gift for you (if you advise the newspaper) or for you to pass on to your
newspaper advising friend. A superb website with some incredible design ideas for newspapers. Award winning ideas from newspapers around the USA.
If you (or they) have not seen it yet it will become a wonderful source of inspiration.
While you are at it, you might have your yearbook students who are stuck for ideas on design look at it as well. There are great ideas for infographics, ways
to handle polls and lots more. Check it out at http://www.newspagedesigner.com
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/18/04—A good book about writing.
About this time of the year your kids are probably working hard on writing copy. And some of them are probably pretty stuck. Well we try and give you
lots of help here (with the Tips of the Day) and with our monthly newsletter but we have another super resource that you may want to use.
Last year Jostens published an excellent book on writing yearbook copy. It’s called The Radical Write. It’s by Bobby Hawthorne, a long-time journalism
instructor who really understands that yearbook copy is different from other kinds of writing.
If you are interested in getting copies of this book all you have to do is go online to Yearbook Avenue, click on the Educate menu and choose Classroom
tools. If you scroll down you will find a description of the book and a link to order it. The investment is only $22 per book. Every yearbook that has copy in
it should have a copy of this book in their classroom.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/110/04—A Great source of free learning material.
Yesterday we told you about a super book on yearbook copy writing that you can order direct from Yearbook Avenue. Well today we want to alert you to
some great sources of yearbook learning materials you can download for free from Yearbook Avenue. Just click on over to http://yearbookavenue.jostens.
com/, sign in and click on the Educate menu to choose Publications. When that screen opens you will find tons of great teaching materials in the form of
PDFs of past issues of Adviser & Staff magazine as well as photo contest winners, the entire Gotcha Covered Look Book and more. And it is all free. Just
click on it to download it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/20/04—Why you need a perfect picture.
We want you to find a perfect picture. Well, maybe not perfect but a picture that has been taken by someone on your staff and is just exactly the type of
photo that you want to find in your yearbook. It has the right tonal quality, the right content, the right everything. It’s in focus, sharp and clear. If you are
doing an all color book make sure it is bright and colorful. If you do both black and white and color pages, get a great photo of each type.
Now get that photo(s) enlarged as big as you can afford. Hang it in your classroom and tell the staff that the quality of that picture is what they should be
shooting for EVERY TIME!
So often we know what we want pictures to look like but it is hard to convey that to the staff. This is the best way to do that!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/21/04—Never scan a color photo.
Well maybe not NEVER but we certainly hope that you think twice before you scan a color photo that is going on a color page. Why? Because most of the
schools we know of, do not have color correcting monitors in their classrooms. If you do, then by all means go ahead and scan in color. But if you don’t and
aren’t really sure about it, let us scan your color pics.
Digital pics (taken with a digital camera) are just fine. The colors are usually true to life. But with a scanner, you just never know. Besides, the scanners you
have in your classroom probably cost under $1000. Many of them less than $100. But our HELL scanners we use in the plant cost around $1million each.
Which one do you think will do a better job scanning your color pictures.
For black and white pics, go right ahead. You should not have a problem.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/22/04—Choosing background colors the right way.
As you are working on your color pages it is very important that you choose any colors you are going to use as background or for type or graphics the correct way. NEVER rely on what you see on your computer monitor.
In your Yearbook Kit you will find the Jostens Color Guide. If you are working on a process color page and want to use a color for a background or graphic,
then choose them from this guide. Then see the first page of the book for where to find instructions on how to get that color into your computer file.
Colors you see on your screen may (probably will) not print exactly the shade you see them. A quick explanation is that we print in CMYK but you see RGB
on the screen. When you look in the Color Guide you are seeing the colors exactly as they will print in your yearbook. And don’t worry if when you choose
of one of those colors, it doesn’t look on screen the way it does in the book. That just shows you how far off your monitor is when it comes to picking
colors.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/25/04—Process or Tempo colors—it is important to know.
Yesterday we talked about picking color for graphics and backgrounds from the Jostens Color Guide. We want to make sure you know the difference
between the two types of color in the Guide. You will note that it is divided up into two sections, process color and Tempo color. Process colors should be
used on your FULL COLOR PAGES. Tempo color should be used when you are printing a page in black and white plus a SPOT color.
The Process colors are made up of the four basic process colors, cyan, magenta, yellow and black while Tempo colors are actually a colored ink. If you ask
us to run a Tempo color on a process color page, there will be extra charges incurred so make sure you either never do this or that you check with us first.
Schools doing their yearbooks with YearTech Online can not use the Tempo colors at all so stick with the process mixes.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/26/04—Fall Student Life, more than just Homecoming.
Just a quick note about your Fall Student Life section. Since it almost the end of October, this is the time when this is probably getting finished up. We
have noticed over the last few years that an awful lot of Student Life sections tend to be Homecoming and Spirit Week sections. This is just a quick request
for you to make a real, strong effort to cover more in Student Life and/or Activities than just homecoming. Things like registration, holidays, drama
productions, dances, assemblies and so much more. Take a few minutes today and brainstorm with your staff to see if there is anything you missed or
anything coming up that you don’t want to miss.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/27/04—Stop calling Tech Support.
No, we don’t want you to stop contacting our YearTech hotline, we just want you to suggest another, better way—e-mail them!
We often hear from schools that they call tech support and can’t get through during their yearbook class time. We understand. And we hope you understand that we
have a whole bunch a folks out there trying to call tech support at the same time. Unfortunately, we only have so many people and so many phone lines that can answer
a call. And then when you leave a message, it is sometimes difficult for them to get back to you because you are in another class by the time they can call back.
That’s why we recommend that you e-mail them instead. E-mailing causes two good things to happen. One, they can answer you as soon as possible and you’ll get their
answer even if you are in the middle of teaching another class. Two, we have found, especially with students, that sometimes just having them type out the problem
they are having in an e-mail helps them to see the solution themselves. Far too often we are quick to jump to the phone when just thinking through the problem might
bring us to something we already knew but didn’t know we knew. (That sentence was fun, wasn’t it! :))
Of course, when you need tech support call them at 800-328-2435 but if you can e-mail them at [email protected]. And if you are using YearTech Online, just go to
the Contact Menu and choose My Contacts.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/28/04—Get your cameras ready.
It is very likely that if your school allows it, tomorrow will be a day full of incredible photo opportunities. And not just stuff for the Halloween pages either. Nothing is as
cool in a faculty section as teachers dressed for Halloween. So if your students at your school dress up for Halloween, make sure you get the pictures.
If your school does not allow costumes at school, think about getting pics of how others are celebrating in the evening hours. This too is part of your Student Life. Will
anyone wear costumes to the football game or maybe a dance. No matter what, take lots of pictures.
Tips of the Day for November 2004
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/1/04—Having the same swatches in all your color files.
Simply load all the new color swatches you want into a swatch palette in a blank document (we called ours “colors” when we saved it and saved it as a regular document
in the 2005 Yearbook folder where it could be easily found). Then when a student starts a new spread, the first thing they do after saving it into the deadline folder is to
go to the swatch palette, click the little arrow button at the top and select “load swatches”. They then choose the document containing the chosen swatch palette and
boom! They have all the right colors in their swatch palette! This is especially great for Prism schools
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/2/04—Watch out when you revert.
I was at a school yesterday and they were having trouble printing. They had a huge digital photo with 10 other digital photos on the same page. I said let’s see if the big
digital is the problem. So, I used undo picture placer and removed the photo, tried printing and still was not the problem. So, I used revert to last saved version to get
the picture back. The picture came back and all was well....NOT SO... When we opened the page again, the link for the big dominant was not there. That was because
when we removed it with undo picuture placer it also removed the link—even though we chose to revert to last saved version, the page was the same but the link was
missing.
That was one time we should have just deleted the photo instead of using undo picture placer. Or we need to replace the photo instead of reverting.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/3/04—Finding PDA Layouts.
Many of my schools are in the process of putting together PDA (Public Display of Affection) advertisements right now. You may know them as parent ads, senior salutes
or any of a bunch of different names. But no matter what you call them, laying them out can be tedious. Well, let us do it for you.
Just open the PageMaker or InDesign PDA library and drag in your favorite layout. There are 96 for every trim size. And you will find them in the 2205YearTech (2005YT
on PC)>Yearbook Tools(ybtoolson PC)>Click-N-Go(ClickNGo on PC) folders.
In PageMaker just open your Library Palette and then from the drop out menu in the upper left corner of the palette, choose Open Library. Then browse to the library
mentioned above.
In InDesign, choose File>Open and do the same thing.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/4/04—Two reasons to not use downloaded pictures.
Recently a school called me and asked why Picture Placer would not let them place some photos they were going to use for a current events page. I asked the adviser
where they had gotten the pictures and was told that they “downloaded them off the web.” I then asked if they had the permission of the website to use those photos in
their yearbook. They said, “No.” Lastly I asked how big the original photos had been on the website they downloaded them and was told, “They were about two inches by
three inches and we want to enlarge them to four inches by six inches.”
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Well, some of you already know my response. I gave that adviser two great reasons to not use those pictures. First, there is every chance that those photos are copyrighted. If that is the case, then under no circumstances should you use them. It would be breaking the law.
Second, a web photo has resolution of either 72 DPI or 96 DPI. We would love to have all your pictures be the size you want them to print in your book at 300 DPI. 266
DPI is acceptable but 300 is desired. Picture placer will not place a two by three inch 72 DPI web graphic in a photo box larger than about half an inch by half an inch. If
we did, the photo would wind up pixilated.
So, since we know you don’t want pixilated photos in your yearbook and we know you don’t want to break the copyright laws, please don’t try and place downloaded
photos in your yearbook.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/5/04—What is a megapixel.
After yesterday’s tip on low resolution photos, a number of advisers asked me about digital photography. One of the big questions had to do with buying cameras and
megapixels. A lot of people have a hard time with megapixels so here is an easy answer to a technical question.
The term megapixel means 1 million pixels. A pixel, in case you’re new to that word as well, is the basic building block of a digital photo. It’s nothing more than a tiny
colored square—you can compare it to a tile in a mosaic. Your digital camera builds photographs by arranging pixels in a rectangular grid. Most digital cameras today
can generate at least 1-megapixel images. The more megapixels your camera offers, the larger you can print your photos without noticing any drop-off in photo quality.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/8/04—Motivating your staff with PERKS.
About this time of the year, your yearbook staff may be starting to drag a little bit. One of our favorite things to remember when we want to motivate our staff is PERKS.
You know perks. They are those little extras you get when you work a great job. For instance, if you are President of the US you might get a 747 to use whenever you
want to. Or if you are big shot executive, you might get a company car. Or if you are a secondary school teacher you might get to borrow some paper clips every once in a
while (just kidding).
But when I am talking about PERKS for your yearbook staff I am talking about five different things you can do to motivate them. So this week, we’ll look at one each day.
Today P. P stands for Participation. Let your staff have ownership over all or part of the yearbook they are creating. Make sure you are the adviser (that means you advise)
and the editors edit. Neither of you runs the entire show. Numerous management books have been written that conclude that “ownership is the most important part of
effective management.” A staffer who feels they have no say in the yearbook is not motivated to work on the yearbook to their highest ability.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/9/04—More PERKS. Today the E.
The E in PERKS stands for Environment. Make yearbook a fun place to be. If you have a yearbook-only classroom, decorate it! If you share your room, create a corner or a
closet or even just a bookshelf to call your own. Make Yearbook a class people want to be in. A class they want to sign up for.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/10/04—More PERKS. Today the R.
The R in PERKS stands for Recognition. Give awards. Create a “photo of the week” award. Pass out certificates for free videos, hamburgers, anything you can beg, borrow
or steal from local businesses. Buy a staffer a candy bar now and then. Celebrate the things they do well. Give standing ovations. We spend far more time concentrating
on the the things people do wrong than we do on catching them doing something right. Make a point to look for the good and then recognize it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/11/04—More PERKS. Today the K.
The K in PERKS stands for Knowledge. Be sure to train your staff well. And keep up with the training. Remember a poorly trained staff is now one’s fault but the person
who didn’t train them. And make sure they not only know HOW to do the things they need to do but WHAT it is they are supposed to be doing. So many times we are in
yearbook classrooms and we see kids doing nothing. When we ask them if they know how to create a layout or write copy, they say yes. When we ask them if they know
what they are supposed to be doing right then, they have no clue.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/12/04—More PERKS. Today the S.
The S in PERKS is for Style. You need to have one. A consistent style. Keep your staff motivated by being the same type of person all the time. Not a wonderful happygo-lucky buddy three weeks before the deadline and nasty, horrible ogre for the week before the deadline. Even off. Try your hardest to not be too soft in the slack times
and too hard in the tough times.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/15/04—Yearbook is important.
Scholastic Journalism (and that includes yearbook as well as newspaper) is so much more important than you probably think. We recently came across a study by the
American College Testing Program (the folks that do the ACT test) that said that, “College freshman who have been on a high school yearbook or newspaper staff tend to
perform better in their first year college English classes and tend to earn higher grade point averages than those without such experience.”
We tell you this so the next time you are recruiting kids in Junior year English classes, you have a great reason to tell them why the best and brightest should join the
yearbook staff. And when the principal tells you that yearbook is just an extra-curricular activity that could be cut, this might come in handy as well.
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Of course for this to be true, it does mean that your yearbook needs to be more than a photo album. It needs to have good coverage, good design and excellent writing.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/17/04—Don’t send baby pictures to the plant.
While we don’t particularly like Senior Favorites we realize that Senior Baby pictures are a big part of your Senior Ad section. Your PDA (Public Display of Affection) ads
are probably full of them.
Well, we want to encourage you to not send baby pictures to the plant. If there is anyway you possibly can, scan them and send the scans. The plant does their best to
return all the actual photos you send in to be printed in your yearbook. But with more than 10,000 yearbooks going through each year, we can not give you (or the parent who gave you their only missing teeth baby picture) that every picture will come back.
Save yourself some trouble and scan your baby pics and give the parents their pictures right back!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/18/04—To Flash or Not to Flash.
If you’re a sports fan, you’ve probably noticed that each big play at a night game ignites a thousand points of flash in the grandstand. Professional photographers joke
about the phenomenon, because they know most of those pictures won’t come out. They know that there’s just no way such a small flash can light a stadium. Alas, your
point-and-shoot has no way of knowing that the subject is too far away to light. It just sees the lack of adequate illumination and flashes blithely away. It pumps out
every particle of light it can muster, but merely overexposes the heads of the people in front of you, turning them into hairless wonders. Distant sports action ends up
darker than the mood of a losing quarterback.
What to do? Just turn the flash off! Don’t be shy. Press the flash mode button until the LCD panel shows a lightning bolt slashed through by the universal “no” symbol
? a circle around a diagonal line. On some models the canceled bolt may also be accompanied by a moon or star symbol. Whatever the icon, the idea is that you’re
turning the flash off in dim light ? oddly enough, in light that would otherwise cause it to fire automatically. Here are some other times and places when and where you
should also consider setting the flash-off mode: When you’re shooting far-away subjects that would otherwise automatically trigger the flash ? a landscape at dusk, for
example. When the quality of light is an essential part of the picture that you want to create. When you’re shooting through a window.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/19/04—Going Steady: How to brace your camera.
When you’re shooting in fairly low light ? whether by a window, by artificial indoor light, or at dusk outdoors ? your point-and-shoot may have to set a fairly slow
shutter speed to get enough light to the film for a good exposure. A slow shutter speed means that if you don’t hold the camera steady, your pictures may be ruined
either by a visible blur or (almost worse) just an annoying lack of sharpness ? an effect called shake. In low-light situations, advanced photographers sometimes resort
to tripods—three-legged collapsible supports that not only keep the camera steady but allow you to control composition and your point of view more precisely. You
can even use tabletop tripods ? miniature versions that must be used on elevated surfaces and that let you angle the camera in any direction. But other (free) steadying strategies work as well: One is simply to steady your arms against your body, specifically, pushing your upper arms into your chest as your shoot. At the same time,
you can spread your legs widely, turning yourself into a “bipod” ? a human tripod. Or, if a vertical surface is near your shooting position ? for example, a wall or door
frame—you can lean against it as you shoot. While you’re at it, take a deep breath and push the shutter button as you slowly exhale. Finally, if you can find a table,
chair, ledge, or shelf that suits your point of view, you can rest the camera on it as you take the picture. However you brace the camera, be sure to press the shutter button smoothly—no stabbing motion allowed. You can also set the camera to self-timer, take your hands off, and have the camera fire by itself. Knowing how to operate
the mechanics of your camera is only half of what it takes to get great pictures.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/22/04—Not enough resolution.
One of the things we get asked a lot is: Why is Picture Placer giving me an error saying “There is not enough resolution in the pictures to fill this window. Try another
picture.”?
One of the advantages of using Picture Placer is that it will not allow you to import an image onto your layout if it doesn’t meet our resolution requirements. If there is
not enough resolution, a message will appear saying to try another photo. If you don’t have enough resolution in the picture, it will do what is called pixelating. That
means your photo will be made up of a whole lot of very noticeable dots. This is never a good thing.
If you have a photo you absolutely have to use in spot that Picture Placer will not allow you to place it, you can open the original up in Photoshop, change the Image
size to the 5% bigger than the box you need to put it in, then save it and try to place it again. That should work. Make sure that in the Image Size window the resolution
reads a minimum of 266 ppi (pixels per inch) and the physical size (width and height) is 5% larger than your photo box in PageMaker or InDesign.
This is not a great work around but it is better than nothing if you HAVE to use the photo. NEVER attempt to enlarge a photo after you have placed it using Picture Placer
in either InDesign or PageMaker. Neither of these programs do a great job of enlarging pictures and your photo will not look that good.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/23/04—Removing reflections from eyeglasses in Photoshop.
Light bouncing off a subject’s eyeglasses can create reflections that are distracting at best and obscure part or all of the eye area at worst.
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If the reflection is limited to the frame of the glasses, you can remove the problem fairly easily. Either clone some nearby frame pixels over the reflection
or set the foreground color to match the frame color and paint over the bad spot. Do the repair job on a separate layer and reduce the layer opacity slightly
so that you retain some of the original highlights. Make sure that the brightness of the repair matches that of the surrounding pixels so that you don’t
create a noticeable break in the photograph’s lighting.
Fixing reflections that fall over the eye area prove trickier. If enough “good” eye pixels are available, you can clone over the reflection. You may need to
clone from the opposite eye and then transform the cloned area to match the shape and size of the original eye. If your photo doesn’t have enough good
eye pixels and you have another photograph of the subject, you can try copying the eye area from that picture and pasting it over the reflected area of
your current photo.
Tip: You can use these same techniques to remove reflections from any shiny object, by the way. Don’t scrap that photograph!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/24/04—Thank you very much.
Thank you for being a great customer! Thank you for working with us (whether for the first time this year or for the last 20 years). Your loyalty is appreciated more than you know. Thank you for being our friend Thank you for meeting your deadlines. Thank you for returning your proofs on time. Thank you
for paying your deposits on time. Thank you for letting me work with your great kids. Thank you for understanding when things don’t quite go the way the
are supposed to.
And thanks for reading these crazy tips of the day we keep sending you and responding to them so well.
Have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow with your family. We’ll see you next week.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/29/04—A follow up to image editing in Photoshop.
After I sent out the tip for last Tuesday that concerned removing reflections from eyeglasses in a photo I received this response from one school.
“While I appreciated the tip on how to alter a photographic image in Photoshop to remove unsightly glare from eyeglasses, I think
the message should have included a note that this is not journalistically acceptable. When this is done, the image is no longer a documentary photo but is a photoillustration and should be labeled as such. Manipulation of photos is an important ethical issue just as changing quotes or
making up information for copy or caption. I would expect Jostens to be strong advocates for strong journalistic ethics. If individuals choose to make
alterations, that is fine, but I think you also have a responsibility to explain this is journalistically wrong.”
I thought about this for a awhile and here are some thoughts—I fully understand about the photo illustration vs photo question. It is something those in
the NAAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) debate all the time. The general feeling in journalism (professional and scholastic) circles is
this:
If a photo is changed in a computer to improve its quality (removing lens glare or red eye, etc.) and you could do this same thing in a darkroom then it
is still a photo. If something is added or subtracted from it that viably changes its content, it becomes a photo illustration or piece of art and should be
labeled as such.
Under your strict definition (and objection to my original tip) all the senior photos in all yearbooks that have been retouched by the photographer to
remove zits and scars are photo illustrations and should be labeled thusly. The same would be true of removing red eye. This surely improves a photo but
does nothing to change its content. Removing lens flare from eyeglasses would certainly not change the content of the photo. Removing the glasses in
Photoshop obviously would and this should be labeled a photo illustration.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 11/30/04—”I’ve got nothing to do.”
Ever hear this from one of your yearbook staff. For some reason about this time of the year, I start to have advisers asking me what to do with students
who had pages on the first deadline and don’t have any due on the second. Those students not only are bored but they will often get in the way of the
folks who are still working on production materials by being a distraction in the yearbook room.
For the rest of this week let’s take a look at some things those people could be doing to help give them something to do and move the rest of the staff
towards meeting their deadlines.
Today—tell them they aren’t done with the book until the whole book is done! That means that even though their pages are complete, their job isn’t
until the entire book is finished. So what do they do? They become little worker bees for the others who are still working. Think of all the things they can
do to help; finding names of people in pictures, typing idents (the long list of names under group shots), following up on interviews to make sure all the
quotes are right, taking pictures of those people interviewed for QuickReads and so much more.
The biggest thing you have to overcome with them is the attitude that “I did my pages. I’m done.” No one is done until we are all done. It’s a team effort.
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If you have other things you do with staffers who think they are done, could you please drop me a quick reply and let me know.
Tips of the Day for December 2004
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 12/1/04— “I’ve got nothing to do.” Part 2.
Yesterday we started talking about things to do when kids think they are done with working on the yearbook just because their particular layout is finished. I had asked for some suggestions on other things you did and WOW did I get a bunch! Thank you. One of my favorite advisers sent this list. I promise
more for the rest of the week but this pretty much sums it up.
“I NEVER HAVE THIS ISSUE, BECAUSE WE DEPARTMENTALIZE; but that said: They could look in other school’s yearbooks for great quick
read ideas, great copy treatment, great headlines; They could think up good interview questions for quotes for their next pages
They could experiment with InDesign or PageMaker to improve their skills They could proof stuff someone else did, for mistakes
They could clean out drawers, cupboards and the rest of the yearbook room. They could read publications like CSPA stuff or Gotcha Covered
or Taking Issue, to improve their knowledge base of yearbook. They could go from teacher to teacher finding out what’s photo worthy in the school
coming up in the next week in their classrooms. They could start on the next deadline’s pages today.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 12/2/04—”I’ve got nothing to do.” Part 3.
Here are some more great suggestions we got from your fellow advisers. “Extra duties for non page people: Checking names, spelling on pages (the more
time a page gets looked at the better). Have them initial after they proof. Taking pictures - the more the better - even if they are random. In fact, they can
be concentrating on who isn’t in the yearbook and go and get their pics. Surveys - if you need some more interesting coverage, surveys are time consuming. Even if the surveys are not for their pages they can still create, distribute and tally them up.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 12/3/04—”I’ve got nothing to do.” Part 4.
Here are some more great suggestions we got from your fellow advisers. This is the last day of these, we’ll start a new theme on Monday. I got this from a
great adviser who has had this problem in the past and has an idea how to avoid it in the future.
“I have had a lot of problems with this in the past. Consequently, I completely changed the process for assigning pages this year. I started
out the year asigning pages for Deadline 1 only and made sure that the number of pages each student was assigned to was equitable. I had check
points for articles/pictures/layouts etc. I had a final due date for the pages and then an editing process that followed. Next, I assigned each student
pages for Deadline 2 and followed the same procedure. And so on and so on for the rest of the yearbook. This way the year is broken up into smaller
segments and a student is responsible for something on each deadline I set. It has been working really well so far.”
Another adviser wrote us, “We send out letters to businesses and parents to order business and happy ads. Envelopes always need
stuffing and addressing. This is good busywork, but necessary work for “bored” staffers, or for floats who have no special job! They can still visit and
hang out, while accomplishing something.”
And another told us, “I always find that when students are “done” they can organize photos and tidy up a lot of loose housekeeping
ends. Hope this helps.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 12/6/04—DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! Will Robinson.
For those of you not old enough to remember it (or you have never seen it on Nick at Night) that’s the cry of the robot on Lost in Space. And he always
yelled when catastrophe was imminent. An adviser sent me the note below. This applies to all of you (not as much to lose if you are doing YearTech Online
as most of your page material is on our server) but those using InDesign and PageMaker take note!
“Help! Our school’s server crashed over the Thanksgiving holiday and we lost everything we have done on the yearbook so far this year. We had
thought that the yearbook would be part of the backup on the server that our school tech person does each night. However, to our surprise, it was
not.
When you get a chance, an idea for a daily tip is to remind other advisers to start backing up the yearbook files on a daily or weekly basis might be a good
idea. They should not rely totally on the school’s network backup. If the server crashes, they should have a backup of their own.”
Boy is she right about that. Is your data backed up? More tomorrow.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 12/7/04—The best way to back up your data.
After yesterday’s frightening story about the school that lost their entire yearbook off their server I hope you all went directly to your school’s tech director
and asked them if they are making backups for you. If they are, GREAT! If not, either they need to start or you need to do your own.
I want to recommend that you think about doing your own. It is fairly inexpensive (in fact if you are working on a server and have a workstation with a
good sized internal hard disk that you can access, it is a piece of cake.
Let’s talk about that today. Backing up a server to an internal hard disk. If you have access to your internal hard disk (C drive on a PC) all you need to do is
copy the entire 2005 Yearbook (2005yrbk on PC) folder to your internal hard disk every night.
We suggest doing it just as you leave the classroom because it is going to take a while. Leave your computer running and drag the folder from the server
to the internal hard drive. After you do it once, it will ask if you want to replace the folder. Tell it yes. You will need a fair amount of room but a fairly new
computer with a 20 gigabyte hard disk should be able to handle it and most of you will have a larger disk than that.
You need to do this on a REGULAR basis. It can be daily, weekly, monthly—whatever you can afford to lose. I bet when you read that you decided to do it
daily, didn’t you.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 12/8/04—Other backup alternatives.
Yesterday we talked about using your internal hard disk for back up of your server files. But you may not have the room on that disk or you may not be
able to save to it every night or you may not even have permissions to use it all. What do you do then. Well, until your entire 2005 Yearbook (2005yrbk on
PC) is more than 650MB you can back up to a CD-R or CD-RW disk if you have a CD writer.
Another possibility is backing up to floppy disks but as I wrote that I actually found myself laughing out loud as no one really uses floppy disks anymore do
they? One digital photo shot on a 5 megapixel camera won’t fit on a floppy.
Another option would be to buy your staff an external firewire or USB 2.0 drive. Then you can back up to that every night. An added plus is that if your
server is ever down during yearbook class you can work on the files from that drive. Keep in mind that if you do work on those you need to copy them to
the Server when it is usable again. These drives are readily available at most computer stores for less than $200 for more than 150 gigabytes.
If you do use one of these you might want to back up the server folder every day and keep two copies. One that you back up on Monday, Wednesday and
Friday and one that you back up on Tuesday and Thursday. That way if you ever mess something up or have a file go bad, you can grab the one you were
using from the day before and use it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 12/9/04—One last backup possibility.
So you can’t back up to your internal hard disk, can’t fit the book on a CD, it would take 500 floppies and you don’t think a big external drive would work
for you. How about the new USB key drives. You have probably seen these at the checkout counters of computer stores. They are even showing up in
department and grocery stores too. They are real small (fit on a keyring) 256MB or 512MB drives that you stick into your computer’s USB port and then
instantly mount. The best part about these is that each student could have their files to take home with them (if each student had a key drive) and you
could easily move them from computer to computer. Even if they were in a lab, your room or at home.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 12/10/04—You need to archive.
All week long we have been talking about backing up your data. Today I would like to talk about archiving. Archiving is what you do when you are finished
working with specific data (like Deadline 1) and want to keep a copy but also want to get it off your server to free up space.
We suggest archiving your Submit folders immediately after every deadline to a CD. When you make one to send to the plant, make two more for yourself
and keep them in two different locations. This is a good idea for anything that you have on any computer that you want to keep for future use.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 12/13/04—Planning on personalization.
It is almost that time of the year when we need to get busy and finish up any personalization (name stamping for those of you who have been around for
awhile) and get it in to the plant.
If you haven’t worked on it yet, start today by downloading the ItPays software from
Your Yearbook Avenue website. Just go to the Sell menu to download it.
You don’t have to enter all the monetary stuff about each student just their names and the icons the students have ordered. To do this, just make sure to
click the Personalization Only mode button when you enter ItPays.
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When you are done you can send the ItPays.txt file to me or to your consultant as an e-mail attachment or on a floppy disk. Hey! There’s a use for them
after all.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 12/14/04—One more idea on what to do when they are done.
The week of November 29th we did a series of tips on what to do when staffers have finished their pages. Well, I thought we had exhausted that topic but
no, one new suggestion came in that I thought deserved an airing.
“I know you are done with this topic, but I actually have come up with something a little different. I have students work on a “Mini” yearbook, whereby
they come up with there own theme ideas, create a cover, opening closing pages, theme page, sports template, divider template, candid spread, portrait
layouts, ad pages, etc. This is an ongoing project, so when they are light on Yearbook work, they have their own work to do. I generally get some good
results.
Plus, I know that if there is some sort of emergency, I have 25 other potential candid pages, sports pages, etc. basically ready to go. The students take a
lot of ownership of the project since it is all theirs and it gives them a structured way to practice various yearbook skills that they might not have as much
opportunity with which to gain experience.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 12/15/04—Send us your pages.
As you we fast approach the upcoming Winter holidays when you hopefully will have a full two weeks of well deserved break, please do us a big favor.
You see, while you are off enjoying the holidays, our plants will be open and working every day except the 24th and 31st. So look around today and see if
there are any pages that you can see that you might be able to finish up this week and send in. We don’t care if you only send two, send them! We’ll work
on them while you are gone and hopefully have proofs for you when you return.
If you are using YTO to create your book and you have a couple of pages that are almost finished, try and get them to the Submit point before you leave.
Especially anything that will complete a signature.
The folks at the plant would really appreciate it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 12/16/04—Check on your proofs.
Yesterday we asked you to send in any pages you might have that were almost ready so that we can work on them while you are gone. Today, do me a
favor and please check
Your Yearbook Avenue website (this does not apply to YTO schools) to see if you have proofs headed your way in the near future.
You can do this by logging on and then going to the Create menu and choosing Page Proofing. If you have any pages that show Proof Out but that you
have not received those proofs, please check back at school within the next few days if you can. These proofs are in the mail already and we need to
get them back in a timely manner. We hate to intrude on your holiday but since we know you sent in totally complete and thoroughly proofed pages it
shouldn’t take you but a few minutes to go through them and send them back.
The folks at the plant will really appreciate this too!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 12/17/04—Have the best holidays ever.
We want to wish you and yours the happiest of holidays! And we hope you take advantage of every minute of your well-deserved winter break. And have
a happy (and safe) New Years.
Tips of the Day for January 2005
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/3/05—Check your Snailmail mail box.
Welcome back to a brand new year of yearbook! We just want to remind you that somewhere in that huge stack of mail you have waiting for you (if they
have even sorted it yet) is the January issue of YourBook. And the January issue has some very important stuff in it. That includes; a look at New Year’s
Resolutions for Yearbook Advisers, some for yearbook editors as well, our annual photo contest, a poster on hot yearbook design trends and two really cool
Photoshop tips. One for YearTech Online folks and one for all of you who use Photoshop.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/4/05—Making the best use of our newsletter.
Lots of our advisers use our monthly YourBook newsletter in different ways but the ones who use it the best do the following:
They peruse the overall newsletter and check out special items that are for advisers only.
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They pass it on to their editors to do the same.
They make copies of articles that might apply to all staffers and circulate those.
They pull out the centerfold poster and post it on the wall. (Some of them like the newsletter so much, they make a copy before doing this so they can keep the newsletter intact.
They file it in a three ring binder for easy reference later in the year or next year.
We fully understand how busy you are and how little time you have to read yearbook related material but we promise that if you do read it, you may make your life as an
adviser easier and you will definitely find some tips that will improve your yearbook, now and in the future.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/5/05—A word about Senior Favorites (Superlatives).
I get questions about this topic all the time. If we take senior faves out of the yearbook what can we replace it with and what do we do about those favorites. Well, here
are two suggestions.
First, if you can’t figure out any other coverage to take the place of senior favorites (if you already had them on your ladder) how about some coverage of actual award
winners. People who are important because of something they have done. Or create some award winners that are based on actual achievement. Why not an award for
the seniors who improved the most scholastically and/or athletically since they were freshmen.
As to what to do with Senior Favorites because everyone at our school likes them so much...see if you can get the school newspaper to feature them in their last issue.
The best part of this is that the paper won’t last forever like your yearbook will and no one will have to endure being named “most likely to be tardy” forever.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/6/05—Computers and liquid don’t mix
Yesterday I was in a school and this came up when the adviser asked the staff (actually she told the staff) to please not bring drinks into the yearbook room and have
them anywhere around the computers. Her comment made me look around and sure enough, there were kids with cokes, lattes and water bottles. And of course that
was exactly what they told her, “Mrs. Smith, I have a lid on my latte,” or “Mrs. Smith, my water bottle is closed.”
Well guess what folks, Mrs. Smith is right on. Liquid of any kind and computer keyboards and mice do not mix. If you are not completely banning any liquids from being
anywhere near your computers then you are playing with the proverbial fire and the situation is just an disaster waiting to happen.
Start today! Make it a rule. No liquid (covered or uncovered) near the computers.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/7/05—E-mailing your personalization file.
If your book is set up for Spring delivery it is time to be sending in your personalization files to the plant. For those of you who are old hands at yearbook, that’s your
name stamping. To send them in all you have to do is the following:
Download the latest version of the ItPays software from your Yearbook Avenue website. It is on the bottom of the Sell menu. Hopefully you have already done this and
have the name in it, if not. . .
Type your names in ItPays. When you first open it, choose Personalization Only mode.
Once all the names are in and proofed, you can then find the text file called itpays05.txt. For Windows users look in C>ItPay>itpays05.txt. Mac users will find it in the
same folder you have the ItPays application in.
Once you have locate the itpays05.txt file you can send it to the plant via e-mail directly to your consultant. Do me a favor and copy that e-mail to me so I know that
it was sent and so I have a copy in case something happens to the one you send to the plant. Make sure to make the subject line of the e-mail: itpays text file for Job
#00000 Your High School.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/10/05—The most important yearbook sheet .
About this time of the year it is important that you watch your mailbox (your snail mail, USPS mailbox) for your Yearbook Specifications Sheet. It will come to you in a
white envelope and the sheet is white with blue and black print. It says Yearbook Specifications at the top left.
This page is everything about your yearbook that you need to make sure is correct. Is your school name spelled correctly? Is your name spelled correctly? Are the colors
for your cover correct? Do we have all the pages you have mailed? Do we have you credited for all the deposits you have paid? Do we have the right multiples showing in
process color? If you check all the sections on this box, once each month, you should be AOK! If you see anything that is incorrect, either call or e-mail me immediately or
call your consultant at the plant.
Please! Do this today!
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/11/05—Don’t send the plant too much.
This tip is primarily for schools using PageMaker or InDesign. In talking to one of my advisers this morning she told me she had copied the deadline folder,
the links folder and the Submit folder to send it to the plant. I told her that was WAY TOO MUCH! When you send in a deadline we need the following:
A page envelope for every page with a printout of the page inside. Please make sure to fill out the entire outside of each envelope. This is a great job for
someone who has nothing else to do.
An non-digital pictures in the envelope as well.
A disk with only the Submit folder from that deadline (make sure you have Gathered all the pages).
A completed Pages Submission Report (PSR) with all pages circled that are in that deadline.
And that is all. Nothing more. Just that.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/12/05—A note about the Pages Submitted Record (PSR).
You all know the Pages Submitted Record (hereafter described as the PSR) form. It is that pretty pink and orange form that has all the numbers on it for
you to circle when you send in those pages. Well many new advisers and some old ones have not realized that we only send you two or three of those in
your yearbook kit for a reason.
Once you have sent in a deadline, we send you a copy back via snail mail of the PSR. On the copy we send you (which is a duplicate NCR form) we print the
date we received each page on top of the page number.
You should then use this form to send back to us with your next deadline. The biggest reason for doing this and not sending a new form is that you won’t
send a duplicate page 15 (for instance) if you go to circle page 15 and it already has a date of submission marked on it.
So your goal is to finish the year with one of the two PSR forms you got at the start of the year still in your possession. Of course if you have some pages
ready to go before you get the old one back from the plant, feel free to use that blank one and ask us (or order via your Yearbook Avenue website) for
more.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/13/05—Tell your photographers to “GET CLOSER!”
One of the best parts of the new YearTech Online is that from my office computer I can go and look at the progress of yearbooks that are being created
online by those schools using the program. They are looking GREAT! And this tip is for everyone. I just thought of it while reviewing those pages.
But one think I did notice that you need to work on (this pretty much goes for everybody) is that you need to tell your photographers to get a lot closer.
I am seeing way too many photos taken from across a classroom or a gymnasium with people the size of ants. Please stress to your photographers that
the best pictures have lots of faces and very little extraneous background. Years from now no one will care how shiny the gym floor was but they will care
about the look of determination on the faces of your basketball players.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/14/05—Ways to get closer.
Yesterday’s tip talked about getting your photographers to get closer to their subjects when taking pictures. We can’t stress this enough. But how? We
know three great ways to do this. In order of preference, here they are.
Physically move. So many photographers sit in the stands or stand by a door to take pictures. Tell them to move around. That you want to see shots from
all over.
Use a zoom or telephoto lens. This can do a great job of getting the camera right into the action when the circumstances do not allow the photographer to
move closer themselves.
Crop judiciously. If you use a high enough resolution on your digital images or print enlargements of your conventional photos then you should have no
problem cropping in to a close up.
No matter how they do it, tell them to “GET CLOSER!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/17/05—No ransom note yearbooks.
One other thing I have seen on some proofs this year as well as on the online books is a plethora of fonts. Even though you can only use 14 in your Online
book at one time, I have actually seen some pages with all 14 used on one DPS.
Please don’t do this. Design-wise it turns your book into a ransom note. You know, “send money or we’ll shoot this yearbook.” And that is never good.
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Fonts should be limited by having a purpose. It is most common to have a single font throughout your book for body copy and captions and to vary
headline fonts by section. And with today’s high end design you might also use different fonts for sidebars or as graphics. But please, don’t use fonts just
because you have them. Always remember the first rule of desktop publishing, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/18/05—Comments on other things that don’t belong in yearbooks.
After my previous tips on Senior Favorites and why the don’t belong it today’s yearbooks some advisers wrote me asking about other stuff that they felt
should not be in their yearbooks and asked me to comment on them. Many felt these items were holdovers from the past that should be let go.
Before I get into this, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. Like it says on the front our newsletter we send you each month, it is YOURBOOK! No matter
what my opinion is or what judging and critique services say you always have to keep that in mind. With that caveat let’s look at Last Will and Testaments.
Sure these can be fun but they can also be insulting. They are often libelous. That means in no uncertain terms that unless you know exactly what every
word in them means, you should not publish them in a yearbook because yearbooks last forever and the last thing you ever want to do is have someone
belittled or insulted in a yearbook that will still be around at their 50th reunion.
A better thing for Last Will and Testaments is as a photo copied list that might be passed out at a Senior breakfast or end of the year party. That way they
are not a part of your book and will probably not survive to hurt someone’s feelings in 2055.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/19/05—Dedications?
Continuing in the same vein as yesterday while remembering that it is your book and not ours let’s look at dedications. I once knew a principal that asked
a new adviser to please discuss with the yearbook staff the idea of dropping the school’s long standing tradition of dedicating the yearbook to a different
faculty member each year. His reasoning was that the dedication was causing professional jealousy and that since students were voting on it, it was more
a popularity contest or a vote for the easiest grader than a true honor of a great teacher.
He said (and we agree) that the yearbook should be dedicated to everyone at the school. After all, that’s who we publish it for. But what about longtime teachers who are retiring? Well, that’s easy. A feature in the faculty section works very well. Make sure to have lots of pictures of that teacher with
students and do a great job of writing the copy, but don’t dedicate the book to them or to anyone. It is everyone’s yearbook.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/20/05—Posed Royalty?
Continuing in the same vein as yesterday and the day before while remembering that it is your book and not ours let’s look at posed royalty shots. Now if
you have already done this with your homecoming court, it’s OK. You don’t need to go back and redo those pages but we would like you to think about it
for next year.
We are talking about those shots of your homecoming, winter formal or prom court where the whole group (or maybe just the king and queen) are standing there staring at the camera. We don’t want you to remove the royalty completely, just get them in action. Take their pictures when they are doing
something.
Nothing looks as phony or is as boring as someone standing holding a bunch of roses. How much better it would be if you had them dancing, being
crowned, at the moment of their announcement with surprise on their faces (think Miss America) or some other great action shot.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/21/05—Baby Pictures?
Continuing in the same vein earlier in the week, while remembering that it is your book and not ours let’s look at posed royalty shots. Now if you have already done this with your homecoming court, it’s OK. You don’t need to go back and redo those pages but we would like you to think about it for next year.
We want to say right up front that we think baby pictures have a place in your yearbook. Just not a free place. (This includes any photos of your students
from their past—first grade, etc.) We think you should do personal ads and encourage the use of baby pictures and charge for them.
But please don’t use them on pages where you just list their baby pictures and their names. Why not? Because this yearbook is about this year. 2005. And
those pictures are about 1987 or 1988. Your job is to cover this year at your school. Just having pages of baby pictures without added revenue is never a
good thing. And if you are one of those schools interested in awards then this is one of the first things they will mark you down for. It is an old tradition at
some schools that needs to move to personal ads.
By the way, if free baby pictures are a tradition in your yearbook, start the transition to paid personal ads this year by charging a token fee for this year
($5.00?) and then setting them design-wise as ads and upping the cost next year. We think your students (and their parents) will like what they get for
their money.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/24/05—Senior Messages.
This is the last one. We promise. It seems when the last week’s tips went out, many advisers thought of other things they wanted our views on. So today is
the last one—Senior Messages.
If you are not sure what we are talking about these are the messages that senior sometimes get for free but often pay to put in yearbooks. Very often they
are in code or have reference to inside jokes. Here is a typical one we pulled from a yearbook in our office:
“LT! Blue sux. Ingrid, I get on your back, no? Dashboards concert. Hein was a BAX. Blink99 v2v and then 991 whnUneededmoi.”
And that was just part of one. Do you have any idea what any of that means. Neither do we. Not a clue but what if in some kind of code that is known to
10 or 12 people they just libeled a teacher or fellow student? Or insulted someone? And when the book comes out, one of those 12 people tells someone
what it means and it gets back to the person who it was written about.
The point here is you should NEVER let anything be printed in your yearbook that is not clear and that you can understand exactly what is being said. Doing otherwise leaves you open to legal action by the libeled as well as disciplinary action by your administation.
Once again, these senior messages would be great in the photocopied format passed out at a Senior party but not in a yearbook that lasts forever.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/25/05—A tip for those who use InDesign.
We know that many of you out there are still using PageMaker or have started using our new Yeartech Online. But for those of you who are using InDesign, here is a great tip. Actually a bunch of great tips.
You can now sign up for your own set of InDesign Tips of the Week from InDesign Magazine. You will find them at www.indesignmag.com. Not only will
they send you free tips each week but you can also subscribe to their excellent magazine. It arrives every other month via PDF format and you can read it
on screen or print it out.
To give you an example of what their tips are like, here is this week’s:
Remember that many keys are keyboard shortcuts when you’re not typing in a text frame. For example, pressing the period key fills the current shape
with the last-used solid color. Pressing comma fills the object with a gradient, and pressing / (slash) fills it with None. These are great time-savers, but if
you press one of these accidentally, you may not be so happy. Here’s one of my favorites: Shift-X swaps the fill and stroke colors of selected objects.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/26/05—A tip for those using PageMaker.
Yesterday we sent out a tip for all the folks who are doing their yearbook with InDesign. And we promised a PageMaker tip. Well here it is. And it has to do
with InDesign. I know that’s cheating but we want this to serve as a warning to all those who are thinking about upgrading to InDesign to do their 2006
yearbook.
Don’t upgrade to InDesign today. Wait. The only reason we say this is that when Adobe introduced the Adobe Creative Suite which includes InDesign CS,
Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS they announced that they would introduce a new version of the entire suite about every 18 months. Well the rumors are
out there that that will happen sometime is spring. Probably in April. That would be 18 months since the first Adobe Creative Suite came out.
If you have to have it now and are planning on buying site licenses, please make sure and get the special offer Adobe has that allows you to upgrade
for free anytime in the next year that a new edition is introduced. There is a cost involved with this type of offer so check with your tech people in your
schools.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/27/05—A great YearTech Online tip.
If you are thinking about doing an index and you use YearTech Online to do your book, do not fear. The index feature will be available soon. But that’s not
the tip. The tip is that if you have already submitted pages that did not have kids names indexed to them (that means there was no name in the name
field for that picture in the Image Library) you can still go back and add it to that photo in the Image Library and even though the page that it is on has
already been submitted, the name will still be in the index. The name does not have to be on the photo when you place it and submit it the page. Just as
long as you add it before you create the index.
Watch your websites for a big announcement about the index feature becoming available soon!
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/28/05—2005-2006 computer and photo equipment.
About this time of the year, your administrators are starting to look at next year’s budget. That means it is time to get your requests in to them asking
for help in purchasing computer or photo equipment. Over the next few days we will be giving you some ideas about how you might spend any small
amount (or if you are lucky) large amount of curricular or co-curricular funds you might have on technology or photography.
In that vein, I would like to ask you all for help.
Because someone asked me about it today, can anyone recommend a really great DIGITAL camera for shooting sports? We have heard very good things
about the Canon EOS Rebel but I would love to hear about others.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 1/31/05—More about digital cameras.
I know that yesterday I promised that I would do a tip about computers but I got so much excellent response from all of you about digital cameras that I
wanted to drop it in here today while it is in the front of our minds. Here are some of the great comments I got:
“We love our Kodak 6490 (now there’s a newer model) for it’s 10x zoom. It takes great pictures in available light and well lit indoor areas,
but we do have problems with low light situations like our gym. Basketball shots are the bane of our existence!”
“We have a Cannon Digital Rebel and it’s great for sports depending on the light available. We have some awesome soccer & football
pictures, but basketball is a little trickier. But overall we HIGHLY recommend it for its amazingly fast shutter and high pixels.”
“We have the new Knoica Minolta Dimage Z3 and have found that if you use the video mode you get GREAT sports pictures. It comes
with software that allows you to take the video and break down into still frames...you never miss a shot for the most part.”
“Wolfes Camera in Topeka (who Jostens can get special pricing from) recommends the Minolta DiMage Z3. They said for a non SLR
camera, it has the fastest response time and best optical zoom of any digital.”
“Nikon D70 Setup is a great one, much better than the Rebel. Much more Pro than Consumer at the Prosumer level of Entry level D-SLR. I
love my Nikon D-100 but it’s a bit noisy at ISO over 800. 3fps is slow compared to the 7 of the D-70.The Canon 20-D is INCREDIBLE but so is the price.
I saw some output yesterday of low light, no flash, incredibly clear, stop action without noise at ISO 3200!! Fuji S-7000 is a good Fixed Zoom lens
alternative with a high frame-rate.”
“This past fall I purchased the Nikon D70. HIGHLY recommend, especially for sports. The 70-300 lens works great. I found the best price at
Cameta Camera out of NY through their eBay store.”
“I can suggest a better DSLR.... the Nikon D70 is by far the best digital SLR on the market right now. (in its price range) it won camera of the year
for 2004 from Popular Photography........ and well.... its just AWESOME. It will let you do things like keep shooting burst photos until your card is full
(not just 3 or 8 photos whatever the max is on the canon) And for just 200 more than the canon it is silly not to get the best unless you have canon
lenses laying around you’d like to use. Popular Photography actually did a test with the D70 against a NON-digital Canon EOS they took the same
photo at the same time on the same tripod with a film Canon EOS and a digital Nikon D70... the difference was shocking, printed out and zoomed,
you could READ the text on a sign at quite a distance in the digital, it was too grainy to read on the film camera. (has nothing to do with your question since it only compares digital to film, not camera to camera, but it is amazing technology).”
“If you are planning on shelling out the 1200 for the canon digital rebel.... don’t, shell out the extra 200 bucks and get the nikon d70. (I’ve
been doing personal camera research, and it is by far the best camera in its price range... MUCH better than the Canon.)”
“I use the Canon Rebel, but with a bigger lens. It’s a Sigma lens f2.8, which is supposed to maximize my shooting range, especially in low light
(i.e. football games.) I haven’t tried it for a football yet because I got it too late, but it was recommended by Camera Exchange. The guy said that was
his top recommendation for schools with this request.”
“I have the Canon 10D, 6MB Digital SLR camera. I use a plethora of lenses, but I really like my Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 lens. This is what I take most
of my sport shots with.”
Thanks to all of you who sent these great recommendations. I would be happy to include more if you want to send them.
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Tips of the Day for February 2005
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/1/05—One more on digital cameras and then I’ll stop.
I got this very detailed response about a camera that one of my favorite advisers says is great stuff. It was so well thought out that I had to send it on.
Enjoy!
“I personally like the Olympus E-1 digital camera. It’s a 5 megapixel SLR with ISO speeds from 100 to 3200 and has given me excellent results
for basketball and soccer. There is no delay between the time you depress the shutter and when it records the picture. You can set it to program,
aperature preferred, shutter preferred or manual. If you’re used to a traditional SLR you’ll catch on to this one very quickly. The zoom lens range is
14 - 54 mm which is slightly wider than the Rebel. At 3200 ISO there is some picture degradation but at least you can use a fast enough shutter
speed to stop the action in low light. With a hot shoe pc adapter it can easily be used with studio type strobes and there are no hidden software
switches to make it work. An especially good selling point for yearbook is that it is built on a rugged chassis. It uses compact flash cards and
we get about 130 pictures on a 512 mb card at its highest resolution. You can check it out at http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/
home?O=productlist&A=details& Q=&sku=358957&is=REG
The price may be a little steep for some yearbook budgets and you may want to be selective in who gets to use it because of that. I’ve
heard that they may be coming out with an adapter so you can use the OM series of SLR lenses on it. It would be a manual lens but if you have an
old telephoto it would be an excellent way to reach out to the other end of the field for football or soccer.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/2/05—Making the most of your February Newsletter.
First, Happy Groundhog’s Day. Here’s hoping Puxatawney Phil doesn’t see a thing. And here’s a fun way to expose your yearbook staff to some culture. Have
them all over tonight to see Groundhog Day. A big dose of Bill Murray is worth its weight in gold. Now back to yearbooks.
If the US Mail has come through then sometime this week you will receive your February issue of YourBook, our monthly newsletter. We just want to alert
you to some things that are inside. If you are working hard to complete your yearbook you may be tempted to put it aside until later but don’t. It has some
super info on two of the things you will probably be working on as you finalize your book, the index and the colophon.
Check it out to see some great index design ideas, easy ways to index using PageMaker, InDesign or YTO and how to create your colophon (if you are going
to have one). Also, if you are a PageMaker user you will notice a reference to a PDF file that I can send you to help teach your kids Last Name First, our oneof-a-kind indexing program that works with PageMaker. Well, that file is attached to this e-mail and we hope it helps.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/3/05—Yearbook—it’s really a job.
I was meeting with an adviser this week who told me about a very unique way she has of keeping track of her yearbook students and deciding how to
grade them each quarter. She told me:
“She tells the students (as many of us do) that yearbook is more like a business than a class so their time card determines their
“paycheck”/grade. They have to turn in their time card each Friday afternoon. No time card, no paycheck. They have a coding system to indicate
what they were doing during the time on the card for each day (i.e. working on layouts, taking photos, selling yearbooks, etc.). Tardiness more than
6 minutes translates into “lost pay”, overtime is paid more but not time and a half (she discovered it was too easy for kids to skip class and make up
time and still get an A). Missing a deadline is a $100 deduction in pay. The time clock and time cards were purchased from a regular office supply
store (Staples I think) and are exactly what they would find in many jobs.”
I thought this was a tremendous idea for grading yearbook students and thought if I turned it into a tip of the day it would be wonderful for the rest of
you to know about it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/4/05—Covering current events.
About this time of the year I get requests from schools for any help I can give them to find current events photos that show some of the big news events
that have happened during this school year. Of course, my first thought is always about World Beat. But some of my schools just do not have the extra
income needed to add World Beat to their yearbooks, even though all would love to.
It used to be that you could buy photos that could be used in yearbooks from the Associated Press. They sold a great package of 10-12 professionally
photographed pictures for around $100. But sadly, this year they have decided not to continue that program.
If this is the type of thing you are looking for we have found another source where you can obtain current events photos. Check out the KRT Campus
website at http://www.krtcampus.com/public/yearbooks.htm for a service they provide to yearbook staffs looking to purchase photos.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/7/05—Covering current events, for free!
Yesterday we told you about a company where you can buy current events photos, KRT Campus. Today we want to tell you why you really shouldn’t. If you
want to cover current events in your yearbook, do it through the eyes of your students.
Let me give you an example. Instead of covering the November elections with pictures of John Kerry and George Bush, show a first-time voting senior
from your school stepping out of the ballot booth or campaigning for his or her favorite candidate. Instead of a newswire photo of our troops in action in
Iraq, do photo of someone from your school who has made the decision to join the armed forces after graduation and is being sworn in. Interview them
about why they made that choice and if the war in Iraq was one of the reasons.
We hope you understand through these examples of what we mean by covering current events through the eyes of your students. They will appreciate it
much more in the future than some canned pics of national politicians or unknown celebrities.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/8/05—Video camera recommendations.
If you aren’t doing a Yearbook Interactive CD-ROM yearbook then you can skip this one but if you are you should read along. After sending you all the great
Tips of the Day about digital cameras for shooting sports I got e-mails from advisers who are planning to do a Yearbook Interactive CD ROM next year and
want to know what digital video camera to buy.
So, I e-mailed the folks at Yearbook Interactive (YBI) and they suggested the Samsung SC-D23 Mini DV Digital Camcorder. I would like to hear from all the
other folks who are already doing a YBI about what they are using and why they like it. My feeling would be that one of the most important parts of any
camera used in a school has to be durability. So come on folks, what do you think?
And like everything you ever buy that concerns electronics, always check out www.epinions.com before you buy. I also recommend Consumer Reports
website but they charge for to access it and epinions is free.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/9/05—Budgeting for computers in 2006.
Here is a quick thought about budgeting for computers in the coming year. If you have finite amount of dollars, the first choice you need to make is what
do you need more—a bunch of low-end computers that everyone can run YTO, InDesign or PageMaker on or one super-duper design computer that you
can use to work in high-end InDesign or Photoshop.
This sounds like a no brainer but I have seen schools do much better buying a single, very fast, chock-full-of-RAM computer than buying five slower, less
powerful computers. These schools use the high end computer to do all of the following:
High end Photoshop work.
Creation of graphic elements and templates for the entire book.
Submission of all pages.
Correction of all proofs.
Believe me this works. But only if you already have plenty of older computers that will run the software you need them to run for the staff to keep working
on a regular basis. I would certainly think about buying the super computer for these tasks rather than just getting 4 or 5 new low-end machines.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/10/05—More technology recommendations.
Consider a Mac.
Stop! I am not trying to fight the old Mac vs. PC fight. I just ask that if you are going to buy either one very high end computer or a bunch of low end
computers that you consider a Mac or a bunch of them.
Why? Here are three great reasons:
Macs running InDesign with OS10x hardly ever crash.
Macs never get viruses or have any problems with spyware and are 10 times as secure.
With the introduction of the new Mac mini you can get a complete computer (with added RAM) that you can use with any monitor, mouse and keyboard
for less than $550. And they will fit anywhere.
I fully realize that your district may be totally PC but if your students are going to have a complete workplace-like experience they should be fluent on
both platforms. Especially if they are planning on continuing on in graphic design. We are not asking that you get rid of whatever you have, just that you
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consider a Mac before you make a purchase. And we should also add that as of next year, YearTech can run both Macs and PCs on the same network. The
file saving system is being modified so they will both match.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/11/05—Get a better view—technology-wise.
Another thing you should really consider when budgeting money for technology next year is at least one color correcting, high-end, great, big, giant
monitor. So many schools that I work with never see their pages on anything where the colors remotely resemble what they truly are. And many of them
have no larger monitor in their classrooms than a 15 or 17 inch.
If you decide to buy that one high-end computer to create graphics, edit proofs, do submissions, etc. consider getting a really big and color-correcting
monitor to go with it. You will be glad you did.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/15/05—What if your tech money is limited?
If you have a very small budget for tech for next year and you are really not going to be able to afford any new computers, monitors or major software
upgrades, what should you do? Well, if I had less than $1,000 to spend I and I wanted to improve the computing experience for the entire yearbook staff,
I think I would look at installing more RAM!
Nothing makes a computer purr like additional Random Access Memory. RAM means less crashes, less freezing, more applications you can have open at
one time and RAM prices are excellent right now, so a little money will go a long, long way.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/16/05—The first step towards your 2006 yearbook.
Want a better yearbook year next year. Start today. Seasoned advisers who are in the know tell us that they have their editors for the following year picked
by the end of February. But who should you pick?
Maybe you are one of the lucky ones who have asst. editors each year who are juniors and they automatically take over their senior year. If you have that
system in place, WAY TO GO! If you don’t, you should consider it. Many great advisers groom a student from the end of their freshman year when they
might be invited to join the staff for the second semester, through their sophomore year when they work on a section staff. Then their junior year they are
assistant editor. And by the time they are editor-in-chief their senior year, you have one great editor.
If you can make this work in years to come, it is one of the best things you can do to improve your yearbook program.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/17/05—No junior asst. editor?
So, what do you do if this is the end of your first or second year as an adviser and you don’t have a junior that has been asst. editor this year. In fact you
have an entire staff of seniors. Or a bunch of juniors you wouldn’t trust to wash your car, let alone edit the yearbook? You recruit from outside. And if you
do it now, in February, it’s not too late to educate them in the ways of yearbook.
We have always believed that you can teach anyone yearbook but you can’t make someone a leader in the short time you have to work with them. Give
me the right student, starting now with some tutorials they can do on their own time, attending a summer workshop and doing some great planning and
I can show you one of the best yearbook editors ever.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/18/05—Shooting baseball and softball.
Since spring is just around the corner, here is a half a bunch of great tips on shooting baseball & softball. The rest will follow on Tuesday. (In case you
forgot, Monday is President’s Day.)
Get close! You can usually get permission to go anywhere on the playing field as long as you don’t interfere with the game. If you really want to make a
good impression, then ask the umpires first.
Always keep one eye cocked on the batter at all times even if you are aiming at action you expect on the field, like a possible stolen base. There may be a
screaming foul ball with your name on it!
Watch the batter in the on-deck circle. He or she will often do things that make for good photos. Things like loosening up with several bats, wads of gum
in cheeks, etc. And you can get close-up.
Work the infield from the first base side. Action takes place toward you as the fielders handle the ball and throw to the first baseman.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/22/05—Shooting baseball and softball—part 2.
Hope you had a nice three day weekend. We did here. As promised here’s the second half of same great tips for shooting baseball and softball.
Anticipate double play situations. A great shot is a runner sliding in to break one up.
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The best place to shoot the pitcher is from behind home plate where you can frame him between the batter and the catcher. They can be in soft focus
while the pitcher is sharp. Shooting through the backstop should be no problem. Either shoot through a hole or with a 200mm lens and the camera close
to the screen. You won’t see the fence in the final print.
Cover every pop fly. It gives you all the time in the world to focus...and often two fielders are going after the same ball. Collisions make for great action
shots.
Faces are hard to get because of the caps that players wear. It helps that baseball is played after school, late in the day when the sun illuminates the faces
better.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/23/05—Covering Spring Sports.
For those of you who are doing a spring delivery book, you are either finishing up your last few pages or you already have. Either way, you probably have
had or are having problems getting those spring sports photos that you need to get in right away. Over the next couple of days I will give you some tips on
getting those shots. If you are doing a fall delivery book, some of these can help your kids as well.
(Editor’s Note: If you have already finaled your book, super! Read this now, and keep it on file for next year. If you have not finaled, I hope this will help
and...hurry up and finish!)
Don’t be afraid to fake shots.
If all your baseball games and track meets are rained out, then go ahead and shoot something at practice. Many sports, especially spring sports like
baseball and track don’t need to have opponents in them. You will get just as much mileage from a photo of a track star at the top of his pole vault with no
one else in the photo (at practice) as you will waiting for the record setting leap during a big meet late in the season.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/24/05—Practice, practice, practice.
Sometimes practice shots are better anyway.
Most yearbooks go to great lengths to show the same fairly boring game or meet shots each year. Yet a very small percentage of the actual time an athlete
spends on his or her sport is spent playing in a game or meet. They spend most of their time practicing. So, take some pictures of them doing that.
One other thing on an entirely different topic. You may not know this but it’s Scholastic Journalism Week, and student journalists and advisers alike should
be proud of their efforts and deserve all recognition they earn. I sincerely hope your school and your staff are celebrating journalism, whatever the flavor
(be it newspaper or yearbook), this week.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/25/05—Oh no! They won the rest!
Don’t Do This!
Big word of warning, don’t make the mistake that one yearbook staff made. Don’t take the results of the first few spring games or meets and plan your
copy and headline around it. This staff went to the first three softball games of the season, just before their final deadline and watched the team get
blown out each time. Then came the final deadline. The staffers headlined the softball page; Softball Team Has Rebuilding Year. The copy went on to say
that after the loss of the first three games, the team looked to be in a rebuilding mode and that the prognosis for the rest of the year was not good. Fans
should look to the future.
Needless to say that after their third game, the team got the pep talk of all time from their coach, did not lose another game and went on to be league
and state champions. But the yearbook’s staff die was cast. The story in the book stood and as the softball season moved on, as did the printing of the
yearbook, the staff began to hope for a losing streak. Alas, none was forthcoming, and the yearbook staff ended up looking like fools.
The real losers in the end were the readers, especially the softball team. Looking back at their yearbooks in twenty five years, they will have absolutely no
historical reports of what may have been the greatest year for them and the school in their four years of high school.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/28/05—Keeping coaches happy.
Make Arrangements with Coaches NOW!
If a sport is just underway or still in its’ first few weeks, arrange now to shoot the group shot. In fact, every sports group shot should be taken early in the
season. That includes planning now as to when you will shoot the football teams in the fall.
When you do make arrangements to take group shots or other posed photos, show up! Be there on time, don’t make coaches wait. Take two cameras and
shoot every big shot with both of them. Then develop the film in two separate tanks. Nothing is worse than having to go back and ask a coach if you can
reshoot the team.
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Tips of the Day for March 2005
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/1/05—Wonderful and FREE Software
Greetings everyone and Happy March! The end of this yearbook endeavor draws near. And here is something very cool for all those of you who are using
digital photos and work in a Windows environment.
This came to me from one of your number who found it online. I have tried it and it is great. Unfortunately, it is not available for Macintosh so you folks
will just have to suffer through with Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. But for those of you who use Windows and want a very simple way to edit photos
check out this great message I got from one of my advisers.
“I just downloaded a free program from Google that is, for beginners, better than Photoshop for editing and special effects on photos. You’ve got to check
it out if you haven’t already heard of it. Go to www.picasa.com and click on the free download button. This seems safe-nothing was detected by my virus
protection. This could be helpful to any yearbook staff- very “user friendly” and easy to understand.”
I downloaded it on my PC and it worked great. If you are using InDesign and you miss the old red-eye remover from PageMaker, this program handles
red-eye really well. I don’t know if it is better than Photoshop but is sure simpler to use.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/2/05—Making the most of your March Newsletter—Adobe and Jostens team up!
If your mail is ontime (or ours is) you should be receiving the March issue of our YourBook newsletter sometime this week. Over the next two day we just
wanted to give you a heads up on the great stuff you will find inside.
First, take a run, don’t walk to page 2 for a fantastic new contest from Jostens and Adobe. That’s right, Jostens and Adobe are teaming up to sponsor an
InDesign design contest. (I like the way that sounds, InDesign design.) At any rate, all the rules, deadlines and an entry form are inside. What a great
exercise for your kids if you are doing a spring book and they finish their pages if you are one of those school lucky enough to be using InDesign.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/3/05—More of what you’ll find in the March YourBook.
Some of you fine folks are creating (or have created in past years) a CD-ROM yearbook that we refer to as Yearbook Interactive (YBI). Since Jostens started
offering these it has become one of the hottest things you can add to your yearbook.
One problem. Many advisers have told us they would love to have one but it was either too much work or too expensive. Well good news. We now have
just what you asked for. Except it’s even better than we imagined it could be because now it’s a DVD. We call it Jostens/Yearbook Interactive Digital Memories DVD.
So, check out page seven of the March issue of YourBook for an easy (VERY EASY), affordable (VERY AFFORDABLE) way to put a digital yearbook in your
printed yearbook. I promise that later on this month, I will give you some great ideas on putting either your YBI or your Digital Memories DVD together
and the kind of stuff you might want to consider putting on it. But for now, run right over to your March issue of YourBook and take a gander. We think
you’ll like what you read on page seven
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/4/05—A last look at the March issue of YourBook.
Now that I have kept this tip going for three days I better have something good left. Well in all likelihood if you ran right off to read the other two items
we already told you about in the March issue (the Jostens/Adobe InDesign design contest and the Digital Memories DVD) then you have already seen
these other two items.
But if those first two things didn’t interest you we want to make sure that you see the other two cool idea generators in the March issue.
The centerfold poster has a special Yearbook Sampler with some great design ideas from all around the country. If you are a spring delivery school, feel
free to use them to generate ideas for those last minute pages you need to finalize. If you are a fall delivery school, you can use them anyplace in your
yearbook.
Lastly we want to call your very special attention to the article on page six on how to finance your students attending a summer yearbook workshop.
We will be beating you over the head with this for the next three months, so be warned. We believe that attending a summer workshop is THE most
important thing you can do to make your yearbook year successful. And the more of your staff that goes to the same workshop, the better the teamwork
next year.
You can expect at least one tip a week about summer workshops so make sure you start planning today. We will bug you until you sign up.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/7/05—Summer workshop conflicts.
In the newsletter I have been telling you about how to afford sending your kids to a summer yearbook workshop. And I will continue to do that right
on through the end of the school year. I truly think it can really help improve your yearbook program. But we all know what happens. You have a really
promising student you want to be the editor and they just can’t fit a workshop into their summer schedule. Or you want to attend a workshop but you are
going to be out of state for a majority of the summer.
Well we think we have a solution of sorts for you. Or at least a good alternative. Check out http://www.jostens.com/yearbook/staffwork.asp. There you will
find listings of Jostens yearbook workshops all over the USA. Of course our highest recommendation would go to attending the XXXXXXXX workshop with
your entire yearbook staff, but if you or your editors are going to be someplace else in the USA this summer, there is probably a yearbook workshop right
nearby.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/8/05—Do lunch with your prospects.
Are you looking for a way to recruit some new folks for the 2006 yearbook staff. For starters, why not “Do lunch”. This is what an executive would do with
prospective employees he wanted to hire to work with his firm.
Order some pizza and have the old staff and your new editor act as hosts to a selected group of students. Talk about yearbook, what the jobs are, how
much fun it is and why they should join the staff.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/9/05—Who do you invite to lunch.
To find out who to invite to your lunch or just who to aim any other recruiting at, ask you English teachers. Ask them to recommend any good, dependable
writers. If they have good writing skills and are dependable, you can teach them anything else but you don’t have time to teach them to write. They need
to have that already.
Make up an staff application form to have ready for prospective staffers to fill out. It can really help weed out possible problems. Since you know most of
the folks you are inviting are qualified academically, concentrate on making sure that they are not too busy with other activities. Ask a lot of questions in
that area.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/10/05—Groups that won’t smile.
You may not still be shooting group shots at this point but if you aren’t file this for future use. I know this will sound crazy, but I actually read this idea in
the “National Geographic Photographer’s Field Guide.”
If your group shots are usually find the people in them looking glum or just bored, try this. Tell them to say “cheese”. Or have them stick out their tongues.
Snap a picture when they do and then get another while everyone is laughing about it.
These “other” pictures that you take when they act crazy are also a ton of fun to use as candids.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/11/05—Better mug shots.
With the increasing use of “Man on the Street” interview features, yearbook photographer’s are being asked to take more portraits or mug shot type
photos. Here’s a tip for shooting them.
To get the soft, yet sharp look of a professional mug shot, use a telephoto or zoom out as far as your digital zoom will go. Open it up to about f4 if using a
camera that allows you to set the aperture. Focus carefully on the subject’s closest eye. A strange things about portraits is that if the eyes are sharp, the
rest of the face will be too.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/14/05—Making your staff famous.
Make your staff famous. See if you can get the use of a showcase display in your school and feature photos, layouts or great copy that has been written by
the staff. This will not only build staff recognition, it will build interest in your book which might result in more book sales. This can really help during this
time of the year when you are trying to recruit new students for the 2006 staff.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/15/05—Remind your staff to win some money.
We just want to remind you to remind your staffers that the annual Jostens Photo contest deadline is Friday, May 6. That day is less than 2 months away.
You (or they) can download the entry form from Yearbook Avenue by going to the Home menu and choosing Contests.
You should also remind your designers to enter the Jostens-Adobe InDesign Design contest. The entry form and rules are in the same place.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/16/05—Oh no, a blank page! What do we do.
Eventually it will happen. You will have a blank page or more likely a blank double page spread. It happens every year, at just about this time. You planned
your ladder so well, with every page set aside for something very special.
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Then it happens, a club you had left a page for disbands or never really got it together this year. An activity you had planned a DPS around in the Student
Life section is cancelled or the baseball team that usually gets two or three games in before your final deadline gets rained out until two weeks after it.
What do you do with those pages?
If you have this problem occurs in the club section, do a feature story on something all clubs have in common. There are lots of things. Fundraising comes
to mind, or field trips, or initiations, boring meetings. You get the idea.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/17/05—A blank page in the sports section.
Yesterday we were giving you some ideas of what to do when the subject of a page you planned on doesn’t happen.
If it’s in the Sports section. Do a feature page or pages on something that some sports have in common. Examples might be award winners, fans, parent
involvement, or booster clubs. My favorite would be doing something on fans. That gets the most kids (and parents) into the book. Everyone is a fan.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/18/05—A blank page in the Student Life section.
For the last two days we have been giving you some ideas of what to do when the subject of a page you planned on doesn’t happen.
If it’s a Student Life page, find something else you may have missed in the day to day life at your school. Like covering registration, lunch rituals, senior
privileges, etc.
But no matter what you do, please don’t just make it a “candid” page. Every DPS should have a purpose.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/21/05—After final proofs.
Many of you fine folks (and you are the fine ones) have already finaled your yearbook. We just want to remind how important it is that you return proofs
immediately at this point in the year. Of course we don’t mean that you should not check them completely, but since your book is done, please make them
your highest yearbook priority.
We really appreciate it and at this time of the year it is so important we just had to remind you once again.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/22/05—We are so PROUD!
Recently Jostens was honored by being featured in a super article on the Adobe website. If you would like to read it you can click this link or paste it into
your browser’s address bar. http://www.adobe.com/education/pdf/spotlights/jostensss.pdf
To say the least, we are honored that the number one graphics software designer is glad that Jostens is on their team.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/23/05—Promoting Yearbook.
Educating administrators, parents and the public about the educational value, as well as the cultural value of yearbook has become ever more important
as we see electives eliminated due to budget cuts and the pressure to raise test scores. Many people have no idea of the value of the skills learned in
yearbook, or the impact the yearbook has on school pride and culture. To that end, I’m asking for your help again. How do you promote your yearbook
program?
Here are some of the ideas that came out of my just asking a few of my advisers in the last week.
Staff T-shirts, build pride and a sense of belonging.
Display any certificates, plaques or letters of achievement in the office or hallway display case.
Make sure the administrator is aware of any accomplishments, such as completing deadlines on time.
Publicly display a “Photo of the Week” with credit to the yearbook photographer.
Have a yearbook link on the school website that highlights what is being taught in yearbook, as well as student photography. (If you are doing this, send
me your link, so I can let others check it out.)
Have and post a mission statement. (Send me samples)
Have and distribute a written set of academic goals for yearbook.
Hold a Yearbook Awards Banquet in the spring — pot luck or fancy restaurant, depending on your budget.
Offer a Yearbook Scholarship to be given during the school scholarship awards banquet.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/24/05—Fred Miranda?
Who is Fred Miranda. I have never met him but he runs a really great website for photography. It is kind of one of kind. You can find it at http://www.
fredmiranda.com. This is for advanced photographers and you will need to register (FREE unless you want to be able to upload pictures) to use the site. But
if you are really into photography, this is the site for you. One of the coolest things is the incredible reviews and articles to read on all kinds of cameras,
lenses, attachments and strobes.
And if you pay the small fee to be able to upload photos, you will get instant critiques from their highly skilled membership. There are excellent forums
where you can post your comments and helpful tips about other folks pictures as well.
Even if you aren’t an advanced photographer, this is worth checking out.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/25/05—When will your yearbook arrive?
As more of you final your yearbooks we want to let you know the answer to the question we hear all the time, “When will my book arrive?” Well we can’t
tell you exactly the time and date when it will show up at your school but we can tell you how you can find out when it will leave from our plant.
Once your yearbook is final, check your Yearbook Avenue website for your actual ship date. You will find it on the Plan menu under Book config and key
dates. It will probably take a couple of days for it to show up there after the pages are received in the plant. At the bottom of that page, below Contract
Ship Date you will see Scheduled Completion. If you met all your deadlines, those two dates should be the same. If you were late with your deadlines the
Scheduled Completion may be later than your Contract Ship date.
It is very important that if you MUST have your yearbook prior to the Scheduled Completion date that you call us ASAP! Also, please note that the Schedule
Completion date is not the date your yearbook will arrive at your school. It is the guaranteed date when your yearbook will ship from the plant. And
sometimes, if you have met all your deadlines, it may even ship before that date.
When it does ship, we will get an e-mail the next day telling us that it shipped. In most cases we will let you know that point that it has shipped and give
you a tracking number so you can check the progress.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/28/05—We need your help.
Recently I received this note from one of you wonderful advisers.
“What can I do to make the culture of yearbook more exciting? My students come in, turn on the computers and work, work, work. They are somewhat
motivated to work, but are uninspired and are just doing it because they “have” to. They are all good kids. I just wish I could make it more inspiring, exciting, fun in here.”
I thought about this and decided even if I had some ideas, I would rather find out what you thought. Could I ask you fine folks to see if you can send me at
least one thing you do to make your “culture of yearbook” (a great term) more exciting? Then I will share this with all the rest of you at the start of April in
a series of tips.
I think this is a really important issue for some advisers. See what you can come up. I know I can count on you.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/29/05—What do Teachers Make?
One of your number sent me this and I loved it. It says so much. I hope you like it and will send it on to all your colleagues.
The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, “What’s a kid
going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?”
He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers: “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” To stress his point he said to another
guest; “You’re a teacher, Susan. Be honest. What do you make?”
Susan, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, “You want to know what I make? I make kids work harder than they ever thought they
could. I make a C+ feel like the winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor. I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence. You want
to know what I make? I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them criticize. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them write. I make
them read, read, read. I make them show all their work in math and perfect their final drafts in English. I make them understand that if you have the
brains, and follow your heart, and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you must pay no attention because they just didn’t learn. Susan
paused and then continued. You want to know what I make? “I MAKE A DIFFERENCE.” What do you make?”
And many thanks to all of you for really making a difference!
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/30/05—The culture of yearbook.
This is the first response I received back from my request on Monday for ways to improve the “Culture of Yearbook.” I can’t believe how many great
responses I am getting. Over the next few days I will share them with you a few at a time. In the meantime, send more!
This one is a GREAT start on a place I know we are heading. That’s why I am running it first.
“As for making the “culture of yearbook” more exciting, let me first say that I don’t even try to make it exciting as much as I try to
emphasize the idea that what they are doing has lasting signifigance. The pages they are creating, the photos they are shooting and all of
the writing is not just to please some teacher for a moment then go in the round file. They are making others feel important, special and capturing
the flavor our school (this year in particular) for all time.
All of us want to make a difference — do something of lasting importance — and that is what being on staff is all about.
I also emphasize to them that they are the students who are looked upon as leaders, the ones that teachers trust and others count
on — what a great feeling.
What’s exciting in yearbook is celebrating a great photo, a spread that comes in on time, an idea that grows and becomes a new
spread, receiving a staff t-shirt when the book is done and being among the first to finally see the finished product.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 3/31/05—More “yearbook culture.”
Here is another great answer we got from our question on the “culture of yearbook” This adviser really knows what he is doing!
“I don’t have anything too specific that makes “yearbook culture” great. Just this, I trust them, and give them a chance to take advantage.
I back them up once in a while when no one else will, let them store their sports gear in the back of the room, give them free reign to screw their
pages up, and explain that this isn’t “my” yearbook. I let them know that yearbook comes with certain privileges and certain responsibilities. Then I
just handle things as they come and I ask students to do things that they normally wouldn’t, like tell me the truth and be responsible. We fix things
together.
Sometimes, I get lied to and taken advantage of. When that happens I forgive them, and I let them know that their privileges have been
suspended until further notice. Trust truly is earned. But maybe it should be given freely until it is violated.
Sometimes, I bring in a movie, or a theme related show, to watch while we eat donuts and chocolate milk. Chocolate milk goes a long
way. I grab a set of newspapers from the office twice a week and we simply peruse the comics or our horoscopes together for ten minutes.
Finally, I come in and raise hell once in a while to let them know that this isn’t a game, that something real and lasting will be
produced from our efforts, and that they better get on the ball or things arn’t going to be so damned chummy around here! You can’t
have the ying without the yang! Hope this helps.”
Tips of the Day for April 2005
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/1/05—The plant burned down and all your pages are gone!
That got your attention, didn’t it. Well allow me to add April Fool! We hope that’s the best (or should we say worst) prank that gets played on you today
but knowing high school and middle school kids, that’s not likely. Play some yourself. One of the things that is becoming evident from reading the “culture
of yearbook” responses is that humor is a huge part of creating a great yearbook “culture.” We hope your yearbook staff smiles all the time and not just on
April Fool’s Day.—
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/4/05—Check out your April newsletter
By now you should have (or will soon) received your April issue of our YourBook newsletter. We want to make sure that you check out all the cool stuff
inside. April is our annual Premier issue. Last January we all met in San Antonio to see what great new programs and products the Jostens Marketing
team would be letting us bring you this coming year. This month’s newsletter has it all! Covers, endsheets, YearTech improvements and the very cool new
Texturizer. Don’t miss it.—
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/5/05—Exciting news from Adobe.
Yesterday, I alluded to the fact that there would be big news from Adobe and there is. Creative Suite 2 has been released. Lots of great new improvements
in InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and the rest.—
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This means two things. One, you should take a look at all the cool stuff at www.adobe.com and two, if you are planning on moving to InDesign this year, it
is now safe to buy it and you will get the latest (and greatest) version.—
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/6/05—More great ideas on creating a cool “culture of yearbook.”
I think that these tips that we are circulating about creating a cool “culture of yearbook” are fantastic and something we should all share. I have gotten
so many I can’t begin to thank all of you who have responded. And I am thrilled with all of you who have taken the time to write and tell me how helpful
they have been for you to read.
With that said, I also do not want to make the entire month of April about this topic. And I could easily do that with all the great ideas I have gotten. So, I
am going to do one or two a week for the next few weeks and if that is a topic that is near and dear to your heart, keep your eyes open. If it begins to boar
you, just read around them. The next day should always be something different.
In that vein, I got this from a great adviser who I have a ton of respect for:
“I’ve tried to create ways in which the staff can really take ownership of the yearbook. I have made little tags for them to wear when
they’re ‘on assignment’ (it’s really kind of childish how ‘important’ it makes them feel to wear a badge of sorts, but it works wonders for their pride
in being a part of this team ... they fight over those tags!). also, while I teach English and Legal Studies throughout the day, the Yearbook staff has
its own corner of the room that it solely theirs. I put a huge ladder on the wall that they can actually write on ... their names and status reports are
all written on the wall for everyone to see. From their perspective they get some credit and take pride in seeing their names plastered on so many
pages with the word “Done” written over it; from my perspective it creates an accountability system, because if they ever get behind schedule, it’s
advertised all over the wall, so they tend to get their stuff together.
I even posted a big ‘thermometer’ (progress meter - like the one on the Yearbook Ave homepage) on the wall with a big marker so
that every time we send a shipment the kids love to mark off how many pages we sent. they all signed it and wrote goofy little comments
on it, and when it was actually finished, they made it into such a ceremony to mark off the meter all the way to the top and write “finished” over
it - it was hilarious!
I have freed them to put their own personalities into their copies as well. we even poke fun at ourselves in the book a lot, with “remember
when...” and other sorts of “inside jokes” that only the staff can truly appreciate. I guess to make a long story short, I do what I can to make it feel
like the Yearbook actually belongs to them, rather than them being unpaid ‘workers’ for a publication that belongs to the school.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/7/05—Ten great tips on Digital Photography
A friend recently sent me one of those “been all over the internet” e-mails. Usually he sends me jokes but this time it was a great article called Ten Great
Tips for Digital Photography. I loved it. I told him he could send me jokes forever as long as every so often he sent me a copy of something this good—
So being a nice person, I thought I would pass them on to you. But not wanting to give you a ton to read at one time, I will feed them to you one at a
time. Here is number 1. Buy a bigger memory card for your camera. Forget about that cheesy 8MB card that came with your digicam and buy yourself
some real memory. Pony up for at least: 32MB for 1.3-megapixel cameras, 64MB for 2-megapixel models, 128MB for 3-megapixel digis, and 256MB for
4-megapixel shooters—anything less will force you to shoot at low resolution, tempt you to pass on creative pictures, or send you constantly running to
your hotel room to upload images because your memory card is full again. Stick the 8MB card in your pocket for emergencies and go with the big guns in
your camera—
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/8/05—More great ideas on creating a cool “culture of yearbook.”
I really liked this one because some of you have told me you love all this fun stuff but you don’t have time to implement it.
Here is what one adviser told me:—
“We assign a “fun director” who is in charge of celebrating holidays, birthdays and major deadlines. This person deigns the celebration
usually with food and sometimes with games and trinkets. It usually helps with the overall mood of the class and also keeps them going until
the next birthday—
This “director is voted on at the beginning of the year for the position and then we (student and advisor) get together for the main
planning and ideas of what to do for the yea then they carry it out.”
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/11/05—It’s Monday, do you know where your proofs are?
First, this tip does not apply to those doing their book using YearTech Online. It applies to you if you use PageMaker or InDesign and still have any proofs
out on your spring delivery yearbooks. Please send them back today! We are rapidly approaching your ship dates and the plant sends me notes almost
every day begging me to get you to send back your proofs—
Once your final deadline is complete, nothing is more important than returning your proofs within the three day time frame. So please, if you have proofs
in your room or proofs almost done, get them finished and in the mail today.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/12/05—Digital photo tip #2
Here is another of those great tips I got via a “junk” e-mail. And you thought all SPAM was bad. Enjoy!
Tip #2: Shoot at your camera’s highest resolution. You’ll need a decent-size memory card to do this, but it’s worth the investment many times over. You
may think that you only want vacation photos for your Web site, but what if one turns out to be a real winner? Wouldn’t it be nice to have it as an 8-by-10inch print too? You’ll need all the resolution your camera can muster to make a photo-quality print that size. Remember, you can always scale high-resolution images down for other uses, but you can’t go the other way without loss of quality.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/13/05—Making it personal—even this late in the year.
Young people like to make everything personal, from the face plates on their cell phones to their initials on their jewelry. A great way to help them make
their yearbook personal is with the Photo Pocket Sheets that were introduced last year and available again this year. Each 8-1/2X11-inch sheet has six
adhesive-backed photo pockets that will allow students to insert their own photos and mementos into their yearbooks. Four of the pockets are 2-1/2X31/2 inches and two are 3-1/2 X 5 inches. The cost is $1.00 each. You can give them out at your yearbook distribution party, sell them for a profit, or include
them with the yearbook. Let me know if you would like to see a sample and/or order some sheets. It is not too late.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/14/05—Party on!
A whole lot of you that wrote back about the “culture of yearbook” mentioned parties or food or pizza or almost anything that was a fun event. I really
liked what this adviser told me.
“We have parties once a month—they’re called “First Fridays.” Each design group (2-3 kids) is responsible for coming up with a theme and
the goodies. Also, if two groups want to combine to plan a party, that’s okay. There are two major criteria: the parties should be simple and cheap.
The themes and goodies lists are determined by the kids in September, and the editors host the first party in October. The parties are not tied to
meeting deadlines or anything else; I tell them the parties exist because they’re special kids.
(Some of my colleagues, in the past, have complained to me about how it’s not a good use of kids’ time. I’ve always said, if you want
to take over the staff, feel free... Even an administrator or two over the years have expressed concerns. Again, I’ve always replied that if they want
someone else to take over advising the staff...)—
Themes have included “Friday at the Movies,” “Casino Night,” “Board Games Day,” “Halloween Mummy Wrap” (with toilet paper),
as well as more common ones like Valentine’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Hawaiian Day, etc. (I try to get kids to do more than just bring treats,
because once they finish eating in 15 minutes there’s nothing much else to do.)—
I also make it a graded assignment; if the kids don’t come up with an idea or forget to bring their stuff.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/15/05—Digital Photo tip #3
This has always been one of my favorite photography tips in general. It was very gratifying to see it in this group.
Tip #3: Get closer. Casual photographers tend to stand too far away from their subjects. Sure you can crop the image later in Photoshop, Picassa2 or iPhoto,
but that’s like turning your pricey 3-megapixel camera into a run-of-the-mill, 2-megapixel model. Get close to your subject, frame it in your viewfinder,
then get even closer. Your shots will require less cropping and have more personality.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/18/05—Why are summer workshops so valuable to you?
As I am sure you know from reading our newsletter and these tips earlier in the year, I believe that attending a summer workshop is one of the best things
you can do to improve your yearbook program.
I also know that there are a bunch of you who have asked me why it is so valuable. Well, there are the obvious reasons: your staff gets taught how to put
the book together the right way, you can learn the software you use, you create your ladder, your theme, your cover, your endsheets and so much more.
But they wanted to know why advisers who have been attending or sending kids to workshops each year for many years do it. So can I ask a favor of those
people who send kids to workshops each year to reply to me with some answers to these folks—why do you attend each year? Why is important to you to
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send as many of your yearbook staff as possible? What parts of the workshop are most valuable to you?.
As usual, I promise to share all the great responses with you between the photo tips, the culture of yearbook tips and all the rest.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/19/05—Digital photo tip #4.
Find the fill flash setting and use it. Fill flash means that the camera’s flash fires every time, even in broad daylight. You see, just because it’s light outside
doesn’t mean that the light is good on your subject’s face. By turning on the fill flash and getting within ten feet of your model, you illuminate his or her
beautiful features and add a nice twinkle to the eyes.
Look for the flash icon that’s usually a plain lightening bolt. Remember that your flash will most likely return to the default “auto” setting when you turn
off the camera, which means your camera will decide when to use the flash, not you.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/20/05—Begin planning your 2006 advertising campaign now!.
Here is a great way to get a big start on next year. There is no reason to wait. If you find yourself short of funds each year or you have a special cover,
endsheet, special section, new computers, new cameras, new software or even to have some extra money for staff pizza parties, you might try some of
these tips for raising funds through ad sales.
First, start planning what you will sell now instead of waiting until fall. If you have been selling ads in the back of the book, maybe something new is in
order. You might try...Divider Page Ads
One school tried putting the advertiser’s name on divider pages for more exposure. In a small gray screened box, they put a list of 8-10 of their advertiser’s
names along with a notation that the following businesses had sponsored that section. More ideas in the months to come. And if you have anything you
have tried that helped you sell more business ads in your yearbook or raise money, please send us a quick reply and tell us what it was.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/21/05—More motivators for the “culture of yearbook.”.
Here are a bunch of quick takes we got on making yearbook fun.
“Music! I let my kids bring in school appropriate music to listen to at a reasonable level. It really helps the atmosphere. We have a lot of fun singing
and laughing. We also bring in snacks. Sometimes we take out the camera and experiment with different effects or take goofy pictures of pub
antics.”.
“I am sure others have suggested this but have her create a celebrations team. They plan all of the parties for the year; birthdays, deadlines, Mardi Gras, etc. Having people in charge can be the only way to make it happen. She should also be careful in her recruiting - once you have a
core staff of workers, that is what gets attracted to yearbook. Have her be cautious and recruit some “fun” people for next year’s staff.”.
“Here’s a fun idea. Have a staff beautiful baby contest. Have the kids bring in a copy of one of their cutest pictures. Give it to the adviser who assigns a number to it and puts it up on the bulletin board. One night at a work session, give kids a ballot to guess who all the beautiful babies are on
the staff. Give goofy prizes for best kissable cheeks, best hair do, cutest costume, most changed looks. The adviser should also put a picture in the mix
so the kids will get a real hoot out of it. It’s a real ice breaker.”.
Avoid “red eye” when possible. This monster-like countenance that appears in otherwise innocent subjects is the bane of compact cameras. Red eye is
caused by the flash reflecting off the subject’s retinas. This usually happened in dimly lit rooms when a subject’s eyes are dilated.
You can help avoid red eye by having the subject look at a lamp or an open window (that is if it’s light outside!) right before the shot. Other tricks include
turning up the room lights or shooting from a slight angle so that the subject isn’t looking directly into the camera. Some cameras even put out three or
four quick flashes prior to taking the actual photo to get the eyes to shrink.
If all else fails use iPhoto, Photoshop, Picassa2 can do red-eye removal tool that can help with this problem, but it’s best to avoid post production work as
much as possible. And of course if you are using PageMaker the Jostens YearTech redeye tool works wonders and may even be available in InDesign for
2006.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/25/05—Another fantastic motivator.
Here is another great response we got from our “culture of yearbook” question. Those great ideas just keep on coming. You folks are the BEST!.
“I try to break the monotony by playing games every once in a while. They have nothing to do with yearbook, but the kids think they’re
hilarious. My staff came up with a game on their own one day. The carpet in my classroom is pretty old and has numerous interesting-shaped stains
that refuse to go away even with yearly cleaning. They play a game they have dubbed “Stainball.” The object is to take a small ball (golf, tennis, etc.)
and roll it towards the stain. The person who comes closest to the stain is the winner. (I guess this is their wierd version of Bocci.) There’s another
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pointless (but fun) game called “Big Booty” that we sometimes play, and the kids think it’s hilarious. (It would take a little too much room here to
describe how it’s played.).
To me, what makes yearbook class such a memorable one is the certain amount of unpredictability that I get from my staff members. I try to pick good reliable kids with intense personalities to make the mix interesting. These are the types of kids who tend to create their own
unique “culture of yearbook,” and I have found that it’s different each year!”.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/26/05—2006 Senior Portraits.
One of you wonderful advisers sent me this super tip and I thought I would create a sheet that you could use as a model. So, read the tip and then check
out the attachement.
“Something that might be of interest to others...In the spring I distribute (to the juniors’ parents) a notification about senior
pictures for the upcoming year. On it I include the due date for their photos, exactly what I need for photos (info for the photographer about
head size, photo trim size, composition, etc.), and then I have a list of all the photographers that I know our students have done business with in the
past several years with contact information for each. (I just have enough room for the photographer’s name, city, and phone number.) I also let the
parents know that many photographers offer special discounts for early senior photo appointments.
In the fall, I post this notice throughout the building, and I distribute it to the seniors at the senior class meeting at the beginning of
the year.
By doing all this, it’s fairly certain that I receive nearly 100% of the seniors’ photos by the early deadline in November.”.
You can download the Senior Picture PDF by clicking here. You will need Adobe Acrobat to open it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/27/05—Why I send my yearbook staff to the Jostens summer workshop:.
I know I promised another tip on the culture of yearbook but one of you wonderful folks sent this in about workshops and I just had to use it. I hope you
read it and then decide to send some kids to our workshop as well.
Why I send my yearbook staff to the Jostens summer workshop:.
“My first year as adviser I went to the summer workshop by myself. I learned a lot but could see the biggest reason to come was to get the
students motivated and actually start planning and coming together as a group for the following school year.
The following summer I was so excited to take 6 students to the workshop and we had the best time ever, my students are still
talking about it! First off we all divided up and went to many different classes so we could cover more ground and during breaks we got together
and shared what we just learned from each other. The classes are very informative and it is great to be able to ask questions and get advise from experienced advisers/instructors. They have so much information to share it is hard to take it all in, be sure to carry along a notebook. One of the best
things of this experience is planning the yearbook together and getting a jump-start. My attending staff finally agreed on a theme 30 seconds before walking into meet with the Jostens’ artist, who by the way are the most amazing and talented people. We gave her a few vague ideas of what
we would like to see on our cover and within about 20 minutes she had our cover designed! We did some fine-tuning and there it was, our cover was
done and it was beyond our wildest dreams. This really got the attending staff geared up and from that point on the ideas just came pouring out on
what we would do with developing our theme. We made so much progress in just a few days and it was the greatest feeling knowing we were way
ahead of schedule and off to a great start.
The students came back with great stories of “Yearbook Camp”. They have been sharing their experiences and we have many more students
who would like to go this summer.
I am trying to secure several grants to help pay for their tuition. I would highly recommend this to all yearbook staffs, it is great bonding
experience and a great way to kick off the new school year.”.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/28/05—Another suggestion on the “culture of yearbook.”.
Here is another great tip about making yearbook fun from one of you wonderful advisers. Thanks so much for this!.
“One of the games we’ve played is “pictionary.” Kids love to draw on the dry erase board with markers. I made up the sayings having to do
with yearbook, i.e., “welcome to yearbook,” “I love captions,” (ha, ha), “names are important,” etc. They were hilarious and had so much fun trying
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to guess what was being drawn. When we exhausted those, we went to Bible characters which was equally as hilarious.
Another game I’ve done helped them to practice interviewing. I put a bunch of questions on pieces of paper and had them draw one. They
were such questions as, “What was your favorite vacation?”, “What do you like to do in your spare time?”, etc. Then I would go around the room and
have each person ask the one who drew the question something about it. For example, “What was that your favorite vacation?” “What did you do
when you were there?” “Who was with you?” And so on. They had to think, but it also gave them an opportunity to get to know one another better
and to learn what questions they need to be asking for their yearbook photos.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 4/29/05—Why I attend and take my staff to workshops.”.
I dearly love asking for your suggestions because I get so many great ones.
Here is what one of your number had to say about summer workshops.
“I like to attend every year in order to get quality time for a select group to plan the book for the next and year and assume
leadership/excitement for creating the book. It is also a perk for my staff. I pay for camp out of the sales of the books; if they have been on
staff the previous year as a productive worker and want to go, we pay their way. The staff gets a lot of ideas they would not have thought about and
hears reasons for and against things they want to do.”
Tips of the Day for May 2005
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/2/05—More reasons why advisers find attending summer workshops valuable.
Here are some more answers we got from all you great folks out there. We hope you are heeding their advice and planning now to send you staff to a
summer workshop.
“...for me, it’s the only way to get my yearbook leaders together with their undivided attention and get work out of them PLus, it’s a
great bonding experience and sets the tone for the year’s morale.
“I have been attending for years and years, and I have a good reason for doing so: for advisers, meeting other advisers and picking
their brains and sharing stories. For students, I would think some of the same benefits would apply—the chance to meet others and talk about
ideas.”
“The best part about camp is having my students around others who are just as sold-out for yearbook as they are, who understand
their passion and drive and share their goals. For once they are not the ones who stand out as being out of step, but they fit in with others
who, for whatever odd reasons, have devoted their energy into such an overwhelming project.
As an adviser, it’s also nice to hear others validate all that I’ve preached to the staff throughout the year — deadlines, budgets, themes, coverage — it
helps to have someone who is a “professional” back me up.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/3/05—Digital Photo tip #6 Warm Up Those Tones
Have you ever noticed that your shots sometimes have a cool, clammy feel to them? If so, you’re not alone. The default white balance setting for digital
cameras is auto, which is fine for most snapshots, but tends to be a bit on the “cool” side.
When shooting outdoor portraits and sunny landscapes, try changing your white balance setting from auto to cloudy. That’s right, cloudy. Why? This
adjustment is like putting a mild warming filter on your camera. It increases the reds and yellows resulting in richer, warmer pictures.
If you don’t believe me, then do a test. Take a few outdoor shots with the white balance on auto, then take the same picture again with the setting on
cloudy. Upload the images to your computer and look at them side by side. My guess is that you’ll like the warmer image better.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/4/05—Staff Applications needed
Here is another tip asking for your help and assistance.
As this is the time of the year when many of you are looking at your new staff for 2006, we have been getting a bunch of requests for digital copies of a
staff application form. I have a bunch of old ones but I don’t have anything that is real up to date. I know there is better stuff out there. So, if you have a
PageMaker or InDesign (or even Word) file that you could send back to us here that we could share with other advisers, that would be greatly appreciated.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/5/05—Checking out your May YourBook .
By now, hopefully you have received the May issue of our YourBook newsletter. We just want to call your attention to a few things inside.
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First up, when you are all done reading this issue, go back and cut off page 2 and take it home with you and put it on your refrigerator door. It is our annual Summer Organizer for Advisers. Just a list of stuff you should try and get done before next fall and the opening of school.
Then on page three you’ll find some great ideas to create a yearbook distribution event. This will also be the subject of tomorrow’s tip. On page four you
will find a note about senior picture specifications that is much like the PDF I sent you last week with some added info that you can use to send to your
senior parents and senior photographers before you leave school this year.
On page five is our annual index of articles from the entire year of YourBook newsletters. Then page 6 has the best way to produce a spring/summer
supplement. More about that in a tip later this month as well.
Lastly, on page 7 you’ll find a very cool Adobe related website as well as a sneak peak at the new Adobe Creative Suite 2. Enjoy!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/6/05—Give us your distribution ideas, please!
In our YourBook newsletter this month we talk about some great ideas for distributing your yearbooks when they arrive. These are ideas we have gotten
from other Jostens reps around the country over our time with Jostens.
Now we would like to ask you, could you tell us what you do to make the arrival and distribution of your yearbooks at your school a special event? If you do
something small or humungous, we want to know. Just hit reply and share the ideas. And a big thanks in advance for being part of our yearbook tip of the
day community.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/9/05—Digital Photo Tip #7.
Sunglasses Polarizer
If you really want to add some punch to your images, then get your hands on a polarizing filter. A polarizer is the one filter every photographer should
have handy for landscapes and general outdoor shooting. By reducing glare and unwanted reflections, polarized shots have richer, more saturated colors,
especially in the sky.
What’s that you say? Your digital camera can’t accommodate filters. Don’t despair. I’ve been using this trick for years with my point-and-shoot cameras.
If you have a pair of quality sunglasses, then simply take them off and use them as your polarizing filter. Place the glasses as close to the camera lens as
possible, then check their position in the LCD viewfinder to make sure you don’t have the rims in the shot.
For the best effect, position yourself so the sun is over either your right or left shoulder. The polarizing effect is strongest when the light source is at a 90degree angle from the subject.
One other thing that came my way today. One of you wonderful advisers liked the photo tips so much they found a superb website that visually defines all
the things you need to know to buy a digital camera. It does the best job I have ever seen. Check it out at http://www.geeks.com/pix/techtips-05MAY05.
htm. Make sure you go look at it this month as it may disappear at the end of May.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/10/05—Cool new YearTech Online features you will love-part 1!
This tip is specifically for those of you who use YearTech Online to create your yearbook. Just yesterday we received an e-mail with details of the new
features that will be added for 2006. We think they are just what the yearbook doctor ordered.
Over the next two weeks I will be letting you know about the new developments and what they mean to you. Today we want to announce—Personal
Login’s. We think this is really cool because. . .
You’ll have the ability to assign an individual login for each member of your staff.
You can set up the ladder so that only the student assigned to a particular page can make changes to it.
If a student leaves the staff, you can easily disable the login to maintain site security.
Here is another of those great tips I got via a “junk” e-mail. And you thought all SPAM was bad. Enjoy!
Outdoor Portraits That Shine
One of the great hidden features on digital cameras is the fill flash or flash on mode. By taking control of the flash so it goes on when you want it to, not
when the camera deems it appropriate, you’ve just taken an important step toward capturing great outdoor portraits.
In flash on mode, the camera exposes for the background first, then adds just enough flash to illuminate your portrait subject. The result is a professional
looking picture where everything in the composition looks good. Wedding photographers have been using this technique for years.
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After you get the hang of using the flash outdoors, try a couple variations on this theme by positioning the subject so the sun illuminates the hair from the
side or the back, often referred to as rim lighting. Another good technique is to put the model in the shade under a tree, then use the flash to illuminate
the subject. This keeps the model comfortable and cool with no squinty eyes from the harsh sun, and this often results in a more relaxed looking portrait.
Remember, though, that most built-in camera flashes only have a range of 10 feet, so make sure you don’t stand too far away when using fill flash
outdoors.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/12/05—Cool new things in YearTech-part 1.
The day before yesterday the tip of the day was all about YearTech Online. Well, we heard from some of the rest of you out there who wanted to know
what was new in YearTech for InDesign. Well here it is. The first of our hot new features for YearTech 2006 is the Texturizer. And this one is easy to describe.
Just go back and dig out the April issue of our YourBook newsletter and check out pages 2 and 3.
If you can’t find it, suffice it to say that the Texturizer allows you to. . .
Create your own one-of-a-kind backgrounds by selecting various texture elements and colors.
It’s easy to use and no additional software, such as Photoshop, is required.
Backgrounds are sized and placed for you and the jpeg is placed in the Links folder for easy submission to the plant using Gather to Submit or PDF Maker.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/13/05—Cool new YearTech Online features you will love, part 2!
Here is the second part of our look at the new YearTech Online. This year YTO lets you. . . Copy and Paste. Now we know that doesn’t sound like a big deal
but because of the limitations of web browsers it really is. Once you can copy and past you will be able to. . .
Find it a bunch easier to make custom templates in Template Builder and they will be a lot more accurate.
And you can easily copy and paste photo, text and graphic elements. How cool is that?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/16/05—Digital Photo tip #9.
Massive Media Card
When you’re figuring out the budget for your next digital camera, make sure you factor in the purchase of an additional memory card. Why? Because the
cards included with your new high-tech wonder toy are about as satisfying as an airline bag of peanuts when you’re dying of hunger.
If you have a 2 megapixel camera, get at least a 64MB card, 128MBs for 3 megapixel models, and 256MBs for 4 megapixels and 512MBs for 5 megapixels
and up.
That way you’ll never miss another shot because your memory card is full.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/17/05—Staff Applications
First, I want to thank everyone who send us a staff application. They were all wonderful! I took the best of the bunch and combined them to make a cool
tool you can use in your recruiting efforts this spring and in the years to come. If anyone knows of anything we have forgotten, please let us know. A copy
of the combined application can be downloaded by clicking here. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader 6 or better to read it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/18/05—Cool new YearTech features you will love-part 2!
Picture Placer Improvements. This one we have not written about as of yet. Not here and not in our YourBook newsletter.
Here are the details:
You will see improved grayscale conversion resulting in sharper black and white pictures—automatically!
When you hold down the shift key as soon as you open Picture Placer, you stop pictures from previewing so you can change to another directory or choose
one of the first photos to appear.
And now when you place pictures with Picture Placer, they retain their transparency, corner effects, drop shadows, and text wraps—YAHOO!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/19/05—Cool new YearTech Online features you will love-part 3!
We really like this feature and we think you will too. The ability to create transparent boxes. This is . . .
Great for placing borders around advertisements.
Super for adding page edge borders or accent boxes.
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Easier and more accurate than matching up individual lines.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/20/05—Digital Photo Tip #10!
High Rez All the Way
One of the most important reasons for packing a massive memory card is to enable you to shoot at your camera’s highest resolution. If you paid a
premium price for a 5 megapixel digicam, then get your money’s worth and shoot at 5 megapixels. And while you’re at it, shoot at your camera’s highest
quality compression setting too.
Why not squeeze more images on your memory card by shooting a lower resolution and low quality compression settings? Because you never know when
you’re going to capture the next great image of the 21st century. And if you take a beautiful picture at the low 640 x 480 resolution, that means you can
only make a print about the size of a snapshot, not exactly the right dimensions for hanging in the museum.
On the other hand, if you recorded the image at 2272 x 1704 (4 megapixels) or larger, then you can make a lovely 8- x 10-inch photo-quality print suitable
for framing or even for gracing the cover of Time magazine. And just in case you were able to get as close to the action as you had liked, having those extra
pixels enables you to crop your image and still have enough resolution to make a decent sized print.
The point is, if you have enough memory (and you know you should), then there’s no reason to shoot at lower resolution and risk missing the opportunity
to show off your work in a big way.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/23/05—New YearTech features for InDesign—part 3.
You loved them in PageMaker and we know that many of you asked to have them available in InDesign as well. So now for those who use InDesign CS or
InDesign CS2 you will have . . .
Page Enhancer
A Red Eye Removal Tool
ThumbPrints
And the return of the Click-N-Go! button to the tool bar
And for those of you who work in schools with both Macs and PCs, Windows folder names will now match Macintosh exactly. Which means if you work on
both platforms or use Macs, but save to a Windows based network, this will make your life a whole lot easier.
How about that!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/24/05—Cool new YearTech Online features-part 4.
For those of you who converted to online production one of your biggest features you have told us you missed was automatic placement of background
images. So now they are back! The new background placer will. . .
Automatically places the background you select on the left page, right page or both.
Sizes the background for a full page bleed.
Places the background behind other elements on the page.
You have to love that!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/25/05—A super business ad sales idea.
One of you wonderful folks out there sent in this recommendation for a tip of the day about ad sales. I know that many of you are still selling business ads
so I just thought you might be interested.
“The best thing I’ve done to increase ad sales and encourage prompt payment is to offer a 5% discount to those businesses that pay
within 30 days of invoicing. It’s been great. I no longer struggle to get payments from businesses who’ve agreed to purchase an ad. They like the
idea of saving a little, and we like the money in our account ASAP!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/26/05—Another great business ad idea!
No sooner had I sent out yesterday’s tip on advertising sales than I got back another from another great adviser. Here it is. . .
“We send a letter to all the businesses that advertised in the 2005 yearbook. We thank them for their patronage and include a simple
sign printed on letter-sized, school color paper that says, “See Our Ad in the 2005 (Your School Name Here) Yearbook” that they can place in their
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window or near the cash register. It shows their support for your yearbook and gives them more exposure for their ad.
We then, ask them to reserve an ad in the 2006 yearbook for the same price or offer them the opportunity to purchase a larger ad.
Offer to bill them now, or bill them in September. Include a return envelope and ad order form they can easily fill out...and you’re on your way to a
successful 2006 ad campaign!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/27/05—Motivating yearbook staffers who don’t have a yearbook class.
Recently we were told that one of our schools would be eliminating their yearbook class next year. We think this is awful but at this point it is a done deal.
The adviser asked for our help in how to motivate kids to work on the book who have no yearbook class. We turned to Laura Schaub, one of our super
Jostens Creative Accounts Managers. Laura is a long time adviser and works with yearbook staffs all over the place. Her ideas included:
An after-school yearbook program needs to be fun. The adviser should try to make it a “home away from home,” so-to-speak. Food is always a good way
to get kids to meetings.
Next year the adviser needs to set up meetings well in advance, send out reminders often, and “expect” the kids to be there. A parent support group would
also be a good idea. Parents could come by with snacks to help kids make it through deadline nights.
Whether you have a class or an after-school program, you still need to motivate kids to come work on the book. They need to understand that it’s their
obligation and responsibility to the school....that if the yearbook isn’t finished, it won’t be done...and the yearbook adviser should not have to do it.
We think these are great ideas and want to know if anyone else who is already in this position has any other super ideas. If so, send them on and we can
turn them into a new source of assistance for others about to jump in their boat.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/31/05—PageSurfer fonts.
I know that some of you know this but I also know that many of you don’t.
How many times have you put a Page Surfer on a page only to find that the page has multiple AYT fonts that are NOT loaded on your machine? Well after
working with a school today I found the solution to this problem. On the 2005 (and 2006) YearTech Installation CD you will find a folder named Surfer-CNG
Fonts, in this folder you will find all the fonts used on all Page Surfer’s and items in the Click-n-Go library.
How do you load these fonts? The same way you would any other AYT font. This will make things easier for you as you are creating pages!
Tips of the Day for June 2005
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 6/1/05— Why you need to proof EVERYTHING at least three times.
In the last two weeks a few of you fine folks have been surfing the web looking for yearbook-related stories and sending them on to me. I thought they
were VERY appropriate and wanted to send them on to everyone. We in the yearbook industry hear about these every year and it just goes to show you
what happens when you don’t do a great job of proofing your book.
The first involves a school in Texas (but for some weird reason it was on a website of a Philadelphia TV station and it details a very common mistake. I can
fully understand how the yearbook staff could have missed it. Here is the complete story:
“Yearbook Mistake Upsets Honor Student
May 24, 2005 — Having your named spelled wrong in your yearbook is bad enough, but an honor student in Texas is dealing with a
mistake that has many asking questions.
Here is the yearbook picture that has upset Shadoyia Jones and her family.
Instead of having Jones’ name in the Honor Society’s group picture it had the label “black girl.” A student editor for the yearbook claims
the words were used as a “place-holder” because they didn’t know Jones’ name.
They say it wasn’t supposed to go to press with the label.
But, Jones is clearly identified in other places in the yearbook, including her senior class picture and her national honor society
listing.
Her family is questioning why the label was used at all when she is well known at the school. School officials plan to have some of the
yearbook pages re-printed.”
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Don’t let this happen to you.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 6/2/05—Another yearbook disaster and why you should never do Senior Favorites.
Yesterday I sent you a story about an easy mistake that showed up in a Texas yearbook. Today check out this story from Colorado. This one had national
implications.
May 27, 12:35 PM EDT
Yearbook Prank Rankles Colorado School
WIDEFIELD, Colo. (AP) — High school yearbooks were recalled so that administrators could black out a joke caption under one student’s picture:
“most likely to assassinate President Bush.”
Mesa Ridge High School officials recalled about 100 yearbooks earlier this month and had staffers use markers to obscure the words
in them and in the still-undistributed copies. The Secret Service even launched an investigation.
“They kind of ruined our yearbook,” said Christina Tredway, who just graduated from the school just south of Colorado Springs. Most
students thought the blacking-out was a bad idea since the caption obviously was a joke, she said.
Widefield School District officials called the caption a prank that wasn’t caught before the yearbooks were printed, and district
spokesman James Drew said future yearbooks will be triple-checked before printing.
Lon Garner, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Denver District, said the agency would look into the incident because all
threats against the president must be investigated.
“That’s our mission,” he said. “That’s what we do.”
There were several other joke captions in the book, including “most likely to forget his gown at graduation.” Names of those involved
were not released.
This is another great reason not to do Senior Favorites!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 6/3/05—An abundance of staffers
Last Friday I sent you a tip about handling after school yearbooks. Some of you responded with some great ideas. But others asked for help in another
direction. How do you deal with too many staffers? In two different classes?
Yes folks, while some of you struggle to find students to join your yearbook staff and others can’t get you administration to give you a class, there are
those of you out there who have two entire classes (and class periods) to do yearbook.
I fully realize that even if this is an embarrassment of riches, you have some specfic problems. So, how do you do it? Please write and let us know so I can
pass on the good word.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 6/6/05— Distribution ideas.
We asked about ideas for a great distribution event and here are a few we got back.
“We hosted a yearbook signing party this year and it really helped with the distribution of the books. Anyone who bought a book and
had it paid in full two days before the date was invited. We had it the last two periods of the day. We started by calling out students M-Z and when
those were distributed, A-L came. As students were coming in there were three bands that had played at the lunchtime jams during the year (sponsored by Student Council). For us for next year, one and one half periods will be enough to do this. It was fun and the students enjoyed it.”
Another school told us,
“We have a special breakfast for the seniors where they books are distributed. Years ago, in Highland Park, the PTA had an evening with
refreshments around 6 or 7 pm where the book was distributed to the seniors only. The next day, they were available for the rest of the school. Our
yearbooks will be distributed during Senior Week at the Senior Barbecue. We will put the yearbooks in Class of 2005 gift bags with a Class of 2005
pen.”
“In the past we’ve either done it as part of a REBEL field day, when the afternoon of the school day is filled with various “field day
activities” and about 2 ?-3 hours into the festivities, we distribute the books.? It’s usually a little more than an hour before the end of the school
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day.? We have 4 different entrances into our cafeteria and run 1 to two distribution lines at each door, then two lines from each window of the student store.? It goes pretty fast, we’ve been able to distribute more than 600 books in less than a half hour for the last two years.? I’ve attached the
flier we put up, and then there is also a map that we put on the back that identifies where they’ll be picking up their book for those visual learners.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 6/7/05—A great end of the year fundraiser!
One of you wonderful advisers sent me this and I loved it. If you are looking for a way to make a few extra dollars this year, try this!
“I thought I would share with you what we did this year. Maybe one of your other schools would be a able to do something similar.
The decision to go all digital has dramatically changed the number of prints we have on hand. Students, parents and staff have all asked
if there was any way that they could get some of the pictures that the yearbook staff had taken. After all, they take pictures of everything around
the school.
Using a Windows XP computer we organized all of our digital images into folders by event. EX: Homecoming, Christmas Program, Soccer
Season, Volleyball Season, etc.
We then printed on a laser printer a contact sheet of all of the images in that folder. We had a three day sale during lunch of selling a CD
of the packets. We did not allow any mix or match. One CD per Packet for only $4.00. We guaranteed a minimum of 40 images per CD.
It was a great success. Lots of CD sales. They key was to produce only the CD’s ordered and only on a pre-pay basis.”
Pretty cool!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 6/8/05—A great fundraiser for the start of school.
Here’s a great fund-raising tip.
“We do a fund raiser at the beginning of the spring—it’s a penny war between the grades (coins are positive points, bills are negative) the winning grade gets their yearbooks first. This has worked out really well in the past, in part because yearbook is a “class” during the
school day. When we’re done with the real work of creating the book and are just waiting for it to come in, the girls get to count the money and roll
that has been raised. Big fun for everyone...as long as we have pleny of Purel handy!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 6/9/05—YearTech font update.
On the last day of May I sent you this tip:
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 5/31/05—PageSurfer fonts.
I know that some of you know this but I also know that many of you don’t.
How many times have you put a Page Surfer on a page only to find that the page has multiple AYT fonts that are NOT loaded on your machine? Well after
working with a school today I found the solution to this problem. On the 2005 (and 2006) YearTech Installation CD you will find a folder named Surfer-CNG
Fonts, in this folder you will find all the fonts used on all Page Surfer’s and items in the Click-n-Go library.
How do you load these fonts? The same way you would any other AYT font. This will make things easier for you as you are creating pages!
Well, I heard back from my good friend Betty Bacon who is the goddess of YearTech. (She pretty much created it) and she said to add this: ONLY Windows
users should need to install them. If they run the YearTech installer to install on the local computer, the Page Surfer and Click-N-Go! fonts are automatically installed on Mac. There is also a font installer on the 2006 YearTech CD for Mac users who install to the network. It installs the fonts on each work
station. Windows users will need to follow your instructions (ABOVE). Win 98 users will still need ATM. All others can install from the Fonts folder.
So, there you have it. The hot skinny from the person who knows!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 6/10/05—The Last Tip.
Well, here it is. The last tip of the 2004-2005 school year. When we started doing these at way back in September we were not sure if we could stick to
doing it on every school day for a whole year. Frankly, we weren’t sure we could come up with that much material and if you would respond to them.
Well, now more than 150+ tips later, we know we came up with a bunch and we want to thank you for the tremendous response. It became so much
more than just tips. It became an ongoing dialog with yearbooks advisers from all around my territory. It was like sitting in a room with all of you wonderful people and bringing up a topic and then getting back so many fantastic responses.
So thank you so much for a great year. I am planning on starting up again in August or September and would love to hear from you if you thought these
were helpful this year. In the meantime, have a SUPER summer and we will see you in the fall.
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Tips of the Day for September 2005
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 6, 2005—Tips of the Day are Back!
Hello to all. Some of you are just coming back to school after the summer months and others of you have been hard at work for a while but either way we
are back. For those of you new to yearbook this year we will be sending you one of these quick tips of the day all year long. Please take a few moments to
read them. You might also create a folder in your e-mail program to save them for future use. Or even save them (File>Save As in most e-mail programs)
as a text file to refer back to in the future. We know they are valuable because after last year we had a lot of requests for specific tips to be sent again.
So play it smart this year and create that folder now and just throw all of them or just the ones that directly apply to you into it each time we send one.
You never know when that information might be just what you need.
Have a great September and watch for me to be stopping by in the not to distant future.
Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 7, 2006—Did you get your Passport? Time to travel down Yearbook Avenue.
We are hoping that by now you have gotten through all the mail that you received over the summer. We are sure it is a bunch. But there is one piece inside
that you HAVE to read. It is a large brown envelope that says “Destination Yearbook” on the front with a few travel-related stickers and an red line that
says, “Important Yearbook Materials Enclosed”.
Open it today! If you can’t find it to open it, call me. Inside you will find your very own passport. It is bright green with orange print. Open that up and you
will find your new logon credentials for Yearbook Avenue. Take that and sit down at your computer as your earliest convenience (we suggest NOW!) and
log on to Yearbook Avenue.
And please note: THIS IS FOR EVERYONE! Not just those doing YearTech Online—Everyone!
When you log on for the first time you will be asked for to provide some contact info. Follow the directions on the inside of the passport carefully.
Why do this today? Because the plant really needs to get your contact info and not only that but if you log on and fill out the info prior to September 19,
you will be eligible to win one of ten Yearbook Staff parties. Jostens will send you $100 to cover the cost of the party. Buy pizza, buy pop, have fun. But log
on today!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 8th—Surrounding colors.
As more of you do more color pages (many of you doing all-color books) your students experiment with different color backgrounds. And sometime those
backgrounds can really change the way the photos on the page look when the book is printed. Many times I have had advisers ask me why their senior
pictures look kind of orange when they put full page bleed red backgrounds over them.
Well the next time someone on your staff wants to try putting pink behind the senior portraits tell them to check out this website: http://www.echalk.
co.uk/amusements/OpticalIllusions/colourPerception/colourPerception.html.
You may need to paste that URL into your browser window. When you do the results are shocking, aren’t they.
Hope this helps eliminate some tinted color photos. Always remember that the best background color for color pictures is white. Second best is black.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 12th—Teaching ideas.
I love getting questions and tip requests that I can answer easily. You folks are very good at asking them.
I was asked by a bunch of advisers yesterday if I had any lessons they could use to teach yearbook or if I had any ways to get them going on a theme. Well
not only do I have resources for you, I have a TON of them. Just log on to Yearbook Avenue. Then choose Creative Corner from the Home menu. Once the
page opens you will find four great lessons. This month’s lessons are on Verbal and Visual content, yearbook critiques, strategizing color and brainstorming. But the really good news is that there are tons more than these four and most people miss them. Way down at the bottom of the page is a little link
that says Creative Corner Archives. Click on that and you will have four for every month of the last year. All are pertinent to what you are doing now so
enjoy!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 13th— Saving your school e-mail space
Aren’t you tired of answering all the yearbook questions posted in your school e-mailbox?
And, you probably realize that your school e-mail address (@esc7.tx.edu.dot.dot) is hard for most to remember.
So why not take advantage of Google’s offer for a free e-mail service with 2GB of storage space. If you go to >http://mail.google.com/mail/help/about.
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html most of your questions are answered and you will be able to download the free service.
You and your staff then have the option to create your own name (why not make it simple? [email protected]) and your own password
(school mascot or yearbook name so your staff has easy access). With 2GB of space, you’ll be able to save a full year’s worth of e-mails. Store parent messages, PDA ads, senior digital photos, etc. With Google’s easy-to-use search engine, finding old messages is just a click away.
Give it a try and let me know when you get your new e-mail address.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 14th— Teaching Tech
Right about now many of you are struggling to teach the kids how to use the computers so you can start putting the yearbook together. Well, never fear!
Help is at hand. Just open up your YearTech Guide Book and right inside you should find a CD that says Teach Tech on it. First, you can make as many copies
of that CD as you would like. You can also copy the contents to your server or each individual computer if you want. Then your kids can all access it at once.
On that disk are some great lessons that will get them well on the road to learning the computer skills they will need to be able to use either PageMaker
or InDesign.
For schools using YearTech Online, you won’t have the disk. You should go to your Yearbook Avenue website and choose Video Tutorials from the Help
menu for just about the same information for YTO.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 15th—Another way of teaching InDesign
Since many of you are new to InDesign I thought I would run this suggestion that came from another adviser. She said,
“I have what I think is a great idea. Since time is usually limited in the classroom, I have found that using the new “ Student Guide” for Making
it Click for InDesign cs/cs2 is a great quick 30-45 minute presentation. So I suggest that teachers order a copy for each one of the computers that
they are using for InDesign. And that they keep one at each of the computers for quick reference. The Student Guides are 3 hole punched and can be
secured by a small 3 ring notebook to set by the computer, or by placing one of those silver locking rings that looks like a key ring,or single hole ring
binder and putting it around the cord of the mouse or the keyboard so it’s readily available. I tell the kids, this is their “mini bible to publishing”, and
they need to keep it handy. This will also cause the kids to utilize their own empowerment to help themselves to learning.”
We think this is a great idea and if you need a copy of Making It Click, our award winning InDesign and PageMaker curriculum, just call us.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 16th— Are you putting Senior Signatures under their photos? Here is an easier
way to do it.
I know that some of you the signatures of your seniors directly beneath your senior photos. If you have done this in the past, you know that it means
either scanning the signatures or sending them to the plant to be scanned. Either way, it is tough to get them just the color you want. Well here is a great
idea from another yearbook rep friend of mine in Oklahoma. It costs a litte bit of money up front but if you are going to do this every year, it will be worth
it.
“I have been meaning to share this with you. I have a school this year that is doing Senior Signatures under their photos in the Senior Section.
To save the time scanning each of the 500 senior names they went out and bought a Wacom tablet for the Seniors to sign on. The students will sign
their names using the tablet directly into a transparent layer in a Photoshop file. This will easily allow the staff to have the signatures any color they
want and on any background they want.”
If you want to think about doing this, I just Googled Wacom Tablets and came up with a low price of $89.95.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 19th— If you use YTO and liked what you did last year, it is still there.
Did you use YearTech Online last year to create a really cool template and wish you could use it in this years book (maybe with some modifications?) Well
you access last year’s template on your Yearbook Avenue web site this year. From the Create Menu, choose Build Ladder. Then just click “My Templates” and
the first item in the drop down menu on that page should say “archive-final pages.” And that would be all the templates you finished the book with from
last year.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 20th— Help! You forgot your Yearbook Avenue password! We tell you how to get
it back.
Did you or one of your staff members forget your Yearbook Avenue Password? Well never fear! Help is here! We have been getting quite a few calls (as has
tech support) from folks who have forgotten their password. Last year it was easy for us (your reps) to go online and login as a rep and then we could see
your password. During last year we were informed by our attorneys that this violated a whole bunch of privacy laws and regulations so we are not allowed
to do that anymore.
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So, what can you do when you lose or forget your password? First, please don’t call us or tech support until you have watched the attached video. It will
run on all computers that have Flash installed. If you didn’t get it, you can find it online at Yearbook Avenue (unfortunately you won’t be able to there if
you have forgotten your password but you might want to download it now so you can use it later when you do forget it) on the Help Menu under Video
Tutorials.
And as long as we are mentioning this video tutorial, we should let you folks using YearTech Online know that there are video tutorials on the Help Menu
to cover just about every YearTech Online.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 26th—Another great Pogue digital photo tip.
Here is another great tip on digital photography from David Pogue of the NY Times. (By the way, you can subscribe to his e-mail column at nytimes.com.)
2. Don’t believe the megapixel myth. More megapixels do not make a better camera. Megapixels measure the maximum size of each photo. For example,
a four-megapixel camera captures pictures made up of four million tiny dots. Trouble is, camera companies hawk megapixel ratings as though they are a
measure of photo quality, and lots of consumers are falling for it.
In truth, the number of megapixels is a measure of size, not quality. There are terrible seven-megapixel photos, just as there are spectacular three-megapixel shots. (Lens and sensor quality are better determinants of your photographic results; too bad there are no easy-to-compare statistics for these
attributes.)
Meanwhile, more megapixels means you have to buy a bigger, more expensive memory card to hold them. And you have to do a lot more waiting:
between shots, during the transfer to your computer, and opening and editing.
Megapixels are something to think about only in three situations: when you want to make giant prints (20-by-30-inch posters, for example), when you
are taking pictures to be printed in books or magazines (my note: like your yearbook) when you want the freedom to crop out a large portion of a photo to
isolate the really good stuff, while still leaving enough pixels to make reasonably sized prints.
But if you don’t edit your shots and don’t need them larger than life, don’t get caught up in the megapixel race. Four or five megapixels is a nice sweet
spot.
(Bonus tip: Photos intended for display on the screen - the Web, e-mail, slideshows - don’t need many pixels at all. Even a two-megapixel photo is probably too big to fit your computer screen without zooming out. High megapixel counts are primarily related to printing, which requires much higher dot
density.)
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 27th—Getting started early with Personalization.
If you have done Personalization on your yearbook covers before you may remember that you used a software program called “ItPays” to turn in your
names. If you are planning on doing Personalization (also known as name stamping) then you will be using ItPays online! Yes, online.
To start the process we highly recommend that you go to Yearbook Avenue and click on the Help Menu. You will see Sell/ItPays on the menu. Right below
that you will see “Quick Reference Guides.” Click on that link and a page will open up that lets you download and view the ItPays Quick Reference Guide.
Read it first. Then. . .
While you are on the help menu please note that just above the “Quick Reference Guide” link there is a link to Video Tutorials for ItPays. Make sure you
choose this one and not Yearbook Avenue Video Tutorials and you will find videos that will walk you through the entire process of using ItPays online.
But please, don’t wait until these lists are due to start learning how to input the information we need. Even though that date is far away, assign a student
to run through these tutorials today!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 28th - -Another great Pogue digital photo tip.
Here is another great tip on digital photography from David Pogue of the NY Times. (By the way, you can subscribe to his e-mail column at nytimes.com.)
3. Ignore digital zoom. In a further effort to market their way into your heart, camera companies also tout two different zoom factors: the optical zoom
(usually 3X) and digital zoom (10X! 20X! 30X!).
Digital zoom just means blowing up the photo. It doesn’t bring you closer to the action or capture more detail; in fact, at higher settings, it degrades your
photo into a blotchy mess. For best results, leave this feature turned off. The optical zoom number is the one that matters; it means a lens that brings you
closer to the subject.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 29th—Great yearbook pictures to emulate.
As we hope you remember (or if you are new to yearbooking you wouldn’t know) Jostens and Wolfe’s Camera sponsor an annual photo contest. Each
year we receive thousands of entries and award a ton of prizes. We promise to let you know later in the year when this year’s contest opens both in our
newsletter and with a tip of the day.
In the meantime one of the best ways that you can help improve your photography is to look at other people’s efforts. Well the entire library of winning
pictures from the 2005 photo contest is now online. You can find it at http://www.jostens.com/yearbook/showcontest.asp. (Do not put a period at the end
of the URL— I had to to end the sentence.)
Have your students take a gander a great photos from other high school and middle school students so they can shoot better pictures themselves.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 30th—Too many fonts.
If your computers are running slow or crashing on a regular basis we bet you have too many fonts installed.
I have to be honest that I just looked at my PC and found that I have more than 300 fonts installed. See how many you have. Open InDesign, PageMaker or
Word and look at the font menu. If you are like me, you have fonts on there you have never used, fonts that are in a foreign language and fonts you used
last year that you never use now. Get rid of them. When any program (including Internet Explorer) opens, they have to check all the fonts that are available to use. The more they have to manage, the slower your computer.
So stop for about 10 minutes today and remove all the fonts you aren’t using. Your computers will love you for it. They will feel so slim, trim and speedy!
Tips of the Day for October 2005
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 3rd—Great yearbook pictures to emulate.
As we hope you remember (or if you are new to yearbooking you wouldn’t know) Jostens and Wolfe’s Camera sponsor an annual photo contest. Each
year we receive thousands of entries and award a ton of prizes. We promise to let you know later in the year when this year’s contest opens both in our
newsletter and with a tip of the day.
In the meantime one of the best ways that you can help improve your photography is to look at other people’s efforts. Well the entire library of winning
pictures from the 2005 photo contest is now online. You can find it at http://www.jostens.com/yearbook/showcontest.asp. (Do not put a period at the end
of the URL-—I had to to end the sentence.)
Have your students take a gander a great photos from other high school and middle school students so they can shoot better pictures themselves.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 4th—Too many fonts.
If your computers are running slow or crashing on a regular basis we bet you have too many fonts installed.
I have to be honest that I just looked at my PC and found that I have more than 300 fonts installed. See how many you have. Open InDesign, PageMaker or
Word and look at the font menu. If you are like me, you have fonts on there you have never used, fonts that are in a foreign language and fonts you used
last year that you never use now. Get rid of them. When any program (including Internet Explorer) opens, they have to check all the fonts that are available to use. The more they have to manage, the slower your computer.
So stop for about 10 minutes today and remove all the fonts you aren’t using. Your computers will love you for it. They will feel so slim, trim and speedy!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 5th—Another great Pogue digital photo tip .
4. Ditch the starter card. Unfortunately, it’s a universal practice to include a very low-capacity memory card with the camera-a teaser that lets you take a
shot or two while you’re still under the Christmas tree. But it fills up after only four or five shots.
When shopping for a camera, therefore, factor a decent-size memory card - 512 megabytes, for example - into the price.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 6th—Happy National Yearbook Week!
C-e-l-e-b-r-a-t-e!! This is National Yearbook Week!
We almost missed this so we pushed the tip on using your school’s website back a couple of days so you can plan a celebration for tomorrow.
If you have not already discovered the “News Release” that was sent out from our national office (the original is on YBA), I have attached a copy to post
on your office wall. Since it is in Word format, feel free to add your own quotes and information — then, send off a copy to your local newspaper or radio
station so they can announce it to the world!!
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You might also want to add information related to your yearbook sales along with a request for school-related candid photos (with your YBOnline community mailbox address, if you are submitting online).
Make Friday your day to celebrate and be sure to wear your yearbook staff shirts!
Happy National Yearbook Week!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 7th—Updater for YearTech for InDesign CS2 for Mac
When the YearTech for InDesign CS2 software shipped earlier this month, Clip Art Placement and the RedEye Removal tool were not complete for Macintosh for InDesign CS2. They are complete now and an updater is available on Yearbook Avenue. The updater is available by logging in as a YearTech school,
then going under the Help menu to YearTech Help and choosing YearTech Updates. After downloading, double-click the installer to install the two missing
plug-ins in the correct location. This update is only needed for ID CS2 Mac users. Please contact Technical Support if you have questions.
And here’s a bonus tip for everyone.
Two new Virtual Books highlight design ideas
If your students are looking for creative design ideas, there is no better place to look than Yearbook Avenue. There are two new virtual books on the site
under the Educate Menu. One features the winning entries in the Yearbook Design Contest co-sponsored last spring by Jostens and Adobe. The second
features great designs created using YearTech Online. Both books are visible to all customers and offer a great opportunity for your schools that are not
using YearTech Online to experience the virtual book concept.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 10th—Using your school’s website for yearbook, part 1.
Does your school have a website? If so, you should be using it extensively for yearbook purposes. Over the next couple of weeks we will give you some
great ideas of how you can be using it starting with today.
If you are still selling yearbooks, is there a link on the website where students and parents can order a yearbook? There should be. It should be an automatic. If possible, see if you can get a banner ad on the home page. If your school does not have e-commerce (so they can buy things online) then at least
there should be either a downloadable PDF order form they can fax or mail to you or an e-mail link where they can mail a request for you to order them
one. Have that e-mail go to you or your business manager and then respond with instructions on ordering them.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 11th—Using ItPays for Personalization sales only
If you wish to use ItPays only for the purpose of submitting your personalization information to the plant, check out the Quick Reference guide for doing
just that. It will instruct your staff how to set up their offer, enter sales and view the reports. You will find this guide is on Yearbook Avenue under the Help
menu (see Quick Reference Guides under Sell/ItPays Help).
5. Beware the format factor. Memory cards come in an infuriating variety of sizes and shapes. The least expensive formats are Compact Flash (big and rugged, about $55 online for a one-gigabyte card; available in capacities up to eight gigabytes) and SD (about $70 online for a one-gigabyte card; maximum
two gigabytes).
Most Olympus and Fuji cameras require XD cards (about $85 online for a one-gigabyte card, the maximum), and most Sony cameras require either the
Memory Stick Pro (about $90 online for a one-gigabyte card; maximum four gigabytes) or the smaller Memory Stick Duo (about $115 online for a onegigabyte card; maximum two gigabytes).
Note, too, that you can also find memory-card slots built into laptops, palmtops, cellphones, game consoles, printers, photo-printing kiosks and other
machinery. They are most likely to accommodate Compact Flash or SD cards. Memory Stick-compatible slots are less common, and XD slots are downright
rare.
My note: The real message of this tip from David is that when you buy a new camera try and match it with the memory format you already own. If you are
switching because your old format is no longer available, try Compact Flash as it is the most bang for your buck.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 13th—Special note for K-8 schools .
One adviser suggested this for all my schools out there who organize your mug shots by class as opposed to by grade.
“I know this one is more for elementary schools, but we are a big elementary school who uses YearTech Online. A critical thing others
need to do immediately is make sure they are working with their portrait provider in getting the school list sent to them in the correct format (e.g.
sorted by Teacher) This way, the school will theoretically get their CD back from the photographer sorted correctly and enable the school to flow
panel pages in YearTech Online without any hassle. Last year we had a real problem when we got our CD back from our photographer sorted by
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grade only, and this caused a great deal of work for us to go back in and associate a teacher with each student so they could end up flowing in each
class by teacher.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 14th—Using your school’s website for yearbook, part 2
Did you get your banner ad to sell yearbooks on your school’s home page yet? Get going. Now here is another great way to use your school’s website.
How many times have you had students come to you at registration and say, “I bought a book but I lost my receipt!” and you don’t have them on your list.
Or parents calling you with the same question. And it always happens when you are in the middle of distribution. Put a lid on that problem NOW! As soon
as you have finished your big sales campaign and sold most of your yearbooks, put a list of all buyers on your school’s website. Publicize the fact that it is
there and that students should check to make sure they are on that list if they think they have purchased a yearbook. Let them know that if they are not
on that list, there will be no yearbook for them.
This may also stimulate some sales as kids realize that they have not bought a yearbook yet. Also if you can, get a link from the home page on the website
so parents see this as well and then put an announcement about the list in the next parent mailing.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 17th—Club Photo Day
Here is a great tip we got from one of our favorite advisers. If you have any great ways to handle anything yearbook-wise please send it our way. We would
love to share it.
“I have a club photo day and the school allows me to take students out of class beginning at the lunch periods. This usually takes place
in November. I have two photographers, one in the theater for large groups and one in the community room for small groups. The day is highly
publicized and a schedule is posted throughout the school. Students receive passes from their sponsors to get out of a part of a class. As soon as a
photo is taken, students stay in place while clipboards come across each row where they print their names. There will always be a few students who
will write down fictitious names so I send as many of the lists to the club sponsors as possible. I schedule the photographers until 4:30 or 5:00. Not
every club can be taken at that time. The music department, for example, usually needs separate setups so I do those and a few other large groups
on a final exam day when I can get one of the gyms. A large space is needed for orchestra and band pictures.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 18th—Starting your YearTech Online index .
Advisers, it’s not too early to get started on the index. In the image library, any photo with a red exclamation point means there is no name data for that
photo. Go to the Create Menu and then the Image Library. In the Image Info box next to each photo, simply type in the names in the following format:
First Name, space, Last Name, comma, space.....then add the subsequent names using the same format. To save your work click the apply button after you
enter the names for that photo.
Remember to use proper names (Michael Smith instead of Mike Smith) so that you have the correct version (and only one version) of each name in the
index.
To save time, you can then copy these names from the Image Info box, into the text block on your page. In the Image Info box, simply highlight the text,
copy it (Control C or Apple C) and then head over to your page in the build ladder. Click on the appropriate text block on the page and then paste in your
text (Control V or Apple V).
You can also type the names on your page first and then copy/paste the names into your Image Info box.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 19th—Handling death at your school.
Recently one adviser dropped me a note asking me how to handle the recent death (by suicide) of a student at their school. I decided to do some research
and look at how other good books have handled it in the past.
Here is what I found in some pretty good books:
Many covered that student with a sidebar in the class they were part of. If the deceased was a junior, then they ran a sidebar in the junior mug section,
faculty member in the faculty section, etc. The rest put the memorial at the end of the yearbook. This was especially true if the death happened late in the
year after the mug shot sections had gone in.
Most of these sidebars did not dwell on the cause of death although one did read, “On February 3rd, John Doe found it necessary to take his own life.”
Another mentioned, “After a long battle with cancer, John Doe passed away on February 3rd, 2006.”
All of the sidebars that I really liked included quotes from friends about how that student had lived and the best included a specific memory about that
person. The big point here is to dwell on how the person lived as opposed to how they died.
No yearbook covered the death of graduates. Your yearbook covers this year. Not the death of someone who is not known by most of the students in your
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school.
If you have other ideas on this topic, we would love to hear what they are and promise to share them with the rest of the group.
6. Buying a new camera? Do your research.
Fortunately for you, the prospective camera buyer, the Web is filled with sites, including dpreview.com <http://dpreview.com/> and dcresource.com
<http://dcresource.com/> , that do elaborate testing and reviews of every camera that comes along. Look them up before you buy; if you’re pressed for
time, at least read the intro and conclusion pages, and look at the sample photos.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 21st—Some of the best design ideas in the world.
The biggest request I get for tips of the day is, “Where can we find more ideas? We need more ideas. Help!”
Here is one answer. Chuck Green. Chuck is one of the best idea people in the design world. His book and website, IdeaBook are legendary among designers. You can check out the website at http://www.ideabook.com/ anytime you like. While you are there, sign up for his free e-mail Design Links Briefings.
These are super sets of links that Chuck sends out periodically to websites that show great design.
And to answer your question, no, they do not feature yearbook design. Just design. But in his last briefing (and all the archives are available online) he
sent some great packaging design sites. Packaging? Yes, packaging. But design comes from everywhere. You can use one of the package design ideas to
create a super logo or QuickRead headline for your yearbook. Design really is everywhere.
Lastly Chuck has some great book and other tools for sale on his site. I don’t get anything for endorsing him but I can tell you that his books are as fantastic as his website and his briefings.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 10/22/05—Choosing background colors the right way.
As you are working on your color pages it is very important that you choose any colors you are going to use as background or for type or graphics the correct way. NEVER rely on what you see on your computer monitor.
In your Yearbook Kit you will find the Jostens Color Guide. If you are working on a process color page and want to use a color for a background or graphic,
then choose them from this guide. Then see the first page of the book for where to find instructions on how to get that color into your computer file.
Colors you see on your screen may (probably will) not print exactly the shade you see them. A quick explanation is that we print in CMYK but you see RGB
on the screen. When you look in the Color Guide you are seeing the colors exactly as they will print in your yearbook. And don’t worry if when you choose
of one of those colors, it doesn’t look on screen the way it does in the book. That just shows you how far off your monitor is when it comes to picking
colors.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 24th—A great site for beginning photographers.
I got this tip from another super adviser. It is a super site for new photographers. Check it out.
“the photo tip... I found this great site for beginners to photography. I am using it with my middle school photography class. http://www.kodak.
com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=2/3/38&pq-locale=enUS. They even have a place to take pictures—and then it tells you if its a good
picture or not and why.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 25th—Another great Pogue digital photo tip.
Know your class. Please don’t ask a technology columnist, (or your yearbook rep) “What digital camera should I buy?”
That’s like asking, “What car should I buy?” or “Whom should I marry?” There just isn’t a single good answer.
Cameras now come in several different classes with different pros and cons. There are card cameras, no larger than a Visa card and less than an inch thick
(gorgeous and very convenient but with few manual controls and short battery life); coat-pocketable cameras (bigger, but still self-contained with builtin lens covers, longer battery life and more features); semipro zoom models (too big for a pocket but with built-in super-zoom lens ); and S.L.R. models
(endless battery life, no shutter lag and astonishing photos).
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 26th—How NOT to index your page and photo credits in InDesign .
In a tip we sent out in late September we recommended giving your staff credit with photo credits, writing bylines and page design credits. Some of
you who use InDesign sent back a question. “How do we make sure that those names (in the credits) are not indexed to that page? The YearTech indexer
indexes all names on each page and we only want those in the pictures to be indexed.
Here is an easy way to do this. Once you have sent back your proofs and just before you run the Indexer on those pages, using the pointer tool in InDesign,
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shift click to select all your credits. (Make sure they are in separate copy blocks by themselves.) Then choose Create Outlines from the Type menu. This will
turn all the selected type into a graphic. Then run Indexer on the page and those names will not index as they are no longer type.
Please note that I suggest that you only do this after final proofs are sent back as once converted to outlines you will no longer be able to edit the text.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 27th—Avoiding lost links in InDesign and PageMaker.
We got an e-mail from a school today that all of a sudden had lost links in their PageMaker file. We thought we would list some of the reasons this happens so you can avoid them.
Students who do not use Picture Placer. They use File>Place. Tell them to stop doing that. Picture Placer does a much better job of keeping links attached.
Moving the PageMaker/InDesign file to another location. Too often, students forget where they save things. That’s why it is so important to make sure and
always save page files into the correct deadline folders and NEVER move them.
Changing the names of linked files. Never do this unless you are prepared to totally replace all the photos you have renamed. If you use Picture Placer you
should not have this problem.
Never change the name of any folders in the YearTech/Yearbook hierarchy. Just one additional letter in the word yearrbook (see what we mean) can
completely undo a link
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 28th—Another great Pogue digital photo tip.
8. Turn off the flash. A typical digital camera’s flash has a range of about eight feet. In other words, using it at the school play does nothing but fluster the performers.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 31st—Halloween is here! Take lots of pictures.
Why are you reading this tip. You and your entire staff should be out taking pictures of all the great Halloween festivities that are probably going on in
your school. If holiday celebrations are not part of your school day, make sure and get pictures of students and faculty dressed in costume at their homes,
parties, dances or where they work. A shot of a student boxing groceries dressed as a pirate is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
Tips of the Day for November 2005
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day November 1, 2005— One adviser’s view on covering a death in your school.
One of the best thing about doing these tips is that I learn so much from you. I was originally asked by one adviser how to cover a death in their school and
then a bunch of you were wonderful and sent back some of your own experiences. For the next couple of days, I want to share those with you.
This was the first one I received. By the way, in this case, I have changed the names and locations to protect this adviser’s privacy.
“I am hesitant about writing this, but I’m going to anyway from the perspective of a parent who has experienced the death of a
child. Our son Jeff had just finished his freshman year at a local high in 1984 when he died in a drowning accident at the lake. Until recently, I have
also been the group leader for the local Chapter of The Compassionate Friends for approximately 15 years. So, I believe I qualify to put in my twocents worth.
Please advise students not to list the cause of death, especially if the cause is suicide. Mentioning that the child died on a certain day,
how much he/she will be missed, and adding comments from other students should be sufficient. BUT, first ask the parents what they would be
comfortable with. Remember, this book is forever and what is written could be a very painful experience and reminder of an extremely dark time
in a student’s life. This could also be true in the case of a student who was killed because he/she was driving and drinking. So, the best thing, in my
opinion, is to just not mention the cause of death unless it is from cancer or some other physical illness.
For a dedication page, the parents are a great source of information. Interview them, also. A nice gesture would be to give the parents a
copy of the yearbook - most likely, they will treasure it forever. The yearbook is only one little piece of their child’s life, but even one little piece is
worth more than anyone can imagine to a grieving parent.
So, there, I’ve said it. I hope it helps in some small way.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day November 1, 2005—Another view on covering death.
Here is another view from a different adviser.
“Just a side note on this topic. Last year I was approached by a mother who wanted us to do a memorial for a student (not hers, but a friend of
his) who passed away in 6th grade but would have graduated with last years Seniors. I told the mom that it had been our position to only cover curJostens Yearbook Tips of the Day
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rent students and current years, but I’d give it some thought if she could get back to me in a few days—I usually find that they appreciate thinking
that I have put some thought into their situation. Then in a conversation with a yearbook staff member, their response to the situation was very
emotional and powerful, which made me give it further consideration. I really didn’t feel it was appropriate to do any sort of tribute or memorial. .
.but understood the impact that a death has on a class as they go through the years (I still remember the classmate I lost in summer before my 8th
grade year) so the compromise that we ended up doing was that I did allow them to buy a baby ad and do a message that celebrated the memory,
much like many parents would reflect back on their own kid. I thought this was a good compromise, after all, I generally don’t screen baby ads and
tell parents what they can or can’t say in their baby ad so if the parent had done one of their son and his friend who passed away I probably would
have just let it go.
Just a thought on a slightly different situation that an advisor could run into.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 3rd — Another viewpoint on covering death in your schools.
Here is another one I received and a good thing to think about.
“You may want to remind advisors to check their school board policy. Ours prohibits memorials of any kind in student publications (or in our
building). I didn’t understand this policy at first, but there are several valid reasons. Especially if it is a suicide, other students who are already on the
edge may see this and see it as a way to get attention for themselves, also it is easy to memorialize well known or well liked students but not as easy
with someone who wasn’t. Some schools will memorialize students in the year they would have graduated; however, especially in larger schools
that could be hard to keep track of and unfortunately, there is no guarantee that student would have graduated that year - he or she could have
moved or dropped out. Just my two cents.”
Another rep who I shared this with sent this note that relates very well. Good advice.
“I will add one more thing to that. I ALWAYS advised my staffs to have their policy in writing filed away someplace. Many of my schools cover
any death but a suicide - in which case they would make no mention of it in the book. I advised them that as long as their policy was in writing, they
could make that decision but having that policy ahead of time and checked off with the administration would save them hassle with parents and
other students.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 4th — One last tip on handling death in your yearbook.
Here is one final tip I received from one of your number. Again, thank you for your help on this.
“This has, unfortunately, been a fairly common issue for us.
We do nothing in the year of the student’s actual death. We do set aside a half-page or page (depending mostly on space issues) in the book
for the year the deceased student would have graduated. We approach friends/family for pictures of the deceased. Sometimes they also give us a
poem or something specially personal to the student. We often include a birth-death date listing on the page, but we’ve never included anything
about the cause of death.
Sometimes the memorial runs with the dedications, and sometimes in the senior section. Again, this is usually a decision based on space
allocation in the book, but in the last few years our dedication section has become pretty popular, and the memorial pages seem to “fit” better
there.”
This was going to be the last word on this subject but then yesterday I got two more great ideas. Since I want to bring this topic to a
close, I am going to add them today because I think they are good ideas.
“I have another thing to add about deaths. In the past, I did not save negatives, or CDs with pictures on them for the previous years. But, I
have learned a very valuable lesson. My son’s best friend was killed in an automobile accident at the end of their senior year. His mother and sisters
wanted any negatives from his 9th, 10th, 11th grade years, but I had just thrown all of them away, only two months prior to the accident. As a result, his mother begged me to keep them for any other families that may have to go through the same ordeal. Now, I am saving all of the negatives
and CD’s and marking them for ??? years. I learned the hard way.”
“I agree re: talking to the parents. As you know, we have a death almost every year, and we always contact the parents to let them know our
intentions and to get feedback. You might want to mention the idea of memorial “stickers” in case the death happens after the yearbook is almost
completed at the plant (like during spring break). When we made the sticker the first year I was the adviser, it never occurred to me that we could do
that.”
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 7th — A great tip we got concerning club group pictures.
After I got all those super responses about handling death in your yearbook, I also heard a bunch of great ideas about how many of you are handling the
taking of your club group shots. For the next couple of days we will take a look at these. And PLEASE, keep sending your ideas. It is good to share. Here is
what one adviser told us about the Club Photo Day we sent a tip about in October.
“Before I was the yearbook advisor, our school did “Club Photo Day” as well. We had problems with this because some students didn’t want
to miss part of that particular class, they were absent, they were on field trips, or they never got the passes from their club’s advisor. In addition,
some students would sneak into pictures of clubs and activities of which they were not members, and it became a huge joke and contest among
the upperclassmen to see how many pictures they could get into. Plus, the advisors couldn’t leave their classes to get pictures taken with their clubs,
causing more problems. So, our solution was a simple one that made everyone happy. Each club/activity/organization gets at least one page in the
yearbook. The staff member assigned to cover that club/organization goes to the advisor and schedules a date for the Club Photo to be taken. This
way, it is publicized within the club and no outside members are in it. Plus, more students in the club are there to have their picture taken. The page
for each club allows for more coverage and an explanation of what the club is about, encouraging more people to join it in the future. It has been a
godsend for our school to do it this way! “
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 8th — Your November YourBook newsletter.
By now all of you should have received the November issue of YourBook, our newsletter in the mail. We want to call your attention to a bunch of great
stuff inside.
Don’t miss the “What You Should Be Doing Now” column on page 2. This is the first place to go each and every month to make sure you are completely up
to date on all the things that need to be done by the end of this month.
Then run and pass out copies of the list of Features from pages 3 and 6 as well as the hot QuickRead section in the centerfold spread. These should be
great idea starters to your entire staff.
Then go back to page 2 and make sure you read the 90% or better column on how to “Get Personal” with book sales. This is important.
Lastly, if you ever have a backlit photo come back from one of your photographers (and who hasn’t?) make sure you read, copy and post on the wall where
all photographers can see it the best way to fix those pics on page seven. By the way, this Photoshop tip is what I like to call a gasp tip. The first time you
see it work, you gasp.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 9th — Fixing pictures that are too light and too dark.
Recently when I was visiting a school, we were going over some pages that the school was about to submit. Most of the photos digital on their pages
looked pretty good but a few were horribly dark or horribly light. I asked the school if they really wanted them to go in like that as the were not going to
print very well in their yearbook. (One picture was so dark, you could not tell who was in it.)
They said that these were the only pictures they had and they didn’t know how to make them any better.
I immediately asked them if they had their copies of the Back to School and October issues of our newsletter, YourBook. They said they did and went to
find them. We looked at page seven of both issues and sure enough, there was a great step-by-step method of fixing photos that were either too light or
too dark in Photoshop. But the staff said, “We don’t have Photoshop, we just have Photoshop Elements.” I said, “That’s OK. These two step-by-step tutorials
work just the same in Elements as in their big brother, Photoshop.
Now if you have pictures that are too light or too dark. Go get those past issues and see how to fix them. It is easy!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 10th — Avoiding lost links in PageMaker and InDesign, another viewpoint.
In the October 27th tip we shared some ways to avoid lost links in PageMaker and InDesign. We had also sent them on to another Jostens rep friend of
ours. He responded with this idea. If it works for you, go with it.
“Concerning this issue, I have all my advisers delete all but one deadline folder and rename it to “Deadline 00”. This way all the pages
and links stay in one folder. When they run submit it creates a “submit 00” folder. After they have burned the contents of this folder to a cd for the
deadline shipment, they rename the folder to “submit 1”. When they start submitting pages for the next deadline, Yeartech creates a new “submit
00” folder and after they burn this to a cd, it is renamed to “submit 2” and so on.
I have been using this system since after the first year of Picture Placer. I spent way too much time tracking down links and duplicate files that first year.
With this system, links or duplicate page file have not been an issue. “
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 11th — One more note about covering death in your yearbook-this one has a
warning.
One more tip about handling death. I thought we had exhausted all the ideas on this topic, but this adviser had an entirely different view. Hers is a BIG
word of warning.
“We had a death last year after some other pages with the student were already sent in. He was a skateboarder and a motto that skateboarders have is “skate hard, live fast, die young” (that motto was included in a side bar in the page, a fellow skater, his best friend had done that
page). Luckily we remembered that the student who died in an auto accident over Xmas was in that page, when we looked “die young” was right
next to a large picture of him jumping off a ramp on his skateboard. While we had done a really nice memorial page, if we had not remembered to
check the other pages...it could have been disaster. We called Linda right away and she took that off the page, sent us a reproof and we were careful
to check for any others. Remind advisers to check to see what the content of the pages the deceased student or teacher are on.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 14th — Another great website for teach your students to take better pictures.
If you enjoyed the trip to the Kodak site that we suggested in a previous tip, then you’ll love http://www.88.com/exposure/
Check out their “SimCam” and experiment with settings for better photos. From this site, you’ll also get a complete list of resources for teaching beginners!
Once you arrive onsite, go down to the bottom of the menu and take a few shots with the “Sim Cam” to see how it works. Your kids will lover it! After finding how much there is to learn and experiment, go back to the menu and explore some of the other listed topics.
This is a great site to give to the staffers for a weekend assignment of exploration.
As soon as the door is opened, they’ll find a whole new world!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 15th — The case of the missing letters in InDesign.
WARNING: This is a long tip. If you do not use InDesign, you can skip it altogether.
I received an e-mail from a school just the other day. And if you are using InDesign, this applies to you. I was going to try and summarize but I think reading the e-mail thread will do a better job of explaining and helping you realize that you aren’t expected to know everything about InDesign and that it is
OK to ask questions.
First, I got this e-mail:
Hey Jim,
I know that I saw something from you recently about the mysterious letter “f” disappearing in InDesign. We are using InDesign CS and
we keep having that problem. Of course, I cannot find where I read the solution.
Would you mind forwarding me that info? I know I saw it somewhere.. maybe it was on the Adobe site. When they type the letter “f”, it either
disappears or morphs into a weird symbol. Using InDesign CS on a PC. I tried to search for this in the support section of adobe.com but had no luck...
Any help would be great. Thanks!
So I answered back:
This isn’t a ligature f is it?
So they wrote back:
We have no idea what that means...
So I answered back:
A ligature is (right from the dictionary on my computer) “a character or piece of type, for example, ae, that consists of two or more
letters joined together.”
A lot of times, especially with fl, fi and a few other character combos InDesign will use ligatures. Ligatures combine those letters as in
traditional typesetting. Sometimes if the ligatures feature is turned on, and the font has not ligatures available, they will just make one of the letters
(in your case the f) disappear. If that is the problem, then the school should turn off ligatures in InDesign.
You can turn off ligatures by selecting the type tool and then clicking on the flyout menu at the end of the control palette. The second
item down is ligatures. Make sure that this is turned off.
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To illustrate if it is, try typing fl, fi or ae with it turned on in a good (Times Roman, Palatino, etc.) typeface and see what it looks like, then
turn it off and check it out.
So they wrote back:
YES! That’s it!
So there you have it. The case of the missing letters in InDesign. If you are having that problem, we just thought we would help you as well.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 16th — Handling holidays when you aren’t allowed to.
I know that many of your schools have rules about celebrating holiday-wise. Here is what one adviser sent me on Halloween morning. I think it would
apply equally well to Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day or any other holiday.
“Okay, I know it is too late now, but my staff created a Halloween experience to take pictures of. (We are one of those schools that
doesn’t allow costumes to be worn.) We had a treat day for teachers and we all wore costumes. Plus, we held it in the yearbook room so that they
could actually see where we do all of our work. The teachers loved it! All the kids brought desserts and it was a way to thank teachers for letting us
constantly bother them during yearbook class. It would be something staffs could do anytime, or for a holiday.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 17th — Another great Pogue digital photo tip Watch your inbox.
9. Turn on the flash. (The last Pogue tip was on “Turning off the Flash.”) On the other hand, here’s a great trick for when someone’s face is in shadow: turn
the flash on manually. Forced flash or fill flash brings your subject’s face out of the shadows, and rescues many a portrait that would otherwise turn into a
silhouette. (On most cameras, you turn the flash on or off by pressing a lightning-bolt button.)
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 18th — Looking for great communication tips
Recently I was talking to an adviser about how she keeps track of her yearbook staff. You see, she has kids in more than one class period. The majority of
the staff is in one class but there are others who want to work on the yearbook but could not fit it in their schedule. Here is what I found out from another
adviser with much the same problem except she had two completely different classes.
“One thing we did was set-up a “message board” folder on our network drive so that kids could leave messages (which were Word
documents saved in the message board folder) for each other to help keep communications open. And I also had mandatory work
nights one night a week that brought all of the kids together at one time. I was able to have my editor in one class and my assistant in the other, so I
made them responsible for communicating with each other so they were always aware of what was going on in each class and could communicate
whatever was needed to their individual classes. I guess the big key is COMMUNICATION!! It wasn’t fun nor easy, especially since I wasn’t in EITHER
class...but we made it through it. We have some catching up to do because of it, but that was only one of many factors causing our delays! What
doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger, right???”
So, what do you do to improve communication amongst your staff members? If you have any great ideas, let us know.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 21st — Things to do before Thanksgiving.
Here are three quick things you should check on before you leave for your well-deserved four day weekend.
If you have your cover and endsheet proofs, have you sent them back or called the plant to approve them.
If you have not sent your underclass mug shot CD to the plant, NOW is the time!
Make sure your proof correction team is ready to go. If you have not received proofs yet, you will soon. Guarantee you have a system ready to handle those
proofs.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 22nd — The last great Pogue digital photo tip.
Here is the last of the super ten tips I have been borrowing from David Pogue of the NY Times. I can’t say enough good things about Pogue’s books and
writing on the NY Times website. You can link to it all at http://www.davidpogue.com/
10. Turn off the screen. The back-panel screen is, of course, one of the joys of digital photography. But it’s also the No. 1 consumer of your battery power. If
you’re comfortable holding the camera up to your eye and peering through its optical viewfinder, turning off the screen while shooting can double the life
of each battery charge.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 23rd — Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I want to wish each and every one of you the best Thanksgiving ever. And to say a huge. . .
Thank You
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to all of you for being both my customer and my friend. This is one of the best jobs in the world simply because I get to work with people like you. So, go
home, cook a turkey, eat some stuffing and have a wonderful four days off. You deserve it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 28th — In the home stretch towards the holidays!
For many of you there are only 15 school days left until the new year. Make the most of them. Challenge your staff to complete pages before you break for
winter vacation. Try to complete as many as you possibly can before you check out of school for the year.
Make a chart today showing how many pages you want to get in before you walk out that yearbook room door on December 16th, 19, 20th or 21st. Shoot
for the moon. Remember, every page that gets submitted before the winter break is one less you have to do when you come back. And one more proof
that could be waiting for you when you return.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 29th — An adviser poses a problem.
A few weeks back I received this e-mail from one of you wonderful people. I misfiled it in my e-mail software so could you help me out now with some
ideas. Here is her problem:
“What do you do with cliques that form in your yearbook class? With only four weeks into the term, I have one set of students that don’t get
along with others. My editor is stressing. The one group of kids put some mean-spirited remarks on what we call our senior favorites survey that is
distributed to all seniors, basically putting together a couple of students who they consider lesbians on the most likely to stay together category. It
very much hurt one of the girls who is not “out” to her family. She feared this would automatically show up in the yearbook in her senior year. Of
course, it won’t and that was expressed to the student which eased her mind. The other student’s in question had to apologize and were threatened
to have criminal harassment charges leveled against them. I think that part of the case has been resolved. But what do you do, when you’re stuck
with these kinds of dynamics in your yearbook class? I would really like to know what others think.”
I know that many of you will have an idea about how to handle this problem. Please send them on. I will pass all of them on to this adviser and use the
best as tips.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 30th — A great way to improve your club (or any kind of) coverage.
Lost along with yesterday’s tip was this great idea that an adviser sent when I did a tip on club pictures. This is not only a great way to cover clubs but
academics, sports and almost any topic. In the old days, we used to call these beats. Reporters would always have a beat. These were news sources he or
she would check on a regular basis. It is a great way to cover your school.
“Three years ago our yearbook staff started doing club pictures in a different way than having a club picture day. We assign each
student on the staff to cover a club. At the very minimum, they must meet with the club’s advisor and/or president and cover the club kind of like a
story in the newspaper. Find out the Who’s, What’s, Where’s, Why’s and most importantly When. They then must make arrangements to attend a
couple of the meetings, get photos of the club “in action” and take their own group shot during that meeting. The best part of covering clubs this
way is when you look at our clubs and activities section in the yearbook, all of the pictures look different. We are a very small school and kids who
are in several different clubs no longer look like they wear the same clothes everyday to school, because club pictures are now taken on different
days throughout the year. We have found that club pages are some of the first ones to get chosen and crossed off on the ladder.”
Yearbook Tips of the Day for December 2005
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 1, 2005 — Problems with multiple versions of InDesign.
Recently, Jostens has discovered a potential concern when running multiple levels of InDesign which we do at all our plants. Currently, the plant supports
the original InDesign, InDesign 2.0, CS, and CS2. While this is wonderful for all the schools that haven’t chosen to upgrade yet, either due to financial or
memory requirements; it could pose some potential problems in production at the plant.
We would like to make you aware of the following:
Macintosh computers automatically change the icons — production can no longer look at an icon and verify which version the school is working on. All
versions of InDesign show up as the latest version. This can cause multiple problems; the biggest being that we could actually work the school’s pages
in a version they do not prefer. (For instance, if you send in a Mac InDesign2 file and we just double click the icon, it will open in the latest version on our
machine, which would be CS2. Even though we may have all four version of InDesign on that computer. The Macintosh icons are associated through the
RESOURCE FORK, (Windows associates with the extensions) The files don’t upgrade to that version, but associate with that version, and cause confusion to
the operator as to which way the school prefers the pages be worked. This unfortunate changing could occur at the school level if the school has multiple
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versions. This happens only with Macintosh, as far as production is able to tell.
Automatic Upgrading to a higher version — production has noticed that if an icon is “accidentally” double-clicked to open a page, (not our standard
procedure) it is automatically opened in the highest version of the program installed. A school could potentially receive their proof files in a format different from the one they used to create the files. This error could also occur at the school or rep level if the school or the rep has multiple versions. This error
doesn’t occur if the program is launched and the pages are opened within the appropriate version. This error happens on both platforms.
Templates Wrong - Schools may not be using the right template for the version they are using. Production uses the templates as a “failsafe” way to
determine which version a school is using and how they would prefer their pages be worked. Because the CS2 templates were sent out late, schools may
be using old templates. This confuses the issue, as production sees one icon and the templates say another.
These issues are somewhat minor, but can potentially cause frustration to the school.
There are a few simple steps that could be taken to help ensure the correct program is used to work the pages.
If the schools could indicate their program version on their page envelopes, and use the correct template version, that would help tremendously.
If schools would like to guarantee that production knows which version the school wants, we can put it in their electronic “SPEC,” and double check the
files before proofs go out.
All you need to do is send an email with the platform and version you use to me or our consultant. Production will be glad to input the info into your spec.
This may be a problem if you use multiple versions though.
In addition, a school needs to be aware of the potential problems that could occur if a school has access to any additional versions of the program, say on a
laptop, a different lab at school or a home computer. All of these could spell danger for a school of automatically upgrading a file when they didn’t intend
to.
To make a long story really short, make sure you always mark the version you are using on the Page envelope. And if you are only using one version, let
the plant know what it is.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 2nd — You respond to one adviser’s problem.
Last week we sent out this problem that we had received from one of you wonderful folks.
“What do you do with cliques that form in your yearbook class? With only four weeks into the term, I have one set of students that don’t get
along with others. My editor is stressing. The one group of kids put some mean-spirited remarks on what we call our senior favorites survey that is
distributed to all seniors, basically putting together a couple of students who they consider lesbians on the most likely to stay together category. It
very much hurt one of the girls who is not “out” to her family. She feared this would automatically show up in the yearbook in her senior year. Of
course, it won’t and that was expressed to the student which eased her mind. The other student’s in question had to apologize and were threatened
to have criminal harassment charges leveled against them. I think that part of the case has been resolved. But what do you do, when you’re stuck
with these kinds of dynamics in your yearbook class? I would really like to know what others think.”
We got a ton of responses from you wonderful people out there so here is the first of many of them. Hopefully it will help you and the original adviser who
sent us the problem. Keep those answers coming as this is the best kind of dialog.
“I have always approached my yearbook class as a business situation and the staff are my employees. If they don’t like the way things
are done they may quit at any time. If it is a real problem, I fire (ask them to leave the class) them. Students understand this when they come into
yearbook. There is only one boss and that is the instructor. I have had sports and non-sport groups form and have had to remind students that the
book represents the entire student body, not just their clique. With the consequences up front when they enter yearbook, your task of handling
tough situations will be easier.
Well, you certainly could include “teamwork” or something of the like as part of the class grade... I would also think it couldn’t hurt to remind them that
the class is an elective, and energy/people contrary to productive work can and will be removed.
The solution lies in prevention. Without knowing the specifics, I wonder how these derogatory statements on a student survey made it to the students’
hands without first filtering through the advisor and then the school principal.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 5th —Another viewpoint on staff cliques
Here is another one I received. You people are the best!
“It really comes down to one word: expectations On the first day you set your expectation level. You remind the class that they are alJostens Yearbook Tips of the Day
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lowed to have fun & enjoy themselves, but working in publishing & design requires a certain amount of professionalism. Any publications instructor
should expect nothing less. I like to stop fires before they start by reminding the cliques that they have a RESPONSIBILITY to the entire school to perform the yearbook task. I explain to them that in the real word you will work with people that you may not agree or get along with, but you suck it
up and perform your task, because it is your duty. It is vital that they not fail in their duty (or else they will fail the class, according to MY guidelines.
In our school, such behavior as listed earlier is unacceptable. Since yearbook is an elective course, I would have a real problem student reassigned to
another course. In the real world, we call it BEING FIRED.
If the school has a policy against transfer students from classes, may they should re-think their position. The yearbook class is unlike any other class in
the school, in that it requires a total teamwork effort. Anything else would be detrimental to the creation of the book. While in the ideal world, we are
supposed to work with the students and help them iron out specific issues and problems the reality is that time is limited, every day is crucial to the book
building process.
There is no easy cookie cutter answer. (is there ever really on in education?) The best advice is to stop fires quickly, and set your first day expectations
HIGH.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 6th — Another viewpoint on staff cliques
I hope we aren’t boring all of you with this but from the response I am getting this is a very hot topic and you wonderful, experienced advisers are coming
through for the original person like the true pros that you are. I have about five more responses that take different looks at this situation. Watch for them
in the weeks leading up to the holiday.
“The year I had the “personalities” in my yearbook staff that were always bickering the first month or so, I finally told them that
being nice and compromising with one another was a must and was written into a revised syllabus as part of their grade. This settled
them down and in the future yearbook start ups, I very clearly made it a point to draw their attention to this matter and explain that they were in a
work environment and had to get along with other workers in the group, like them or not. My overachiever certainly were not going to have me dock
their grade for pettiness.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 7th — A response on better coverage.
On the last day of November I sent out a tip about covering clubs (actually about covering everything in your school). I got back this excellent response
from a 20+ year adviser that I thought I would share with you that concerns covering academics.
“Here’s an idea to generate pictures for the Academic section of the yearbook ( the reason we are at school in the first place!). We
always choose a long period day to do this exercise because there is more time in the period for teachers to set up labs or in class activities to photograph. Each staffer selects a teacher’s class to photograph ( using the class list). Be sure to have at least one class from each department covered.
That student then writes the teacher a letter requesting permission to come to their class to take pictures on a specific day. ( They never say no).
When the photographer arrives, class is in action and they need to shoot at least 6-8 pictures of what is happening in the classroom. One picture needs to
be of the teacher working with students ( so you can easily identify the room and the class).
When the pictures of developed you should have shots you can use in the academic section, color section, each class mug section (candids), and teacher
pages . I call it one stop shopping.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 8th — Your December YourBook newsletter.
By now all of you should have received the December issue of YourBook, our newsletter in the mail. We want to call your attention to a bunch of great stuff
inside.
Again we want to stress that you don’t miss the “What You Should Be Doing Now” column on page 2. This is the first place to go each and every month to
make sure you are completely up to date on all the things that need to be done by the end of this month.
Are you going to cover current events in your yearbook? If so, make sure to see page three for a new and better way to do it. And don’t forget that it is not
too late to order World Beat, What’s Up or World View. For more about that see the back page.
We can’t say too much about selling more yearbooks either. For some cool tips on getting the yearbook included in parent’s holiday gift giving, see page 2.
If you are doing a DVD or CD-ROM supplement to your yearbook, check out page 6 for a step-by-step guide to organizing the process.
And lastly, make sure your Photoshop freaks see a very cool way to mask out backgrounds in their photos for special effect on page seven. Just another
cool tutorial for you.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 9th — Back to some of your responses on yearbook cliques.
Here are two more superb responses to the adviser’s problem with cliques on her yearbook staff.
“It might be too late to implement this mid-semester, but 25% of my students’ total yearbook grade is a TEAM grade, which consists
of attitude, avoiding backstabbing, volunteering to help others out, etc. This “attitude” thing had been a huge problem when I took the
yearbook adviser position; the assistant principal warned me about it. The TEAM grade solved the problem immediately. Maybe the adviser could
change the grading system at semester and explain to the students that it was needed in order for the yearbook staff to work as one. Yearbooks
come out horribly when there are problems like those she mentioned. These conflicts really do affect the product.”
An interesting response as is this one that addresses a small part of the problem.
“Organize a “Hugs” club which works to Help Unite Gays and Straights. A successful event lately was a “Mix it Up Day” where everyone was
encouraged to sit with someone new in the Cafeteria just to help break down the walls of stereotypes. It takes a very sensitive club adviser and a
dedicated group of kids to make it work, but it is possible.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 12th — More responses about yearbook staff cliques.
You people certainly have a ton to say on this topic. And the long-time advisers are doing their best to chime in on this. I could go all month on this topic
but I think I will give you a few more of the best and most original ideas and then move on by Wednesday. But of course if you still want to chime in with
something new, I promise to put it out there.
“The best way to get around this kind of problem is to hand pick the Yearbook staff at the end of each year. I require potential yearbook
students to fill out an application that gets teacher input. If you’re stuck with a class and you have some bad influences, it can really wreck havoc.
You might try pairing groups yourself making sure to break up cliques. What I personally do is turn into a maniac so the kids are more afraid of
what I’ll do next and are too scared to mess up. I let them know how I feel about being mean, showing disrespect to our customers (the students),
laziness, the list goes on and on. I accept no excuses for anything. I fuss at everyone.
My students focus on doing the best job they can do and try very hard to be responsible. I find I have to take a larger role than I want to
because the students at my school simply will not listen to a student editor. My editors work more behind the scenes that in front of the class. For
your lesbian incident, I’d let those students know that they made the yearbook look bad and you’re considering dropping them from the class. The
kids have got to feel that the yearbook’s reputation is very important.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 13th — Another (NEW) viewpoint on staff cliques.
Here is someone who has fresh idea when you can’t get kids out of your class that are causing the trouble.
“If someone did something intentionally mean or divisive, it would affect their grade (which I give) since attitude is a part of their
grade. If someone put something into the yearbook materials to cause a public scandal, they would have an even more serious grade cut, since in
our school all the copy must be proofed by me before it is approved to go into print (since my name would be the first on a lawsuit). And beyond
that, using yearbook privilege to do something mean and spiteful would probably be enough to have them removed from the class’ (especially if it
happened more than once.
We consider yearbook to be a varsity sport; and we are a team. We handle things like that the same way a team would. If someone isn’t a
team player, they would be benched. We learned a great way to handle certain people at a workshop. The instructor told a great way to ‘’’bench’
someone: it’s called ‘’’Yearbook Class’. Students in the class are not necessarily on the yearbook staff. Those removed from the staff are part of the
class. Their job each day is to report to an area in the room set aside with desks, where they sit in silence, copying Jostens workbooks word for word.
They have a test on the material each week. Perhaps a few weeks reading and testing on the booklet ‘’’Taking Issue’ would be appropriate.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 14th — An adviser could use some help covering sports.
I received this request from an adviser on Friday. She could use some help. Can you provide me something you do to solve this problem. I should note
that the school’s final deadline is too early to get even the winter sports scores in before their final deadline and that they do not have the budget to do a
supplement. If you are in this boat, could you drop me a note and tell us all how you handle it?
“I was hoping you might share this e-mail with the crowd so I can hopefully get some ideas. Many of the coaches are disappointed with
the fact that they can never get recent pictures of their teams into the yearbook— and even more disappointed with the fact that the scores we
print are actually from the last season. At one point, I was even asked to delete the scoreboard from their pages. I explained that there was no
feasible way for us to get recent pictures into the book, but they still would like us to do something about the scoreboard. I tried to explain that
changing the scoreboard might interfere with our competition, but I sympathize with those kids who never get their glory. What can be done, within
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CSPA guidelines, to modify the scoreboard for them? They will not have completed their season by the time that their pages have gone to press.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 15th — One more clique experience from a long-time journalism teacher.
This story was too good to pass up passing on to you. Especially true if you do newspaper as well as yearbook.
Many years ago I had two newspaper students who actually seemed to hate each other, and I faced some of your concerns. They were rude to each other
every chance they got and made no effort to get along even while working on the newspaper.
When I decided to select them for staff positions for the coming year, I knew I wanted one to be Editor-in-Chief and the other Managing Editor. What a
mess!
I took each one aside individually and basically said: “I want you for this job, but I will not give you the job unless I have an absolute commitment that
your personal feelings toward ANY student on staff can be left outside the newspaper arena. I REQUIRE EACH OF YOU to walk into the newsroom as though
you were close friends, NEVER say one unkind word to or about the other in the presence of any staff member, whether in the classroom or elsewhere
(even on weekends) AND, if I learn that either has broken this commitment, you will instantly lose your staff position, and will be removed from the
newspaper staff/class at the end of the grading period.
They knew I meant what I said, decided they could live within the confines of my demands, and accepted the editorial positions for the coming year.
They ACTUALLY BECAME FRIENDS as the year progressed, and never broke their commitment to me.
The key, I believe, is to be 100 percent sure you are willing to give them the consequences you have threatened, and NOT BACK DOWN if they break their
commitment. If they are unwilling to make the commitment in the first place, DO NOT allow them to remain on staff or in the class. If your school does not
allow you that choice, at least DO NOT allow them to have a leadership role of any kind, and they will probably eventually leave the staff anyway.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 16th — A great idea for middle school yearbook photography.
I have an adviser at the middle school level who always has excellent photos (in both quality and content) in her yearbook. Knowing the kind of pics we
get from other middle school/junior high students I asked her how she got such great stuff. Here is what she told me. I know for sure that it will not work
for many of you but work on your administrator now for next year. This is what she told me:
“We have digital cameras, but we are leery of letting the kids use them. We have 2 teachers who take all the photos. They are paid hourly through the
intramural program. The photos are better than when the students used to take them and I don’t have to shoot them all myself.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 19th — Two great ideas for keeping track of your staff.
A while back I asked for ideas about how to keep track of your yearbook staff. This is especially true now that almost everyone is deep in production. Here
are two responses I got that I thought were unique and unusual. “I used a dry erase board at CHS. Worked well. It was only for yearbook staff use. We also
had the mail boxes which is what I have now. Works pretty well with so many kids not being in the class. We also have a bulletin board in the back we
use sometimes. It doesn’t always work that well b/c it is not consistently used. That’s the key for it working is getting the kids used to going to their boxes
everyday or looking at the board everyday.” And another adviser chimed in with a very techie solution. If you decide to do this, add me to your staff list.
“We use a web site, the internet classroom assistant, to improve communications www.nicenet.org
It’s free (donation preferred) and easy to use- submit plans, schedules, documents, recommended links, conference with members of the class about
topics, use as an intranet email that can send mail to specified email accounts, too. I use it with all classes. It is similar to www.Blackboard.com, but not as
indepth.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 20th — A great team building exercise
Here is a super note I recently received from one of my favorite advisers. I thought it was such an original idea that I wanted to pass it on. Enjoy.
“I wanted to share how I bring my 2 levels of kids split into 4 classes together. First, at the beginning of the year we go out to a ropes challenge course.
Luckily, we have one in the district so its easier for us to schedule several visits. I spend 2 days out there just playing games and working on initiatives;
breaking the ice and developing camaraderie. Then we spend one day a month one the low and high elements building trust and teamwork. Its done
wonders for production as well, since we also teach them about responsibility and meeting goals. We also spend one Friday a month at the school until
9:30 or so, we eat dinner play games and even get some work done! Its always fun to see the popular cheerleader types, or the overachiever hang out
with the “geeky” guys and those into the alternative scene. My kids are really developing friendships across the divide. If any of your advisers have access
to some sort of challenge course, I would highly recommend it as a team building activity. But also, there is no better way to help people get along than
having fun!”
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 21st — A holiday wish for you.
This will be the last tip of the day for 2005. And I just wanted to finish up with best wishes to you, your family, your staff and all the great folks at your
school. We hope you have the happiest holiday season ever no matter which of the holidays you celebrate. We also know that 2006 will bring you a superb
yearbook.
And the last word for 2005: Please send in any pages that are finished before you walk out the door today.
Yearbook Tips of the Day for January 2006
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 3, 2006— Upcoming dates for you to remember.
First: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Then, January is a big month for all spring delivery yearbooks. Please don’t forget two very important items. Put them on your list today.
We will need to know how many copies of your yearbook you will want to order before January XX.
You will need to complete any personalization online using ItPays on your Yearbook Avenue website no later than January XX.
I can not stress enough how important these two dates are. Plan now!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 4, 2006—Your January YourBook newsletter.
By now you should have received the January issue of our newsletter, YourBook. We wanted to take this advantage to point out the most important parts
of this issue and to encourage you to read it today.
Some of you may have read this before but we update it each year and run it again; our New Year’s Resolutions for Yearbook Advisers. We think it is a great
way to ask new advisers to take a minute and think about how they could do their job better and live a happier life in general.
We also included resolutions for you to pass on to your staffers, especially those who will be returning next year. Please make sure they see them.
Of course you will also find our two monthly columns, one on “What you should be doing now” and the other with more great ideas about how you can
sell yearbooks to 90% of your students. Check those out right after you read the resolutions.
And you will find another in our step-by-step Photoshop tutorials. This one will help you eliminate those pesky white backgrounds from photos so they
show up as transparent in InDesign and PageMaker.
Lastly, when you are all done reading everything else we ask that you PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE post the centerfold poster in your classroom and encourage your students to enter the annual Jostens Photo contest. We have seen some pretty amazing pictures out there this year and think that you may just
have a winner.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 5, 2006—An InDesign printing tip.
A friend of mine who is a rep in Southern California sent me this great tip that might just help you if you have a very slow printer that is taking forever to
print those big InDesign pages.
“When schools go to print pages in InDesign, particularly those spreads with a large number of photos, the file size can overwhelm their printer. Sometimes it will fail to print entirely and sometimes it will just take 25-20 minutes per DPS. I have my schools do the following before they print:
Create a folder in the deadline folder called “pages to print”
Open the InDesign file and go to the file pull down menu and select “export” and select “pdf.”
When the box opens where they can select the type of file they wish to export, in InDesign 2.0 and CS I have them select “screen” as the preset, in CS2,
have them select the low res/smallest size format
Export these files to the “pages to print” folder
Open the pdf files and print them.
This saves hours in printing time.”
I tried this and sure enough it works great. They come out of that printer really quick.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 6, 2006—Some thoughts on club picture day.
A few weeks back we ran a tip about club pictures and having a club picture day. Here is another point of view from one of you wonderful advisers.
“My thoughts on Club picture day. When I took over as advisor they did a club picture day. What a disaster, students would not show up, sponsors would not tell their club members about it and there was issues with students cutting class on top of boring pictures in the auditorium. Our
procedure now is to send memo’s to the club sponsors at the very beginning of the year asking them to choose two dates to have the club picture
taken. When the sponsor returns the form we schedule them on the calendar and send back a schedule form with the final date, time and room. This
allows the staff members to take more ownership of the page they are creating because they are scheduling the time and taking the picture. After
the picture is taken, a copy is sent back to the sponsor for identification and we as the sponsor to provide details of their year’s activities. Most of the
sponsors actually write a nice paragraph about their club. As a result we get a better response from the sponsor and a variety of pictures in the club
section instead of “posed” group shots.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 9, 2006—Helping kids who need help.
I recently was having a discussion with an adviser about book sales. She was asking if I had any solutions to the problem of helping kids who were truly
low income (we defined that as being on the free or reduced cost federal lunch plans) to purchase a yearbook. Her feeling was that there must be some
way to raise some money in order to get those kids yearbooks.
So, I am looking for some great ideas from you folks out there. Have you tried selling sponsored books (where you sell someone a book but the book goes
to a needy child) or doing dedicated fundraising for this. Anything will help but we would love to see copies of letters or materials you have used to raise
these funds so please send them and any ideas you may have back in a reply e-mail.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 10, 2006—A great ItPays tip.
Last Tuesday I reminded all you spring delivery schools that you needed to have your personalization in this month. Well I got back this great note from
one of you wonderful advisers and I thought I would share it with everyone.
“Just a follow up to your tip on ItPays. Since school records are ordered last name first and ItPays is ordered first name first I had the office send
me via e-mail an Excel file exported from the school records. I was then able to switch the input order around and then upload into the ItPays online
records. In a matter of seconds I had the entire student body entered into the records.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 11, 2006—An important YearTech online tip.
I know you may have seen this already from the plant but I wanted to reiterate it!
Making changes to the Image Library
If you are using the YearTech Online auto flow feature to create portrait pages, keep in mind that if edits are made to a portrait section in the Image
Library, you will need to reflow the pages in order for the changes to be reflected on your pages. There is no automatic update of portrait pages.
For example, if you have flowed the junior section then discover a misspelled name, you would go to the Image Library, select the junior portraits and
correct the name. Then, you would need to reflow the images in that section to capture the change. If the section has already been submitted to the plant,
you should call your plant consultant for assistance.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 12, 2006—A great way to evaluate your yearbook staff.
Back on December 19th (that seems like so long ago now) I sent along a comment that an adviser had sent about organizing their yearbook staff and how
they used that to evaluate them. Here is a response I got from that one and it is a good one.
“For each day we’re in class, the students record the date, their SPECIFIC goal(s) for the day, what they SPECIFICALLY accomplished
for the day, and a score from 0 to 10 of how well they feel they made use of their time for the day. (To get a good score, they don’t necessarily have to have done what they originally set out to do; we all know we can sometimes get sidetracked on another related project. They simply
must have made productive use of their time). If they’re gone, they have to make up the time and record it on their log sheet. They turn their logs
in once a week and I record these daily scores as part of their grade. For next year, I would add a place for them to set a goal for the week and rate
themselves on it at the end of the week as well. It seems to help keep them accountable—I like it.”
Sounds like a great method to me!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 13, 2006—A note about Monday’s holiday.
We want you to have a super Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. It is easy to think of Monday as just another day off or as a chance to work on the yearbook
one more day but we encourage you to take five minutes and remember Dr. King with your staff.
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Here is a great idea. Ask your staff to spend 5 minutes today listening to Dr. King’s wonderful “I have a Dream” address. You can find it in audio and a
transcript at http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/Ihaveadream.htm. Enjoy and learn. Make this day mean something special as it was originally
intended to be.
Then go work on that next deadline, or if it is done, take a well deserved day off.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 17, 2006—A great response to how to help your those who need help, get yearbooks.
Last week I asked for some ideas on how to help low income kids afford yearbooks. Here is a great response I got back from one of you super people.
Please keep those cards and letters coming.
First, how about a payment plan. I think those work well.
“It’s not much of a help, but we accept payments. We know that $65 is a lot for some families so we let them make installments. It’s a pain for
us, but it’s not about us.”
Here’s another great idea.
“I just wanted to add my input on keeping the cost of the yearbook low, so that everyone can afford them. We live in a lower income
community so everyone complains about the cost of the book. We do several fundraisers so that we only have to charge $22.00 if they order early
then we go up to $25 after Jan. 1st. This usually helps us get our preorders done too.Our new fundraiser is an upcoming 5 bands for 5 hours for just
5 buck. We have 5 local bands playing in our gym on Jan. 28th. The bands will share %50 of the door. So if we get 300 kids that will be $1500 which
is $750 to us plus concession. We are hoping for more that 300 kids though.
We do fund-raisers to buffer the cost of the books! Sometimes you can get it approved to offer to the whole school if they help with the fundraiser they can earn cash points towards paying for their book. For example if the raise $100 they can use $20 towards their book. It works for us!”
And another.
“We added an Adopt-a-student option to our advertising sales this year. For the cost of a book, advertisers or patrons are listed in our
advertising section along with the number of books they purchased. I also contacted a local sorority chapter to see if they could help out. We sold 12
books this way this year.
In order to determine who gets them, we wait until the final round of orders have been taken to see which kids on free and reduced
lunch did not order books. We offer them to seniors who have been involved in school activities or who have had special hardships first. We keep
this confidential, and the guidance counselors help with the selection process.”
And one more!
“We did the fundraiser this fall to help those kids with free yearbooks. They sold 25 items from the fundraiser brochure and in turn got a
free book. We worked with America’s Lemonade Stand. It has nothing to do with lemonade. The products were good and prices reasonable. We had
40 kids get free yearbooks and the others got a reduced price on theirs. We still came out OK on profit. The company usually sends out fliers in the
spring to promote their company. I don’t have my numbers here right now.”
I promise more later on so send yours if these jog your brain.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 18, 2006—How to cover those sports that finish after the final deadline.
Just before the holiday break I asked for help for an adviser who hated covering the end of winter sports in the next year’s book. Her student athletes
hated it and she was looking for a way to get the scores in but could not afford to print a supplement. Here is a response I got from one long time adviser.
“This is almost always a problem with us as our basketball teams generally do well at tournament time (looks like it won’t be a
problem this year). We’ve handled it a number of different ways, but the way that seems to work the best is to just do what you can prior to your
last deadline and then, if your team does well at the end of the regular year and into tournaments include a slip-in sheet with final scores when the
books arrive.”
I might go one step further and suggest that instead of a slip-in sheet, print the exact same scoreboard (with scores) on a crack and peel label that the
athletes can put on top of the schedule or incomplete scoreboard on their page.
One last personal note: I will be leaving sometime today to attend Jostens National Sales meeting in Denver. This is our annual meeting where we get to
see all the great new products and services our Marketing department has been working on for the last year. Can’t wait to get back and show you what
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they have come up with. I will still be available by e-mail but I may not be able to answer my cell phone as quickly as usual as we have to turn them off in
our presentations just like you require your kids to turn theirs off in your classroom.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 19, 2006—Your Denver report.
Greetings from Denver! We got to see some super stuff yesterday and look forward to getting into it a little deeper today. We saw the new YearTech
Online 2.0 and the real thing is even better than the demo. I can’t wait to show it to you when I get back as well as all the other great stuff. Have a super
weekend.
Since I will be in meetings all day there won’t be a tip for Friday. Rest your eyes.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 23, 2006—An adviser request.
I returned from Denver on Sunday to find this request in my inbox.
“How do others deal with “inappropriate pictures” taken with the school camera?”
Now it’s your turn. How do you deal with that? Let the e-mail replies begin!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 24, 2006—A note about pricing.
I fully realize that September 2006 is a very long way away but we need to discuss this now because much of the planning for next year is done this winter. Please take a good, hard look at the price of your yearbook. Too often schools tend to wait to long increase the price of their yearbook to their students.
Then after five years of a yearbook at the same price they suddenly realize that they need to jump the price by $5 (or heaven forbid $10) just to make ends
meet.
Inflation is a fact of life. And so is keeping up with it. Now is a really great time to discuss increasing the cost of your yearbook for 2007 (if you need to).
Doing that each and every year by 1% is much better than having to jump it by 5 or 10 percent every fifth year. Let’s talk about this in-depth when I see
you this month.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 25, 2006—An Adobe Creative Suite 2 warning.
I have a lot of Jostens rep friends around the USA who share info with each other. Here is a warning I got from one of them that may apply to you. If you
are using InDesign CS2 then you have the new (and very cool) Adobe Bridge installed. It is a great way to organize your photos. But it does have one
drawback as my fellow rep found out.
“I have an adviser who got into using Adobe Creative Suite. While working in Adobe Bridge, he came across the stock photography resource
that lets you down load low-res imagery. This is a tool primarily for graphic designers and usually all of the stock photography places/sites out there
on the Web have digital watermarks on their low res images to protect them. Well, Adobe’s apparently do not, so the adviser started creating may
layouts/designs with this imagery that actually costs money if it’s used. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 per image for the hi-res version.
My gut feeling is that other advisers may come across this feature get into this habit of using the low res imagery. First, the imagery is
rights protected and shouldn’t be used anyway unless it’s going to be purchased, and second, and it may get them later when their proofs show up..
From what I saw though, Abobe’s Bridge makes it look very easy to just download and use images without any major warnings for the layman.”
My buddy is so RIGHT! This photography (along with all other stock photography) is copyright protected and should never be used in your yearbook. And
the low resolution versions will look fine on your screen but when we print them on our imagesetters they will pixelate horribly.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 26, 2006—How much do you know about Photoshop.
Are you a Photoshop power user? Are any of your students? Find out how much you (or they) know by taking this cool Photoshop quiz from NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals).
http://www.photoshopuser.com/quiz
If you have never visited this site before (www.photoshopuser.com) then make sure and stick around to browse after you are done. Membership in the
organization gets you six issue of their magazine each year as well as unlimited time on their website, lots of cool discounts and much more.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 27, 2006—Dealing with inappropriate pictures.
Last week I passed on a question about dealing with inappropriate pictures taken by your staff members with school cameras. Here is the first of some
great responses I got back.
“ Sometimes you can simply crop around the problem area. If there’s a bad hand gesture, questionable t-shirt logo, or beer cans in the background, it’s an easy way to still use the picture without having any debate. If that’s not an option, then I just don’t allow it in. I’m pretty lucky in that
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most of my kids haven’t tried to “sneak in” any bad pictures so far, but I’ve heard of it happening in other schools. I think most of my kids understand
why it’s a bad idea (makes the school look bad, lose sponsors & sales, possibly lose the yearbook program, etc.) but if you don’t think they don’t
know why, having a quick talk with your staff can be a real help in this area.”
Here is another.
“In the past, when I have found inappropriate photo’s, If we are able to identify the students, the photo(s) are brought to the attention of the Principal and the student(s) are called in and dealt with by admin.”
And one more.
“Last year we had an inappropriate picture taken with the yearbook camera and the student received five days of in-school suspension. This year about 15 of our senior class students decided to display inappropriate gestures during the senior group picture which was taken by
a professional photographer. The punishment for these students was 10 days of work detention. Since there were several group shots taken and we
did have enough good pictures that we could choose from, these students were given a “lighter” punishment than what they could have received.”
Last one for today
“When we take group shots, I am always in attendance. Years ago I started saying, “Think of your Mom,” just before I clicked the shutter.
Then from time to time I would get someone making an inappropriate gesture and I would call them in with their parents in attendance and ask the
student what I said to think of just before he used that gesture. I have had to restrain some fathers at that point.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 30, 2006—Dealing with inappropriate pictures, part 2.
Here are a few more responses we got about dealing with inappropriate pics. We actually got a whole bunch more but this is the end of this topic. Thank
you all for your contributions.
“Usually detentions and removal of camera privileges for a period of time. Usually demoted to typing names and doing the chores none of the kids really
like to do! (names for panel flow, etc.)”
“We speak to the student, get rid of the picture, and ban the student from using the camera. The inappropriateness in middle school has
been minor.”
“We took a picture of our 9th grade student council. The adviser was standing at the front on the right. Just before the photographer clicked
the shutter (this was back before digital photos) the entire back row (four rows on bleachers) held their hands up next to the left side of their faces
with only one finger pointed up. For some reason, the photographer did not notice nor mention it. When the photos came back the adviser went
ballistic and asked if the photographer could do airbrushing to remove the problem. The photographer said it would be way too difficult to airbrush
out the hands. The adviser said, “No, just airbrush our their heads at the shoulders.” So the yearbook ran with a picture of the group and the top row
had no offending digits but they also had no heads either. When the parents complained, they were shown the original photo. No one complained
beyond that.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 31, 2006—Dealing with inappropriate pictures, part 3.
About a week ago we ran a tip about people who got into trouble using copyrighted photos from the Adobe Stock Photos without buying them. A super
adviser who really knows her stuff sent me this.
“Here’s the way I handle copyright explanation...
Homer Simpson can go into the Kwik-E-Mart and pick up his favorite doughnut, right? He has the capability to pick it up. He is capable
of eating it. He is capable of walking out the door with it, too, but he shouldn’t do that unless he PAYS for it—isn’t that the law? (It’s easy for staff
to see the logic in that). So, just because we have the capability to download imagery, doesn’t mean we can do it for free without paying for it or
getting official permission from the owner. (Homer would have to get permission from Apu.)
Then, the caveats about low rez images looking bad in print and/or watermarks showing up in the print process, etc. can further the
argument that there’s no need to seek stock imagery, especially when we (the staff) have the capability to take our own great pictures. We’ll stock
our “Kwik-e-mart” (yearbook) with our own “doughnuts” (sweet, enjoyable, photos).
A positive use for stock imagery is to discuss what makes the photo compelling and to improve the types of photos shot by the staff
based on the work of pros.
Share if you wish.... one of my “trade secrets,”
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Yearbook Tips of the Day for February 2006
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 1, 2006 — What to do once the spring yearbook is complete.
Here is a note I just received from one of your number.
“I could use some help from other spring delivery advisers. How do they meaningfully fill the time after the early March final deadline but
before the end of the year supplement deadline? I want to avoid last year’s issue of keeping kids motivated and on task.”
I know a lot of you have great ideas about this so please send them on.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 2, 2006 — Your February YourBook newsletter.
By the time you read this you should have your February issue of YourBook in your hand. Just in case you haven’t opened it yet, we wanted to point out
some of the really cool articles that are inside. First make sure that as always you check out the “What you should be doing now” column to make sure you
are on track to complete a successful year. It is on page two along with a great way to sell books you may have ordered but not sold as of yet.
On page three are some great ways to utilize your school’s website to help with your yearbook. The centerfold poster has lots of cool indexes since most of
your spring delivery people are working hard to finish yours. If you do a fall delivery yearbook, file this for future reference. Then on to page a very timely
tech tip on page six and lastly the sixth in our series of cool Photoshop tutorials on page seven. This one is about forcing subjects with filters. Very cool!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 3, 2006 — Doing your index with YearTech Online
You may have already seen this direct from the plant but just in case you didn’t and are working on your index in YearTech Online, please make sure you
read this.
If you are planning to have an index in your book, there are some things you can do now to prepare for building your index using the YearTech Online
Index feature. Here are some tips:
Edit the image library prior to indexing
Enter name information for all images used in the book. In the Image Library, you’ll see a green dot below any image that has been placed on a page in
the book.
If you want to enlist the help of others in identifying people in photographs, you have the option of printing a preview of all of the images in a particular
category. Select Category Preview under the Actions menu.
Make sure all names are entered using the following format:
First name (space) last name, first name (space) last name (if multiple names are listed).
2. Using your planning ladder — make sure you have designated consecutive pages to accommodate the index. The index will flow using a process
similar to the auto flow portrait page process.
When you are ready to create your index, you’ll find complete instructions in the YearTech Online User’s Manual. See page 12 in the Creating Your Book tab.
There is also a video tutorial under the Help Menu on Yearbook Avenue.
If you have questions about indexing, please contact Tech Support at 1-800-328-2435.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 6, 2006 — Some additional thoughts on raising the price of your yearbook.
After I sent you a tip late last month to get you thinking about how your yearbook is priced to your students I got this note from another rep. He puts it
better than I ever could.
“The easiest way to make the cost increase more seamless is to borrow a sales-tactic from business . . . ever go to a store that announces:
“Buy it today or it will cost more this weekend!”?
Instead, follow their lead and announce your delivery-day cost which is at least $5 more than the pre-sales price: “Yearbooks, at
time of delivery, will be $60. Save money by taking advantage of our pre-sale pricing - $50 before Thanksgiving, $55 before the end of the first
semester. Any yearbooks available on delivery day will be sold at the full price on a cash basis only.” Then, increasing the delivery-day cost of $60 to
next year’s pre-sale cost of only $52 will be much easier.
And, if you still have books left, announce an auction to sell off the last three books and sell them to the highest bidder; or, glue a
letter from the principal to the endsheet and deliver your extra copies to local real estate/doctor offices for their waiting rooms.
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I figured this one out a few years ago when Coke announced a new pricing structure for outdoor machines — it was going to be
cheaper when the weather got cooler... the press had a great time making fun of the idea saying that Coke was charging more during the hotter weather.
Instead, if they had shown their surveys and announced: “Coke has found that fewer people drink our product during cold weather.
So, we are now announcing a new pricing structure to offer discounted pricing — the colder it is, the higher the applied discount.”
Think about it — we are willing to pay 4x the cost of a can of coke at a convenience store, at a hotel, or in a theater! It’s the same product; the only change
is the location.
Or, use your Kroger card at the store and you SAVE $$ — very few people complain that they are charged more if they don’t have the company card.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 7, 2006 — Hiding surprises on YearTech Online.
I recently got this great idea from a wonderful adviser who asked to remain nameless lest her students start looking for hidden pictures.
“If you have a situation where you want to hide pages from the kids (maybe a dedication page or the hall of fame), here is what you
could do:
Work on your page.When you are done for the day, take it into template builder, and draw a giant box that takes up the entire page.
Make sure that it is the top layer (you can select the large box and then click on the “bring to front” button). Save the page, and let it replace the
original (all of your work is there, it is just behind that photo box). Now lock the page, and all the kids will be able to see is the large, empty photo
box.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 8, 2006 — Something for folks using InDesign.
Have you ever been working on a bunch of InDesign files (like right before you submit them) and are not sure which you have saved or not saved. Well did
you know you can save all your open InDesign files at once? You can. Here’s how.
Just click the hidden keyboard shortcut for Save All: Command-Option-Shift-S (or Ctrl-Alt-Shift-S). That saves you a bunch of time. You have to love
InDesign.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 9, 2006 — An adviser with no class has a request.
In December we ran a bunch of tips about accountability for the yearbook class. Back then I received this reply and lost it. Shame on me. Maybe you could
help with it now if you are in the same boat.
“We have no yearbook classes in our district. Do you have any tips for teachers trying to motivate their staffs of extracurricular yearbook
clubs?”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 10, 2006 — What to do when you are done with your Spring delivery yearbook.
Back on the 1st of February I asked for help with this topic and as usual you came through in a big way. Thanks so much. Here are some ideas for all of you
with the same question.
“Start planning next year’s book! Create a “Future Book” by having staffers examine and collect from magazines and newspapers samples of
fonts, designs, color schemes, and basically anything they like. Dedicate one page in the book for each month. Have the staffers review the events
that they covered this year and make a record of them in the future book, adding to the list anything that you didn’t get to. You might even assign
page responsibilities for deadline one. Then, for next year, use the book to plan coverage assignments and design elements.”
“Ideas: Plan your book for next year. Divide into presentation groups and the ‘07 editors get to decide the final winner. Encourage students to
pour all the ideas they’ve created but couldn’t use in this year’s book. Show off what you’ve learned in your own 8 page mini book.
Our school has had the design groups present to the Leadership class/class officers to promote whole-school ownership. It’ helped
book sales.
I love it because we can get our complicated, detail-oriented cover begun and often finished so the proof can be at summer camp.”
“This year I am planning on having my senior students create a video scrapbook/yearbook. This should keep them occupied for a couple
of months at least. My junior staff will be reviewing Photoshop and InDesign and then designing our staff t-shirts. When that is finished juniors will
begin working on supplement.”
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 14, 2006 — Happy Valentine’s Day.
First, Happy Valentines Day to you! Now, make sure that someone is out shooting all those great Valentine pics. You can use them in the index. And make
sure the photographers have a list of students who still need to be pictured in the yearbook and haven’t yet. This is a great day to get those people in
pictures.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for 2/14/05—The best Valentine’s gift ever. A bonus tip
Tell your yearbook staff that you know exactly what you want them to give you for Valentine’s Day. Tell them if they really love you, all you want is an ontime final deadline. That’s not asking too much is it?
In the meantime, have a Happy Valentines Day and don’t forget to tell your staff that you love them.
P.S. Since many of you will either give or receive jewelry today I thought a little mention of jewelry that is Jostens related would be appropriate. Check out
Jostens latest jewelry product at http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/3376164. Win a Super Bowl, get a Jostens ring.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 15, 2006 — Spring Delivery yearbooks proofs.
Look around. Do you see any proofs? If you have any, please correct them today and send them off as quick as you can. At this time of the year, it is incredibly important that you get your proofs back quickly so we can hold your current ship date. And once you have finished your final deadline, proofs should
be turned around even more quickly.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 16, 2006 — Start your 2007 yearbook year now.
Yes, it is that time again. The truly successful advisers will tell you that just about this time of the year is the most important time for their 2007 yearbook.
Yes, their 2007 yearbook. Now is the time (before your school starts pre-registration for next year) to be recruiting students to join your staff. Make it a big
deal. And if you need a copy of a super yearbook staff application (we created one last year after an adviser asked for it) there is one attached—Enjoy!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 17, 2006 — Something to do after your Spring delivery yearbook is finished.
Last week we had some great answers to the dilemma of what to do once the yearbook is done and that final deadline has been met. Lots of good stuff
and there is more coming. But I have one for you. Have you considered a Yearbook Interactive on CD-ROM or a Special Edition DVD? You know all those
extra digital photos you have left over. You can use them all. How about the Senior slide show they are going to do for graduation? Offer to help with that
and it can go on there too to last a lifetime in digital land.
If you are at all interested in doing this, please call me today and I can get you the software to put it all together.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 21, 2006 — An adviser request for photo help.
I got this request in my inbox this morning. Can you give this adviser some suggestions?
“I am re-thinking my photography organization and wondered how most school deal with the situation. they they have a group and
editor that do nothing but take pictures or do they spread the assignments around to all students? I could use some suggestion in this area.”
I myself am a big fan of everyone takes pictures, you have some specialty photo people to take sports pictures and one person to do photo organization.
How about you? Your thoughts...
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 22, 2006 — More things to do next month after you final your Spring delivery
yearbook.
We had a bunch more suggestions come in about what to do later this month or early next month if you are doing a Spring delivery book and you finish it
so I thought I would send them along. Thank you all for your suggestions.
“We all pretty well know who the leaders will be for the next year. Let that group of students work with the “outgoing” group of editors to
begin planning next year’s book. By the time school is out, we already have next year’s book completely built, the ladder planned — everything but
the theme finalized which my kids usually do in a summer workshop together. Nothing needs to be set in stone, but it will save SO much time come
September on each and every deadline. All you have to do is make small changes, not design the whole book. I’ve done this for 30 years, so I can tell
you that it does work!”
Here is another from an adviser at a large high school that produces a Spring supplement.
“In the meantime, I have them do PhotoShop tutorials so that they can learn skills to apply to next year’s book, such as cutouts,
cloning, merging two images together (i.e. you needed a photo with the two team captains and one was absent. You take one, then the other
and PhotoShop them together), and other tricks. They enjoy these and it keeps them occupied until the books come and it’s time to stuff supplements, which takes a week or two.”
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I got this one from a middle school adviser who does an amazing yearbook.
“You know my answer to this—the friendly folks at Before & After* have so many graphic design ideas that can be adapted for
a staff. Advertising the staff, making posters to advertise the yearbook, creating brochures and business cards, etc. We also create and publish
the school’s literary magazine. And every member of the staff creates a portfolio of their work (including each assigned yearbook page) which is
displayed at the end of the year.
And since the editors for the following year already have been selected by March, their job is to have the theme, cover, endsheets,
and designs for every page of the next year’s book completed before they leave for the summer.
It’s so much fun, too, because by that time all the kids know how to use the software and want to be creative—and we don’t have
the stress of meeting deadlines from the publisher.”
*He is referring to Before and After magazine. Check it out at http://www.bamagazine.com
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 23, 2006 — Even more things to do next month after you final your Spring delivery
yearbook.
I love this one. What a super idea.
“Well, I don’t know how much this will actually help seeing as how this is my first year, but I am planning on having “Thank you”
days. We are going to write Thank you notes to all business that bought ads, all business and people that bought books for needy students, and
thank you notes to teachers for their “support” throughout the year. We may also plan a teacher appreciation lunch since yearbook for us is 3rd
period. All thank you notes will be signed by every staff member, NO COPIES! I believe it’s just as important to teach the kids the value of a thank you
note as it is to teach them anything else! Thanks, have a great one!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 24, 2006 — Answers to an adviser with no class.
No not that kind of class. Shame on you. All advisers have class. This adviser wrote a couple of weeks ago and asked how to handle not having a yearbook
class. Here are some of the responses.
“We have deadline meeting parties and prizes for the first group to submit a page each deadline.”
“A new way we “encourage” our staff members to complete their pages is to give them each a by-line on the page. “This page published by ” It has helped with their accountability. Additionally, I found if you feed them, they will produce. At each meeting, we have pizza or takeout. Also, if they have regularly scheduled studyhalls, the staff members must complete a permanent pass form to report to the yearbook room. This
enables me to meet with members more regularly and keep an eye on what they are (or are not) producing.”
“Take them to Jostens Fall and Summer Workshops. Buy T-shirts and talk up the fact they are a team of elite and special leaders. Take them on
a field trip to observe other successful yearbook staffs. And above all, write a good letter outlining why the district needs to change their policy.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 27, 2006 — A fun idea for after your final deadline
Here is a fun idea one adviser sent me that she plays after the final deadline is done. Sounds like a great morale booster and a lot of fun.
“It’s April or May and you’ve met your final deadline and your Spring supplement is in its final stages. Advisors, just what are you going
to do for the next month and a half or so? Certainly you will be training new staff, electing or appointing new editors, etc., and trying to get things
ready for next year’s book. Try “Yearbook Survivor!” This can be done in groups or it can be done by each student. Each student/group designs a
cover, endsheet, page ladder, theme, and photo essay. They must also have titles for division pages, etc. to demonstrate how they’d weave their
theme throughout the book. Have them “present” their ideas to the rest of the class as if they were an ad agency presenting to a committee or board.
You can even invite in other staff members or administrators or students. Students will evaluate each presentation. After a few days of presentations, have students discuss what they liked and disliked—this is where “Survivor” comes into play. One by one, vote people off the island—”the
tribe has spoken.” Continue until you have gotten down to the best 2 or 3 and a winner. Usually what happens is you get the best of both worlds:
a great theme by one a great cover by another. This also allows for total buy-in by your yearbook staff. Hopefully you walk in in September with a
cover, theme, page ladder, etc. all ready to go!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 28, 2006 — Huge word of warning—not yearbook related
I received this letter from one of my favorite yearbook rep buddies and he sent it on to myself and a bunch of other Jostens people who are in contact with
teachers on a daily basis. He hopes that we can get the word out through any means possible. Hopefully this will start a dialog at your school if it hasn’t
been started already.
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“I met with and adviser yesterday who is working with local law enforcement to get the point across about personal blog sites. This
issue needs to get out there. Here is what she had to say. I thought we could send it as a tip of the day. I think most people would be amazed at the
information that is out there about students. Some of which are their kids!
BEWARE: Student online blogging, predator’s dream come true
Students have found a new way to express themselves through online blogging. Unfortunately, way too many of them have posted highly
personal information about themselves complete with full names, their address, school they attend, and personal photos. This information, posted
on the internet, serves as an online catalog for internet predators and makes children highly vulnerable.
Please be mindful of your student’s online activities both in and out of school. Address the topic with your students. We need to do all we
can to keep our children safe!”
Yearbook Tips of the Day for March 2006
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 1, 2006 — How to get the yellow out of those gymnasium pictures.
Recently I was asked by one of you wonderful advisers for some Photoshop help. As more yearbooks become all color we are seeing more and more
problems we have not seen before. One of the biggest is yellow gym shots. (No, not gym shorts, gym shots—like pictures.) You all probably know what
I mean. The lights in many gyms give photographs a really yellow tinge. So I fired up my e-mail and asked the experts at the National Association of
Photoshop Professionals Help Desk the absolute easiest and best way to fix that yellow and get it back to the actual color.
I was shocked at how simple it was. Here is how to fix it. In Photoshop, open the yellow photo. Choose Image>Adjustments>Curves. Click on the middle
eyedropper icon on the right side of the dialog box and then with the eyedropper tool, click any part of the photo that should be gray. Yes, GRAY. (When I
first got their answer I thought they had misunderstood me and thought I was asking about a black and white photo—I was told to just try it.)
I am attaching a before and after picture to this e-mail so you can see the difference.
Amazing isn’t it. Just save the picture and place it with Picture Placer or online and you are all set. That is all there is to it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 2, 2006 — Your March YourBook newsletter—part 1.
By the time you read this you should have your March issue of YourBook in your hand. Grab it now and let’s take a walk through it.
First up on page two you will find our monthly, “What you should be doing now” column. Please take a quick look at it and see what things you should be
caught up with. If you are doing a fall book, just file it for future use. While you are on page two, please take a second or two to read the short blurb on
business managers. I will be touching base with you more about this in the weeks to come.
Page three has a great new program that our wonderful marketing department has put together to help you distribute your yearbook. Read it now and if
you are interested, let me know and we can put you together with this fantastic Yearbook Distribution Kit.
This tip is getting pretty long so I will continue this discussion tomorrow.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 3, 2006 — Your March YourBook newsletter—part 2
Continuing yesterday’s tip about what’s hot in this month’s newsletter let’s turn to the centerfold.
Our centerfold poster is exactly that—a poster. So make sure that after you read pages 3 and 6 that you post it for your whole staff to see. That is a great
project for spring InDesign schools whose books are done. Our second annual Yearbook Design Contest cosponsored by Jostens and Adobe. You can download an entry form from Yearbook Avenue>Home>Contests.
If you are using InDesign this is a great exercise that you can use for grading purposes after the yearbook is finished. And they could win big prizes.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 6, 2006 — Your March YourBook newsletter—part 3.
A couple of final notes about your March YourBook newsletter.
Before you post that centerfold poster make sure and read the article on cell phone pictures on page six. We thought it would be a fun way to use up a
page or two that you find you have no content for right at the end of the year. I need to note that I have already had people asking me how to get their cell
phone pics off their phones and into their computers and all I can tell you is that it all depends on your/their phone.
I have not found any two that work alike so far. For instance, a lot of the folks who sent me pics had to instant message them to me. Luckily, my cell phone
can do e-mail (as can all Treos and Blackberries) and so I just forwarded them as attachments to my computer. Others have ways to download them
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directly to their computers.
The best advice I can give is if anyone asks, tell them to read their manuals for their phones. Or ask a kid. Kids knew twice what I did. That’s how I found
out they could text message them to me and I could forward them to my e-mail.
Lastly, if you ever scan a photo, check out our monthly Photoshop tutorial on page seven. This one helps you scan and fix pictures easily and completely.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 7, 2006 — Great ideas and helpful handouts.
Do you remember last month when I asked about things to do after your spring delivery yearbook was finished? Well one adviser sent me this quick note:
“I have attached all of my ideas...please feel free to share.”
So attached to this e-mail you will find a whole bunch of cool ideas in Word format. Enjoy!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 8, 2006 — When your theme is Jealousy
I got this e-mail in my inbox yesterday regarding an adviser using Yearbook Online but I think it applies to everyone. Any responses from you fine folks
would be appreciated.
“If I could change one thing about this program, it would be the kids being able to go back through the pages-when they’re in
progress or are finished. If it would be a matter of them being proud of it, like you said, that would be a different story. At this school, our theme
could be Jealousy... the kids count how many times they’re on this page or that, and it’s just ridiculous! I do have a good group this year, but some
of my members are also members of snooty, trouble-making groups. So...if there’s anything that can be done about this, I’d feel that would be a big
improvement.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 9, 2006 — Saving expensive toner.
With the high cost of toner, a rep friend of mine sent me this tip. Maybe it will save you or your school some dinero!
If you frequently use different printer settings when using your printer, such as black & white drafts versus color documents, you’ve no doubt found out
it is a real hassle to change these settings each time you print. Why not trick Windows into thinking you have two different printers? “Install” the same
printer twice, then set the Properties for each to match your most commonly used settings. From then on, the only setting change you’ll have to make is
selecting the printer you want to use.
Here’s how:
To install a second version of your printer, select Start > Settings > Printers and click Add Printer. Be sure to give this “other” printer an appropriate name,
such as “ColorPrinter”. When the installation is complete, you’ll see two different printer icons in the Printers window, and you can adjust their properties
accordingly. Then just right-click on the printer icons and create a shortcut to your desktop. **You can also drag and drop documents to be printed onto
the shortcut for instant printing!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 10, 2006 — Special proofing note for YTO schools
With final deadlines moments (for YearTech Online schools, minutes count) please page special attention to Page Preview and Submission issues.
Prior to submitting pages to the plant, always print a Page Preview and proof it carefully. The Page Preview should look the way you want the printed
page to appear. To access the Page Preview, select a page from the Planning Ladder or Build Ladder then click on Page Preview under Actions in the left
navigation bar.
Also keep in mind that pages can be submitted to the plant as soon as they are completed and proofed. No need to wait until your next deadline is due.
Lastly, keep in mind that on your final deadline, when you click SUBMIT that page may be printed within days so make sure it is EXACTLY what you want it
to be before you click that button.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 13, 2006 — More things to do when the book is finished
These great ideas just keep coming. Here are a few more:
This one is from one of my most experienced and best advisers. Her staff respects and loves her and their book is reflective of that. This note she sent me
will be an insight into why.
“Far from being idle, we never have enough time at the end! We divide into groups, and discuss theme ideas. We look at other books; we look
at the CD’s we get from CSPA, the Ideabook from Jostens, and other sources for ideas. We finalize a theme for the following year, and then break up
into groups to discuss changes we want to make in each section the following year, such as additional coverage, things we want to discard that are
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old and tired, new ways to organize a section, etc. Those requests are fed to a group working on a tentative ladder, while the section groups begin to
work on tentative section designs.
We also prepare sales materials for the coming year, adjusting the cost of our book, etc. We also do a class evaluation, and then discuss it
as a whole group. This is everyone’s opportunity to suggest changes in class procedure, etc. Many of our best ideas for restructuring have come from
that forum. We also have a day when we get pizza and sort of do in-house awards: why we love you’ things we say to each other, since not everyone
can get an award, but everyone deserves one.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Here is another view:
“Here’s what we do (but I’m interested in suggestions from other people, as this is certainly a dead time...)
After our book is finished (late February) we divide the staff into 2 groups. The Seniors made up one group - they did all the planning,
photographs, and layouts for the Spring Insert. The underclassmen, as the 2nd group, worked as a staff to do the following:
1) critique the 2006 book - how to improve, what did we do well, what did we do poorly
2) make suggestions about staff procedures and policies
3) learn skills for next year: photoshopping, photography, fund raising, page design, vocabulary, how to be an editor
4) develop theme ideas for next year
5) make preliminary plans for table of contents on next year’s book.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 14, 2006 — Even more things to do when the book is finished
These just keep coming and they are so good I hate to pass them up. Here are three more from some great advisers.
“I you have the equipment and training your annual staff can collect photos even to the end of school and produce a multimedia
slide show for the student body. This collection of pictures can be used as a part of an honor award/academic or other programs we normally
have those last few weeks of school. Students are able to use their creative talent to design and re-work slides to their liking with your final approval. With some really great equipment, you can add background music relative to the year at school—again, with your approval and careful
screening of the music. It allows for some flexibility, yet gives them some type of focus in those weeks between final proofs and arrival of their book.”
“I don’t know if this is helpful, but I used the last part of the semester to give the kids a refresher course on the yearbook. I taught
them about layout, typography, photos, etc. Then I had them cut some examples of typography that they liked out of magazines. The editors were
able to use these ideas as a springboard to come up with design concepts for the next year’s book.”
“They do approximately 40 minute presentation prior to distributing the yearbooks. It includes different sections such as sports, student
life, faculty, academics...It is completed on a power point presentation with music in the background. (Photos include both photos from the yearbook as well as photos that are not used in the yearbook.) At the end of the presentation, the yearbook is dedicated. The faculty member’s family is
present for it. (We sneak them in.)”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 15, 2006 — Spring Delivery yearbooks proofs.
A friend of mine is a rep in Southern California and sent me this great idea. You can do it anywhere and anytime. If you have finished your yearbook, save
it for next year.
“I was at Disneyland last week and they had some giant pictures, 4’ by 8’, that were made up of little tiny pictures that people had
sent in. It was really cool. Probably over 1000 small pictures made up the big one.
We decided to do something like that. We laid out two pages with 270 boxes. We took pictures with white backgrounds and blue backgrounds.
We put all the white ones around the outside of the layout and also used them to put an L on one page and a P on the other. We thought about the
M and S but the curves where too tricky for the short time we have.
I made a commercial that said bring a quarter and your friends to the stage, get your picture taken, and you will be guarnteed to be
in the yearbook. We took pictures at all three lunches back to back days and never got to the end of any line. The turnout was awesome.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 16, 2006 — A great course syllabus for Yearbook/Media Writing.
When I asked for ideas about things to do after your Spring delivery yearbook was finished, I got back this great e-mail. The syllabus is attached. Enjoy and
thanks to the wonderful adviser who sent it.
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“My course is labeled Media Writing - (it’s a highly qualifed issue) and I am attaching the syllabus for this semseter’s course. I too
have suffered the semester with “get busy” and “what do I need to do”; therefore, this semester I have eliminated that problem by creating a course
to fit the need. It is working very well, so far!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 17, 2006 — An important reminder for your kids.
It never fails.
Again, today, I discussed Jostens’ annual photography contest and showed a staff the many photos posted on our website and which are also featured in
the recently delivered Look Book (mailings started last month).
“That’s not that great!” boasted one of the staffers. “I could take that picture.” And I agreed. Not every photo wins the $1000 Grand Prize. But every entered photo has a chance of becoming a winner. Every submitted high school/junior high school photograph will be judged on its own merit. A
few will only win $500; others may be recognized as “Honorable Mention.” “
Have you taken photos that are as good as these?” I asked. “I think so,” he replied. And he pulled up a folder with a few of his recent shots.
“Very good,”
I said. “Why aren’t your photos on our website?” “
I never sent them in,” he replied.
Exactly.
http://www.jostens.com/yearbook/showcontest.asp
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 21, 2006 — More things to do when your spring delivery yearbook is done
This is probably the biggest response I have ever gotten from you wonderful advisers. And usually they are very much alike, but in this case everyone has
an original idea. I am blown away. Thanks to all of you who sent them. Here are four great and original ideas.
One
“What we did was change Annual to a 1 semester course and give Incompletes to students whose pages weren’t yet done. HOWEVER,
when it was still a year-long class we started doing a school flyer with information about any students and/or staff who had done something positive. We tried to put it out every week, and this helped students stay on task in the classroom, but still allowed us to complete the Annual work.”
Two
“Finally! I get to respond! I have the students design and carry-out a community service project in which they can use their communication, design,
skills. Second, we visit a publishing business, with graphic design involvement so they can see the “real thing” in action, on that field trip day we
also have a downtown photo shoot assignment with a list of “shots” they must look for. Third, we create a handmade published piece, in my case, as
an art teacher I have access to materials for an altered book (there are many web sites on this art form) the students love it and I have them create
pieces. We also concentrate on writing for the school newspaper, create an end of the year slide show and I teach them more photography as well as
calligraphy. There’s plenty to do!”
Three
“One thing we do is work on a cover design for the next year. We involve everyone — even the current seniors who will be graduating. I
make it a quiz grade for each person to provide his/her design for next year’s cover. Then the students go to the computers and see what they can
come up with.
I am also thinking about a major test on the components of yeartech. I realize it is after the fact, but it is before the supplement and will
help them to investigate all that they can do to enhance their pages. I will then use this same test as a basis for review and introduction at the
beginning of next year.
Another thing I will be asking the students is to evaluate this year’s yearbook and how it can be improved/enhanced.
We review photo techniques and I plan to give an assignment (for a test grade) for a mini photo contest for such things as a true
candid (not posed) photo, the best action shot, the best photo that tells a story, etc. I will have them write captions for each (they may
collaborate) for another test grade.
And finally, we like to schedule a tour of the plant along with a session with the artist for next year’s cover. Of course there will be a
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party to celebrate meeting our deadlines.
Last year’s students wanted a yearbook t-shirt to wear on distribution day. We plan the day and design the t-shirt.”
And four.
“To help fill that time, I first make the students go through and organize all the items from that year. After the book is submitted, we
usually end up with a bunch of folders on the computer with pictures everywhere. I have them itemize, organize, and eventually burn pictures on
CD’s. If we have real photographs, I get those organized as well. Then I usually have them get started on the next school year’s planning. We set up
the theme, get the list of the new staff coming in and try to place them accordingly. And, most importantly, I have them start on advertising for the
next year. We always feel so crunched for time with advertising in the fall, so getting head start really helps in revenue.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 22, 2006 — A related adviser request.
We have been sending out all these great ideas for what to do in the late spring (fall delivery books, many of these can be used in Sept-Oct time period).
Today I got this e-mail from an adviser who liked the idea of starting work on next year’s book but had some questions. Can you help her out on how to
handle this?
“What do you do about kids who are not going to return next year because they realized the class actually requires a lot of hard
work they’re not willing to do? I don’t want to waste the “dead time” after the book is done, and I have plans for that time, but on the other
hand, I don’t want to give them the privilege of brainstorming next year’s theme if they’re not going to be here next year. Basically, I don’t want them
to participate in the cool, fun part just to ditch the hard part. Ideas or suggestions?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 23, 2006 — Retention—how to make it better.
The same adviser who sent me the request for info yesterday also included this request and it takes us off on a whole new track. How about some of your
always excellent help here?
“About retention: I have a number of students this year who are good workers and I think they enjoyed yearbook at the beginning.
Then we jumped into the weekly deadlines and the pressure. These kids are so over-involved with school activities that they couldn’t stay after
school as much as they needed/wanted to and felt even more stressed because of that. Also, we had some issues this year (like I’m sure every staff
does) with slackers who distracted everyone, but the “good people” felt like I was being unfairly hard on the slackers by telling them they needed
to get to work instead of being online and reading magazines. So the good workers are leaving because they are burned out and resentful. Any
thoughts on turning things around so they stay? I don’t have enough kids who will move up from journalism class to cover the yearbook exodus.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 24, 2006 — A very cool fundraiser to help get kids to summer workshops.
Fund a Summer Workshop Scholarship! The Prom is now in the final planning stage and the new Special Edition DVD provides a great opportunity for your
staff to earn $$$. Why not put the two together to offer your staff a great way to earn a Workshop Scholarship?!
Consider: the suggested retail price of the 10 minute SEDVD is $12, a price-point that is probably low for most prom favors (engraved glasses, photo
books, mugs, etc.) usually considered by prom committees. Many schools are willing to spend $15 -20 per person to provide a memorabilia item for each
prom guest so why not let your yearbook staff suggest a great solution?
What if your staffers visit with the prom chairmen to volunteer their photo services at the prom if the Prom SEDVD is purchased? At the prom, each staffer
would take at least a one hour shift to take both posed and candid photos during the event. The average three-chapter SEDVD would feature about 300
images; the five-chapter offers almost twice that.
If billed at the $12-15, your staff earns at least $6 for each DVD sold. Multiply that times the 100-200 prom-goers and your staff has earned $600-1200
for their efforts. If six staffers each spend an hour taking prom pictures, six staffers earn a $100-200 scholarship toward their summer workshop expenses.
Win-win!
If you would like to see a sample event DVD, go to > http://www.schoolmusicvideo.com/
Or, e-mail with your request for a sample DVD.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 27, 2006 — What to do when you have no class
Now we know you all have class. All great yearbook advisers have class. But about two weeks ago we asked for your help for an adviser who did not have
a yearbook class. And again you folks have come back with some great ideas. Let’s take a look at some of them over the next few days. I want to add that
you might want to read these even if you do have a class. They are that good. You may want to put them in your curriculum.
Here are three great ideas.
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“Take them to a Jostens Fall and Summer Workshop. Buy T-shirts and talk up the fact they are a team of elite and special leaders. Take them
on a field trip to observe other successful yearbook staffs. And above all, write a good letter outlining why the district needs to change their policy.”
“I make them feel important. First, getting on the staff is extremely competetive. Then I shower them with T-shirts, nametags, water bottles, etc.
We eat lots of pizza. We go bowling, skating, and have a year-end swim party. We went to online production so they could work at home. That was
a huge help. I regularly email them. I am also looking to start monthly drawings for staffers who are on time with their pages.”
“I also have struggled with motivating my staff, because our program is an extracurricular. However, here are some things that I’ve
found that work:
1.) Make it fun. Snacks, loud music, and a loose yet productive atmosphere make yearbook meetings a good place to be. Send the message that
hard work and fun can coexist.
2.) Lots of positive reinforcement! When a student completes a layout I let them (this has turned into a nice little privilege) ring the “layout bell.”
It’s a fun way to announce to the club that a layout has been completed, and a way to create some excitement in what can easily become a tense
environment. My kids now get excited about working toward ringing the bell.
3.) Give the entire staff updates on what’s going on with the program. Let them see the big picture, make your goals/hopes/fears their goals/hopes/
fears so that they feel an ownership of the book, rather than just their individual layouts.
Of course, I’d appreciate any advice other advisers may have, especially when it comes to motivating kids to improve the quality of
their design.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 28, 2006 — More of your great ideas on what to do when you have no class
Here is another way to look at the “no class” situation.
“I’ve taught yearbook for 21 years. I worked the first 10 years without a yearbook stipend, until I got copies of other districts who had a
yearbook stipend on their extra services contracts. That convinced my district that we needed to be competitive with districts similar in size to ours.
Perhaps it would help to have sample schedules of the many schools that include yearbook classes as part of the school day.
As for student motivation, perhaps earning a discount or “free book” in exchange for the hours each student works would inspire
them.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 29, 2006 — Handling student photography
About three weeks ago I sent out this request for help:
“I am re-thinking my photography organization and wondered how most school deal with the situation. Do they have a group and
editor that do nothing but take pictures or do they spread the assignments around to all students? I could use some suggestion in this area.”
Again, you folks came through. Here are four great responses:
“I divide my students into teams and each team is responsible for their pages and their own photos. Then everyone learns how to take
decent photos and also do layouts. The more we can teach our kids about producing quality layouts and the whole process involved the more that
they will take with them out into our future workforce.”
“ I have everyone take pictures for their own spreads. I realize that many people have photographers; however, with 60 kids on staff, I have to
keep them busy somehow. Taking pictures for their spreads is part of their grade.
- ALL of my students take pictures. The student who is assigned a certain spread is ultimately responsible for every aspect of the spread including pictures, copy, etc. If that staff member can’t make it to a certain event to take pictures, it is his or her responsibility to arrange for another staff
member to do it.
- I have all of the kids take pictures but I have one student who has the sole job of editing and uploading. She is proficient in Photoshop,
and they basically spend the entire school year working on photography. They put photos into folders on the computer, do printouts of the folder
and the photos within and the staff members “order” the photos they want uploaded. Or, she just goes through and uploads the ones that are good
and worth using. They handle the club photos as well.”
“I require all members of the staff to take photos throughout the year. Each nine weeks they have to go to events after school or it counts
against their grade. (On the application, they tell me they can do these things) I have a participation grid that I fill out each term and they lose
points on that if they don’t attend things. Things work wonderfully that way and we seldom lack photos. In fact, we have too many.”
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“Each student is responsible for getting their own pictures. However, if I go to an event or another student does, then we help each other out
by taking pictures for them. You can never get enough pictures. I make this part of their grade so if they don’t take pictures, or they don’t get enough,
then their grade gets docked. Usually though, I try to help them out because I understand that students can’t always get to events that only happen
once in the year. We haven’t had a problem yet and the students generally take plenty of pictures without being reminded. They then are also in
charge of editing their own pictures and placing them on pages. Because of the very busy schedules of all of my students, it would be impossible to
expect one person to get to every single event if we only had one student photographer.”
And here is one more interesting one.
“It is now mandatory that each student have a digital camera to be in the class. This way everyone can take pictures.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 30, 2006 — More about handling photography.
Here are another five answers to the “handling photography” situation.
“I have found that even at the Middle School level, everyone needs camera experience—Murphy’s Law will leave you with an event
to shoot photos and the only kid available to go and take pictures is the one with no-camera experience! I also like to have my staff
having the same responsibilities and duties that everyone else has—this will keep students from claiming that certain select individuals get certain
privileges. How about a checklist from beginning of a section to the end, complete with timeline/group member assignments for work to be done in
each section? You can do daily, weekly, or even spot checks to keep the kids focused/on task and completing their assignment on time.”
“We mostly use professional photographers, as its built into thier contract to visit our school a certain number of times. But, usually
the person or persons in charge of a spread, will also be in charge of getting good photos.”
“I was running into the problem of the same people taking pictures because the others always seemed “too busy.” So I changed things
and now every staffer is responsible for getting the pictures that go on their page. This way, they know in advance that they will need to make arrangements in their schedules to be at baseball games, student council events, etc. This has worked out much better for us.”
“I have the entire staff take pictures. There is no way for even a small group of staff members to take all of the pictures that we need. When I
assign the pages to each staff member they are told that they are responsible for getting the pictures taken for it. They can either take them themselves or they can ask someone to do it for them. We also let parents and anyone else who might have pictures of a sporting event or something that
we would love to have them. I get some of my best sports pictures from the parents.”
“If the student is in charge of the subject - they tend to take better pictures of the event or subject. Sports and assemblies are different
because many cameras make for more happy accidents. We use all digital images. Some are scanned and saved; most are digitally produced. I create
folders on the computer at the beginning of the year and assign each student to a folder to keep it organized. (They are graded on their organization
skills, naming digital images, and how well they retrieve “orphan” photos from the miscellaneous folder). When a photo is selected it is placed in
the “upload this” folder so that it is not reused. The “upload this” folder has a “done” folder in it that contains identically named folders. As I upload
the photo I place it in the “done” folder. My editors are in charge of keeping this “done” folder organized. At the end of the year I archive all photos on
disks and store them with that yearbook’s production stuff... photos, ladders,yearbook sample,etc.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 31, 2006 — A question about privacy.
At the end of February I sent out a tip having to do with student blogging and the danger it presents. It brought back this comment from one adviser.
“Our superintendent is really concerned about the student privacy act. (FERPA/HIPPA) Do you have any advisers dealing with this? (Not
being able to include some students in the yearbook because of it.)”
Your comments on this would be appreciated.
Yearbook Tips of the Day for April 2006
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 3, 2006—Wonderful thoughts from a wonderful adviser.
About a week ago I sent out an e-mail tip requesting help for an adviser who was having trouble keeping good kids on her yearbook staff from year to
year and handling the ones who she did get.
One of you fine folks sat down and gave her an incredible answer. To put this in the right perspective, this is a long-time adviser from a large (800+) K-12
Christian school. She has a class during the day that is part of the curriculum. She is also incredibly loved by her students and yearbook staff and this is one
of the best short essays on yearbook staff management I have ever read. Please make sure you read it.
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“Some issues I have had in the past have been the result of my ‘bedside manner...others were the kids themselves. When I think I am
getting torqued unnecessarily, I apologize publicly to the kids. Teachers humbling themselves by admitting they were wrong is a rare sight, unfortunately, and it is also a powerful thing for repairing rifts. But also when I am being openly challenged, I realize that I need to win. And I do. I have not
had to flex my muscles like that every often in Yearbook, but every once in the while I have.
I use a modified version of the staff selection application you sent us. And before I even consider a new person as potential staff, I send an
email to the faculty asking for feedback. No matter how talented someone may be, if I get faculty feedback that this person is not a team player, not
submissive to authority, not a hard worker, or given to stirring up dissention, I do not allow them to take the class. I have the advantage of being
able to say yea and nay to kids wanting into Yearbook. And I assign editorial positions, though I do get input from my current editors.
I structure my class in such a way that some of the things she describes cannot happen; but also, I instill in my editors, and my class
as a whole, a sense of ownership that prevents some of these things. Peer pressure in my room prevents a lot of slackness, and the kids own
the project. Ownership is huge for motivation...and I am not talking about license. I hold veto power in my room, and I exercise it when I need to
(which is rarely). And when we have our backs against the wall, I step in and make decisions in order to be sure we make the deadline. That is not
always popular, but the kids know it is necessary. If there is a huge morale or a huge ‘off task’ problem it may mean things need to be restructured.
As far as meeting deadlines goes, I have a deadline hall pass (attached) which we use during deadline week...and I send an email
to the faculty asking that if they are merely reading or the kids have ‘work time’ and it would not cause them to have a hole in their
understanding, they allow my staff to pull out and come to my room to work. Here is the one I sent this deadline:
As usual I come hat in hand; if you give your kids reading or study time in class, I could sure use my yearbook kids. Also please forgive
us for the flurry of interruptions for quotes and photos we are missing...it will all be over soon. Thank you all for your relentless support.
Not everyone can do that, but enough kids are able to come in and work from other classes (TA, Study Hall, PE, and classes where the
teacher isn’t teaching that day) that we always make it. We send thank you cards to Faculty after the deadline...and we have great support
from the staff.
I do not force my kids to come after school...but enough of them do, again, that we make it. I use the Tom Sawyer principle: ‘the difference between work and play is the difference between what a body is forced to do and what a body wants to do.’ I know many schools require
everybody to come after school on deadlines. Not everybody can. And not the same kids can every deadline. But enough do, on any given day that
we always make it. And because they choose to, rather than being forced to, they own it.”
I want to say thanks to her and to the rest of you, feel free to contribute on this topic. I have attached her “Deadline Hall Pass” to this e-mail.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 4, 2006—Your April YourBook newsletter—part 2.
By now, you should have the April issue of YourBook in your hot, little hands. And the first thing we want you to do is READ IT! Especially pages 3-6 which
have all the super stuff that the Jostens Marketing people have come up with for you to use in your 2007 yearbook. First, check out Page three where you
will find all the very cool stuff in YearTech Online Version 2.0. And just wait until you see the actual website. We have fit in almost everything on that page
that you can see in print from the hot new home page to the other 15 major improvements to YTO. Heck, we are sure you will be like us and grow to realize they aren’t just improvements, it is a whole new website and way to do your yearbook.
By the way, if you are still using PageMaker, now’s the time to switch to YTO. We think YTO 2 may actually be better. It certainly won’t crash or freeze like
PageMaker does.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 4, 2006—Your April YourBook newsletter—part 2
Here’s some more about the April issue of YourBook. If you aren’t using YTO then buzz on over to page 6 where you will find the two major improvements
in YearTech for InDesign—Chart It and the return of Type Effects. Yes former YT PageMaker users, we have brought TypeEffects back by popular demand.
See for yourself.
And while you are turning from page 3 to page 6, don’t forget to check out all the cool new Studio Designed covers on the centerfold poster. If you use one
of our Studio Designed covers, this is a great way to post it on the wall and let the kids peruse until they decide which one to use. If you do your own custom cover, this is still a great place for your ideas to start. We think these are some of the best covers our plant artists have designed in many, many years.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 5, 2006—Your April YourBook newsletter—part 3.
Photoshop friends, we have not forgotten you. On page seven of the April YourBook we have the second to last of our Photoshop lessons for this year. This
time we deal with color, changing it and removing it. Yes, sir, a step-by-step tutorial on how to make part of a photo black and white and part color and
then one on how to change color on a photo. We make a track star stand out and a handsome guy into a blue smurf with a little Photoshop magic.
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The biggest problem we had doing this lesson was that the newsletter is black and white so you really can’t see what we started with and what we finished with. So, in the lesson we promise to send you a JPEG of both images, before and after. Well to keep that promise, they are attached to this e-mail.
Enjoy.
And lastly, don’t forget our regular columns that appear each month. They keep you updated on tons of great stuff. Including a great way for you to
educate your business manager if you look at page 2.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 6, 2006—Great ideas and helpful handouts..
Here are a couple of other viewpoints about retaining the right kinds of kids from two different advisers.
“I have the same exact problem with my hard workers thinking I am being too hard on my slackers. My slackers are more often boys
(why is that?), and my hard workers are more often girls. I am at a loss as to why this is. Does anyone know why this is? I am actually considering a
no boys allowed policy - of course not really because this would be unfair - but I have had two years of terrible boy experiences. What can be done
about this?”
If anyone has any suggestions about dealing with boys on yearbook staffs (or just dealing with teenage boys) send them on and we will share them with
this adviser. Here is an adviser’s reaction to keeping kids that are burned out.
“All I can think is who would want to keep a bunch of burned out and resentful kids? Not me. Start over if you have to. You can always
train a whole new staff and nip any problems in the bud before you have a whole new bunch of burned out and resent kids again.”
And I have more.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 7, 2006—Retaining good kids
Here is another great response we got to the question about retaining good kids.
“What I have found that works is to make Yearbook a privilege. My staff is made up of about 40% in class kids and 60% volunteers.
No one is allowed on staff without being invited first. About this time of the year we ask teachers, coaches & club advisers to recommend their
best students for next year’s staff. We tell them that we are looking for detail-conscious, deadline oriented students who can work well with others,
but don’t need constant supervision in order to get the job done.
Then we invite all students that were nominated to an exclusive invitation-only meeting. At the meeting we have previous yearbooks
laying around, chips, veges, dip & drinks. The editors are introduced and give their talk about what being in yearbook is about. They are really good
about not sugar coating it so that those who are looking for an easy way to get involved are not encouraged to stay.
We hand out applications and give them a deadline to turn them in. Anyone who turns in the application late is automatically disqualified
(unless extreme circumstances exist).
Once they’re in, I really work to build them up — cream of the crop, best of the best, future leaders, etc. I also try to take at least one or
two newcomers to camp, that really gets them hooked.”
What a super point of view. Send your opinions to us when you can.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 11, 2006—Boys on the staff.
I received this interesting note back from one of my favorite advisers with some comments on having boys on the yearbook staff. One adviser had mentioned this in her response to an earlier tip on staff management. I thought this was very much worth passing along.
“Re Boys on Staff: I think it would be a terrible mistake to ever exclude boys, for many reasons. First off, it’s sexist. Secondly, it is boring
and monochromatic to have only administrative women around. There are two or three types of boys I look for in my other classes, and actively
court into Yearbook. One is people who are random, eccentric and artistic. They take great photos, design beautiful spreads, make us laugh when it
is hard, and can take the most boring photo and write a killer good caption about it. The second type is techies. They could care less about the copy,
theme, layouts or other doo-dahs. They just want to supervise the machinery. My current tech supervisor cannot spell to save his life, and our IT
Department has offered to hire him outside school hours. The third kind of guy is the quiet but hard working guys.
Boys are merely young men. Men respond well to praise, and they rise up to be better men when they are needed. If you look for things to praise
them for, they will look for opportunities to be admired and shown respect again. “John, dear, I need you” was an expression begun last year by one
of the female editors in reference to my tech man....by the end of the year the girls were all wearing “John Deere” shirts, and John was basking in it
while he worked himself to the bone to help them. Any healthy organization needs men. And any healthy organization breeds healthy men. While
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most of my editorial staff are girls, I make sure they are never all girls, and we actively seek out great guys.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 11, 2006—Special proofing note for YTO schools
A few weeks ago I sent you a warning from one adviser about myspace.com and other similar websites. One of you wonderful people sent this on to me:
“This is a good writeup on keeping kids safe on myspace.
http://www.geeks.com/techtips/2006/techtips-30mar06.htm
I thought it might of interest to others out there.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 12, 2006—Cleaning out the yearbook room—what do you keep?
Here is a topic we have never touched on before. I got this yesterday from one of you super advisers. And since this is the time of the year when many of
you are cleaning out your rooms, I thought it would be a great topic for discussion.
“I’m in the process of cleaning out the pub room in preparation for painting. We’ve got dozens of boxes of old production materials (pages,
pictures, even the old typed copy sheets). What should we do with them? What do other schools do?
Historically, do they have any importance?
My initial reaction is to sort out any pictures that have historical significance (such as remodeling/building/construction in the community and school) and toss the rest.
What do other advisers do?”
As for me, my thoughts are that you keep anything of historical significance but when it comes to layout and copy sheets, give me the computer any day.
But please, make sure you recycle them and don’t just throw them in the trash.
One other possibility might make you some money. If you can date the photos, sort them by year and offer them for sale each year to whatever class is
having a reunion. You will be amazed at what successful graduates will pay for a piece of their past.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 14, 2006—Cleaning out the yearbook room
Boy! Sometimes you people are really fast getting back to me. I got two quick responses to yesterday’s question about cleaning out the yearbook room
that were great. Here they are. The first one is a funny story that shows what happens when you don’t throw out the old stuff.
“This is a great tip—reminds me of the time (many years ago) when a new marketing manager decided to upgrade our clip art
books to start with fresh, new art instead of stuff that looked—and may have been—from the 50’s. But, in his zeal, he forgot that
many of us are packrats at heart; and, you guessed it, one of my staffs (at a Christian school) used one of the older clip art books to use on their title
page.
Imagine my reaction when an alert plant consultant called to ask me if I was sure that a devil clip art would really be placed on a
page of XYZ Christian School! When we dug deeper, we found that the school’s request for ClipArt (CA-30xx) was an angel in their old book, but
was now a devil in the newest book! After that experience, I always told staffs to be sure to write down the name of the clip art as a cross reference;
with computers, today, we don’t need to emphasize that any longer.
However, one thing you might want to do is to take any of your old Clip Art books and Installation disks down to your school secretary; any of the clip art / fonts can be used in newsletters or daily bulletins.”
This one is a more serious and is a great blueprint for what to discard and what to keep.
“When we reprint a spread, we save the old copy in a folder till the deadline gets mailed. After the deadline we go through and save only
the most updated copy in a binder we call the layout notebook for reference later if needed. At the end of the year we keep the spreads in that binder
as visuals to help train rookies the next year.
After our final deadline we purge files, and throw away out old paper stuff that we will not use again. The photos are sorted into two
sets of boxes by grade level: Photo Save and Photo Sale. Grade levels are written in pencil; graduation year in pen. The Photo Save ones are photos so
extraordinary that we keep them; the Photo Sale boxes are everything else. Every spring we have a photo sale at lunch one day. We spread them out
on tables by grade level and sell them down at 10 cents apiece. We make about $30-$40 every year. We save whatever is left and just add to it each
year. When the page envelopes come back from the plant, those photos are added.
We use these photos for many things. Leadership class and ASB occasionally need something in them. We use old photos of graduates when
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they were in younger grades for flashbacks in the senior section. Photos of kids when they were younger are hot photo sale items when they get
older. When a class graduates, we consolidate whatever is left of both Photo Save and Photo Sale and save them in photo archives for when they
have a class reunion. (We have also used Faculty Save for a memoriam)”
We would love to hear more about your methods for cleaning and clearing out.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 17, 2006—Saving your yearbook forever.
Yesterday we sent you some responses about cleaning out your yearbook room and disposing of trash. Today a great idea for hanging on to your digital
files.
Here is a super idea if you have some very techy kids who know how to use InDesign. Each year as a rep, I get a quite a few calls from parents and graduates asking if I have a copy of this old yearbook or that one. Of course, we (like you) don’t hang on to a lot of old yearbooks. In many cases, I get these calls
after a fire or theft. I feel so bad and wish I could help these folks.
Well if you have time and your kids are really good at InDesign (this won’t work for those using YTO) you can create a copy of your yearbook that could last
forever.
Create a new file in InDesign the size of your yearbook page without the Jostens info. 9x12 for instance for large books. Make this file about 50 pages
long. You will need a 50 page file until you total your entire book. So, a 200 page yearbook would need four fifty page files. (If you have a ton of RAM on a
computer, you may be able to do more than a 50 page file but be careful it doesn’t get to big. Then open page 1 and copy and paste the contents but not
the Jostens info to the new file. Continue until you have filled all of the 50 pages. Then create a PDF (Go to File>Export) and make sure you pick Adobe
PDF and High Quality Print. It will take quite a few minutes to export the entire file to PDF so you may want to do this when you can walk away from the
computer.
Once you have done this with all the pages, burn them to a CD or DVD. Store multiple copies with your school library, your office and in the yearbook
room. Then when someone calls because they lost their 10 year old yearbook, you won’t have the actual book, but you can just make a copy of that CD or
DVD and hand it to them. They can either print it or just read it on screen. It won’t be the same as having their actual book but it will be a vast improvement over not having anything at all.
If you really like this idea, you can just plan to do it throughout the entire year next year. Put one person you trust in charge of it. Now that’s historical
archiving if I ever saw it. By the way, I would not suggest just saving the InDesign file as that would mean that anyone who wanted to view the yearbook
would need to buy InDesign (a very expensive program) but if they are PDFs, they can use the free Acrobat viewer.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 18, 2006—Scheduling yearbook staffs that have no class.
Another great idea came in from a super adviser out there regarding managing a yearbook staff when you don’t have a yearbook class. I think it bears
passing on. And it comes with attachment handouts.
“I have attached a couple of calendars that I use for my Yearbook Staff to know what days I am available for work sessions (which is most everyday). They
are required to attend two per month to be on the staff and earn a free yearbook, along with other requirements.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 18, 2006—A response to our question about privacy.
A few weeks ago we asked for your comments on how you are handling the new privacy laws. Here is a well thought out response.
“Our student handbook addresses the privacy issue. It says student information/pictures will be used for athletic programs and the yearbook
and parents wishing to opt out need to notify the office in writing. All parents and students have to sign and return a form each fall stating that they
have read and will abide by the rules of the handbook. That’s how we cover it.
We also do a page on Headstart and for that, we have each parent sign a waiver that we can use their child’s picture in the yearbook.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 19, 2006—A fun website for digital camera techies.
Many times those pesky megapixels are hard to understand. David Pogue of the NY Times sent out a link to a great website that shows you what they
mean when you see them on a camera box or in an advertisement. This site is somewhat techy but suffice it to say that if you go to http://www.forret.com/
tools/megapixel.asp and type in the pixel count you find on a camera box or in an ad then you can find out some pretty interesting things.
The big, important one to you is at the very bottom of the web page. See where it says “Print Size”? Check out “Hi-res print. That’s the biggest size you will
be able to put in your yearbook.
So if the largest picture your camera will take is 1280 x 1024 pixels then the largest we will be able to print in your yearbook is 6.8 by 5.1 inches. Like I
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said, this is for techies but it can help when you are using a camera that you borrowed or inherited and you don’t know its capabilities. Just take a picture
at its highest settings and see what the size is in Photoshop or Elements. Then you can use the MegaPixel Calculator to find out how big it will print.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 20, 2006—Stipends (extra duty) pay for yearbook advisers.
A few weeks back I sent out a tip that mentioned an adviser who had worked ten years with out and extra duty stipend. She had gathered other contracts
from other schools and shown her school and district that she deserved it too. Last week I received this request:
“Can you help? Even though I have a class, I still spend entirely too much of my personal time doing yearbook work without a stipend or any
compensation. Could you have that adviser e-mail me a copy of the contract which mentions the compensation?”
So if anyone can help please send stuff my way and I promise to share it with everyone.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 21, 2006—YearTech Online 2.0 requirements
You may or may not have received these before but I have been getting some questions about what is required (computer software and hardware-wise)
to run YT version 2.0. Well here is the official Jostens line on this.
Windows or Macintosh Operating System
-Intel Pentium processor or PowerPC processor based on OS requirements
-Windows 2000, XP, or XP Pro
-Mac OS 10.1 or higher
-128 MB of available RAM (256 MB or more recommended)
-Video card with 24-bit, high resolution display
-Macromedia Flash 7.0 and above
Here is the site for downloading Flash Player (which is required for running YearTech Online version 2.0) It is a free download. We recommend that you
(and schools) DESELECT downloading and installing the Yahoo toolbar as it’s not necessary for YearTech Online. http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/
download/download.cgi?P1ProdVersion=ShockwaveFlash
-Internet connection 56K or higher
-High speed bandwidth recommended
To determine if your bandwidth is sufficient for acceptable YearTech Online site performance, log on to: http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ This site
provides a quick and easy way to measure download bandwidth. We recommend a minimum of 100K bits per second (kbps). The higher the number, the
better.
Program Requirements:
Digital image requirements:
-JPG (JPEG) or TIF format only
-RGB format, high resolution
-If scanning, use 400-500 dpi. If using a digital camera, take photos at highestquality setting.
-Valid customer email address
Recommended browsers:
-Windows: Internet Explorer 6.0 and above or Firefox 1.5 and above
-Mac: Safari 1.2 and above or Firefox 1.5 and above (Macs must be running OSX)
Other browsers supported (but not recommended. Some functionality unavailable)
-Netscape 8 for Windows
-Internet Explorer 5.2 for Mac
Dealing with Firewalls or other Security Software:
You may need to adjust your browser settings if you have a firewall or other security software installed. Below are some tips if you are using Internet
Explorer. Other browsers have similar settings.
1.) Open Internet Explorer.
2.) Go to the Tools menu and select Internet Options.
3.) Click the Security tab.
4.) Select the Trusted sites icon and click the Sites button.
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5.) Add http://yearbookavenue.jostens.com and http:// yearbookavenue1.jostens.com to the list of trusted sites.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 24, 2006—A great idea for your personal computers.
Do you own your own computer that you use at school or at home? Do your students, your friends or your relatives? What would happen if that computer
fell off a table? Or was hit with a power surge that fried its insides? You would probably be out of luck.
Well, I very seldom endorse any company other than Jostens but I just got my yearly premium payment for my computer insurance from Safeware and I
thought, what a great idea for a tip.
I have been using Safeware for six years to insure all my computer equipment for things that only happen to computers. Like dropping them on the floor
or a power surge or spilling a soft drink on your keyboard. These are things that your homeowners policy will not cover. And they are pretty low cost. I
insure $20,000 worth of computer equipment (includes my desktop, laptop, printers, scanner, blackberry and any other peripherals) for less than $200 a
year.
If your computers are not insured, you might want to take a look at them at www.safeware.com.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 25, 2006—What to do when you have no class
A short time ago I sent you the views of a wonderful adviser about having boys on the yearbook staff. Here is another point of view on that topic from
another great adviser.
“I have been mulling over the boys vs. girls question. Oddly enough, my worse slackers AND my best workers are girls. I have few boys wanting
to be on yearbook staff, and I have an an all-male editorial staff for my newspaper. Most of my “hard journalism” kids—-newspaper, etc., and are
boys and they are absolutely wonderful. I love working with boys—-way less drama and lots of fun. My yearbook staffs tend to be very female with
the exception of boys who want to do photography—-and nothing else. It seems girls go for the pick-out-the-colors and make pretty pages part.
My top editor girls have lots of good leadership skills and are very responsible. I agree that it is WAY easier to train a good kid to do
yearbook than try to make do with what you have just because they’ve been there a year. My two top editors this year had never been in yearbook
before, and they’ve been wonderful.
My top kids do get very frustrated with the staffers who are lazy and have inadequate skills. I tell the editors that part of the life skills you
learn in yearbook is that there are people who don’t do their share, can’t seem to do what they are supposed to do well, and who are irritating to be
around. That’s real life, and they will have it from here on out in whatever they do. They’ll be happier when they learn to work around it and know
that even though they’ve worked harder and longer, they’ll be the ones with the pride and accomplishment at the end. They’ll also be the boss of the
others in 10 years!
I think it boils down to getting right kids—-male or female—into the right roles. This probably comes from my theater background, but
I approach building a staff and particularly my UIL team like casting a play. I really try to look for a kid’s particular strength and build them up from
there. Plug in a kid where he or she can shine.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 26, 2006—Another view on staff organization.
Here is another way to look at the staff organization situation.
“What I have found that works is to make Yearbook a privilege. My staff is made up of about 40% in class kids and 60% volunteers.
No one is allowed on staff without being invited first. About this time of the year we ask teachers, coaches & club advisers to recommend their
best students for next year’s staff. We tell them that we are looking for detail-conscious, deadline oriented students who can work well with others,
but don’t need constant supervision in order to get the job done.
Then we invite all students that were nominated to an exclusive invitation-only meeting. At the meeting we have previous yearbooks
laying around, chips, veges, dip & drinks. The editors are introduced and give their talk about what being in yearbook is about. They are really good
about not sugar coating it so that those who are looking for an easy way to get involved are not encouraged to stay.
We hand out applications and give them a deadline to turn them in. Anyone who turns in the application late is automatically disqualified
(unless extreme circumstances exist).
Once they’re in, I really work to build them up — cream of the crop, best of the best, future leaders, etc. I also try to take at least one or
two newcomers to camp, that really gets them hooked.”
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 27, 2006—Planning next year with non-returnees around
Remember this from a few weeks back:
What do you do about kids who are not going to return next year because they realized the class actually requires a lot of hard work they’re not willing to
do?
Well, here are three great responses.
“Perhaps if they get to participate in the cool, fun part and really get a sense of “ownership,” they won’t ditch the class after all.
Sometimes that’s what it takes to get them really interested in a book that’s going to appear in print way in the future. With 20 years newspaper
advising experience and 7 years with yearbook, I know it is much easier to keep them focused and actually producing when they anticipate seeing
their product every few weeks than it is to think in terms of a book that’s “coming way down the road at the end of school.”
“Tell her to help the students realize that if they really do all of the pre-planning in the Spring and at Summer workshop, the work
will flow much smoother in the fall. A little work now will allow them to be as creative as they want to be when it is time to start producing
pages. Just a thought.”
“Since she’s in a class situation, why not get them started selling advertising for the next year. I’d give them a list of advertisers for this
year, and have them call thanking them for their support and pledging their advertisements for next year.
OR have those non returning students do the boring and mundane jobs, like cleaning up the computer files, organizing photos,
burning photo CD’s for sale, checking this year’s index and book to see if all students were represented. In short, I’d give them every icky
job I could think of to keep them away from those who are working on the theme and cover for next year.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 28, 2006—Two alternatives to Photoshop.
Photoshop is one great program. In fact, it may be the greatest piece of software ever written (other than YearTech) but it is expensive. If you need a low
cost alternative (FREE) to Photoshop you should try either one of these:
PHOTOPLUS from Free Serif Software at http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/
Or Picasa from Google at http://picasa.google.com/download/index.html
Both of these are great, basic and free programs that come with some caveats:
Neither have tech support. If you have problems you can’t call anyone. And Jostens tech support does not support them either. So if you use them, do so at
your own risk.
Neither program has a Mac version. Shame on them. So if you are a Mac user you will have to use Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.
Your students will not be using software that will translate into a job for them someday. The industry standard is Photoshop so if one of your goals is to
train students for careers, these two won’t do it.
This software, while good for basic photo organization and editing is not Photoshop and will never do all the things that you can do with Photoshop. But
it is a good, FREE alternative.
Yearbook Tips of the Day for May 2006
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 1, 2006— Handling criticism.
A friend of mine who is a Jostens rep (I have a lot of Jostens rep friends) sent me this note:
“I had one of my new adviser’s at one of my largest schools ask me how to handle criticism of the book when it comes in.
I actually offered a suggestion of a fun “game”. When the book comes in, have every staff member go through the entire book and find every
error; spelling, mislabeled pictures, etc. Then offer a scavenger hunt type of contest offering $50 to the student that could bring a list of the most
errors in the book first. I know it sounds crazy, but that way the staff knows people are reading the book and it would also show them how careful
they need to be. But any help you can give on dealing with the criticism would be great.”
I know that many of you wonderful folks are good at handling this, so how do you do it? What do you say to the student when they come in with their
name spelled wrong, the parent whose complains because there are not enough photos of her child in the book or the head of the English dept. who finds
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a typo on page 44 in an eight point caption.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 2, 2006— Your May YourBook newsletter—part 1.
By now, you should have received the May issue of YourBook. If you have we would love to browse it with you. Kind of guided reading. And since you probably are not reading it right now (we know that because you are reading this) here is what you will find when you do get a chance to look at it.
First on page 2 you’ll find our monthly, “What you should be doing now” column. Everything you need to get done in this lovely month of May. And also
on page 2 you’ll find the last of our nine month series on Selling 90% of your students yearbooks. This month we look at that business manager we talked
about last month and why you should send him to us to be trained.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 3, 2006— Your May YourBook newsletter—part 2
I think we left off yesterday on page 6. If you look there you will find a VERY cool organizational system that you might want to adapt to your needs on
your yearbook staff next year. It is definitely something to discuss with your editors.
And finally on page 7 you’ll find the last of our very cool Photoshop tutorials. This one is on how to create a Photoshop collage. We know kids love collages
in yearbooks but who still has (or is allowed to use) an exacto knife or glue. This is the way collages are done now.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 4, 2006— Batteries—boo!.
New digital camera and you need new batteries already?
Why do those camera makers even bother?
Buy a new digital camera and you’ll find a wrapped pack of alkaline batteries and a 16mb storage card - but, both are almost useless!
“What happened? I read the instructions, put the batteries in place, slid the storage card in the slot and went off to shoot some candids . But, after taking
a few pix, the batteries were drained! What is the deal?”
The fact is that camera manufacturers try to keep their prices as low as possible so they only include the basics.
So, which batteries do you buy for replacements?
The battery preferences, in decreasing order of preference:
nickel-metal hydride <http://dpfwiw.com/batteries.htm#nimh#nimh> (NiMH, rechargeable)
lithium <http://dpfwiw.com/batteries.htm#lithium2#lithium2> (non-rechargeable)
nickel-cadmium <http://dpfwiw.com/batteries.htm#nicd#nicd> (NiCd, rechargeable)
alkaline <http://dpfwiw.com/batteries.htm#alkaline#alkaline> (non-rechargeable
If you would like to check out the choices of experts who have conducted thorough tests, take a look at:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/nimhbatteries.html
http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM
My suggestion is to have at least a few sets of different manufacturer’s rechargeables so you can keep sets together. Always include a fully charged set of
batteries in the bag as a backup to those already in the camera.
Your personal test results/favorites?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 5, 2006— A look back at an entire year of YourBooks.
In the past many of you may remember that each year we put an index of articles for the entire year into the final issue of YourBook. That way if you
remember an article that you want to look at again or pass on to someone else, you can go back and find them quickly.
This year, due to more important stuff to print, we didn’t the index in there. So, if you are one of those advisers that saves all the newsletters for idea from
year to year, a PDF index of the 2005-2006 school year can be accessed by clicking here. Enjoy!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 7, 2006— How to handle students you didn’t choose being put on yearbook staff.
About three weeks ago we sent you a tip asking for your help on what to do when you are assigned students into the yearbook class who did not go
through an application process. Here is a great response we got last week.
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“ I have never taught special education students, but I did have a student from Ethiopia for whom English was his second language,
and he was in just his second year in the U.S. He was put in my class as an alternative to a “foreign language” class, for obvious reasons. I instituted partner work on spreads in his honor and rotated partners for each assignment, so everyone had the chance to work with him. The “normal”
students did have to work harder when he was their partner, but they learned strong editing skills in that assignment. In his turn, this special kid
really went out on assignments and interviewed people to get the information he was looking for to write his story. His efforts impressed the other
guys because his notes were painstakingly complete, and he didn’t give up. In his turn, he realized he needed help, asked for it, and took all criticism
with a cheery attitude. He loved the layout and design work on the computer, since language was not a barrier there.
It was not an experience I would want to have every year, but we made it through the year in good spirits. The whole class took satisfaction from what we achieved as a group. I would not have missed it.
As for the question of having boys on the staff, I obviously prefer boys, since I don’t have an option. I’m not one who believes in recruiting. I cannot imagine trying to guess in the spring how different personalities will work out on a staff together. I prefer to give everyone the chance
to participate. Come the end of the first marking period, if it is evident that a student cannot write to save his soul and will not succeed in this class,
I encourage him to drop the class so his G.P.A. does not suffer because of an elective. (This has happened once.) The students’ creativity always
surprises me. They all tend to find their niche, whether it is headlines, captions, photography, design. The boys enjoy getting the assignment and
doing it to their own satisfaction. It’s not always done on my timetable, more often than not, they come up to whatever standard the editors and I
set. —And I think the end result has been quite acceptable!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 8, 2006— Where to find money.
I received this the other day. If any of you can help, please let me know of any ideas you may have.
“Do you have any schools that get corporations to sponsor part or all of the book? I am looking for some ideas on a cover letter to companies. Let me know if you can help.”
Strangely enough I got this letter from another adviser on the very same day.
“I am looking for any information on companies that provide grants for equipment. I am starting this new broadcasting program next
year and our new school budget won’t include T.V’s. We can get a good deal from Best Buy ($12 - 15K for all TVs, brackets, mounting, etc.) but . . .
.no moolah.
Have you heard of any such funders, local or otherwise? I would be forever in your debt. (As if I’m not already!!!)”
I know there are lots of you who apply for grants or other funds. If you have cover letters you can share or you know a source of these funds, please send
them on to me and I will share them with everyone. And don’t worry if they aren’t local to us. I have other friend around the country that need help too.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 8, 2006— Stipend responses.
The request I made about stipends for yearbook advisers (who are all grossly underpaid) brought a bunch of replies. Over the next couple of days I will
send them on to you. Maybe they will help you increase your stipend. Or to prove you should have one if, heaven forbid, you don’t.
“Before yearbook became a class at our school, the contract identified yearbook as co-curricular and paid $951. I told them I wouldn’t
do yearbook any more unless it became a class. Because I do a bit outside of my class (summer, etc), I get about $900 extra for doing yearbook. It is
included in our Schedule B which lists all “extra-curricular” and co-curricular pay. I don’t have an electronic copy, however.”
Here’s another view:
“I do receive a stipend, I believe apx. $1700.00. However I am the school secretary and senior class advisor, have no prep time, so I used my
break time and home. I figure if I am lucky I made about $2.00 an hour. Also being I am a secretary I have no class time to have all yearbook
students together, we are a block schedule and I have different students at different times working on it in various rooms. Not a situation made in
heaven. This year I had 13 students to keep going and informed. Last year I had 3 students, and one was only 1st semester. The yearbook was not up
to par, but I told the students this is what happens when students don’t care enough to do it. So last year I probably made negative.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 11, 2006— More on stipends.
I received a bunch more info (short and long) on stipends. Here are some of the others:
“I’m paid through an addendum to my regular contract that is figured right into the budget. We sign these in September after school
starts.”
“I think that almost all of us are in the same boat. I know that in some teachers received between $3,000-5000 more a year to compensate
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outside time. Whenever you receive the information, please send it on to me.”
“Mine isn’t a part of my contract necessarily, however I will tell you what duties i have assumed. I am the photography and art teacher
so naturally I said i would do the layout and photography portion of the book. The admin. got one of the other english and creative writing teachers
to do the editing and writing portion. We asked for team teaching during the same hour of the day. In addition we also have lunch duty that lasts
28 min of the hour. The rest of the hour is our “open” time for the yearbook planning hour.”
“I have a class for yearbook but I also get a stipend of $1250 as well because of all of the extra time outside of school hours that it
requires.”
“I get 6% of my base salary as a yearbook advisor.”
This one kinds of sums it up.
“What a great idea to share. Many years ago our yearbook was a class but then for the last several it was an extracurricular activity with a
stipend. When it changed back to a class this year and I took over, the stipend was removed. I didn’t really think much about it until I got into it and
saw how much extra out of class time it actually takes. I’m all for seeing what other contracts with stipends or extra compensation are like!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 12, 2006— Even more on stipends.
This may just be the hottest topic ever. Here are more responses that came in regarding this topic. This first one is very true in some schools.
“In addition to having two yearbook classes, I receive a stipend of about $2,600. That is still not close to covering the extra time spent on
the yearbook.— I think the low stipend is the main reason it is so difficult to keep advisers. The position is often given to a new teacher who keeps
the position for a couple of years to get established. Then the yearbook adviser cycle of three to five years starts again.—Administrators are clueless
on the work that goes into preparing a yearbook.”
“I don’t get a stipend either but I do have a class for at least one semester. We don’t have enough money in our budget.”
“Our yearbook advisor is paid on Schedule C, like an extra duty, but it remains a part of the teacher’s teaching schedule all-year
long. I receive roughly $4700 for this duty that is also a part of my teaching schedule. Hope this helps!”
I hope someone out there is able to use these responses to get themselves some additional moolah! Here are a few more.
“I have had the class for two years without an extra stipend. Next year our school district added to our contract that the Yearbook Advisor
will get an extra $600 if it continues to be a class (it would be considerably more if it was still an after school club). I can’t email you a copy of the
contract right now - don’t have the final copy yet. “
“It’s funny—contracts don’t state amounts these days. They have a code for the amount. I believe I get about $2300 a year for the yearbook.
It’s criminal not to have a stipend for yearbook; besides the extra work, the responsibility and stress are much more than the insular world of the
regular classroom! There are many examples of teachers with classes that also get extra stipends, music for instance. Or our leadership teacher. “
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 15, 2006— A great distribution idea and a request.
Yesterday I got this note from one of my favorite schools who has already received their yearbooks.
“We distributed the books yesterday. I thought it was a success in every way—everyone got to be a star. The kids got together for a party on
Sunday evening and made big murals to decorate the sides of Peter’s parents’ ReMax moving truck. They carried on the theme of the Incredibles that
was part of our yearbook chapel in the beginning of the year. Each person dressed up as a super hero. They went to great pains to get a costume
together—some rented them or purchased them online. My personal favorite was Dan’s who was some version of Batman. He made his appearance (once the truck stopped) by skateboarding down the ramp wearing black tights with BRIGHT yellow underpants over the tights. He had the
black Batman logo stenciled on the back of the underpants. His get-up included a black cape and mask, but I hardly noticed them. They had such
fun planning and carrying out the scheme—taped speakers securely on the top of the truck to provide the movie’s theme music and had Chrissy ride
her father’s antique mini-bike in front of the truck to announce their coming.”
I would love to hear what you have planned, or have done in the past. Please send me some more great distribution stories.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 16, 2006— Scheduling yearbook staffs that have no class.
Here are even more responses. Put them to good use. Make more money!
“I receive a stipend. It was $650 for the year, but they reclassified my stipend since I’m at every event and it’s around $900.00. The stipend comes
from the district (it’s a negotiated item), not from individual school sites. I have a stipend breakdown, but not in email format so I can send it to
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anyone who wants a copy.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 17, 2006— What to do when you clean out your yearbook room.
By now many of you are probably deep into cleaning out your yearbook room. Remember in April when we had some tips about what to do with all the
stuff you have left over? Well here is a response I got just the other day. Better late than never.
“I would offer the old pictures to students as well. They love to look at old yearbooks so it seems reasonable that they might buy old pictures as
well. Also, if someone from the school is famous or is working to become famous, pictures of them could increase in value over night. The same goes
for extra copies of yearbooks you might be storing. Someone from your school might be the next winner on American Idol.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 18, 2006— Another view on “boy problems.”
Last month we also did some tips about whether boys are good or bad on yearbook staffs. Here is another viewpoint I just received.
“I’ve had my share of “boy problems” over the past 22 years. The problems usually fit into these categories 1) they were underclassmen 2)
they were already friends with other guys in the class 3) there were too many of them (4 or 5) and they formed a united front (in self-defense?).
One year, I said to a guy, “I don’t understand why you guys don’t take this as a serious responsibility, like I do.” He said, “Because you’re an adult, and
we’re not.” Out of the mouths of babes....”
I guess that just about says it all!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 19, 2006— Ethics agreement for the yearbook staff.
I have seen yearbook staff contracts before but never an “Ethics Agreement” until just the other day an adviser I admire sent me one. It is attached in Word
format. It addresses how things are handled in the yearbook and has to be signed by the staffer and their parents. Hope you like it. Click here to download
the ethics agreement.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 22, 2006— Handling criticism.
Early this month I asked you fine folks how you handled criticism once your yearbook arrives. Here are some of the great responses I received. They are
superb. I got so many, I promise more later.
“My brother, who is an English teacher, told me to smile and say “you have a keen eye for editing. If you don’t mind, can I put you on the
list of people I can elicit help from next year?” Most people will realize it is more work than they think or are willing to put in - and will refrain from
such comments in the future.”
“We tell students who complain, “Thanks” for pointing it out and invite them to join the staff for next year to help us prevent errors.
After we explain the work and time commitment, they go away, quietly. If they accept the invitation, you might get a good staff member.”
“Depending on the attitude and tone of the one complaining, I have different responses.
For the English dept chair ( or any teacher) I ask if they have the time to help proof prior to submission so that the students learn
that people do actually read the yearbook; to parents who complain about typos etc, I ask if they are willing to pay $100+ a
yearbook; all have said no. Then I remind them that the yearbook is a learning tool for students and that it is not a professional publication by
trained photographers and writing, but that one day these students may be professionals. I apologize, offer than a refund and for them to return the
yearbook because I have several people on the waiting list who want a yearbook, errors and all. Finally, for the parent who student is not pictured
enough, I ask how photos did she expect of her child; then I show her how many were included and the students who were not included as many
times as her child. I then ask her if she has any suggestions for tracking the number of times a student is pictured in the yearbook and if she could
help the staff with that project. So far, after the initial blow and complaints, all complainers have either helped or apologized.”
“I always take full responsibility (in public) for any errors (and give full credit to my staff for any praise of the book) and then I
remind whoever is criticizing that it is a student production and all of us make mistakes. I then offer the English teacher the job for next
year! Upset parents get an apology and that’s about it. (Not having their picture in there enough does not really worry me. They were probably in
there too much anyway!) If the name is misspelled on the cover, I refund the cost of personalization. Not much can be done about spelling mistakes
in the book except to use it as a teaching moment to remind your staff how people can be hurt because they did not do their job and to remind the
proof-readers of how important their job is. Unfortunately, some people spell their names in ridiculous ways, so it is hard to know what is misspelled.”
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 23, 2006— Something to do this month.
Last month we sent out a lot of responses about what to do once your spring delivery yearbook is done. A lot! But I bet you have misplaced a bunch (or all)
of them and may need something for the last few weeks of school.
Click here for the scrapbook assignment that one of you wonderful folks just sent me. Enjoy!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 24, 2006— An update on the calendar tip we sent last month.
On the 18th of April we sent you this tip along with the handouts that are mentioned.
“”I have attached a couple of calendars that I use for my Yearbook Staff to know what days I am available for work sessions (which
is most everyday). They are required to attend two per month to be on the staff and earn a free yearbook, along with other requirements.”
One of you very astute folks pointed out to me that a very cool way to do the same thing was to use the Yearbook Avenue calendars. That way if you need
to update them you can and YA lets you easily send e-mails to let the staff know they have been updated.
Either way works for me, paper or digital, I just hope you stay organized all next year.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 25, 2006— A response about the girls vs boys on the yearbook staff
Another great response to a response about the boys on yearbook staff issue.
“I can’t resist responding to the advisor who said she looks for three kinds of boys for the yearbook staff. I agree with her wholeheartedly. One of my greatest joys in working with staffs over the years has been to see the shy junior boy who develops into the charismatic leader of the
group in his senior year. Staff dynamics are so much more fun when guy humor is blended with female humor. Years ago I would have thought that
was a sexist observation, but I really think we are richer for the difference between the two.
And this spring, I’ve had some warm fuzzy moments watching yearbookies pair up for the junior-senior banquet (our version of the
prom). I think keeping the genders in some kind of balance helps assure that one of my goals for yearbook is accomplished—that students will
find a group to be proud to be a part of, a place to remember with warmth and good feelings.
Thanks for including that note in your tip sheet. I always read your tips with the expectation of learning or re-learning something!”
And we are glad that you like them!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 26, 2006— Another view on staff organization.
Here is another way to look at the tip we sent out about what to do when you get kids on your yearbook staff that you did not choose. One of your
responses mentioned that being on the staff was by “invitation only.” Here is another viewpoint.
“I have to say that I do not like the idea of “Invitation Only” staff. Last year, I invited several 8th graders to my staff (for the following year,
9th grade). One of them has no interest at all, and while he did join, his work was slipshod, and I had to complete every page he was assigned. Alternatively, a boy I did not even consider last year came to me and literally begged to be on the staff. I said he could be a float. He came in every single
day asking what needed to be done. No task was beneath him, from stuffing envelopes to running errands. While as a student his work was average
and not always on time or well done, on yearbook he is a shining star. In fact, I can’t imagine how I would have gotten along without him this year.
My second objection to invitation only is that teachers are just as prone to cliques and stereotypes as students, and pass along
information to each other about students from year to year. Some students start the year with a teacher who has heard something about
them, or makes a judgment based on an older sibling. It’s not fair, all teachers will deny that they ever do this, but the fact is, teachers are fallible
human beings like everyone else! I require the students to get 2 recommendations as part of their applications, just as they might have to do later in
life when applying for a real job. And I agree that a late applicaiton is automatically disqualified, unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Just thought I’d put in my 2 cents worth!!!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 30, 2006— Another idea for cleaning out the yearbook room.
Still cleaning out your yearbook room? Haven’t started yet? Here is another great idea that may help.
“I inherited the yearbook advisor position last year from a teacher who had been doing it for probably 10 years or so. She had boxes
and boxes of old layouts and pictures. I had my staff sort through them for about a week (good time to have yearbook as a class)! We kept all the old
pictures of teachers and put them in one box and anything historically significant in another box.(like building remodeling, state tournament pix,
etc). The rest of the pictures we put out on a big table during the lunch hours and let kids take the pix they wanted - it was very popular - students
found pics of themselves, friends, and older brothers and sisters.
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We are actually using some of those old pictures in our yearbook this year. Our theme is “looking forward to looking back” - we are mixing
in some old pics of students and teachers with new pix to see how we have all changed. We also use some of the old teacher pix for retirement parties, our school news show (when it is a teacher’s birthday), etc.”
Great ideas!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 31, 2006— Another idea for cleaning out your yearbook room.
Here’s another idea so get started cleaning stuff out today!
“I have a great idea that keeps your storage to a limit. I give the entire yearbook layout box with pictures and all the remaining pictures and
negatives to the class that hosts the next ten year reunion. They may use the pictures for nametags or make photo displays. If they are really ambitious, they may sort through the negatives and find pictures to have printed. I never have to store that box again and the class may dig into it every
ten years to find more treasures.”
Yearbook Tips of the Day for June 2006
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 1, 2006 — Academic letters for yearbook.
Way back when we asked for responses about schools who offer academic letters for yearbooks. Here are three responses we got back.
“While we never got around to acting on it, we’ve considered lettering in yearbook. The criteria set was:
One full-year of service (preferrably senior year)
At least a B average in the course
Final lettering decision at adviser’s discretion so that the students who show little/no effort (and, yes, we all have them) will NOT be
rewarded”
“They must be enrolled in their third year of journalism classes (that includes J1 or photojournalism), be at least a section editor and
compete in regional or national competition (Jostens Photo Contest or InDesign Design contest) “
“The school I graduated from awarded academic letters for journalism. I was on the newspaper staff, but I think the criteria could be easily
modified.
“We earned points for: inches of copy (yes...we actually measured with a ruler). I don’t remember how many inches equaled a point. winning state, local or national awards from journalism organizations and for our staff position I’m sure there were points earned for photos published
as well.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 2, 2006 — A fun way to sell your last few books.
If you still have books to sell, this is a great idea, and not too time consuming.
A yearbook staff we know has put together a simple sign on the computer that reminds people to buy their yearbook (I’m going from memory, but I think
it says “It’s Time to Buy Your Yearbook). They have printed out a bunch of these signs, cut them out, and put them on the clocks in each classroom, smack
dab in center of the clock. What a great idea! Kids look at the clock all day. Now they will get a reminder in each class to buy the yearbook before it is too
late.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 5, 2006 — Finding a source of funds.
I received these responses to our question about corporate sponsorships.
“Both Target and Kroger offer reward systems when parents show a “partnership” card. Our partnership cards are distributed by the PTO
(PTA in some systems). Because the yearbook staff does not receive any money from the school pictures or the senior portraits, the principal gives us
the partnership money. Last year, I was able to buy a digital camera and camera dock with part of the money. For larger needs, consider writing a
technology grant. In the Google search box, type in technology grants to find a list of options.”
“I am going through the same dilemma trying to get monies for a laptop cart with a few computers so I can have a set in my room to
use. Anyone have ideas on that one? Computers for classroom? I would be happy with just ten of them, honestly.
I know SAMSUNG has an annual grant where you write a 100 word essay about why your school needs tech funding. Our school won
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one two years ago and we ended up with three or 4 big screen tvs and some other stuff that were just awesome. I did it again this year to get more
stuff for my classroom.”
Check out the link: http://www.hopeforeducation.com/cgi-bin/nabc/campaign/hfe/hfehome.jsp.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 6, 2006 — Announcing the editors for next year.
A couple of weeks ago I put out a request for great ways to announce who your editors would be in the coming year. Here is a great answer I got back.
“Announcing editors: I pick my editors. If the current ones are doing a good job and want to remain in their positions, they do. If they will be
seniors and graduating the next year, we sometimes give them an editorial assistant who will train into that position the following year as the
editor steps back and lets the assistant take more responsibility; so they have a long-range vision to build the next generation of staff and keep the
book healthy. In the fall, during the first week, I give all staff a single sheet that contains the names of that year’s editorial board along with a short
bio about each, and I formally introduce them. This serves to both empower them with authority publicly, and to tell all the newbies what the chain
of command is, if they have questions or need help. I attached a copy of this year’s. Click here to download it. “
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 7, 2006 — Do you have a disclaimer?
I received this note from a new adviser who is looking for some help. Anyone out there have what she is looking for?
“I’m wondering if you could dig through your resources and see if you have something I could give out as a disclaimer for next year.
We want to put something either in the handbook or on their yearbook ordering information indicating that it is a student publication and that
we try to avoid mistakes, etc. Being a new adviser and I have had an onslaught of parent complaints about mistakes regarding their kids. Everything from parents demanding one new book printed for their child to threatening to sue us for leaving out a senior picture that came in after our
deadline.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 8, 2006 — Having a disclaimer.
After yesterday’s request for a disclaimer the responses poured in. Here are a couple of the good ones.
“I have a couple of ideas for you. They need to come up with printed policies, especially when it comes to senior ads. I have a school that uses this
and it is amazing what comes of it.
No full refunds will be given for senior ads with mistakes unless absolutely necessary. If there is a problem with an ad that would require
a refund, only the cost of the book (ie $55) will be refunded. If this does not satisfy the issue, the student may bring their yearbook to the yearbook
staff and they will be refunded the money for the ad, but the page will be removed from the student’s yearbook.
The result has been the school has never had to refund the cost of an ad. 99 out of 100 times, the parents drop the complaint when they
realize the page will be ripped from their child’s book. They are just trying to get something for nothing.
I would say the same policy could apply for other mistakes. If they have a problem with something in the book, the page will be ripped from
the book and the cost of the book will be refunded to the student.
Another thing they could do would be to let the student “return” the book for a reduced refund (if it is signed or personalized). What
kid is going to return the book because they are not happy with something?”
This one is the best so far but I will run some more tomorrow and would love to hear other feedback so keep those cards and letters coming.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 9, 2006 — More about disclaimers.
Here is a great response to add to the discussion about disclaimers—namely, where to put them once you have one.
“I would print the statement on the reverse side of the yearbook order form. Then parents can’t say they didn’t know or that they disagreed. Make sure it’s on the same peice of paper as their signature.
PS. You’re covered already by the school’s blanket policy on school publications. As long as you can demonstrate that you’ve made every reasonable effort to communicate the information to students, then you’re fine. Ask your principal to get in touch with the attorney for a copy of the policy
and law covering publications. I might also consult with the NSPA for further assistance. Don’t let it get to you— they don’t really have any legal
standing for their threats— you are protected for the most part. You have to do something really irresponsible (like publishing the sexual preference
of a student) for someone to really have a claim against you. Besides, what judge would listen to that? Most reasonable people would laugh that
out of court and then be pissed that their time was wasted by such nonsense. In addition, unless they’re willing to sue the principal (who functions
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as the publisher in most schools) they will not see a day in court. Believe me, the district’s entourage of attorneys should intimidate even the most
cantankerous parent.
Another tip: This year, when I got the list of the names of Seniors who did not comply with photography directions, I typed a little
memo that said, “I understand that I must have my photograph taken by or I will not be in the yearbook.” I put a dated signature line
underneath and sent staffers during home room to get the signature of each student. Then we called the parents of those students who elected not
to have their photograph taken to alert them that their Senior would not be in the book. Some forced the kid to get it done. Others said, thanks but
no thanks. In any case, I covered my butt.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 12, 2006 — Another great idea to avoid problems.
This is a great follow up to the discussion another adviser started yesterday. I think it is a wonderful way to make sure you don’t get those nasty calls from
senior parents at the end of the school year. I am sure it works better in a small town where the local papers would be much more willing to assist you.
“We have all senior pictures placed in the local newspapers. I tell parents that if your child is not featured in the newspapers, then we do not
have your picture and they will not be in the yearbook.
This year, I received three parent phone calls on this issue. I accepted their senior portraits and was working on that section at the time
anyway. So, it didn’t hurt my deadlines and my public relations image gleamed.”
If anyone else has a good solution to this problem, we would love to share it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 13, 2006 — Another viewpoint on disclaimers.
Here is another great note I received about disclaimers but it also does a great job of answering questions about how to handle criticism.
“Remind parents that this is a student, not a professional publication. If they are unhappy with the book, you can simply tell them that you
will refund their money as long as the book is in original condition (no writing of any kind-not even the kid’s name). There are plenty of students
who will be happy to buy a book, with a few mistakes, who didn’t get a chance to at the beginning of the year. Also, students are not required to
purchase books. Or, tell the parent you’ll put their name down to help proofread the pages for next year’s book (tip from an earlier email you sent). I
live in an area where parents are very likely to complain, but haven’t had issues for many year’s because of these ideas.”
Some super ideas in this one, don’t you think?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 14, 2006 — Permission for photos?
On the same thread I received this request for help. Anyone out there doing this?
“Something else for you to check on though. Would you know if some of your other schools are getting a permission letter for pictures and
names in the yearbook. We are just trying to be ahead of the game, maybe we are behind. We want to make sure that we have legal permission to
include students pictures and names in the yearbook. I would hate a lawsuit over a photo in the class pictures.”
Do any of you do this? If so, can you send a copy of your permission slip?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 15, 2006 — Here’s an actual disclaimer document.
And then I got this actual disclaimer from one of you fine folks along with this message. See the attachment which is in in triplicate for easy duplication
by clicking here.
“Unfortunately, this is the way of the future in our world of liability and blame. I’m surprised that more schools aren’t requesting this. We
have been sending the attached form with JDS mailings for our HS for the past three years. There have been too may lawsuit threats at this particular school. No student can receive a yearbook unless this document is signed. It is an 8.5 x 11 sheet that we cut in triplicates. Hope this helps!”
For those of you not using it, JDS stands for Jostens Direct Solutions, which is a super books sales system. Call me for more information about it. This form
could be used with any form of book sales so make sure and look at it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 16, 2006 — The end of the line.
Here it is. The last Yearbook Tip of the Day for the 2005-2006 school year. It has been a long, wonderful year and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as we at
Jostens did and that you are ready to jump right in and get going when school resumes in the fall.
In the last newsletter of this year we sent you a copy of our Summer Organizer. We think it is one, very important document. So, we are attaching a copy of
it to this e-mail in PDF format. Please print it out and just peruse it during the summer. It will make the fall go really well, we promise!
Other than that I just want to say thanks for your friendship and loyalty during the years we have worked together. You folks are the best! Have a super
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relaxing summer and we’ll see you at the summer workshop or in the fall.
Yearbook Tips of the Day for September 2006
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 5, 2006—Choosing your fonts
Just wanted to tell you about an amazingly cool deal for you. John McWade, graphic designer extraordinaire has posted a FREE article on his website at
http://www.bamagazine.com/
In fact he has posted two free articles there. But the one I love the most is titled “Choosing the right typeface for text.” You should immediately go to his
website and download the PDF. It can be used to teach a lesson on type but even more important is it can help you choose the right type for your yearbook. And believe me, choosing the right type can make a HUGE difference in the overall look of your yearbook.
So go right back up there and click the link and download the PDF today. I say today because it might not be free for long. Before and After magazine puts
some of their articles as free samples and changes them often. Speaking of Before and After, I have recommended it to many of you before but I can’t say
enough about what a great tool it is to use in teaching graphics in the classroom. Even though they write about websites, brochures and other graphic
design, all of it can be applied to yearbook in some way.
Hope you had a great Labor Day.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 6, 2006— Jostens wins a PIA Benny Award
Jostens recently earned the coveted "Benny" in the Premier Print Awards sponsored by the GATF and the Printing Industries of America.
A "Best of Category" award, known informally as the "Benny," is presented to the top winner in each category. Jostens earned the "Benny" in the yearbook category as well as claiming 5 of the 8 awards in the category. Nearly 100 entries were judged in the yearbook category including 21 submitted by
Jostens.
Best of Category "Benny"
The 2006 Cornellian, Cornell University, (State College) 
Award of Recognition:
The 2005 Aegis, Dartmouth College, (Winston Salem) 
The 2006 Harvard 370, Harvard University, (Winston Salem)
Certificate of Merit:
The 2005 Poor Richard's Record, University of Pennsylvania, (State College)
The 2006 Finest Hours, Winston Churchill High School, Potomac MD, (State College)
The 2005 Crimson and Gold, Chaminade High School, Mineola, NY (Winston Salem)
Entries in this prestigious international printing and graphic arts competition are judged on the quality of the photography, design, printing and binding.
The publisher as well as the client are recognized.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 7, 2006— The Yearbook Business Manager Contest
We are pleased to announce The Yearbook Business Manager Contest. The contest allows the best business manager in the country to win a $1,000 scholarship and a computer for the yearbook staff.
The contest has two important goals:
Increasing the number of business managers across the country. Remember – the contest is open to all high schools even if you aren’t a Jostens customer.
We hope this contest will get students excited about becoming yearbook business managers
Increasing the engagement of our current business managers. Nothing motivates your students like cash. Get your business managers even more
excited about their new job.
The contest is open to all high schools in the US and Canada (void in Quebec). A copy of the contest book is attached. The Yearbook Business Manager
must complete the contest book in its entirety to be considered. They must tell us details about each of the first four sales campaign phases as well as the
resulting sales results at each phase.
The contest will be judged on 4 criteria:
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Did they execute the first 4 phases of a sales campaign?
Did they creatively enhance the materials included on the Business Manager CD and Yearbook Avenue? (If you don’t have one of these, call me.)
Did they set and work within a budget?
Did they increase yearbook sales over the previous year?
All Jostens high schools will receive a copy of the contest book in September. That would be you. Watch your mailboxes.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 8, 2006— Still need a theme? Help from a very cool website
If you are still looking for a theme, here is help for you. Especially if you have an idea but just can’t come up with the right words.
Surf on over to http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/
Then type in a few words you are considering and see what comes back.
For instance, I typed in TIME and got back about 100 possible theme statements. And that doesn’t mean I think you should do a theme based on time.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 11, 2006—Great advice for schools selling ads, part 1.
We know that many of you still sell business advertising. And we realize that some of you only sell to parents and students. Well we would like to
introduce a series of ten quick tips for those schools selling business advertising that will run through the month of September and hopefully make your
students job easier when they go to sell ads. Here is tip #1.
Make up your list of prospects. Include all the following in this order. Past advertisers, people you know (your parents, your friends’ parents, your parents’
friends, your employer and others), school vendors (businesses who do a lot of business with your school), alumni (people who own or manage businesses who graduated from your school) and other businesses who sell things that teenagers buy. If a business does not fit into one of these categories,
then forget them.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 12, 2006— Great advice for new advisers from experienced advisers part 1.
I asked some of my best experienced yearbook advisers for the one best piece of advice they would give to a new adviser and I got back some great
answers. Over the next week or so, I will send you some as tips of the day.
Here is the first great piece of advice from a long-time adviser. It concerns classroom management.
“Don’t smile until November! Not literally, but figuratively. Start off in control. If you have to be tough, be tough right away. Then become easier
on the staff as the year goes on. If you do this in reverse, you will lose control and the respect of your staff. They will always remember the adviser
from the beginning of the school year who let them get away with anything and resent the person you will have to become to regain control of a
bad situation.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 13, 2006—The beginning of a very cool series of photo tips.
So now, I think we have something for everyone. I have three series of tips going—advice for ad sales, advice for new advisers from old advisers and now
this new one that concerns photography. A wonderful Australian photographer named David Peterson has a series of tips he sends out. Over the next few
weeks I will send you the best of what he has sent me. Here’s tip #1.
Use Optical rather than Digital Zoom
Cameras are marketed with both an Optical Zoom and Digital Zoom capability. If you've used a film camera, you'll be used to optical zoom.
Optical zoom uses the lens of the camera (the optics) to bring the subject closer. Digital zoom uses clever software to digitally enlarge a portion of
the image - thus simulating optical zoom. So, which is better? Definitely Optical zoom. Here's why. Digital zoom is not really 'zoom' in the strictest definition of the term. Digital zoom just enlarges the image. Eg it takes a portion of the image and enlarges it back to full size. You lose quality
because of the enlargement process so photos that have been taken with digital zoom won't look as good as those without. You can perform the
same result using image editing software on your computer. In fact, it can be better to crop and enlarge using your image software in your computer
as you can decide exactly what part of the image to enlarge, and how much to enlarge by.
So when taking shots, use optical zoom only. If you need to zoom in further, use your editing software to select the best part of the image to
keep. Ensure your camera warns you when it's switching to digital zoom from optical zoom, or use your settings to disable digital zoom entirely.
Why is clarity important? The more clarity you have in your image, the larger the printed size can be without the image appearing fuzzy, or blocky. If
you want to keep clarity in your images, use the optical zoom whenever possible, and avoid the digital zoom. How do you use Optical Zoom? When
you zoom in using your camera, it will use Optical zoom first and then use Digital zoom. You can usually set your camera to notify you when it starts
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to use the Digital zoom, or tell it to not use digital zoom at all. Consult your manual for details. Next time : A little known secret, used all the time by
professionals, that result in a pleasing, nicely balanced photo.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 14, 2006— Great advice for schools selling ads, part 2
Here the second in our series of tips on Business Ad Sales.
It’s not recommended that you call in advance to set up appointments, (it’s too easy for people to say no on the phone), but you should try to send out a
general letter a week in advance. The letter should be from your adviser or the principal. It should tell the prospective advertiser that you are going to be
in his/her business some time in the next two weeks to discuss a business opportunity with them. Do not state in the letter that you want to sell them a
yearbook ad. Send the letter on school stationery and in a school envelope. Then make sure that you see everyone you sent a letter to.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 15, 2006— Great advice for new advisers from experienced advisers—part 2
Remember, the yearbook class is not the yearbook staff!
“Is your class a dumping ground for everyone the administration can’t find a place for? Then make sure that this does not get in the way
of your completing your deadlines or having fun with your staff. Students who have not earned the right to be on the yearbook staff shouldn’t be.
You may have to have them in your yearbook class, but they don’t have to be on the yearbook staff. The class studies yearbook. The staff works on
the book. Put your discipline problems in the class, have them study and test them on the Jostens Guide Book. Use them as gophers but keep them
busy with real school work. Keep grades on these students. Let the others work on the book. Within a few weeks one of two things will happen—
they’ll ask to be transferred out or they’ll beg to be on the staff. Let them on (as probationary staff members) once they have proved they can handle
the responsibility. Otherwise, back to the yearbook class.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 18, 2006—Create every page this week!
Yes! We want to recommend that you create every page in your yearbook this week (or at least by the first of October). This works equally well whether
you are using InDesign, YTO or one of the few schools still using PageMaker. Here is our step by step suggestion:
Finalize your ladder. It should be done already. Even if you are a fall delivery yearbook. This also means that you have decided what pages will go on in on
which deadline.
Create your basic templates with folio tabs, type styles and basic design elements in place. One for each section.
InDesign/PageMaker users open and save into the correct deadline folder, a copy of that template for every DPS in the yearbook. (If using YTO, make sure
that the correct template is on each page).
Then make sure that your staff always just opens the correct page when they go to work on that page. So if Johnny wants to work on page 48-49 he will
find the basic page, ready to go, in the Deadline 4 folder. He can open it, make changes, add pictures and he’s done.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 19, 2006—Photo tips from Australia—part 2
Here is another of those great digital camera tips from down under. Enjoy.
Digital Cameras Image Stabilization—Do You Need It For Pin Sharp Photographs?
by Andy Needham
Image stabilization is one of the current digital camera buzz features. Its job is to compensate for any tiny hand movements that occur
when a picture is being taken. These movements can lead to pictures that are blurred. In theory, image stabilization can sharpen up your photos
helping you to achieve crisp prints to impress your family and friends with. So how important is it to make sure your digital camera has this feature
built into it?
How much you will benefit from buying a digital camera with image stabilization built in depends on two main factors. These are the
type of digital camera you buy and also the type of photos that you are planning to take.
Lets start by looking at the type of photos you will be taking most of the time with your digital camera.
If the main use is likely to be taking photos outside on a sunny day then image stabilization will be less important to you. This is
especially true if you plan to take photos where you do not need to zoom in. In these conditions and for this type of photo the camera only needs to
keep the shutter open for a split second. In this time there is not much chance of the camera moving unless you have shaky hands. Therefore image
stabilization does not have much work to do and you are unlikely to see much difference between a picture taken with image stabilization switched
on or switched off.
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If you zoom in on a subject this cuts down on the amount of light reaching the sensor inside the digital camera through the lens. To
compensate for this and to make sure the picture is not too dark the camera leaves the shutter open for longer. This gives greater opportunity for
camera shake. Therefore the importance of image stabilization starts to kick in.
Taking this a step further if you take a picture in lowlight the camera will keep the shutter open for an even longer period. At this
point it is difficult to avoid camera shake, especially if the lens is fully extended. This is where you are likely to gain the maximum benefit from image
stabilization.
Next let us consider the type of digital camera you are planning to buy. The importance of image stabilization is much more apparent if you
are looking to buy a super zoom digital camera. With a long lens offering 10x or 12x zoom the decrease in the amount of light hitting the sensor is
magnified. A secondary issue is super zoom digital cameras are much larger and heavier than smaller compacts. This makes it much more difficult to
hold them steady. Therefore image stabilization has a much more important role to play with this type of camera.
As you can see image stabilization has a kind of progressive influence. By thinking through the type of pictures you plan to take and the
type of camera you are planning to buy you should get an indication as to the level of benefit you will gain from it.
A potentially confusing aspect of this subject is that you may come across two different methods of image stabilization. The most
common method is optical image stabilization. This works through tiny gyroscopes within the lens. As any movements are detected the gyroscopes
move to keep the lens still. The second method is a technique that moves the image sensor to counteract any movement.
One thing that can trick image stabilization is if you use a tripod. Using a tripod is one way to avoid camera shake altogether, but when used
in combination with image stabilization it can actually cause blur in a photo and it is advisable to make sure you have turned image stabilization off
before you take a picture.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 20, 2006— Ad Sales Tips—part 3
Here’s the third in this series that promises to go on into October. This one is a good one.
Carry a letter of introduction from your adviser or principal on school letterhead. This identifies you as a bonafide ad sales person and shows that the
school endorses what you are selling. It also gives the customer something to look at while you are getting your act together.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 21, 2006— Part three of our advice for new advisers
Here is another in our series of advice for new advisers from more experienced advisers. We would love to hear from any of you who have some great
advice for all the rookies out there. This is some of the best financial advice we can give you. This adviser is right on!
“Make sure you can pay for what you buy.
More schools get painfully in debt when they decide at the beginning of the year that they want an expensive cover, additional color
pages, a really spiffy endsheet and more. The problem is that those yearbook staffs have not yet sold their books or their advertising and they
have no idea how much money they will bring in. After the end of the year, where it turned out that book sales decreased and ad sales were horrid,
the adviser finds that money is not there to cover the extras that were ordered in October. And you fall into debt. Sell your ads and your books early
in the year. Then you’ll know exactly what you can afford and only buy that!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 22, 2006— Another great photo tip from down under.
Here’s the third in our series of great photo tips we received from David Peterson. Funny that it is the third we are sending you since it is about the “rule of
thirds.”
Place your subject off-center
Rather than placing your main subject in the middle of the screen, place it to one side and ensure something interesting is in the
background that fills the remainder of the image.
This can be especially effective if the background has the same theme. For example, if photographing a child opening a Christmas present,
frame them to one side and have the Christmas Tree with unopened presents filling the rest of the image.
There are a few guidelines that cam help you place your subject in the frame.
The Rule of Thirds
One of the most popular rules in photography is the "Rule of Thirds". It is a simple rule that can add dynamism to your photos. Simply, divide
the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. When composing your shot, place important elements either along these lines, or where the
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lines intersect - NOT at the centre of the frame.
For example, place a subject's eyes where the top line is, or place your subject on the place in the image where two of these lines
intersect.
It's a very simple rule to follow and will result in a nicely balanced, easy on the eye picture. It also helps get rid of the 'tiny subject and
large amount of space' tendency because you need to position items relative to the edges of the frame.
Having said this, the Rule of Thirds is also one of the rules you'll want to break often! This is fine - the Rule of Thirds is more of a guideline
and sometimes you will find a better image when you break the rule.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 25, 2006—More advice for those selling business ads—part ?
To be honest I’m not sure how many of these tips on selling ads I have sent you but here are a few more.
Plan a time to go sell and then do it. Remember that the hardest part of selling anything is just doing it. You will find that you can’t sell any advertisements until you get out of the car. So have a positive attitude. Think you can sell and you will sell.
Be prepared. When you go to sell the ad, have an ad contract (already filled out with name and address) and a pen and paper to take notes.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 26, 2006—We finish up the Ad sales tips
Some of you have asked to hurry up and give you all of these because your kids could use them. So here are the balance of the Business Ad Sales tips.
These tips concern the actual sales call.
Know in advance who you need to talk to. Call and ask the name of the person who purchases advertising and what their normal office hours are. But,
remember, under no circumstances should you attempt to sell them an ad on the phone.
Once you have contacted the right person (who can buy an ad) ask if there is a place you can speak privately or sit down (a booth at McDonalds or a small
office will do nicely). No one ever bought anything expensive standing up.
Dress nicely. Don’t overdo it so you look out of place, but also don’t wear your grungiest jeans and dirtiest tee shirt. Show some spirit and wear a school
shirt or sweat shirt or even better, wear a yearbook staff shirt.
Explain your product well. What are benefits of their buying an ad in the yearbook? What extras will they receive? (Do they get a window sign, a free
yearbook, etc?) Let them know that their ad will last forever, that teenagers spend a lot of money, and that being in the yearbook is good for their image
in the community.
Ask for the sale. So many times, sales people are great at telling but not at selling. When all is said and done, ask for the sale. The worst way to ask is, “You
wouldn’t want to buy one, would you?” The best way to ask is, “Now that you’ve seen what great things our ad program can do for you, what size would
you like to reserve?”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 27, 2006— More advice for new advisers from the pros.
Today, two tips on motivation.
Let the kids own the yearbook.
Give your staff ownership. Let the editor be the editor, not you. Let the staffers do their jobs. Give them a section that they can call their own. Let them
make decisions about it. Ownership is the most important part of effective management.
Have fun!
If it isn’t fun, why do it? Have parties after deadlines, buy donuts for the staff, act crazy once in a while, have secret pals, celebrate everything. Get the
work done first, then have fun. And make the work fun by creating a good environment to work in. And try to be in a consistent mood most of the time.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 28, 2006—Another great photo tip from down under
Here is another in our series of great tips from the Australian photographer David Peterson.
Take More, And Erase Your Shots
The ability to erase your photos is one of the major advantages of a digital camera. You'd be mad not to use this to the fullest extent!
Take MANY more shots than you think you need, and then erase those that aren't right. Every half an hour, go back through your most
recent photos erase any that don't make the grade, or you have better versions of. Because you'll be erasing often you can just keep the 'best of the
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best'. Erasing often also ensures you don't need a large memory card, as it will not be storing your not-so-perfect images.
If you're always pressed for time, you can either invest in a larger memory card, or copy your images to another storage device like
a laptop or card storage unit until a later point. This is also a huge tip when photographing groups. With such a large number of people, there
always seems to be someone blinking, or looking the other way. Having a large number of shots means you can pick the best of them to keep.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for September 29, 2006— The last of new adviser advice and a photo tip all in one.
I really love this idea. What a great photo tip.
“Buy some disposable cameras!
Get a bunch. Having two or three really fancy cameras with all the googaas is great if you have lots of photographers who can use them. But most
yearbook staffs don’t have that luxury. Buy point-and-shoot or disposable cameras and teach everyone on the staff to use them. That way, nothing
gets missed.
Another great thing about having disposable cameras around is that you can hand one to the ski team captain or chess club president when they go on away games or field trips.
You will still need to have a few great photographers with fancy cameras for your specialty sports photos, groups, etc.”
Yearbook Tips of the Day for October 2006
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 2, 2006—Using YearTech for InDesign, here’s a handy tip.
I was talking with an adviser yesterday and somehow we got on the subject of how to sort through all the photos on a CD. I learned that he didn’t know
about the Thumbprints button on the toolbar and figured if he didn’t know, then other advisers didn’t know about it as well.
See the attached PDF on how to use Thumbprints – I apologize that it doesn’t look that hot, but I put it together quickly as I wanted to get the word out.
All you do is click on the Thumbprints button, browse to the folder where your images are stored (on a CD, your server, your hard drive, or your jumpdrive)
and then click okay. Thumbprints will automatically create a contact sheet of all the images in that folder. You can print it and use it to choose the photos
you want to use on your page.
It is, unfortunately, a much underused plug-in, but maybe this handout will help you to see how easy it is to use and how much time you can save!!
Students can print the thumbprints, take the printout home, and choose their photos at home. When they come back to school the next day, they’ll
already have their photos selected and ready to place on their spread.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 3, 2006— Help selling parent advertisements.
I know that many of you are starting to work on selling ads to parents and/or businesses. I’m attaching an 11 page file that has 11 different letters – they
cover a range of topics, including business ad sales, parent ad sales, book sales, etc.
I got these from your Yearbook Avenue website (even if you create your book with InDesign or PageMaker, you still have access to these tools on the
website). If you would like more help or ideas, go to the Sell menu, to both promote and setup offers. You will see many useful pieces that you can
customize and distribute, including order forms to sell your books and to sell ads.
If you would like more help with your ads, just let me know what you’re looking for specifically and I can probably send it along.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 4, 2006— Looking at your October YourBook newsletter
By the time you read this you should have received your October newsletter. I just wanted to make sure you took a quick minute to take a look at it and I’d
like to point out some key parts.
First, make sure that when you are done looking at it, you post the centerfold poster in your classroom. It speaks right to the heart of the where yearbook
is going today. More pictures, more students, more faces, more of everything but in a good solid journalistic way. Check out a layout with more than 53
people pictured on it. And it still looks great.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 5, 2006— Looking at your October YourBook newsletter—part 2
Yesterday we talked about the centerfold poster in the October YourBook. Today let’s look at the rest of the issue. If you are a new adviser, please make
sure and check out the “What you should be doing now” column on page 2. Long-time advisers may want to look there for a quick refresher.
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Also on page two you will find some great tips about getting into the heads of your student body when it comes to selling yearbooks. And on page three,
three great ways to sell yearbooks that you may not know about yet. And the new ItPays on page six is a lot easier to use than ever before. Check those out
too.
Lastly, for you techy folks, see how to fix a color photo that has been taken under gymnasium lights and looks very yellow, read the guidelines for YTO
photos and check out how to use scripts in InDesign. There is something for everyone who loves their computers.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 6, 2006—Getting great candid shots of people
I am not sure which part of the Australian photo tips this is but these are great and I am getting great feedback on them. Hope you enjoy this one.
"Have you ever wondered what the secret was to getting a really great shot of someone is? I can tell you straight away, it's emotion. The
energy that someone portrays on their face can either 'make' that photo or 'break' that photo, so to speak.
A really great portrait is one whereby the person is relaxed. Not only relaxed, but to make sure they are talking, doing something fun, or feeling good at the tine. You can spend hours and hours on a portrait shot, or trying to take good shots of people and have no luck, and some days you
might just be lucky and take a good one straight away.
A good way to take relaxed and comfortable shots of people is to first get them familiar with the camera. If people aren't sure of you,
then get them used to it as quick as you can by taking a lot of shots around them first. They'll soon see that you are not as threatening as first
appeared. Teenagers are the worst at being self conscious of the camera. Very frustrating for us, but if you work with it, and not against it, you can
soon have some really great shots of them. If you can master teenagers, then you can master anything in photography. I am convinced!
If you are taking pictures at a social occasion and people don't know you, one technique I've found works is this:
Go up to them and introduce yourself:
"Hi my names Amy. Tim and Fiona have asked me to be their official photographer tonight for their engagement. I'd really love to give them some
great, natural shots of their friends and family, so if it's okay with you, I'll take some natural ones of you guys talking in this group, then show you
what the picture looks like. Then I won't need to come back again."
It works a charm.
You are asking for their permission, which is always a respectful thing to do and makes them feel more relaxed about you being
there. And secondly the tough people who annoyingly turn their head when you come their way often smile towards the camera and then go about
their talking. It works a treat!
So always remember work with people when taking shots or people, relax them and get them comfortable with you, before taking
any pictures. "
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 9, 2006— A request for help from a new adviser.
Late last week I got this e-mail from a new adviser that had worked with another yearbook company last year and is now working with Jostens:
"After paying our bill, we ended up over 11,000 dollars in debt. Ouch. So, I would really, really, really, really like to have a meeting with you
next week to talk to you about tips to reduce that debt. I would love to hear some ideas you might have from any other struggling schools and from
those schools that thrive. I want the tradition of debt at HP to go away, so I am willing to work at it. I just need help. If you could spare some time, I
would appreciate that. "
So, how about it? Has anyone been in this position? How did you get out of it? How did you make sure that you didn’t get in it again. Also, if you are
thriving, what’s your ONE best secret to raising money or saving money?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 10, 2006—Special for InDesign Users.
Last summer I put together a whole set of very cool tips I collected from a lot of different sources about InDesign. We thought those of you who didn’t
attend that workshop could use them. See the attached PDF.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 11, 2006— Dealing with legal issues
If you haven’t checked out our legal guide that you will find in your Yearbook Kit (in the Plan It box) you should and then check out this website which an
adviser just wrote me about. Here is what they said.
“This is a GREAT website for teachers like me who teach an introductory course. I have been using it to teach the legal and ethical issues of
publication. It even has worksheets to go with it! Pass it on. http://www.landmarkcases.org/hazelwood/background3.html .”
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 12, 2006— Spell check advice in InDesign
A friend sent me this today as a tip suggestion.
“This is proof that you learn something new every day. In InDesign, go to the Edit menu, then Spelling, and then select Dynamic Spelling.
With this option selected any word you misspell in your InDesign document will be underlined, just like it does in Word. If you turn this on, there is
virtually no reason to have misspelled words on your yearbook pages!!!”
Here is something else that even she may not know. If a word shows up as being misspelled, you can write click (Control click on a single button Mac
mouse) and the correct spelling suggestions will pop into view. Then choose the one you want and it will be inserted for you.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 13, 2006— Batteries for your digital camera
Batteries. How many do you have in your top drawer? Yep, I know they're hard to throw away! But, now is the time to invest in a new set, especially if the
set you're using is from last year!
Which are best? How long do you keep them? Isn't it time to get some real answers?
The editors at Consumer Reports say the differences between battery types far outweigh performance differences between individual models within
types. By far, they say, the rechargeable NiMH batteries are best for high-drain digital cameras. Even though the initial cost seems higher, NiMH batteries
can last as long as 500 regular alkaline batteries!
Battery preferences, in decreasing order of preference:
nickel-metal hydride <http://dpfwiw.com/batteries.htm#nimh#nimh> (NiMH, rechargeable)
lithium <http://dpfwiw.com/batteries.htm#lithium2#lithium2> (non-rechargeable)
nickel-cadmium <http://dpfwiw.com/batteries.htm#nicd#nicd> (NiCd, rechargeable)
alkaline <http://dpfwiw.com/batteries.htm#alkaline#alkaline> (non-rechargeable)
What brand? Where do you go to find them?
Check with the experts for the latest test >http://www.steves-digicams.com/nimhbatteries.html
My suggestion would be to get four of each of the top two rated batteries, keep the brands together as you use them, and to alternate between the sets
for equal usage. ALWAYS keep an extra set in your camera bag!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 16, 2006—What’s the most important thing that should be done by now
A new adviser called me today about a couple of things. When we finished talking and were about to hang up, she asked me this, “I have an hour
tomorrow to make absolutely sure that something gets completed. What is the most important thing I can be doing right now?”
That was an easy one for me. I told her that she needs to make absolutely sure that the ladder for the yearbook is done. Of course many of you know that
it should have been done six weeks ago (or even last spring) but if yours isn’t, stop now and finalize it!
Now, tell me what else you would have this adviser doing if she had told me, “My ladder is already done.” What is number two-ten of the things a new
adviser needs to make sure are happening now?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 17, 2006— Deadlines are coming. How is your attitude?
Many times each year I am asked, what is the the best way to meet all our deadlines. And the answer is easy. Have the right attitude. Yearbook advisers
and staffs who have the attitude that they cannot miss a deadline.
One of the scariest things that I hear every fall is when new advisers ask me, “What happens when we miss a deadline?” Please note the “when” not if.
They are already planning on missing one. The schools that don’t understand the meaning of the word deadline. If you miss that line, you’re dead.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 18, 2006— Jostens tech support
One of the best things we love about Jostens is tech support. I mean think about it. Have you ever tried to get tech support from Adobe or Microsoft? They
are great companies but once you have owned their software for 90 days their tech support is chargeable. Really chargeable. Jostens will give you tech
support on YearTech, both for InDesign and Online for free.
And I know people who have waited on Adobe’s tech support line for more than an hour. I hope you are like me and find that when you call Jostens tech
support line you hardly ever have to wait longer than 5 minutes.
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So, just a random thought today—I love Jostens tech support. I hope you do too.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 19, 2006— Stop calling tech support.
Yesterday we told you how great we think Jostens tech support is. Today we want to tell you that you should stop calling them. Yup, stop calling them!
E-mail them instead.
Here’s our three reasons why e-mailing them is better:
You never have to wait on hold. Send the e-mail and they always get back to you in 24 hours.
No telephone tag. You are tough to get back on the phone if they have to call you back. You know what I mean. Once yearbook is over you go on to teach
your other classes. Many times when tech support calls you back you are teaching and cannot be interrupted. But if they send you a reply e-mail you get it
when you are available and can respond in your own time.
When it comes to students calling tech support it is my experience that many times, kids will just give up on a tech problem and call. When they have to
write it out in the form of an e-mail, just typing it and explaining the problem often pops the solution into their minds.
So stop calling them and start e-mailing. Their e-mail address is [email protected] .
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 20, 2006—Including faculty jobs
I was in a school earlier this week and watched a young lady work on her DPS of faculty mug shots. She was listing them and their names next to their
pictures and I suggested something to her and wanted to pass it on to you. Think about finding room for what that teacher teaches, coaches and advises.
Looking back in my high school yearbook the staff chose to only list the faculty alphabetically with their names. Now I remember many of them, but for
the life of me, I can’t remember exactly what class I had them for.
Since your yearbook is a historical document that is there to remind of you of all the stuff you will forget when you get old, isn’t who your favorite teacher
was and what they taught something you will want to remember? Find a way to get in the book that Mr. Johnson taught Algebra, coached Volleyball and
advised the FBLA.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 22, 2006—Covering non-school sports
Are you covering non-school sports in your yearbook? You should be. Many individuals in your school are very good at sports. They just don’t play team
sports. They play individual sports. And just because they do, they often do so in anonymity. So make them famous. Just think about devoting a single DPS
to individual sports. Lots of pictures and great captions.
Here’s a llst of possible sports you may be missing:
Skiing/Snowboarding
Horseback riding/rodeo
Motocross
Mountain biking
Surfing/Windsurfing
Water skiing
Sailing
Swimming/Diving (if it isn’t a team sport at your school)
Crew/rowing
Mountain climbing/rock climbing/hiking
Bicycling
Auto racing
Fitness/aerobics/weight lifting/body building
Hang gliding
Ballroom dancing
And that’s just what we could think of in a our brain. Imagine what you will come up when you brainstorm with your entire staff.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 23, 2006— Keeping teachers happy
During the school year you probably have many occasions when you need the help of most of your faculty. For instance when it’s deadline time you may
need to pull some of your staffers out of other classes. Or when you want them to be pro-yearbook during your yearbook sale. Well it never hurts to keep
those teachers happy before you need to ask them for something.
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Take a few minutes one day and brainstorm with your staff what you as a group could do to improve the life of your teachers. Heaven knows, they deserve
it.
Here are three things you could do off the top of my head:
Wash all the windshields in the faculty parking lot and leave a small strip of paper saying, “Have a beautiful ride home—The Yearbook Staff.
Send them all photo holiday cards with the yearbook staff group shot on it.
Ask the principal if you can provide coffee and cookies for the next faculty meeting and then be there to serve it to them. Let them know you are the
yearbook staff.
We promise, this kind of PR pays off big time when you need a favor from them.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 24, 2006—Holidays are coming, be ready
Only about a week to go until we get to the first big holiday of the school year, Halloween. Thanksgiving and all the other winter holidays will follow soon
after. Plan now how you will cover them.
For instance, if your school (like many we know) bans all holiday celebrations, consider covering Halloween in other ways. It is still a big day that many of
your students will want to remember. Get pictures of students working at their after school jobs in costume or someone taking their little brother or sister
trick or treating.
But if your school still celebrates, then make sure you take lots of pictures of costume contests and any other Halloween festivities that occur and leave
room for them in your Student Life section or use them as a feature in your People section.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 25, 2006— More about holidays.
Besides doing your best job of covering holidays, consider having some fun and helping out a good cause by doing something as a group for upcoming
holidays. Plan now to sponsor a yearbook staff canned food drive, adopt a charity for the holidays or do whatever you can.
And don’t forget to have fun during this wonderful season while you are giving and covering it. How about secret Santas/pals or a party at school (if
allowed) or after school (if not allowed).
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 26, 2006— One last holiday reminder
One last holiday reminder is...be smart about your deadlines. If you have a deadline early in January or during your winter break, try as hard as you can to
finish it and mail it prior to your last day of school before you leave for that winter break.
You deserve to have the entire break to be with your family and friends and just relax, not be at school working on your yearbook deadline. And if you
start planning now to mail that deadline on the last day of school, we promise, you will thank yourself for it. And you’ll thank us for telling you to plan for
it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 27, 2006— Catch them doing something right
Are you catching your staff doing something right? So often we are looking for things people do wrong. We do that because that’s what gets them and
ultimately us, into trouble. (Missed deadlines, late proofs, etc.)
Well we want to give you a quick reminder that you need to spend just as much time catching them doing something right as well. Take few minutes each
day in your yearbook class to notice what is going on that is good and tell that person what kind of good job they are doing. No other reward is needed
for this one. Just tap a staffer who is working hard and getting their work done right on the shoulder and say, “Just wanted you to know that I caught
you—caught you doing a great job. Thank you so much for that and keep up the GREAT work.”
The best managers know that the number one motivator of people is feedback on results. Give them some positive feedback.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 30, 2006— Hang up your best layouts
I met a parent of a yearbook staffer the other day who owns an advertising agency. We got to talking about how they design ad layouts. He told me a
great tip that I wanted to pass on to you that you can use to improve all your design.
When they create what they believe to be a great layout, they post it on the wall of their break room. Next to it is a pad of Post-it notes. When other
people of the staff look at it, they might see a different angle that the original designer didn’t. They then grab a Post-it and start what they are going to
write with, “You might think about...” Constructive ideas are allowed, no others are tolerated. He told me that it is amazing the improvements that others,
and often the original designer, make over the three or four days it is hanging there.
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So think about creating some space on your bulletin board for a feedback on design section. And remind them, no negativity. Only constructive
improvements.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for October 31, 2006— Happy Halloween.
Happy Halloween! Don’t forget that even though your school may not allow on-campus festivities, there are lots of ways to cover this colorful holiday.
Check your tip of the day for October 24th for some of them and don’t forget—don’t eat too much candy. (Oh, go ahead—it’s only one day year.)
Yearbook Tips of the Day for November 2006
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 1, 2006— Your November YourBook newsletter, part 1.
By the time you read this, your November YourBook newsletter should be in your hands. As we always do right after we send it out we want to drop you
this note to highlight what we feel are the most important parts.
First, make sure to post the centerfold poster for your entire staff to read. It is on the 10 best ways they can improve their yearbook photography. Lots of
great photo ideas. A great addition to your classroom if we do say so ourselves. We hope that by now you have three great posters hanging on your walls
from the Back to School, October and now November issue. If you don’t, go dig them out and post them today. We think they are great teaching tools.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 2, 2006— Your November YourBook newsletter, part 2.
Just a couple of more things in the November YourBook that we want to make sure you know. Of course it is all important and cool stuff or we wouldn’t
send it to you but new advisers, please pay special attention to the “What you should be doing now” column on page two.
And everyone, make sure and check out the feature on features. About now your staff may be running out of topics to write about. In the newsletter you
will find a complete list of hundreds of features from around the USA plus almost two full pages of great QuickReads to adapt for your yearbook. ENJOY!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 3, 2006— Digital camera memory cards
Here are three quick tips about digital camera memory cards that we saw on the web. We wanted to share them with you fine folks.
If you transfer lots of images to your computer, purchase a card reader. These will allow you to transfer the images to your computer at a much faster rate
than using your camera's connection. Be sure to transfer the images to the same folder name each and every time to avoid problems later; each folder
should have sub-folders with the name of each transfer.
Contrary to popular opinion, airport x-ray machines will not damage your camera's memory cards. If you're really worried, remove them from your bag
and ask the screeners to inspect manually.
Turn off your camera when inserting or removing memory cards. Taking the memory card out while the camera is writing to the card could wreck both
your card and camera.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 6, 2006— Take a photo course
New to the world of digital photo images? Do your kids know more than you about PhotoShop Elements/PhotoShop, etc? Then, read on.
If you’re looking for some easy very tutorials for improving your skills, professional photographer David Peterson has the answer! Peterson is the Australian
mentioned earlier in the year for his many tips on photo composition. Copyright laws prohibit my using parts of his site as daily tips, so, my suggestion is
to consider enrolling for his FREE photo-manipulation course >
http://www.imageeditingsecrets.com
This is a new series and, to date, only five “secrets” have been revealed. But, each is worthy of the time spent listening to the lesson.
The tutorials reference four standard photo software programs – one of which, Picasa, is available as an absolutely free download ( www.picasa.com
<http://www.picasa.com/> )! Picasa is very simple to use – but, the company instructions are terrible.
This is one of those tips you might want to access from your home computer so you can avoid all your school firewalls, etc. Each lesson is short and concise,
taking no more than ten minutes of your time.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 7, 2006—Faculty section ideas
I've seen a few schools working on their staff portrait pages. I'm impressed with the ideas kids are coming up with. I thought I would share a few that you
might enjoy using with your teacher/staff/faculty pages.
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Collect teachers photos from when they were students in school. If you are in a middle school, try and get their 8th grade photo. If you are in high school,
try and get their senior photo. You can either put it next to their portrait, or you can do a side story, and can create a guessing game. Showcase all of the
photos, and then have a key at the bottom that explains what photo belongs to what teacher.
Or, rather than collecting portrait photos, have the teachers submit a candid photo that really reflects their personality at that age.
Ask teachers what they were like when they were in school. These questions should bring out some interesting and entertaining stories. Once you start
brainstorming question ideas, it is easy to come up with quite the list. Let this be a starter for the kids, and have them add some of their own.
Who was their celebrity crush and why?
What profession did they want to get into?
What were they known for in school? Class clown? Most studious?
If they could go through school again, what would they do differently?
How did they spend their time for the year immediately following high school?
What did they do to try and get on the teacher's good side?
What was their most creative excuse they used for turning in work late?
What was their most embarrassing moment during adolescence?
Have them reminisce on their first date or first dance.
What was their favorite subject and why?
What was their first job like (during high school)?
How did they spend their allowance or paycheck?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 8, 2006— Good advice for what you should be doing now.
A while back I sent this tip out. "Now, tell me what else you would have this adviser doing if she had told me, "My ladder is already done." What is number
two-ten of the things a new adviser needs to make sure are happening now?" I got this great response from one of you wonderful people.
My reply to this question would be to make sure you have adequate photo coverage of all fall sports and activities. Even in you are blessed with returning
students, there seems to be a learning curve each fall for coverage of functions, taking good photos and editing them for use. Photos are the foundational
capital in which a yearbook is built from the ground up. A great ladder and template layouts are only as good as the quality and quantity of photos to
support them in the final editing process. Missing out on a sport or activity leaves the final edition of your book lacking, much like leaving home without
a shoe or your jacket in cold weather.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 9, 2006— A special note for YTO schools using the the community website
Schools using YTO and want to take advantage of the Community Upload Site. Salisbury High School has made business card size printouts of the
schools name, web address, login id and password. All yearbook staff members carry them. Whenever they are at an event where they see parents
taking pictures, they had them this card and tell them "We would appreciate any good pictures for use in the school's yearbook." The response has been
tremendous.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 10, 2006— A great way to do surveys!
Surveys can be a super part of a yearbook. Students love reading about the things that they and their friends liked when they were in school. But taking
surveys can be a pain. So here is a super solution.
One of my schools has been using www.freeonlinesurvey.com to help them collect and tally survey data. They input their own surveys, publish the
website and the students log on to complete them. This has been a real time saver and does not interrupt the school day collecting data.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 13, 2006— A cute and fun survey.
The kids at one of my high schools have come up with a clever idea that I would like to share. On their sophomore portrait pages, they interviewed
tenth graders and asked them a few questions, including how to spell sophomore. They got some funny responses, and I think only one of the students
got it correct. It is a tricky word to spell. On top of the mug shots, they’ve placed these different interviews, along with a photo of the student being
interviewed.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 14, 2006— Starting to create your index. Now is the time.
Many of you have now completed or are close to completing your first deadline. If you are going to have an index, now is the time to start working on it.
Our suggestion is to have one person be in charge of your index. Once you have picked that person the next step can be one of two things depending on
how you produce your yearbook. If you use InDesign you should wait to start indexing until your first set of proofs comes back. It is always smarter to wait
so you don’t have to reindex if you remove or add photos or change misspelled names in captions.
For all of you using YTO, you can start as soon as you submit your first deadline. For all shots (except groups and teams), go to your Image Library and
type in the name information for the students in the photos in your yearbook. You will want to make sure you use a consistent spelling format for student
names. Print out a list from the office and use these spellings for consistency in your image library and accuracy on your pages. Remember that if you add
a name to a photo and you crop them off on the page, their name will still be indexed and they may wonder where they went.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 15, 2006— An easier way to index groups in YTO.
For your groups and team shots, type the names onto your layout first into the caption or the group ident. Then select all of the names (Control A (PC) or
Command A (Mac) will select all), then copy (Control or Command C) all of the names. Go into your image library, find the team photo, click on the pencil
icon by the name information and paste it into this area. Edit for consistent name spellings and take out items such as front row, middle row. This will
save you a ton of time as you won’t have to type the names twice.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 16, 2006— When taking pictures, shoot some signs
We saw this tip in a very cool new book called “The Digital Photography Book” by Scott Kelby. Scott is the president of NAPP (National Association of
Photoshop Professionals) and his book is great. I wish I could get him to write one just for yearbooks. But he mentions this tip in conjunction with taking
pictures of buildings. He says when you take a picture of a church or a museum you should take a close-up of a sign that identifies it.
Well that works great for architectural stuff but what about yearbook. How often have your photographers come back with pictures of stuff and you have
no clue what it is? And you tell them they should take notes and bring back those notes and turn them in so you know what and who are in the pictures
they took at a given time. Seriously, how many photographers will take notes? And how many of those notes can be found when it is time to write
captions, etc.?
So have them take a sheet of paper just before they shoot, write the date and the time and the event on it and take a picture of it. Now I never would
have recommended this when we were still shooting film as it would have been a wasteful expense but with digital, think how great it will be if your first
photo of every shoot has all the info you need on it and you don’t have to go and try to find someone’s notes.
Oh, and here is one other tip—buy Scott’s book.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 17, 2006— Things to do NOW
About two weeks ago I asked you fine folks for suggestions of what new advisers should be doing now. Here are some of the responses I got. Put these
together with the monthly list in your YourBook newsletter and you should be totally covered.
Create spread templates.
Figure out how and when she plans to do group (club/organziation) photos. (we do all of ours in one day - that way no one gets left out and I have them
write their names for the caption before they leave)
Take lots of pictures of everything happening - don't forget classroom pics for the academic section.
Write sports stories - or at least get lots of quotes - if you wait until the season is over the players and coaches won't remember as much if you wait until
the season is over - or long past.
If you have not taken portrait pictures yet - do that and set up your people pages so that when you get the pictures back from Josten's, you can get the
pages done quickly.
Make sure school pictures and school picture re-takes are done. This allows for at least a couple of easy sigs. that can be completed.
If senior superlatives are going into the yearbook, make sure you have finalized the senior superlatives list or are in the processing of voting (if students
vote), and set up something for pictures of the winning students.
Make sure you have already sent out packets for PDAs. Sending them out early and allowing your students ample time to get their pictures and money
together will help increase PDA sales. (Remember students and parents have a lot in common when it comes to waiting to the last minute, so set your
deadline for senior PDA ads early. Allow plenty of time for you and your staff to create these and have them ready for any deadline that you need extra
pages.)
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Finalize your business ad sales! There are so many things that you have to wait for when creating the yearbook pages because of the school schedule,
don’t let business ads be one of those. Complete your sales and your creation of these pages. Ad pages can complete any deadline count or be pages
submitted early!
Thanks to all of you who contributed to this list. Have a great weekend!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 20, 2006— A photographic scavenger hunt
Recently I received a wonderful idea in my e-mail from one of you wonderful folks. It is both a great way to teach photography and a wonderful game
for having fun. Why not have a photo scavenger hunt? Attached you will find the one that was sent to me. It is a Word document. All you have to do is to
change the generic where we put Your High School to your high school and you are all set. Enjoy!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 21, 2006— Looking for great YearTech Online designers. Are you one?
Brian Schlitt, advisor at Van-Far High School in Vandalia, Missouri is a graphic artist.  He took some time and got creative with text and headlines in
YTO.  Attached are a few of his great creations.  Check out the EXPERIMENT, which is my favorite.  These were all created within YTO!  It is amazing how
creative you can get using this awesome program.
Now we challenge to you do the same or show us the work your kids have done creating cool and unusual stuff on YearTech Online. Just let us know where
to find yours and we'll go look. We might even send some of it out like we did with Brian's. 
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 22, 2006— We give thanks for you fine folks
You would just about have to live on another planet to not know that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Oh boy! Turkey, stuffing, cranberries, football, etc. But
sometimes in all the festivities we forget why this holiday exists. Well I don't want the day to go by without my letting you know how thankful that
Jostens and I are for your business, your loyalty and your friendship. All those things are important to us. But even more is the chance you give me to
earn a living in a great industry—memories. I know that being a yearbook adviser can seem like a crazy job but believe me, being a yearbook rep is even
crazier. Who would believe you could make a living based on yearbooks. Well you can and it is one of the most rewarding things we can imagine doing.
Surely we are not as important as doctors, policemen or certainly teachers but that moment comes at the end of the year, when we see the look in the
eyes of a student who has just opened his or her yearbook for the first time and we know...we just have to say THANK YOU for letting us do what we do.
Now stop reading this, get out the classroom door and go eat turkey with your family. Have a restful and fun weekend.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 27, 2006—10 great photo tips from Kodak
I got this as a SPAM from Kodak last week and it ended up being excellent. Check it out. It is short and sweet but I would certainly take five or ten minutes
at the beginning of class to toss it up on the old projector and discuss it with your entire yearbook staff. You will find it at. 
<http://smile.kodakgallery.com/u.d?HGJ0KcbJc0lkeNLT=9981>    
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 28, 2006— Another great Community Photo Website idea
About two weeks ago we ran a note about a school who had run off business cards to pass out to those folks that the yearbook adviser or staff saw taking
pictures at school events. Well some other very smart adviser chimed in with this great piece. We are sure you have seen those sheets on community
bulletin boards that have an advertisement for something with tear-off strips at the bottom. Well attached you will find an example (in Word) that you
can use to create your own courtesy of that adviser. Just change their names and you are good to go.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 29, 2006— A huge photographic organization warning
About two weeks ago we sent you a tip about organizing photos and getting them off your digital camera's media cards. We said to have your kids sort
them into the digital folders that came with YearTech. But one adviser reminded us of one very important thing to remember. 
"Tell the students to copy to the folder—do not create shortcut. Have the students show you how they transfer the pictures to a folder.  We lost quite a
few pictures because the students told me they knew how to complete this process, and I took them at their word. Big mistake!"
Good idea! Pay heed!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for November 30, 2006— A quick note about captions
This came up in a school just yesterday. I was listening in on a conversation between three yearbook staffers who were trying to decide which picture on
the page they were working on needed a caption and which could do without. Of course all good yearbookers know the answer to that one; every picture
needs a caption. If you don't believe me, try looking at your own high school yearbook (as long as you have been out of high school for at least 10 years)
and if there are pictures without captions, try naming the people in those pictures. Pretty sad isn't it. And the older you get the worse it gets. 
Your yearbook is your school's history. If you don't tell me who is in it, how will I ever remember. So you remember—Every Picture Needs A Caption!
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Yearbook Tips of the Day for December 2006
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 1, 2006— Welcome to December
We are thrilled to welcome you to the many different months that are December. And if this is your first December in yearbook we invite you to join in our
yearly litany of requests that you send in pages. You see in about two or three weeks you are going to start a "winter break" or whatever they call it at your
school. When that happens, your school will close. The doors may be locked and hopefully you will be home relaxing. Our hope is that you will not be in
your school working. Our other hope is that there won't be any finished pages in your school sitting around gathering dust while you take that muchdeserved break.
You see while you are on that break, our plant is still working. They work everyday of your break except for Christmas, New Year's and their respective
eves. So we implore you to plan now—if you have pages that look like they might get almost done before your break, push a little extra hard to get them
done and in the mail before you walk out the door for that wonderful winter break. Plan today!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 4, 2006— A great book sales idea
How about this for a really great book sales idea? When it gets to be report card time, does your school have a section on the report card mailing for
comments? This school does. Here is a quick note I got from one of my fellow reps who I was e-mailing back and forth with today.
“One school told me today that on the interim/midterm reports, there is a spot for a computer generated message, so they put a
message on there to buy the yearbook and a link to Jostens.”
I think this is a great idea. If you can, give it a try at your school.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 5, 2006— Keeping track of ad sales of all kinds
About two weeks ago I was at a school as they were making a chart of all their ad sales. Instead of putting all their notes down on paper, I suggested the
business manager log onto Yearbook Avenue. Under the Sell It menu we set up the pricing for their ads by creating an ad offer. Once we had the offer set
up, we began entering all the ad sales information online. By using Yearbook Avenue, they can easily keep track of who has paid, how much money they
have raised, how many ad pages they will need, etc.
Using the Sell It menu tools, you can easily keep track of all your ad sales, print reports, and save a ton of time! Give it a try.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 6, 2006— Let’s look at your December YourBook newsletter
Somewhere in your mail either today, yesterday or tomorrow you should find the December copy of our YourBook newsletter. We just want to point out
some things we hope you will take special interest in.
Of course you will find all the usual great stuff that we send you every month; the check off list, the What you should be doing now column, etc. But this
month you will also find some great stuff that you haven’t seen before.
First up, on page 2 you folks using YTO will find a great tip that might just help you further streamline the indexing process. And right below it is a quick
tip for InDesign schools about how to add a whole bunch of Jostens color swatches all at once.
Then over on page three you will find ideas for your staff when they finish their deadline and tell you they have “nothing to do.” And you’ll also find a note
about proofs for those schools using InDesign and PageMaker. What they are, when they will show up and how you should treat them. Of course you lucky
folks doing YearTech Online don’t have to worry about that.
Well, that’s enough for now. More tomorrow
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 7, 2006— Looking at your December YourBook newsletter—part 2.
Yesterday we got through pages 1-3 of your December YourBook newsletter. Today let’s first turn to the centerfold poster. And as you can see it is all about
our fantastic, annual photo contest for high school, middle school and junior high school students. Now my goal is for everyone of my schools to have
at least one entry into the contest. So to help you out, we created this poster that you can post in your room when you are done reading the rest of the
newsletter. You can download all the rules and entry forms from your Yearbook Avenue website. Just click on Contests and then choose to download the
Photo Contest forms.
Speaking of finishing the rest of the newsletter before you hang the poster, page six has some great ideas (IMHO) of places to find unexpected book sales.
This will be of big importance to you if you haven’t sold all your books yet—buyers you hadn’t even though of.
And lastly, page seven has some great design ideas for personal ads. You can never have too many ideas. Enjoy!
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 8, 2006— Words and phrases to ban from your yearbook.
I just wanted to pass along an idea that I borrowed from another of you wonderful folks. This adviser has a list of words and phrases that aren’t allowed
in the yearbook. You will notice that yearbook kids like to frequently use certain phrases. For example, kids will often write the names of the students
in the photo, and then follow it with “smile for the camera.” By having a list of taboo phrases/words, it will force your kids to be more creative with their
captions, and to gather more information for the photo. Maybe you can post this in your yearbook corner, or include it with your staff manual. Here are
some samples of what can go on your list.
Words and phrases to avoid in the yearbook:
School name (it is YOUR yearbook, so we already know it is your school)
School year (we already know the school year based on the cover and title page)
Had a great year/great season (instead, have the students describe what made the year/season so great)
Smile(s) for the camera
Hangs out in the hallway
Doing school work
This year
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 11, 2006— Words and phrases to ban from your yearbook.
One of my wonderful advisers got organized this year and developed the attached Staff Member Conference Log. They told me they meet with each
student individually on a weekly basis and they record what they have done and what they need to do before their next conference. This way they have a
record of progress and justification for yearbook grades. They can also use this documentation to answer any parent questions. Great record keeping idea!
Hope you like it. The form is attached.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 12, 2006— Looking for a solution to a common photo problem.
I received this e-mail from one of you fine folks last week, “Here's my idea—probably not anything new. This year, we are transferring digital photos
into folders for each page to hopefully eliminate duplicate photos in the yearbook. We'll see if it works!!
In the meantime I thought I would pass along their idea and ask you—how do you make sure that a photo is not in the yearbook twice. I know it is really
easy when using YearTech Online because you can see the red exclamation point that tells you that the picture has already been used when you are in
the Image Library or you can check the Photo Info in the Image library as well and see if a picture has been used and if so where. But you folks who use
InDesign or PageMaker, how do you make sure you have no duplicates. I hope you have lots of great ideas I can pass on.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 13, 2006— Getting students out of class for interviews.
I just received this note from one of my best advisers—
“I am in need of some help. Out of the blue, no warning, nothing, the administration has said that we can no longer call kids out of class for yearbook and newspaper kids to interview them or take their pictures. I would like to know the methods schools use to include people in the yearbook
when they cannot call them out of class. Do you have any feasible ideas? Of course, this couldn't have come at a worse time. The kids have their
second deadline pages due next week. So it goes. I appreciate any ideas you can offer. Thanks,”
So how about it folks? How do you do it? How do you make sure your coverage is complete without being able to pull students to interview them or take
their pictures when you need to?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 14, 2006— Last chance yearbook sale.
Still have students that haven’t purchased a book? Create a sense of urgency with a Last Chance Yearbook Sale. You’ll find colorful postcards aimed at
nonbuyers on Yearbook Avenue (go to the Sell menu, select Promote, then click on Phase 4 - Last Chance to Buy). It is also a good time to contact your
administration to find out what types of communications are going out to parents in the next few weeks such as newsletters, progress reports, etc.
Perhaps you can include yearbook information in those communications. You could also consider promoting and/or selling books at school events such as
concerts, plays and sporting events. These are great projects for your staff Business Manager.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 15, 2006— Special for InDesign users who can’t create PDFs.
This week I have had two different advisers write me with the same problem and seeing that many of you are using InDesign I wanted to let you know
what it was and how to fix it.
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These schools had entirely digital pages and wanted to send the plant PDF files instead of native InDesign files with links. But when they ran Prepare
For Submission (PFS) the plug in would run and even gather their files and place them in the Submit folder but on some pages (even though they were
entirely digital) they would not give them the option of creating a PDF.
First, let’s find out what the problem is. PFS will not allow you to make a PDF if there is a photo box that does not have a photo in it. So if you still have
a small (could be 1 pica by 1 pica) or large photo block that is marked Process Color Photo or B&W Photo then PFS won’t create the PDF. (That’s a lot of
initials.)
The solution: If you are sure that you have no empty photo boxes and it still won’t create a PDF, go to your Swatch Palette and attempt to delete the
Process Color Photo swatch or the B&W photo swatch. If you do this and it says “Remove Swatch and Replace it with...” guess what? You still have a photo
box that does not have a photo in it. Find that box and delete it and you should be all set.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 18, 2006— The most important thing to do before Friday.
We don’t care when your next deadline is or if you produce a yearbook that delivers in the fall, we know that there is every possibility that you have one
or two pages that are almost finished. You may even have a whole bunch of pages that are almost done. Well the most important thing you can do before
Friday is get every page possible done and sent to the plant before you walk out the door. Or if you are using YearTech Online to create your yearbook,
make absolutely sure that you click as many Submit buttons as possible before Friday.
Why? Because even though you have some time (well deserved time we might add) off our plants will keep right on working. And they would love
to have pages from you that they can work on. And the same goes for corrected proofs. If you have some, mail them before you walk out that door on
whatever the last day of your school year is before you jump into your winter break.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 19, 2006— How to make sure you don’t have duplicate photos in the yearbook.
Last week I asked you wonderful folks to send me any ideas you had for making sure that there were no duplicate photos in the yearbook. Here are some
of the answers I received:
“ Everytime our photo editor downloads digital pictures we put them into folders and label the folders with categories (ie. Cross
Country, Prom, Dance, etc). Then we print off the folders of pictures in B&W (our computer lets us print wallet size pictures...9 on a page). We three
hole punch these pictures, label the tops of the pages and put them in a binder with dividers. Before the students work on a spread, they go through
the section and with a yellow highlighter outline the pictures they think they want to use. When they actually place the picture on the page they put
a large X through the picture with an orange highlighter. That way if we go back into that section to look for a picture for another part of the book
(ie candid pages, title pages) the students know exactly what pictures have been used and which ones they liked best and didn't get a chance to use.
This may seem a little archaic, but it has worked beautifully for us.”
Another school told us;
“Each of our staff members has a Used Photos in their folders. Once their page is completed, they put these pictures into their Used Photos
folders. In each used folder, they have folders labelded for the pages that they are doing. Once the pages are PFS's, I check their Used Photos for
that page to make sure that those pictures are put in there. This is part of their grade and helps other staff members from going into other students
pictures.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 20, 2006— Shrinking GREAT BIG InDesign files.
You're working on an eight page underclass section in InDesign. After several rounds of changes and adding candids, features and more, you notice that
the file size of the layout is getting abnormally large. Why? As you continue Saving a document over and over again, the file may become "bloated" with
information that is no longer necessary. To alleviate this problem, simply go to File > Save As and replace the file. This quickly trims all of the unnecessary
data out of the file, bringing it down to a more normal size.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 21, 2006— A great idea to increase yearbook sales.
This idea was in my inbox today. Hope it helps you sell a few extra yearbooks. And thanks to the wonderful adviser who sent it.
“I have another idea for your sales ideas. We have the closed circuit televisions to show “Channel One” in the morning. I had the students in
my yearbook club create short skits (about a minute) concerning when the money was due, the price, and where to deliver it to. Then our person in
charge of the closed circuit TV ran the skits for me over the system in the morning during announcements. It tends to catch students attention more
than the regular announcements that are read over the system or over the PA. I had 3 or 4 created to run the last two weeks before the orders are
due.”
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for December 22 2006— Special wishes for you from all of us at Jostens.
From all of us at Jostens from our CEO to little old me, we hope that everyone in your life from your staff to your fellow faculty to your family has the
happiest of holidays and that you have the most relaxing break possible and come back raring to go in the new year. So no matter what holiday you
celebrate—Have A Great One!
And don’t forget to send or submit any pages or proofs that you can before you leave today.
Your Yearbook Tips of the Day for January 2007
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 2, 2007— Happy New Year!
Welcome back to the new year! We hope you had a wonderful winter break and that you and your staff are refreshed and ready to go. Deadlines loom and
proofs may be in your mailbox but we know that you can handle it and that 2007 will bring you the best yearbook ever!
Let’s start the year with a smile. If you haven’t seen this before you will love it. It will be especially interesting to English teachers but all writers should
get a kick out of it. One of you wonderful advisers sent it on to me and I thought it was good enough to pass around. So click on over to http://www.
plainlanguage.gov/examples/humor/writegood.cfm and have a New Year’s laugh.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 3, 2007— A great tip on doing mug pages on YearTech Online
Here’s a fun tip to help with your mug pages if you are using YearTech Online. If you want to save a page in the middle of your mug section for candids,
features or a photo essay, simply lock that page on your ladder and when you flow the mugs, they will flow around that page. Once the images have been
flowed onto your pages, you can unlock the page and then make adjustments to it!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 4, 2007— Your responses to our question about getting kids out of class to interview them
Just before we took our Winter Break I asked you fine folks if you could help out an adviser who had suddenly been banned from pulling kids out of class
to do interviews or to take pictures. The adviser had been doing this with no problem for a number of years but all of sudden (and we mean starting that
day!) it was no longer allowed. She asked for help in how you were doing it out there in the rest of yearbookland.
Well as usual you came through like champs and sent me a TON of replies. Here are the first few we got and more will follow over the next week or so.
“One of the first things I do is keep a copy of the ID pictures on a CD. I insist on one from the photography company. I also make sure that I
have a book set up with the photos so we can see who we have. Then we cross reference that list with the computer print out from the main office. I
have students running around before November taking pix of people who did make it in the panels.”
“If a teacher says no to letting us take a pix (or the principal), then we ask kids to come to my room during brunch and lunch for
pictures. Sometimes I even position a photographer outside the door of the kid's class to shoot one at the bell!”
“If all else fails for interviews, we hand the kid a type written question list wayyyyyy ahead of time and ask them to fill it out.”
“Bottom line, I make it the staffer's responsibility to work it out and make the deadline! They know all their deadlines in August, so they
have plenty of time to get things done on time!”
“Not sure if this would help because it does require a little help from admin… 2 things I do…
1) When a new student registers and their picture is taken for SASI, we take it for the secretary who then can upload to SASI. Saves
her time and gets us a picture.
2) We get a school list of all students in their 1st period classes… We then send a "call slip" for that student to come to the Yearbook
room either during Nutrition or at a specific time during lunch for us to get their picture. I put the call slip in the student's first period
teacher's mail box for them to give to the student. Doesn't work all of the time, as we still have to depend on the student, but it helps.
My yearbook kids get lots of quotes during the rest of the day: mornings, passing periods, on the bus, during lunch and even during
class when they have the same class as the kid they want to interview. With yearbook class being during 4th period lunch, it's half the student body that's available to us without interrupting classes. Also, I will call a teacher at the end of a period asking them to send the kid to me for a
couple of minutes: I get the interview (yearbook kids leave the question with me) and then send them to the next class with a pass (thereby skipping
"pulling" them from a class that is already going). Still, we do pull kids from class and I'm lucky that my teachers are pretty tolerant of this and they
work with us, especially during deadline times.
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We have never called kids out of class. We send questionnaires through homeroom. While not as personal as a face-to-face interview, it does
give kids time to think about their answers so you frequently get more coherent quotes. In addition, we make appointments for students to meet
during lunch or right after school for more in depth interviews and/or photos. I have a tape recorder that they can use so they don't have to take
copious notes so the interview can move along more quickly. E-mail and phone calls also work well.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 5, 2007— A look at the January issue of our YourBook newsletter
Hopefully by the time you read this, you will have the January issue of YourBook (our monthly newsletter) in your hands. If you haven’t had a chance to
look at it yet, take a minute and let’s browse it together so I can point out some articles I really don’t want you to miss.
First off, please make sure your business manager knows about the Business Manager contest. See the inside cover for more info. And new advisers (or
those who need a refresher)should always check the “What you should be doing now!” column on page 2.
Getting Close to Perfect on page two is a great article to just hand to your editor and proof person. Then on page three you will find your monthly tip on
book sales. This month it concerns making sure that everyone in your school (no matter their economic status) gets a yearbook.
If you have been an adviser for more than a year you have probably seen our “New Year’s Resolutions for Yearbook Advisers and Staffs” article before. Well
we have updated it and changed the title to goals instead of resolutions because we think it is as valid today as it was the first time we sent it to you.
And lastly, after you have read the rest of the newsletter, please post the very fun centerfold poster. It shows your staff that there are creative ideas everywhere that they can use in their yearbooks—even at the movies.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 8, 2007— More responses to our question about getting kids out of class to interview them
Here are some more of the great responses on our question about interview and photographing kids when you can’t get them out of class. A big vote of
thanks to all of you who sent in comments on this issue.
“Photos are a bit more difficult, but lunch and after school can work as long as your student subjects are cooperative. If you know up
front that you are going to need photos, perhaps there is a way to work them into club photo day.
Have a long talk with the Principal on how the yearbook is the one and only visual documentation that advertises all that your
school does RIGHT and GOOD. This book is used to it's best advantage in my school!... ONE BIG advertisement of what education does for the
children. I devote several pages to the special achievements and awards that our children receive each year. Sci / SS / Tech Fairs, Accelerated reading
top achievers, chess winner, all outside awards, county entries, etc. This can say a lot to your principal and your community.”
“You can also try to work out a specific time during the day that you TRY to take photos - during the children's lunch - for individual
shots, but my faculty also cooperates too! Group Photo day, and portraits, they are great! You have to get them on your wave length. You are
advertising THEIR successful teaching when you take children out for these things, aren't they the sponsors, the mentors, the coaches?????? If that
doesn't work - then you will have a skimpy lame book this year, but your parents will complain - then he/ she / they will cooperate next year!”
“We have always had that guideline at the schools where I've worked. I tell my staffers they may not count on getting people out of class
for interviews. We often have them meet in my classroom before or after school, or my students call them on the phone to arrange a time for an
interview. It takes some work—planning in advance and extra time before or after school—but it can be done.”
“We write up interview questions and give them to the teachers to give to the students. The students then return the answers to the
yearbook room. Also, many of the yearbook kids have their own digital cameras that they keep wtih them so they can take pictures in class during
the day if something happens.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 9, 2007— I would like your opinion on something yearbook related
Just before we started Winter Break I received this e-mail from a fellow Jostens rep.
“Hello...
Thought you may be interested in this news article... Concerns an issue we all could have to face as Yearbook people, and the last thing any of
us needs is a law suit! (You must have a Staff Manual...) Interesting that when I took the survey, most people were voting yes...”
Shortcut to: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16175420/
I would love it if you could take a look at the linked web page and let me know what you think about it. I have my own opinions and I promise to tell you
what they are after I hear yours. Just know that my friend’s Staff Manual note say a lot about what I believe. If you have time to write back, I really would
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want to know how you think it should have been handled.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 10, 2007— Taking blink-free photos
Here is another interesting website for you to check out. A super (from before the holiday but not time sensitive) article that applies to yearbook the
whole year round.
Check out http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20061218/sclivescience/pictureperfecthowtomakeblinkfreeholidayphotos
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 11, 2007— A very cool tip for schools using InDesign
OK, I know that only about half of you are using InDesign so I promise to do a YearTech Online tip for tomorrow. But if you are using InDesign, this tip is
very cool!
Did you know that you can see the same layout in two places on your monitor. One big and one small. Let’s say you are trying to enlarge and align two
elements on the page. You want to see how the enlargement is effecting the rest of the graphic but you have to go in to about 300% to be able to align
them. And all that jumping back and forth from one size to another is driving you nuts. No more!
Go to Window > Arrange > New Window to open this same layout in a second window with a "zoomed out" view. You can then use the "zoomed out"
view to resized your page and the "zoomed in" view to make sure the elements are lining up correctly. This eliminates the need for a lot of zooming in and
out. When you are done, you can just close one of the windows. Pretty cool.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 12, 2007— A tip for all you wonderful YTO schools—entering text.
As you are entering text on a page, keep in mind that the best way to put in an artificial line break is by hitting “enter” after the last word you want to
appear on that line. If you add spaces to finish out the line, the text may not flow as you intended when the page prints. Many schools have been using
this method to do text wraps so make sure you are hitting enter (Return) and not just pushing the line over with spaces or tabs.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 16, 2007— Special note for those using InDesign and submitting PDFs.
An issue has been discovered with Gather to Submit (GTS) when creating PDFs. If a color is used on the Master pages, but are not on the regular pages,
GTS is removing the color from the Swatches palette and replacing it with black. The plug-in should remove unused colors, but for some reason was not
recognizing when a color was only used on the Master pages. This issue is corrected by downloading this updated plug-in. If you are not creating PDFs,
you do not need this update.
A new version of GTS is available on your Yearbook Avenue website. Go to Help>YearTech>YearTech Updates
IF YOU ARE AN INDESIGN CUSTOMER WHO SUBMITs IN PDF FORMAT, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU ASK DOWNLOAD THIS UPDATE. If you do not, colors on
the master pages will convert to solid black on the PDF files if those colors are not also used on the spread itself. The plant can't fix these problems on the
PDFs for the customer, and we wouldn't necessarily know that the black elements are incorrect when sending out proofs of the pages.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 17, 2007— More responses to our question about getting kids out of class to interview them
Here are some more of the great responses on our question about interview and photographing kids when you can’t get them out of class. WOW! I got a
bunch of responses on this one. One more day (early next week) should have them all out there.
“Can this staff deliver questionnaires to students? It isn't as quite as effective or as timely, but it does work. We don't have an administrative
policy against pulling students out of class, but it was one of my biggest pet peeves before I did yearbook. So, I severely limit the number of times
any one staff member can pull students out of class. They may deliver questionnaires, set up interview times after school or try to find the student
during lunch since that is when we have class.”
“We make appointments during lunch or after school to take pictures of students. We find that most students are more than willing to
make the time to be in the yearbook.”
“We meet during the last period of the day and run call slips during the last 5 minutes of class to students we want to meet with. On
the call slip, there is a place that we check that says "end of period," and so the students come up to the Yearbook room after school. It's not a perfect
world, sometimes the kids don't show (and then we wait for them outside of their class!).”
“One way is to go to games and outside functions so you can do it. Another is to give written Q and A forms to turn in. I get kids to use their
homeroom time a lot. Otherwise, you can ask kids to stay after school or come before...
“We've never been able to pull kids out of class for either of these. What we do is find them at lunch or break or ask them to meet us. I have
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post-its that someone gave me that say "From the Supreme Commander of Yearbook" I send it to students during their classes. Teachers can then
pass it to students at the end of class if they'd prefer. The kids get these and usually come right away and they know they aren't in trouble. I'm going
to start making "calling cards" as I'm running out of post-its. I hope this helps.”
“Have kids create a written questionnaire instead of a verbal interview. Have a deadline set when it needs to be answered and where to
turn it in. Then, perhaps, a picture of said student could be scheduled at break or lunch. It takes a little more work, and it stinks that the admin.
decided to make the job of the adviser harder (than it already is) instead of easier. Maybe the adviser could talk to the admin to see if they can come
up with a compromise of when students acould be taken out of class that is mutually respectful of everyone's time.”
“I send the Yearbook kids (with the cameras) into the classrooms during the day "unannounced" for all academic type candids. They
will politely knock on the classroom door and ask the teacher permission to take pictures of the classroom activities while they are learning. I also
"schedule" appointments (at least a week in advance) with the individual teachers by email and memo in their mailboxes if have a major event I
need kids and or pictures for. As for interviews, schedule them to come to you during yearbook meetings and/or after school, lunch times and at
sporting events.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 18, 2007— Responses concerning the Senior photo lawsuit
Last week I sent you fine folks a request to check out a website and to give me your thoughts about the subject, a lawsuit by a parent because a senior
picture was not allowed in the yearbook. In the photo, the student was wearing a knight costume and holding a sword. If you missed it you can see it at
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16175420/
First, I have to say I was shocked at the number of responses I received. WOW! This was probably the most on any subject ever.
The second thing about the responses was that many of you were either for or against the young man getting his photo in the yearbook. But what
surprised me was how few actually mentioned what I thought was the most important lesson to be learned from the whole situation and that would
be to have a policy in place about the kind of photos you will allow in you yearbook to begin with. Some suggested a Staff Manual but I am not sure that
would have solved this problem (but I do think you need one and it will be the subject of tomorrow’s tip) but others said that that would be fine but no
one but the yearbook staff would read it so how would seniors know.
To me the best thing you can take from this article is to have some guidelines for what goes in your yearbook. What do you allow in the senior section,
what do you allow in your ads, what do you allow (or do you even have) senior messages, etc. And you need to publicize those guidelines in advance so
that students will know the expectations prior to submitting pictures.
But I don’t want to have the only say on this. And some of the ideas that came out of it were great so watch for them to head your way starting Monday
and continuing next week.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 19, 2007— Call for Staff Manuals
One of the big things that came out of the Senior photo lawsuit tip was that a number of you inquired about Staff Manuals. And I have to say that I don’t
have a good, up-to-date one that I can share. Shame on me!
So, if you have one that is in electronic format (PageMaker, InDesign, Word, PDF) could you send it back to me? I would love to have a bunch that I can look
at and maybe come up with a generic one I can provide to those who need it in a customizable format.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 22, 2007— Your responses concerning the Senior photo lawsuit
Here they come. And this is just the start of them. Read some of them or all of them over the next week. They are certainly interesting.
I do want to add here that I sent this out to other reps as well and I am including some of the responses that they have sent back to me as it is truly
interesting to see how different areas of the country look at this issue. For instance, in the first one (below) the school only allows “pictures made by the
school photographer” to go in the Senior section while in other parts of the US, that would not be legal. Hopefully one or two of these responses will fit
your circumstances.
I also thought that this adviser hits it on the head! And I should add that this was the first one I got back.
“Our policy on senior yearbook pictures is that we will only publish (in the senior section) those pictures made by our school
photographer. Even though not all of our seniors choose to purchase a senior portrait package from our school photographer (some use a local
photography studio), they must have a "yearbook only" pose made by the school photographer on Picture Day to be included; there is no charge for
a "yearbook only" pose. We do not allow any exceptions to this policy. This keeps our senior portrait section uniform in design, background, pose,
dress, etc. I would not have allowed this picture in the senior section of our yearbook.
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I would NOT have allowed the mother to purchase a senior ad with this photo included, either. I'm afraid it might set a precedence that I
could have trouble with in the future. (What if next year a gang member's mother wants her child's picture in gang attire and holding a big, ol' gun
included? How could you justify — and defend — your allowing the kid with the sword this year but not the kid with the gun next year?)
Where do you draw the line on "freedom of expression"? I'd draw it before this picture went in our yearbook. Can you allow one student's
"right" to express himself to offend another student?
Of course, if my principal directed me to allow a picture like this, I would do as he instructed; then, I'd ask to be relieved of my yearbook responsibilities. When the rest of you get as old as I am, you'll realize, too, that some things are worth fighting over and some are not.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 23, 2007— More responses about the Senior photo lawsuit.
Here’s a bunch of short and sweet responses:
“I think that if the yearbook would allow the picture in a personal ad, they should allow it in the portrait section.  If the problem is
with the weapon, just take it out.  Good reason for having a designated school photographer take all the portrait pictures.”
“There are so many ways you can go with this. The Mom has a definite point and she is positive that her son means well. On the other hand,
the principal has a solid point too. I think it does violate their policy. Unfortunately the good always suffer for the bad. I think in court the school
will win. A no weapons policy is a much broader blanket of coverage than her son being involved in a society such as this. The Mom should have
known better...I do.”
“I read the article and after laughing so hard I almost fell out of my chair I voted for the excessive geekiness which by the way at
the time I voted got 14% of the vote.  However, on a more serious note.  I have been the advisor for the last 23 years and we have a strict policy
that for their "formal" official senior picture the boys must wear a white or light colored shirt and an appropriate tie.  Girls must wear a nice dress
or conservative blouse.............NO exceptions. Cartoon or other silly photos like the one in the article are (if used at all) are put on the speech and
Drama page or Senior salute pages at the back of the book.”
“I don't see this as a weapons issue. If you allow senior portraits to be of the student's choice, then you need to define to the senior class & their
parents what the parameters are of those photos. A staff manual doesn't help if the students involved (seniors) are not aware of the policy because
it is in a yearbook staff manual. This info needs to either be in the school handbook or a packet handed out to juniors (upcoming seniors) before
senior portraits are taken in any form. This is not a Yearbook issue per say, it is a school policy issue!!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 24, 2007— A great anti-blinking idea
About 10 days ago I sent you an e-mail with a link to a website that had an article about how to get folks not to blink when you take group pics. Well I got
back this outstanding and one-of-a-kind idea from a fellow Jostens rep that I had included on that e-mail. What a wonderfully imaginative adviser.
While on a visit one of my junior highs, I walked out with the adviser who explained she was taking a make-up group photo. Imagine my surprise when
she announced, "OK, everyone close your eyes" and they immediately complied in unison. She said, "1-2-3" and they all opened up at "3" as she snapped
the shutter. Seems she had been doing this as normal procedure for the past five years after having problems with "eye-blinks." Since her new technique,
"No worries!"
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 25, 2007— More responses about the Senior photo lawsuit
Here are some more GREAT responses about the Senior photo lawsuit. Hope you find them as interesting as I did.
“I personally would not have allowed it, not because of the weapon but because there should be a standard policy about portraits
and how they are presented so that the page is consistent in how it looks. For example, we tell the seniors who want to submit their portrait
that it must be a head shot with a plain background. I have never had any problems with that.
I would be afraid that if that portrait was let in that we would soon have a student who wanted to come dressed in another costume
that was even worse but that the president would have been set. I frankly think the picture is great but I would rather have it on a page
where other kids are encouraged to show other outside activities that they are involved in. That would be appropriate.”
“I looked at this and I agree with the mother. It is theatrical and does not promote violence. Since the school mascot is holding a weapon and
they use prop weapons in school plays I think it should be allowed.”
“I believe that the portrait should be allowed based on the fact that the picture of the boy is in a "costume" as noted in the picture
caption. The word "costume" I feel, allows the picture to be published without the "no weapons" policy being violated. Can we no longer publish
portraits of Macbeth or Romeo and Juliette with a sword or knife because of the weapons policy? I believe that the general public understands the
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difference between drama/costumes and realism; at least I hope!”
“In the last couple of years I have especially seen a need for a school policy about what students should wear in portraits and what
type of senior pictures should be submitted. This article is good example and gives me another reason to put in writing the guidelines for
pictures. More and more, seniors are having all kinds of “senior” pictures taken and are getting away from headshot with a nice shirt & tie/sweater/
blouse. I’m for the traditional shot.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 26, 2007— Dealing with coaches
First, let me state right up front that I fully realize that some of you are both a yearbook adviser and the coach of a sporting team. And that you are
wonderful at both jobs. That said, I received this request from one of you great advisers:
“I do have a question you could circulate—what do you do with coaches & athletic directors who are not giving you scores or season
wrap-ups? How do you get the scores or do you just run without them? If we had some scores, we'd have many more pages done. I really don't like
coaches.”
So, how about everyone? How do you deal with this problem or what solution do you have for this person?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 29, 2007— More responses about the Senior photo lawsuit
These responses just keep on coming. A very popular topic. I am going to wind it up on Wednesday. I thought it would be appropriate to have the final
word on this topic be on the last day of January. Please pay special attention to the last paragraph. An interesting observation.
“We avoid any kind of problem even remotely related to this. All senior portraits that go in the senior section of the yearbook are taken by
a company that the school contracts with. The students are required to dress up and a collared shirt with tie are required for the males. (If students
don't have such attire, we provide it for them.) In addition, if the student is not interested in purchasing any of the photos or if they are unable to
pay, the photo is free of charge to the school. The student simply doesn't receive a copy of the photo.
This way we avoid any kind of clothing problems and (obviously) don't have to worry about weapons or even inappropriate wording
on t-shirts etc. We would allow students to use such as the one that is under controversy in the personal ad portion of the book.
I like the controlled photo shoots as not only does it avoid problems, it is attractive in the senior section to have the emphasis on the
students faces rather than on their clothing or other accessories that appear in many senior portraits.”
“Even I know how this one could have been avoided: require a formal tux and drape picture for the official yearbook picture. The
issue gets muddied when the school says the picture could be published in the paid section. The school can't have it both ways. Zero tolerance policy
means zero tolerance. If the school wants to permit the picture in the paid section, it has to review its policy.”
“I believe I would support the suit. It appears the school has allowed pictures other than the normal posed portrait. If there were no guidelines
as to what type of picture would be unacceptable, it seems to me the school has a very weak case. The student didn't bring a weapon to school. Did
the school's mascot appear in the yearbook with a weapon?”
“Being a teacher in a private Christian school, I may not be aware of the nuances of such debates. I think the principal was being too
arbitrary in enforcing the school policy. I think “zero tolerance” could make a school look like it abandons common sense and closes the door on
discussions that are relevant to the lives of many students. What is a weapon? When do certain “weapons become a threat to a community?”
“What policies best address the threat of violence?” How does school violence fit into the larger problem of societal violence? How can violence be
reduced both in school and in the larger society? How does the concept of “the punishment should fit the crime” direct the setting of punishments in
a zero tolerance situation?
A second thought as I write from the hip is that the lawsuit was equally irresponsible. Lawsuits are a drain on a school’s resources. The
amount of good that could be accomplished does not measure up to the amount of harm liable to be done. Doesn’t everyone have weightier matters
to deal with? The whole thing looks like a lose/lose situation to me.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 30, 2007— The second to last set of responses about the Senior picture lawsuit.
Tomorrow is the definitive final word on this topic but so many of you sent great comments that I had to send them on. Pay special attention to the last
one. It has something for all us to remember. What we see as funny may not be funny to everyone else.
“I think it is ridiculous. The sword is part of a costume. I think that people are so afraid of lawsuits that they are overzealously protecting some
vague notion of morality or righteousness. . . or else they think that their parents or other constituents are plain stupid. Is someone was dressed up
as a nazi there would be a stonger argument for banning the photo, but they'd have to ban it from the ad section as well. I don't think crusaders
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have been on the hate-group list for awhile.”
“I read the story about the senior photo. I think we would have just put the picture in. I doubt I would have asked the principal what she
thought of it! I doubt anyone would have even thought about it as a "weapon" issue! The principal in the story seems on pretty thin ice arguing that
it would be okay in the advertising section but not the senior section. Much Ado About Nothing!”
“As for the article, I would say that if there is no written policy on the type of shot used for senior pages (such as they must be head
and shoulders without props—and fully clothed) and if the violence policy doesn't cover it, the school has set a precedence by allowing plays with weapons and a mascot that carries a weapon. Sounds like the school is set for a loss.”
“I see the need for policy on artwork in ads and in photos. This fall the school photographer allowed 2 juniors to wear sunglasses in their
school pictures (why I don't know) and I told the two boys that we would not put a picture in where we could not see their eyes, but it is not written
policy. Both had their pictures retaken, but they could have challenged my authority. That definitely would not be worth a lawsuit and an unpublished yearbook.”
“I would have problem with putting the photo in the yearbook. I wouldn't use the weapon argument. I'd use the dress code policy as the reason against it. I've had people wearing inappropriate clothing, (even hats) that I have kept out of the yearbook. They get a letter at the end of their
junior year that tells them when the photos will be due, and that clothing must meet dress code. I actually have a student all decked out in hunting
gear with a hunting rifle in his senior picture this year. I haven't run it past the principal yet as I just got it yesterday.”
“You aren't going to believe this, but I actually took senior pics of a kid who wanted to be photographed with a sword that was
made by his favorite uncle who is now deceased. If he wants to use that image, it's fine with me.”
“I think you know my policy - I send a letter to each senior's parent(s) in late spring/early summer telling them the specifications for
the Yearbook photo - Head and shoulders only, no outside shots, no props, front view only, no neon or "bright" backgrounds. Then I
make sure all the pictures follow these specs. I think the key is to get the word out early what is accepted and then follow the guidelines for all the
students. I don't know if it would hold up in court, and I hope I never have to find out, but it has worked for me for the last 20 years”
“I'm not sure how I feel about this photo. I can see both points of view, but am astounded that it has become a lawsuit. I disagree with the
principal saying that the mother could put it in the ads if she paid for it, if it is not ok for one place why should it be ok in another?”
“That is exactly why I only allow official photos taken by the photographer of the school's choice!! This particular ban seems silly, but
what if in the same year another student who was known to have threatened someone wanted to use a picture of himself surrounded by his guns,
knives, etc?? I think the school loses this one, however, because of the school mascot that is depicted with a weapon.”
“This is why I am so glad we have the tuxedo and drape for our senior portraits. Our policy states that we will only use pictures from our
official photographer and since there is no cost to the students or parents, this isn't a contestable issue. We also hold four different photo sessions at
the school to make it even more convenient.
Now we do have a policy against showing cleavage, since it's against the school dress code. However, one young lady's mom went all the
way to the superintendent to force us to use her daughter's photo. So I used Photoshop to fix it. I think it's ridiculous that parents are allowed to have
this level of control - afterall their child is only one of over 1,500 that will be in the book - if all demanded this level of control, there would be no way
we could ever complete the book.”
“I wanted to respond to your question about the photo and society for creative anachronism. Funny, but maybe you know that the plant
contacted me last week regarding the photo for our back cover. It shows two of our science teachers in the lab, one with a knife pointed towards
another teacher, and then in the 2nd photo, the teacher is gone....was it the knife? It's supposed to be funny. Well, I didn't even give it a thought until
our plant consultant contacted me, and you know, I don't even want to think about the possible repercussions...the photo seemed fine at the time,
and I knew what it was all about, but would all the parents in May when the book came out? Anyway, we are going to submit a new photo.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for January 31, 2007— The final word on the Senior picture lawsuit...and it’s a good one!
Here is the last GREAT response about the Senior photo lawsuit. Very well thought out and right on the money. I think this is a great one to end this
discussion with.
“Any yearbook staff that allows students the “self-expression” of posing in a variety of ways, settings and circumstances, is opening
itself up to trouble. There should be a policy regarding student portraits and yearbook content. Many staffs have established a policy based on
precedence: the seniors (and other portraits) have always been posed a particular way, and the community has come to expect it. Still, it is a better
idea to put the policy in writing.
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As for this case, it depends on what this staff’s past policy has been; it seems to me they have probably allowed a wide range of
“unusual” poses. Unfortunately, this opened them up to an eventual conflict of school policy against weapons. Once it gets into the courts, there’s
no way of predicting how it will turn out. My guess is that the parent will prevail, particularly since the principal said they could place the photo in a
paid ad (Mistake! School policy should extend to ads as well).
As for the parent’s argument that this is theatrical: NONSENSE. Should the book also allow students dressed as Billy the Kid holding a sixshooter, or Rambo shooting an Uzi be allowed? How about photos with drug paraphernalia or explicit sexual poses (as long as they are “theatrical”
of course)?
Solution: If the senior photo policy has been loose (as it appears to have been), the school will probably have to bite the bullet and
accept the photo this year. Make a written policy for the next year. And make sure students know this policy before the book is purchased and
senior portraits taken.”
Yearbook Tips of the Day for February 2007
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 1, 2007— A very cool theme exercise
I received this from one of you wonderful advisers yesterday and I thought it was really good. She said it was OK to share.
It is a graded ‘project’ to assist the upcoming class with developing a solid theme idea as well as keeping people busy who otherwise may not have as
much to do at a given time based on the timeline of the spreads they’ve been assigned.
Near the end of school, they pick a winner and that is next year’s theme so they can get right back to work once school starts.
By the way, this school’s mascot is the “Hornets” so that may be important for understanding the “swarming” theme.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 2, 2007— Happy Groundhog’s Day
I know, it’s not a “real” holiday unless you live in Punxsutawney, PA I want to wish you all a happy Groundhog Day and for all our sakes, I certainly hope
that Phil did not see his shadow this morning because I could use a little summer right about now. Have a great day and remember that the best way to
celebrate is to watch the movie, Groundhog Day! Bill Murray rocks!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 5, 2007— Using the Index to Sell a Few More Books
This is a great tip for those of you who still have yearbooks to sell.
No matter how you create your book, your index is a great tool for promoting the book in two different ways. You will need to place a test index onto your
pages and you will need a complete student body list with the names of students who have purchased books highlighted. It is important to have a whole
student body list so you have all your buyers and non-buyers on one list.
Way # 1 – Promote to Non-Buyers
Place your test index onto pages to get a snapshot of who is already in the book. Cross check students who are in the index to the people who have NOT
bought a book. Use the attached postcard to let those students know they are in the book AND how they can buy a book (this part is REALLY important).
You can even send this post card with an order form if you want. (See attached sample) I have both of these files in InDesign format if you want them. You
can find other post card samples on Yearbook Avenue under the Sell Menu/Promote and in your Yearbook Business Manager guide.
Way # 2 – Get non-buyers in the book and then promote the book to them
Just like in way # 1, place a test index onto pages to get a snapshot of who is already in the book. Cross check this with your master list and make an effort
to shoot candids/get quotes of those students who are not yet in the book and put them onto pages. Repeat “Way # 1” and now you have more students
in the book and more students buying the book.
Need help getting started on your index? Let me know and I am happy to help.
PageMaker users will use Last Name First.
Yeartech Online Users will use the On-line Indexer.
InDesign will use the very cool Indexing button on the toolbar. To get started you will need an ascii or excel file of student names (first name in first
column, last name in second column) saved in text format. Your YearTech guide has complete instructions, but I can help you get started if you want. It
takes less than a minute to index each page, but you want to get started on the index now as you are working on proofs.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 6, 2007— Our first answers on the dilemma of dealing with coaches.
About a week ago, I asked you fine folks for some recommendations on dealing with coaches. Here is the first response I got back. It is fantastic!
“Here is how we handle it a our school.
Someone other than the head coach maintains team stats and scores, and there are often parent booster groups that surround various teams. Ask the trainers who keeps team stats, and who the most active parents are for each team. You will most likely find that these parents
have information, newspaper clippings and perhaps photos you can use.
Your local newspaper may have the scores of your varsity sporting events. Make it a habit, or assign to a student, to pull these facts from
the newspaper after game days. Most schools get newspapers delivered to the campus as part of the Newspapers in Education program. Or, your
school library may receive a paper that you can photocopy or have after the day is done. Many schools also email or print a weekly newsletter with
results and upcoming events. Make sure your page editors get the info they need from these reports.
Let the coaches know that you aren’t looking to solely highlight poor performance. You are simply wanting to capture the memories the
team created throughout the year. Even a losing season has highlights for the players.
In some instances, where losses were particularly bad, you may want to consider simply having a win-loss scoreboard. Let the coaches
know that you want to be sensitive to their concerns of not humiliating the students.
For team photos, contact the photographer directly.
The best thing to do is to not wait until the season has been over for months. Talk to coaches during the season, not after they are on to
coaching the next season’s sport. “
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 7, 2007— Looking at your February YourBook newsletter part 1
By now you have hopefully received the February issue of YourBook. If you don’t have it yet, please let us know by reply e-mail as there are lots of great
articles inside we want to make sure you see.
First besides all the usual reminders to keep you on task, there is a big reminder that there is only a few short months left to enter the Jostens Photo
Contest. So, please get your kids going on that right away.
Moving on, if you look at page two you will find an article that is near and dear to my heart that will help you recruit a new business manager. We truly
believe you need one and maybe this will encourage you to go out and get one.
There are also notes about current event photos and index design but the biggest thing we want you to see we will address tomorrow.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 8, 2007— A look at the February issue of our YourBook newsletter—part 2
The one thing we really want to make sure you see in YourBook this month is something you may be struggling with right now—empty pages. Maybe
you planned a spread on a club that no longer exists in the second term. Or you planned coverage of a state tournament in basketball but the team didn’t
make it. What can you do to cover those pages.
Well the February issue of YourBook has just what you need—ideas on what to put on those pages. You will find this info in two places, page three and
six. And after you are done reading that, make sure to see the hot YTO and InDesign tips on page 7.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 9, 2007— More responses to our question about dealing with coaches.
Here are some more great responses I got back when I asked you wonderful people how you handle coaches that don’t always help and sometimes hinder
when it comes to covering sports. This great advisers even sent some forms she uses to organize her group shots and scoreboard. Enjoy.
“So far, I've found that coaches are really in the dark about how yearbook works and that it is this confusion which causes most of
the problems. For me, talking with individual coaches one on one has been a very effective strategy. Also, at the beginning of the year I send out
this "introduction" memo and follow up with the reminder memo later. I simply save the forms on the computer and make the reminder memo
available to staff members who need to get scores. Feel free to share the templates that I have attached here...”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 12, 2007— More great dealing with coaches responses
I have gotten some superb responses about dealing with coaches. Here are a few more. One more day after this and then we’ll call it done!
“Second, dealing with coaches, as I am one, there is another source of information which is on line at "maxpreps.com." For the major
sports they collect stats on individual games and players as well as the league, state and even national rankings.  If you want to include stats (even
pictures can be purchased - but check their copyrights) you will find more than you would ever use.”
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“This is a very simplistic answer, but it works. If you have the scores use them, if you don't, don't. The scores from the games aren't something
that's gonna be that big of a deal in the future. I'm more concerned with capturing the highlights of the games, any awards, etc. than the scores. The
coaches seem to agree with me. They're rather have the page focus on the kids rather than simply numbers.”
“We are fortunate enough to have a working relationship with the local newspaper and in the absence of scores or game wrap ups,
or even pictures at times, from games we want to highlight in the book or school newspaper, we have our source at the paper who
helps us out with that info from time to time. Perhaps a similar relationship or partnership with this school's advisor and news source could be
established?”
“What I find very effective is to get one of your seniors, maybe one from that particular team, and have that student hound the
coach until he/she gives up the stats. I have found that most coaches do not keep up with the stats for individual players, such as baseball and
softball, but they have the stat book or records. I have the student(s) figure the stats, the boys really enjoy this part, and put the findings in the
yearbook. If you only need scores from games, it's real easy to assign a sport to one student, really easy if the student participates in that sport and
that person keeps up with the scores and teams played.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 13, 2007— One more day of “dealing with coaches” responses.
Here are the last four responses. There were others but they pretty much overlapped the ones we have sent you. I have to say that I don’t always agree
when it comes to not running scores. A yearbook is a history book. It is the history of your school in this year. Without scores, your sports history is
incomplete. But I do appreciate the adviser’s dedication to meeting deadlines.
“We don't run our scores on the sports pages, for a number of reasons. First, sport seasons don't usually coincide with Josten's deadlines.
We meet every one of our deadlines, and that is one of the many reasons why. Secondly, some years the scores may be embarrassing to the teams.
Fortunately, our football, girls and boys soccer, girls' basketball, baseball and wrestling teams have done very well the last several years, winning
league championships. (Wrestling has been league champs for 14 years.) Still, we don't make an issue of scores. What we do instead is save a page
in the last deadline to feature all of the teams that had some special merit awarded them- even if it's just the MVP for the team's season. We've used
titles such as "Newsworthy", "In the News" or something similar. We also have an athletic director.  If we were to want scores, and needed to avoid
coaches, we'd ask the athletic director.”
“We go directly to the wonderful ladies who keep the stats for our sports. They're usually more than willing to help us out. Since their kids
play and they're involved in the school, they're usually more than willing to help out. If that fails, our backup is to go to the captain of the team who
either has or can get that info—and kids are always more helpful if they know it'll get them in the book! I've also cornered the coach on the bus for
a quote or two. And, yes, I am a coach also.”
“Coaches aren't my main problem. I just get their stat book at the end of the season and force them to talk to me (informally) to get info out of
them. Elementary teachers are the worst for me to get info from. We even tried giving the elementary class with the most pictures sent in to us an
additional page in the yearbook and we have had no response.”
And this one is the perfect way to end the entire coaches controversy (such as it is) from one of my favorite female advisers.
“I can't hold back any longer: Just marry one! You'd be surprised how agreeable they become when they live with the yearbook adviser!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 14, 2007— How to finish a yearbook spread in 7 days or less
Many of you may be convinced that it takes weeks to complete a yearbook spread. Don't let your staffers fool you! Even with a limited number of
computers, you students can complete a yearbook spread in seven days or less. Those staffs that already have section designs done or that use PageSurfers
straight from the book could actually finish a spread in five days or less! At this point in the year, it's likely that every design in the book is done.
The attached file has a 7-day plan that assumes you have a limited number of computers. A couple of days are assigned to writing captions, headlines
and copy. This creative thinking does not need to happen in front of a computer screen. Having staffers write at their desks and creating a schedule where
students have specific computer days assigned to them will help keep everyone on track, and will make the most out of each staffers computer time.
If you're running behind right now, take a day to assess where each page stands in the production line. Give those students that are almost done priority
this week so that you can submit those pages. Have the others continue to collect their photos and interviews so they are ready to produce next week.
This little handout continues to be a work in progress, so please let me know how this works for you, and if you see any changes that need to be made to
the plan.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 15, 2007— A great ad order form.
Here is a simple and easy to use ad order form. Thought I would share this one as well.
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The school I borrowed it from created is a YTO school, but they wanted parents to email photos to them. Parents could easily put their photos up on the
YTO community site.
It’s still not too late for CY (Fall Delivery) schools to start an ad program. You’ll have to check the prices. Make sure they fit your school situation.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 16, 2007— Planning for the future
One of my favorite advisers sent me this today:
“Next week my editors will start working on notebooks with “all you ever wanted to know about yearbook” as part of their “editor job” especially highlight
design, proofing, indexing, etc. Hopefully leaving behind a legacy . . .”
What a superb idea. Think about doing it with your kids.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 20, 2007— An incredible camera lens
You may remember that about a year ago I passed on 10 great photo tips from David Pogue, the tech columnist for the NY Times. I try to read his column
online every week as he is really up on digital photography. Well yesterday he raved like I have never heard him rave before. He reviewed a camera lens.
And when I read the column I knew that this lens would work GREAT for yearbook. I mean really great. It might even be enough of a reason to go our and
buy a Nikon camera to put it on. And yes, it is expensive but it truly sound like it might be the solution to yearbook sports photography.
Here is David’s column in it’s entirety. You don’t have to read it unless you really want to improve your sports photography. You can subscribe to this e-mail
column at the NY Times website.
“I've never reviewed a camera lens before. I mean, only a fraction of digital camera owners have digital S.L.R.s (the kind that accept interchangeable lenses), only a fraction of those are non-professionals like me, and only some of those shop more than a couple of times for lenses.
But I've been working with Nikon's 18-200 millimeter "superzoom" VR lens, which fits any of its digitals: the D40, D50, D70, D80,
D200, and so on. And I can't stop babbling about it.
First of all, that "18-200" business means that this single lens can capture everything from wide-angle scenery photos to 11X
zoomed-in telephoto shots. And that means that a lot of people can leave it on the camera all the time, greatly reducing the amount of gear you
have to haul around and virtually eliminating the chance of getting dust on the camera's sensor when you change lenses. (That finally happened to
me on a recent trip to Europe, and the resulting shadowy dot, in the same spot on every photo, became a thorn in my side.)
But the bigger news is the "VR" part. It stands for vibration reduction, also known as image stabilization or anti-shake. What it means is a huge
reduction in blurry shots. Ordinarily, when you take a photo in dim conditions, the shutter has to remain open longer to absorb enough light. During
that time, the tiniest movement of your hands gets translated into image blur.
Blur is a problem when you're zoomed in, too, because zooming in magnifies the effect of every little jitter.
Nikon says that the VR on this lens lets people take sharp pictures "at shutter speeds as many as 4 stops slower than they ordinarily
could shoot." But I'd put it more bluntly. I'd say that this VR is-what's the technical term?-magic.
It's just incredible. I've taken 900 pictures this week on a Geek Cruise of Caribbean islands with my kids (they're incredibly photogenic, if I may say
so). And this lens, mounted on a Nikon D80, make it seem as though I can't miss. Zoomed in, dim light, no tripod? No problem; no blur. Dude-if you
could see my 25 or 50 best shots, you'd swear I was a professional.
Unfortunately, word has gotten around (one reviewer used the term "life-changing"); this lens has been sold out everywhere for
months. It's all I wanted for Christmas, and my wife couldn't get her hands on one.
It's already a very expensive bit of accessory; in fact, at $750, it costs more than some of the cameras it goes on. Yet places like Amazon
are actually charging a premium for it ($900 to $1,000)-and people are paying it. (If you don't quite need 11X zoom, Nikon sells less expensive VR
lenses with shorter focal ranges.)
Even if you're not in the market for a lens for a Nikon digital S.L.R., though, the emergence of image stabilization in the last year or so
should interest you. It's a huge development with a gigantic impact on the quality of your photos-much more than, for example, the number of
megapixels in a camera. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/technology/08pogue.html
It also opens up yet another realm of consumer confusion and marketing tactics. Plenty of consumer camera makers are claiming "antishake" features that turn out to be little more than high-ISO (light-sensitivity) modes that permits a faster shutter speed; no actual shifting of the
sensor or lens elements is going on, as it is inside Nikon and Canon's stabilizing lenses. Only *optical* image stabilization counts.
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Furthermore, an ideology war is afoot. Should the stabilization go on inside the lens, or inside the camera body?
Sony and Pentax say, "inside the camera body." They argue that using this scheme, all of your lenses are automatically stabilized. You don't
have to pay for image stabilization over and over again with each lens you buy.
Nikon and Canon, however, don't sell image-stabilized digital S.L.R. cameras-only stabilized *lenses.*
Yes, this means that you have to buy stabilization over again with each new lens, which can get expensive. But this approach has some
real advantages. For example, any stabilization is far more effective when tailored especially to the characteristics of each lens; in-body stabilizers
are particularly weak when trying to compensate for jiggles in longer lenses. And only an in-lens stabilizer shows you the effect of the steadying
right in the viewfinder, which helps with framing and timing.
Incidentally, it's important to note that although stabilized cameras and lenses work miracles in low light and at in telephoto mode,
they can't stabilize your subject. If your subject is moving, you may still get motion blur, and you must still use the traditional photographic
tricks to eliminate it (more light, higher ISO settings and so on).
Note, too, that even a VR lens can't ensure sharpness at very slow shutter speeds-say, 1 second.
But man, I am so in love with this lens. Its autofocus is instantaneous and razor-sharp, it's surprisingly compact for what it does, and above all,
its two key features-the enormous focal range and the stabilization-practically eliminate shots that didn't work out the way you planned. As Arthur
C. Clarke didn't write, any sufficiently advanced lens is indistinguishable from magic.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 21, 2007— Never to late to use the entire YearTech toolbar
Today I had an ‘aha’ moment. I realized that we get so busy that we don’t have time to check out everything on the YearTech toolbar. As a result, you may
be missing out on some time saving tools that are just a click away. I should have sent this back in the fall, but it’s still not too late for PageMaker and
InDesign users to get some use out of this handout. On this handout the tools with an asterisk are for both PageMaker and InDesign. Those without an
asterisk are for InDesign only.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 22, 2007— YearTech Online indexing tip.
Creating Your Index
Use the Jostens Online Index tool to quickly and easily create the index for your book. You can access the Indexing tool by selecting Index under the Create
menu.
One important note before you begin work on your index – the indexing tool uses the information you entered in the Name fields in your image library to
create your index. Therefore, it is important to make sure information in the image library is up-to-date so the index is correct.
Here are the steps to creating your index:
1.
Select Pages—Use the Pages tab to select the page your index will begin on.
2.
Format Index—Move to the Builder tab to set the parameters for your index pages. Use the available menus to select the Name Format,
Divider and Body Fonts, and Number of Columns for your index. Edit the margins if you would like to leave room for headlines, candid
photos or stories on your pages. You can add these elements in the Page Designer after you flow your index.
3.
Preview—Click Preview to see how your pages will flow.
4.
Save and Flow—Once you are satisfied with the preview, use the Save button to flow your index.
5.
Edit—You can edit your index or add additional elements, such as photos and headlines, by opening it in the Page Designer.
If you have questions or need assistance with the index process, Jostens Technical Support staff is available to help. You can reach them at 1-800-3282435.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 23, 2007— Incredible FREE website that does headlines for you
When I was in Anaheim a few weeks ago for our Jostens National meeting another rep told me about a fantastic website that will create very cool
headlines for you that you can save and use as JPEGs. And, you can use them on YearTech Online as well as in InDesign but there is a trick to making it
work.
First check out http://cooltext.com/. You can pick out any of the cool logos to turn into a headline. Once you have chosen the look you want (and skip the
pulsating ones, they are for web work) you get to totally customize it and type in any one word headline that you want.
But here is the trick you have to do to make it work for YearTech (either online or InDesign). You need to make sure you make the text size at least 200.
The reason you have to make it so big is that when you download it, it is 72DPI. And of course we need 300DPI. Now, the 72 DPI will work but at anything
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below 200 point it will only print fairly small. For instance, when I did a headline at 72 pt (the default) it would only enlarge to around 13 picas wide by 2
picas high in YTO or InDesign. But when I did it at 200 point it downloaded a JPEG that was almost 7 inches wide.
Now these are graphics so you can enlarge them but never make them too big. To use them on YTO you will need to download them to your computer and
then upload them to your Yearbook Avenue website.
Give it a try and see if it for you but remember—-keep those sizes BIG!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 26, 2007— A superb business idea.
Just the other day I got this great e-mail from one of you wonderful advisers. I think it is a super idea. Thanks for passing it on.
“I am sure that you have heard this tip before, but I am sending it just in case. I had an adviser tell me the other day that she is in the process of having
her business manager write thank you notes to all the businesses who purchased ads in this year's book. She is also including a renewal contract for next
year. She is hoping to renew the majority of her ads, so that her kids can concentrate on new businesses come summer and fall. This will also give the staff
quite a boost to their start up budget for next year.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 27, 2007— Two great tips for schools that use YTO
You may have seen these YTO tips before but I wanted to make sure that you were getting them. The plant sends them out every so often and they are
excellent.
Image Library Tips
Carefully selecting the photos you upload to your Image Library will help make page creation quicker and easier. Here are some tips to keep your image
library easy to navigate:
Rather than uploading all available images, be selective. Only upload those you are most likely to use. Remember, you can upload additional images at
any time if you need to.
Don’t upload bad quality images or those with questionable content. You won’t want to risk them ending up in your book.
Once you begin completing pages, go back through the Image Library and delete photos pertaining to those pages that you previously uploaded but did
not use. Note: the software will not allow you to delete any photo used on a page.
There is a limit to the number of photos your Image Library will hold. You’ll find it at the bottom of the Home page under the Image Library tab. The
maximum number of photos allowed does not include portrait photos.
Quick Tip For Easier Page Creation
Ever wish you had a little more working space when creating pages online? To view a full page screen in Yearbook Avenue, select F11 on your keyboard if
you are using a Windows system. This will maximize your working space. Select F11 to undo this feature.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for February 28, 2007— Something for the InDesign schools
Here is what the plant sent our way this month for schools using YearTech with InDesign.
Calling All Designers
Showcase the talents of your designers! This is the third year that Jostens and Adobe have co-sponsored the Yearbook Design Contest open to students
serving on yearbook staffs in grades 6-12. Entrants must submit a complete yearbook spread created using Adobe InDesign® 2.0x, CS or CS2 on a yearbook
template with all text and photographs in place. Pre-designed templates created by yearbook companies cannot be used.
Entries must be postmarked no later than April 27, 2007. The Grand Prize winner will receive a laptop computer and the newest version of Adobe Creative
Suite.
To view last year's winning entry or to download the official contest rules and entry information click on the link below:
http://www.jostens.com/yearbook/showadobeindesigncontest.asp <http://cl.exct.net/?ffcb10-fe281571726d0c7d721270-fdfc10757361047f72177375ff021675756105-fe931574766c047b73-fe3e15737766057c731471>
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Yearbook Tips of the Day for March 2007
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 1, 2007— Help for an adviser who needs a job description
Help! I just received this as an e-mail from a great adviser who needs help. She seems to be caught up in district demands for contract-type mumbo
jumbo. I am sure that some of you fine folks out there can help her.
“All of us who have supplemental contracts in our district are being asked to write up a job description for ourselves. Have you ever
heard of anything like this? How would I go about doing my own job description when every person does this job so differently? Are there any
company standards? I thought my job was to put out the annual...silly me! I didn't make it hard enough, I guess. :-)”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 2— Another great idea for getting your editor organized.
I got a quick note from an experienced adviser last week after I sent you the tip about having your editors from this year keep a journal to be passed on to
those who are taking their place next year. I think it bears passing on.
“I give my students a monthly calendar to keep track of important due dates, outside of class meetings, etc. They are to put this in their
binders and they have done a great job keeping up with it as well. At the end of the year we pass it on to the new editors and they make notes on
their calendars from the old ones. Thought it might be of interest.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 1, 2007—- Help for an adviser who needs a job description
Help! I just received this as an e-mail from a great adviser who needs help. She seems to be caught up in district demands for contract-type mumbo
jumbo. I am sure that some of you fine folks out there can help her.
“All of us who have supplemental contracts in our district are being asked to write up a job description for ourselves. Have you ever
heard of anything like this? How would I go about doing my own job description when every person does this job so differently? Are there any
company standards? I thought my job was to put out the annual...silly me! I didn't make it hard enough, I guess. :-)”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 2—- Another great idea for getting your editor organized.
I got a quick note from an experienced adviser last week after I sent you the tip about having your editors from this year keep a journal to be passed on to
those who are taking their place next year. I think it bears passing on.
“I give my students a monthly calendar to keep track of important due dates, outside of class meetings, etc. They are to put this in their
binders and they have done a great job keeping up with it as well. At the end of the year we pass it on to the new editors and they make notes on
their calendars from the old ones. Thought it might be of interest.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 5—- Let’s look at your March issue of YourBook
We hope that by now you have received the March issue of our YourBook newsletter. Well if you haven’t yet, get that baby out and let’s see what’s inside!
First up page two has our super announcement about our partnership with Disney. We realize we may have told you about this before but I just have to
ask you to make sure you go and look at the picture on page two. It isn’t often I get to put a picture of Mickey and Minnie Mouse into a yearbook related
newsletter. And it’s a really cute picture of Minnie too.
Then pay very special attention to page three. Because I know that all of you have tons and tons of pictures on your hard drives that you are not going to
be able to use. You do, don’t you? Well here is a super way to use them. And there is still time (not a lot) to put together a way to use all those photos (and
maybe some video too). So read that article and if you are interested in talking about it, call me today!
I think that’s enough reading for today, we’ll finish up looking at the rest of YourBook tomorrow.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 6—- Take look at MORE of the March issue of YourBook.
Picking up where we left off, turn now to Page six! Check out the Tops of the Tips for some great ways to recruit your 2008 staff (if you don’t have them
already!) You are actively recruiting now, aren’t you? You should be.
And speaking of actively recruiting, please, please, please read the Money Matters column and go out and recruit a Yearbook Business Manager for your
2008 book. I promise, if you do this, your year will go so much better. Get the right person and you will be all set.
And once you have recruited this fantastic staff (and Business Manager) we will help you train them. So read page seven about how and why your kids
need to attend a summer workshop. Then get them registered. There is nothing you can do that will improve your 2008 yearbook like having most of your
staff attend a summer yearbook workshop.
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Once you are done reading the inside coverage then if you do your yearbook with Adobe InDesign, grab that centerfold poster and put it on a wall. Get
your kids designing for the Jostens/Adobe InDesign contest. They (and you) could be BIG winners.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 7—- Organizing March.
With all the talk about organization we have had here in the tips the last few weeks, one of you wonderful folks sent me a calendar they do each month to
pass on to their kids. What a super way to organize. I have attached their calendar. Obviously they do a spring delivery yearbook but you could easily adapt
this for any month. What a great way to plan.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 8—- Yearbook adviser job descriptions—part 1.
Last week I passed on a request that was sent to me by an adviser whose administration had asked her to come up with a job description for being a
yearbook adviser. As always, you folks came through like gangbusters. Thank you so much. For anyone else who is in the same boat, here are a few of the
things I received. The first adviser who sent something just sent a Word document and that is attached.
The second person said:
“I did this before when I worked in administration for a social services. It's very common in private enterprise. The key is to identify everything you do throughout the year and state that in observable and measureable terms. For instance, one might say "Schedules appointment for
organization photos by Feb 1st of each year," or "Ensures completion of 50% of pages due by March 1st of each school year," or "Meets final yearbook
deadline set by Jostens in a timely manner." I'd list what is normally expected of an adviser, though, rather than adding things that are over and
above the call of duty. If you do that, it becomes expected of you and anyone else who may have the job in the future. Give yourself some room for
recognition of all the "extra" things that you do. For instance, I'm also a professional photographer, and I donate my time and the use of my sports
photos to the yearbook every year. I would not list that in the duties, however, as the photography would become expected and I would lose my
copyright to the images I create since it then becomes a work for hire situation.”
Those two were both great, there will be more tomorrow.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 9—- Yearbook adviser job descriptions—part 2.
Here are some more of the great job description responses I got back from my request last week. Thank you again for your always great response.
Here are some very well thought out responses:
“As far as I am concerned the job description for advisers is huge. I believe we probably teach more in the classroom that are basic life skills
for students' futures in yearbook class than any other class. We teach marketing via sales, billing, etc.; teamwork; respect for other's opinions;
journalism (which helps them sharpen their skills in English); encourage creativity; photography; responsibility (which is a mega achievement with
teenagers).
Also, when students are out selling, they learn about working with the public, facing rejection when they don't make a sale and
dealing with it. On top of all that, they must learn how to be positive in all circumstances, whether it be lost pages, lost sales, pictures that didn't
turn out, etc. They learn to submit to authority when the administration is not cooperative (something advisers learn early on).
I know there is much more than this, but just think about when we take on a new class every school year and we are starting from
scratch. It's amazing what these students can do and what they learn by the end of the school year.”
“I was asked to do this for all the other 56 things I sponsor around here last year. I found it was easiest by far to do a month-by-month run
down of the big things I do each month. If it overlapped into several (or all) of the months, I just put it down multiple times. If it's a job description
for herself, as long as it's accurate in regard what she actually does, it should be hard to do wrong.”
Lastly, one very smart adviser sent along a funny but very topical copy of an article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper. It is attached. It gives you
a whole new take on job descriptions. Thanks to them and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 12—- Job descriptions for your entire yearbook staff.
When I asked a week or so ago for job descriptions, one adviser sent me the attached with this in the body of the e-mail.
“Maybe she could modify this document (attached) so that it reflects all of the work that the advisor does. She might even simply type:
"I OVERSEE ALL OF THIS" at the top and hand it in!”
I couldn’t agree more!
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 13—- A very hot tip for YTO users.
In case you had not heard yet (just wait until you see the April Premier issue of YourBook) you are going to be able to save templates and pictures from
your 2007 yearbook to go in your 2008 yearbook. WOW!
So, how about we begin saving templates and images now for next year!
Templates
Any template saved in the "My Templates" folder will be moved over to the 2008 site on June 1 for Spring schools and August 1 for CY schools.
Up to 100 templates can be saved and moved.
We will move them in order newest to oldest up to 100 templates.
Advisers should clean out their "My Templates" folder and delete those they don’t want to save. They should also add any templates they want to save
that aren’t already there.
The templates and text will carry over, but any images appearing on the template will not.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 14—- How to save your YTO images.
As we mentioned in yesterday’s tip, you will now have the ability to save up to 200 images (pictures) from one year to the next. Here’s how:
Advisers will need to create a folder named "Jostens 2008" in their Image Library and then drag all images they want to save into that folder. They can set
up subfolders within the Jostens 2008 folder to organize their images. Subfolders will be carried over as well.
We will also carry over any image folders named "Ads", "Staff", or "Faculty". These images will count toward the 200 total images. When the carryover
occurs, these folders will become subfolders of the Jostens 2008 folder on the 2008 site.
The carryover will occur on June 1 for Spring schools and August 1 for CY schools.
The carryover for templates and images will only happen once.
Get started today!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 15—- A daily digital photography tip.
With all the tips I send you I hope you aren’t “tipped-out.” I love tips. I subscribe to a bunch via e-mail and read others every day on the web. Recently I
came across a great site for a daily photo tip. And it is FREE! Check it out at http://dailyphototips.blogspot.com/
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 16—- A little something for InDesign and PageMaker users.
Since earlier this week we did two tips for YTO folks, here is a great font changing tip for InDesign and PageMaker users.
Find and Change Fonts
Both InDesign and PageMaker have the ability to find and change fonts on your pages. This is especially useful if you wish to change fonts on Page Surfer
designs. Follow the steps below:
InDesign
You can replace any font with any other font available on your system. To find and replace fonts in your file:
1. Choose Type > Find Font.
2. Select the font name in the Fonts in Document list.
3. To replace a font, select the new font you want to use from the Replace With list.
4. Do one of the following:
5. Click Change to change just one occurrence of the selected font.
6. Click Change/Find to change the font in that occurrence then find the next instance.
7. Click Change All to change all instances of the font selected in the list.
8. Click Done.
PageMaker
To find and replace fonts in your file:
1. Click an insertion point in a story, or select a range of text if you want to limit your changes to that section.
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2.
3.
4.
5.
Choose Edit > Edit Story.
Choose the Utilities > Change command.
Click the Char Attributes button.
In the next dialog box, under the Find what dropdown choose the font you wish to replace. Under the Change to dropdown select the font you wish
to replace this font with. If you want to change all instances of this font, choose Any under Size. Click OK.
6. Do not enter text into the Find What or Change To area. Under Search Document, choose Current Publication and then select a radio button under
Search Story to search only the Selected text, the Current story or All stories. If you want to replace all instances of this font on the layout, choose All
stories.
7. Click Find. Choose one of the options below:
Change replaces the found text or text format with the revised text or text format. To repeat the search, select Find Next.
Change & Find replaces the found text or text format with the revised text or text format and then searches for the next occurrence. Change All
searches for and replaces all occurrences of the found text or text format.
8. When finished, click the X to close the Change dialog box.
9. Exit Story Editor by choosing Edit Layout from the Edit menu.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 19—- A job description for a Yearbook Business Manager.
One of you fine folks mentioned that with all the stuff I had sent you over the last year about Yearbook Business Managers (YBM) and how important they
are that they were not in the yearbook job descriptions I sent you earlier this month. So here is a job description for a YBM. I know I am missing something
so if your YBM does other things, please let me know.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
General duties
Set goals with adviser regarding revenue from yearbook, advertising and personalization sales.
Work with the adviser and school bookkeeper to to establish and maintain a balanced budget.
Conduct research to uncover the wants and needs of potential buyers and advertisers.
Use the Selling Tools on Yearbook Avenue to create a process/system to track yearbook and advertising sales as well as sales of any additional
yearbook optional items.
15. Book sales
16. Plans yearbook sales campaign.
17. Conduct in-school yearbook marketing and book sales
18. Tracks book sales on Yearbook Avenue.
19. Follows up with non-buyers in many areas.
20. Collects, organizes and reports all sales data using ItPays on YBA.
21. Enters data into ItPays and prints records.
22. Establishes procedure for book distribution (alphabetic/by class/homeroom/how and where to sell extra books and to answer questions).
23. Plans and stages book distribution event.
ADVERTISING MANAGER
24. Establishes ad sales guidelines; works with adviser and editor to determine ad sizes and rates.
25. Uses previous year’s ad section to divide sales leads among staffers; assigns additional businesses as sales prospects.
26. Collects, organizes and reports all sales data.
27. Designs Advertising section of the yearbook.
28. Uses the ItPays program to track advertisers.
29. Establishes a method for providing receipts and thanking advertisers.
30. Researches, understands, and creates ad sectional design to meet staff requirements.
Now I know there may be more so send your ideas.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 20—- Help for an adviser who shares their staff.
I thought I heard just about every configuration of yearbook class and staff but this one is new to me. I got this note from a fellow rep yesterday asking me
for help. Here is what the rep told me:
I could use some advice for an adviser at one of my schools. It is a private “Prep” school that for the past several years had two parents who did the yearbook pretty much on their own. Their son graduated, and the yearbook is back in it’s rightful home, the school! There is a great adviser who has a staff, a
class period and a computer lab! Here’s the problem – he shares that class period, staff and computer lab with the newspaper. It is one class, two advisers,
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two publications, vying for the attention of one set of kids! See his note below.
“Once this is complete I could use some advice on next year. Specifically what I can do to support the class to get the deadlines on time. As you
are aware our class has two functions the newspaper and the yearbook. I find that most of the resources are monopolized by the newspaper and I
need to change this. If you have any experience in this regard or have any tid bits of wisdom to share with me you know I will be greatly appreciative.”
How about that. Any ideas I can pass along to my friend. This one is truly different but I bet that someone out there has a solution.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 21—- A great tip for those doing their yearbooks with YearTech Online.
Need more photos to complete your book?
It takes a lot of pictures to put together a great yearbook. Setting up a Community Photo Site allows parents, students and other members of the community to submit photos for possible use in the yearbook. It’s like having hundreds of additional photographers on staff!
Setting up your site on Jostens Yearbook Avenue is free and easy. To set up your site, go to the Plan menu and select Community Photo Site. There you
specify a start and stop date for the site and select a password. Next, distribute the web address, user ID, and the password to those groups and individuals you would like to submit photos. (Note: The web address you supply to the community won’t take them to your Yearbook Avenue site, but to a special
site where they can upload photos for your book.)
Once uploaded, the photos appear in the Community Inbox and you decide if they should be added to the Image Library.
Keep an eye on image count
As you add new photos, you’ll want to keep a close eye on the number of images already in your library. To get a status on the maximum number of images allowed versus how many are currently in the library, click on the Image Library tab at the bottom left of your Yearbook Avenue Home Page.
Keep in mind that you can delete images from the library at any time. That includes staff uploaded images and Jostens uploaded images. The only time
you cannot delete an image is if it has been used on a page. Keeping only those images you plan to use will make it easier to navigate the site and make
room for new images.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 22—- Saving your guides in InDesign.
I thought since yesterday’s tip was for YearTech Online users I would throw in something today for those of you using InDesign. Did you know you can
build guide libraries?
You can save a page's guides by selecting them and choosing Add Item from the Library's palette menu or by clicking the New Item button at the bottom
of the palette. Then, when you want to use the same set of guides on another page, simply select it in the Library and choose Place Item(s) in the palette
menu. This places the same guides, in the same positions, on the new page. You can't add to or place guides from a Library using drag and drop. Very cool!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 23—-A very cool student ad section.
Early last week a fellow rep sent me this note because she knows I send out these tips to you fine folks:
“One of my best advisers gave me this great ad idea to share. They sold ad space to students only. The students could fill in the space using
black ink. They could send a message to their friends or just make it an art statement. They had to use black ink as the book was not color then.
With color books, students could use colored ink to create a life-long masterpiece. Ads could be placed on ad pages or through out the book. I have
attached 7 pages to look at. You will find yourself reading each one out of curiosity. Imagine the students seeing these in the book for the first time!
WOW! This is a GREAT idea!”
I loved the idea. As you can see it is very cool but I had a concern/question. This is what I wrote back to her:
I went over the pages and I have a question before I send this out. How much time does she have to spend proofing this? For instance, look at the fourth
page, bottom left. I would worry a bunch about what might be in there. Double meaning jokes, libelous false light situations and/or obscenity. I just see a
bunch of problems inherent in this. I kind of get the idea that they have been doing it for awhile. If that is the case, has she had any problems?
My rep friend got back to me right away. She said:
“She does have to carefully proof just like captions and stories. There could easily be said that yearbook has the right to refuse anything that
is inappropriate or against school policy. The school sets the rules.”
So I pass them on to you with that warning. They are a super idea but if you do them, proof them beyond belief.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 26—- Answers for the adviser who has to share their class and staff
As usual you great people out there in yearbookland came through with some dynamite suggestions for the adviser who found themselves sharing a
staff/class with a newspaper adviser. I got so many great ones, it will take a couple of days to get through them all but I will space them out over this
week. Plus I have another request for help for you later in the week as well. Here are the first couple of responses:
“At our school I had both classes combined. However, I separated the students into two staffs with little crossover. The crossover kids wrote copy
and took pictures. The "leadership" kids stuck with one publication and learned that style of layout, editing, etc...I can't imagine it with two advisers.
Maybe the days of the week could alternate work on each publication?”
“First of all, you need to make it clear to the newspaper sponsor that the yearbook needs an equal amount of time on the computers. (One way to do it is to have a set time slot each day for each staff. Ring a bell and the staff that’s “on” gets off and the other takes over.
Another way: use alternate days, with one week the newspaper having M, W, F and the next week T, Th.). Naturally, once the equality factor has
been established, you and the newspaper sponsor need to sit down and work out some deadline schedules that mesh. If you use the dates the plant
has set up as a guide, you can “back up” from there. A good practice is to do the things early that can be done early and give more “rewrite time” to
the things that need to go in later. It will take some careful planning, but it can be done. [Although I haven’t had the two the same period I advised
both publications; we shared the same three computers and made it work!]”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 27—- Does anyone have a photo assignment sheet that works
I have a school struggling with how to assign photos to photographers and other staffers and keep them on task until those pictures are done. Does
anyone out there have a system as well as a sheet/form that works? I would greatly appreciate having a copy to share.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 28—- A great thing to be thinking about for fall 2007—Senior Portraits.
This would be a GREAT time to start some major planning for next year. And you are likely going to be getting information to your parents of '08 Seniors
(currently Juniors) regarding your need for their student's photo.
One highly successful idea that one of you fine folks shared with me is to offer something like what follows.
“Announcement to Juniors and their parents this spring: Submit Senior photos digitally in as HIGH resolution as possible to (who)
(where) by the DEADLINE: October 1 If you would like, the yearbook staff will take one senior photo for you— FREE of charge! Come
to (where) before school, M-F. A yearbook photographer will photograph you for the yearbook.
As a service for you, the yearbook photographer can take 5 poses of you to have on a CD for your own use for $25. (fundraiser for yearbook budget)”
Pretty cool idea, don’t you think?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 29—- More answers for the adviser who has to share their class and staff
Here are a few more answers for the adviser (and maybe you) who shares a staff with the newspaper:
“We addressed this problem two years ago. My situation, as you know, is having both classes in one during seminar and having some of the
kids in both NP and YB, some kids in only YB, and some only in NP - and then having some every other day. Trying to teach in this way can become
very frustrating to say the least. What was suggested to me was flip/flop between classes. NP - Monday, YB - Tuesday, NP - Wednesday, YB - Thursday, NP - Friday, and then the next week that flips to YB - Monday, NP - Tuesday, and so on. If school is delayed or cancelled to mess up the schedule,
it just goes by whatever class was held last, it would be the other class' day next. Another would be similar to the above situation, but one could
hold NP two days of the week (e.g. Monday and Thursday) and YB the other two days (Tuesday and Friday). Then they, the two advisers, could
leave the last day, Wednesday, as a workshop day for the students and their day to get help from their advisers. You could try either of the above or
hold NP the first half of the hour and YB the last half of the hour. That way both teachers/classes get equal time every day.”
“We have had that issue at our school too - mainly because it is such a small school. I used to have to do both newspaper and annual at
the same time. Generally, we alternated weeks. Now...We have annual for first semester, and newspaper for 2nd. It means that I have to do all of the
spring sports myself, or...as has happened for the past couple of years, I have been able to keep on a member or two of the annual class as TA's for
second semester and they finish up the book. Occasionally I will also have some students in newspaper that were in annual, and they are willing to
complete some of the annual pages after school or during their newspaper time, but after they have completed their newspaper deadlines. The one
year we did them both at the same time I was nearly tearing my hair out because the deadlines were so different and the products weren't anything
alike – in spite of what my principal thought! It can work, but it is a tremendous amount of work. Be sure you are getting some sort of stipend to
cover all of the out-of-class time both of these publications require.”
“I did that for many years: school paper and yearbook. One of the advantages was that we only chased stories once. If a reporter for the
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newspaper covered a concert, the yearbook staff could use that info (re-written and adapted, of course). Better yet, the yearbook staff could focus
on design and photography and technology and the reporters could do the research and the writing (writing for the paper and then adapting their
info for the yearbook-for example, at the end of a sport's season, the newspaper reporter could write a summary/highlight piece for the yearbook.
The problem eventually, was sharing computers. If your media center has laptops that can be checked out, that problem somewhat solves itself. If
not, work with the administration to get the needed technology. If they want a yearbook, they must provide the means (they buy test tube for the
science labs and hammers for the shop class, etc., etc. Last resort, fund raise to buy computers. Been there, done th at...don't recommend it.”
These three are great but we will wind up the topic next week with my favorite.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for March 30—- How backed up are you? If you use InDesign probably not enough!
This tip has nothing to do with how stressed out you are. It has everything to do with how much more stressed you could become? How backed up are
your computer files. Just yesterday (with a final deadline on Monday) a school called me to say that their entire YearTech 2007 folder was gone from their
server. During the night on Wednesday the schools tech services person was supposedly backing up the server when they accidentally erased it. ERASED
IT? Yes, erased it. And when they did, there went their entire final deadline. All the digital pictures, all the pages, everything. Not to mention the proof
corrections and previous deadline folders as well.
Somewhat luckily for them, the school tech services person had made a backup of the server. But unfortunately, it was a full week old. So they got back
almost everything up to a week ago. Now think how much work you do on a deadline in the final week before it is due. Some pages had to be totally
remade and some photo were lost for good and had to be retaken. Unfortunately, all their prom pictures were on the server since Prom was last weekend
and they no longer exist. It’s kind of hard to restage Prom so that probably won’t make the yearbook this year. The saddest part of that was that the school
had rescheduled Prom to three weeks earlier than usual this year to get it in the yearbook.
So what does this mean for you? Am I just trying to scare you? Kind of. If you use YearTech Online, you should be a lot less scared because this school was
an InDesign school. If they had been YTO then everything but their photos would have been safe and if they had uploaded those they would have been
fine too. Our servers back themselves up automatically on a constant basis so the chances of us losing anything of yours are miniscule to none!
But if you produce your yearbook using InDesign what I would really like you to do today is twofold. First, contact your tech services person and find out
what they do for backup. How often do they backup? Is it automatic or does someone have to do it.
Second, try to come up with your own back up strategy and stick to it. For instance, buy an external hard drive and copy your entire YT2007 folder to it just
before you go home every night. Or if you can, just copy it to your internal—Cdrive. Anything so you have a ready backup if something like this happens.
Yearbook Tips of the Day for April 2007
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 2, 2007—- One of the coolest yearbook sales ideas
Yesterday I got an e-mail from another Jostens rep who has a school that came up with a SUPER marketing idea to sell any yearbooks they still have left.
Check this out. VERY COOL!
“I worked with a school on a marketing plan to build buzz about the yearbook and came up with an idea that has worked great for
two schools so far.
Based on the TV show, HEROS, create signs titled ARE YOU ON THE LIST? with the names of all students who have bought a yearbook.
One school put signs all over that just said ARE YOU ON THE LIST? that they left up for a week with no explanation. They also put up signs
that said 32% OF GRADE A ARE ON THE LIST that they did for every grade. The next week they put partial lists of names all around the school so that
students had to check all lists to see if their name was on it. The advisor said that the unknown for the students created discussions throughout the
school wondering what the list was and how to get on it.
Another school who tried this had students asking about the sign before they were finished writing all the names on the poster. This
advisor said they sold 5 books that day before the poster even hit the wall! Wow!
Then create additional posters titled SAVE YOUR MEMORIES, SAVE YOUR WORLD BUY A YEARBOOK AND BE ON THE LIST.
Just an idea that seems to create the needed buzz for those last minute sales.”
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 3, 2007—- Remember the guy with the sword.
Remember back in February I sent you all a tip asking for your opinion on a senior who wanted to pose in his suit of armor with a sword for his senior pic? I
got a ton of responses on that one. Well just yesterday I got this from a friend. Here is what the final shakeout of this whole thing was.
Rhode Island district adopts restrictive yearbook policy <http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/gtcYjZtLBnofAVCibutPBmtr> Some Rhode Island high school seniors
will now be prohibited from submitting yearbook photos in which they pose with any objects, after one Portsmouth student went to court for the right to
pose while wearing armor and carrying a prop sword. Patrick Agin, a fan of the Middle Ages, dressed in costume for his senior portrait last fall, and after
his photo was rejected, he sued. The state education commissioner sided with Agin, and the district agreed to include Agin's yearbook photo. The Boston
Globe/Associated Press <http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/gtcYjZtLBnofAVCibutPBmtr>
I guess it pays to have a policy in place prior to asking for yearbook picture submissions of any kind. Do you have one?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 4, 2007—- Let’s look at your April issue of YourBook
By now you should have what I like to call the Exclamation Point issue of YourBook in your hands. This is one you have to read. It is our annual Premier
issue. All the great stuff that those incredible marketing folks at Jostens have come up with to help you make your 2008 yearbook the best ever. So grab
your copy and let’s take a tour.
On page two you will find a new program called Jostens Ad Service Program. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could have a bunch of pages in your yearbook done
by us? No work by you. Well now you can. We would be happy to (at least for YearTech Online schools) let your parents by student ads, lay them out online
and have them inserted right into your yearbook. Now the program is so much more than what I could write in that one sentence but you just have to go
read all about it on page 2. More on the April issue tomorrow.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 5, 2007—- Take look at MORE of the April issue of YourBook.
Hopefully you got a chance to look at the new Jostens Ad Service Program on page two. And we bet if you did that you kept right on reading and finished
the whole thing, reading everything that applied to your school and your yearbook.
For instance, if you use InDesign to create your yearbook, then check out page three where you will find all the new features in Jostens YearTech 2008
including (but not limited to) Writer’s Block, Virtual Book, a new file structure, improved Picture Placer, improved Page Wizard and a whole lot more. Plus
you’ll find a blurb about our new Digital Photography Curriculum that you will hear more about later in the spring.
If you use YearTech Online (YTO) then you will want to flip to pages 6 & 7 where you will find a complete description of the absolute best online method
of producing a yearbook ever. If you thought there were improvements last year when we introduced YearTech Online 2.0, you haven’t seen anything
yet. Great new features including, photo and art rotation, new shapes for art and pictures, the ability to spell check student names easily, secret pages,
Click’n’Go (moved from regular YearTech to YTO), designing endsheets online, recent colors and the ability to save templates and photos from this year to
next year. And that’s not all. But you’ll just have to go read it to get all the details.
WOW! That’s a lot of stuff we have looked at so far. So now that you are done reading all about YearTech, YTO, Jostens Ad Service and all the other great
stuff it’s time to post that centerfold poster. Now we fully realize that the poster has all the Jostens studio designed covers on it and many of you do your
own cover. That’s not the only reason to post it. Those covers were done by professional artists. Really good professional artists. And even if you do your
own custom cover, there are lots of great ideas that you can steal (and since we did them, it’s OK to steal from us) and incorporate into your own cover,
endsheets or interior theme pages. So put it up on the wall and start talking about it. Let those idea flow!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 6, 2007—- An InDesign Contest Reminder
Now is a good time to select your creative 2007 yearbook spreads and enter them in the Jostens/Adobe Yearbook Design Contest. All entries must be
postmarked no later than April 27, 2007. The Grand Prize winner receives a laptop computer and the newest version of Adobe Creative Suite! Check out
the link from Adobe's site below:
http://www.adobe.com/education/products/indesign/index.html
For the official rules visit http://www.jostens.com/yearbook/showadobeindesigncontest.asp or open the attached PDF file.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 9, 2007—- Final exams anyone?
Just yesterday an adviser e-mailed me this request:
“Do you have any good stuff for yearbook classes final exam? We are a spring delivery school wrapping up production soon.”
Any neat year end projects.
Of course I told him to check out all the past tips of the day from the last two years concerning what to do after your yearbook is done. But then I started
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looking and I could not find that I had ever had a yearbook final exam. Do you any of you have such a creature? If you do,could you send me a copy.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 10, 2007—- Photo assignment sheets.
The last week of March I put out a call for photo assignment sheets. I was looking for something new and different or a better way to handle photo
assignments. I got back a bunch of great answers and thought I would share them with you. Here are the first couple and I will send you more later in the
week.
“SO here's my sheet. It probably helps me more than them. But I fill in due dates and we keep it in a binder and the students are supposed to check
in the binder each class for changes etc.”
“I attached my photo outline. I passed this around. I have to remind people constantly....keeping track of photography and begging for photos
seems to be a huge part of my job.
Not to mention the people constantly asking for them. *sigh* “
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 11, 2007—- Spring Delivery vs Fall Delivery, a request.
Here comes another request. Yesterday I got this from one of my fairly new (second year) advisers. I suppose I should mention for those of you who are
new to yearbooks that some schools get their yearbooks in May/June (Spring Delivery) and some get them in August/September (Fall Delivery). If you do
one and you did not know the other existed, you probably think we are nuts. But the viewpoints on this vary widely.
“Our new superintendent doesn't understand why we have a spring delivery, and is demanding that I survey students about what type of delivery they
want. Even though I know the answer (they will say Fall delivery), I still have to survey them. Do you know where I can find a chart that shows the pros
and cons both types? I don't want to reinvent the wheel if I don't have to.”
Does anyone out there have such a chart? Have you done this comparison before. Or maybe tell me why you like what you are doing better than the other
alternative.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 12, 2007—- More photo assignment sheets.
You folks are always so wonderful about sending in stuff that I get so much good stuff I just have to pass it on. Here is a solution without a form.
“All of my students are required to go to one event (not their current assignment) every 3 weeks and obtain 20 USABLE pictures. It is
a grade just like any other deadline. I make a list for each 3 week period of available activities, then they draw numbers to determine the order they
sign up for the events. This way has worked pretty well to ensure that there is an abundance of good pictures because there is not just one person
taking pictures of any sport. I found that making them sign up all at the same time is more effective than just allowing them to get it done themselves some time over the 3 week period. When I gave them more free reign, we ended up with a lot of zeros (and complaining about their report
card grade) on the assignments and not enough pictures.”
And here is another from one of my favorite long-time advisers.
“Everyone on staff must shoot a minimum of 5 photo shoots per quarter. Every Monday they sign up for the activities that are scheduled
for the week. If students have needs for their pages such as classroom shots, they may add them to the list of things that could be shot. If something out of the ordinary comes up, they may grab the camera for the photo shoot ( such as an unexpected fire drill during 10 degree weather) and
get a photo op that way. I keep track every week in my gradebook as they must list their photo shoot on the calendar that is posted in the front of
the classroom. If it's not listed, there are no points awarded. It's a great device as it makes the student accountable. “
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 13, 2007—- A few more answers for the adviser who shared his yearbook staff, including my favorite
The last week of March I put a call out for solutions for a yearbook adviser who shared his class with a newspaper adviser. We sent out some of the
answers earlier but I never got around to sending my favorite. So here are a few more and my favorite on the bottom.
“This is what I will be doing eventually. And...added on top is the upkeep of the web page. My advice would be to #1 be able to pick the kids
for the class, #2 Yearbook always comes first, #3 Schedule the first newspaper for December or January #4 Student aides, student aides, student
aides......train the kids to help you keep the computers healthy....to make phone calls......and to keep up with deadlines (if you spend the time to
train properly they will make your life SO MUCH easier) #5 Yearbook/Web Page/Journalism is really not one period train aides throughout the day
that can pick up the slack for you (this year I have trained 15 other students) #6 Consider having a weekly photo club that meets in the morning...
really map out where and when to take pictures and schedule..schedule...schedule....and finally always have lots of caffeine on hand”
“How large is the staff? Could they be divided? If not, surely there is overlap among staff positions. For example, the sports writer for the newsJostens Yearbook Tips of the Day
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paper should be the same person as the sports editor for the yearbook; the old "kill two birds with one stone" approach. If they have an entire class
period each day, class time should be divided between the paper and the yearbook; rotate every-other-day. As far as meeting deadlines, I basically
layout, design pages, photograph ( a large portion), write copy, edit, and submit our entire book myself, and I meet all the deadlines. This adviser
might have to consider putting in a little extra-curricular time on the yearbook to ensure everything is done in a timely manner. My point is, if I can
do it, anyone can!”
“Hmm... I had a similar situation years ago. I taught newspaper and yearbook during the same class period in the same classroom. I used a large
wooden room divider and kept the deadlines on different weeks. A couple of the students were on both staffs and they helped keep both staffs
excited about their duties, although there was a certain amount of jealousy between staffs. They shared photos (with the couple students who were
on both staffs dividing them up with my advice.) It was NOT a good situation but we survived it for two years until the administration finally understood that I had to have separate periods for each staff. These advisers need to sit down and come up with a computer lab schedule that separates
the staffs. They need to schedule their deadlines to work with this lab schedule. They should talk about what they can do to share resources, keeping
in mind that the yearbook costs and generates much more revenue and is more "permanent." There are plenty of things that need to be taught on
the days that the staffs are not on the computers and in production. Some of my best and happiest years as a teacher were when I taught both
publications!”
“I would give the administration a few poignant visuals that they can relate to,such as: putting all the administrators in the same
office to share the space while they all conduct separate interviews, or: having the financial department share the same computer
with the principal’s secretary or administrative assistant. This situation is not workable; they need to separate the classes time wise, so that
they can each have the computers, the workspace and the time and atmosphere need to think.
PS. Add to the analogies that the principal also teaches PE the only period he is available to administrate.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 16, 2007—- A question that hasn’t come up before.
It isn’t often that I get a question from one of you fine folks that hasn’t come up before. We have had all kinds of questions about how to recruit your
yearbook staff (applications, contracts, parent permission, etc.) but nothing like this. An adviser out there would like to know:
How do you pick your editor in chief? What criteria do you look for? How do you feel about co-editors? More than two? Is it OK to go make someone editor
who has no yearbook experience but is a great leader? Especially if there are returning staff members who are not editorial material? How do you handle
that?
All good questions and I promised to send it out to all of you.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 17, 2007—- Special for next year’s Seniors
One of you wonderful folks sent me a handout that you are passing out to your Seniors prior to the end of the school year. THANK YOU! What a great idea.
It reminds them of all the things that being a senior will mean to them when it comes to yearbooks; Senior pics, Grad Ads, Yearbook sales and more. And
not only that but she included an InDesign file as well as a PDF so you can create your own. How great is that! Enjoy!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 18, 2007—- Spring vs Fall delivery
Last week I asked for your viewpoints on which is better; Spring or Fall delivery for yearbooks. It appears that people are as divided on this as they are on
Macs vs PCs. But I sure did get a super bunch of responses. Here are some of the best. The first adviser went above and beyond with a complete pro and
con approach.
“Spring vs Fall Delivery
Pros to a Spring Delivery:
31. Increased sales, increased readership, increased revenue
32. Students see the immediate impact of their labor (granted not as immediate as newspaper, but the book arrives before they graduate and they
receive credit,and at times blame, for their work)
33. Able to teach discipline and promote self-discipline through setting and meeting deadlines
34. Ownership of book for all students
35. Current yearbook available for potential parents/students when they visit school
Cons to a Spring Delivery:
36. What to do with Spring sports, prom, graduation, spring play, etc (only 1 year in 14 have I missed completing a supplement)
37. What to have students do in spring semester class since work is completed by late Feb which is mid-term of the the first 9 weeks of second
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semester (these are only two issues I have encountered)
Pros to a Fall Delivery
38. All activities can be published in one volume
Cons to a Fall Delivery:
39. Not available for current graduating class
40. Decreased sales
41. Not as much interest”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 19, 2007—- More on Spring vs Fall delivery.
Here are a few more responses I got about Spring vs Fall delivery. Thanks for sending them my way. I am sure this will help the original adviser who was
asked by her principal to come up with why they do a Spring delivery book.
“I don't have a chart for the pros and cons of delivery but I do know that when I've discussed this with my students they always want
a spring delivery so THEY CAN HAVE THE BOOK SIGNED! We have two signing/distribution events in the spring (one for Seniors and one for
underclass - we also have a large school) and the kids love it because they can get their autographs easily. The teachers love it because there is no
disruption to classes. We save money by having a spring distribution because Seniors get their books prior to graduation, which means we don't
have to mail them in the fall once they're gone. The only benefit I can see of a fall delivery is more time to complete it and the ability to include spring
sports.”
Here is a response from an adviser who switched from Fall to Spring this year.
“Well, we just switched to a spring delivery for the first time. What you need to ask is, "why do the students want a fall delivery?" If they
want Prom, Spring Sports, etc, then offer an "insert" as a fall follow-up. Also, remind them, especially seniors, that to capture the emotions of the
year in autographs, a spring yearbook is absolutely essential. As the advisor of a school who has just switched from a fall release, I can tell you that
many seniors don't care about the book by the following year because they're off in new worlds. Many don't even come back for the yearbook that
they've paid for until years later, or not at all.
More importantly, the student body has really responded positively to the idea, we have already sold more books than we did at
this time last year, and the potential staff enrollment for next year's yearbook-class is through the roof.
On the other hand, deadlines are a breeze for the fall release, so if your boss wants to make your job easier, maybe you should let
him (or her). Just warn them not to be surprised when your sales drop, and your shelves fill up with paid for and un-sold extras.”
And one last one for today from another adviser that just made the switch.
“Having just switched from a fall delivery to spring I am familiar with the question. My very selfish motivation was that it is so nice to
have it finished before the year is over but, more importantly, the energy of the publication changes simply because of the delivery date. Passing
out the books in the spring gives the students the opportunity to look through the past year and sign each others books—not to mention a great
marketing ploy. For us it was the signatures that tipped the scales. All of my high school yearbooks are covered with notes and messages for the
summer or for the following years. Many of our students came from schools where spring delivery was also the tradition and they too missed the
signatures and messages.However, the decision wasn't without compromise. Our staff chose to include a spring supplement with a fall delivery to
make sure the prom, graduations, and spring time events weren't excluded. So far so good and I am thrilled to have this time to organize next year's
ladder and layouts.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 20, 2007—- A great answer for organizing photography
Last week I sent out what I thought was the last of the tips on photo assignment sheets but this one came in after I printed the responses and I really liked
what this adviser has going so I decided to pass it on.
“I’ve found that just printing up weekly calendars using Outlook has helped us keep track of photographic events (as well as who
needs to use one of our digital cameras). I keep them in their own binder. We can look at it daily and make sure to remind those who have
obligations as well as get someone to cover an event. It’s not foolproof, but it has helped us a lot.
In that binder, we also keep a sheet showing who signed out the digital cameras, what they took pictures of, and what the filename
is on our photo computer so we can find the pics. We use the other sheet to keep track of which pictures have been actually used.”
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 23, 2007—- Focusing on Staff recognition.
As the end of the school year is almost upon us, I think it is a great time to start looking at staff recognition. After all, your kids have worked hard all year
and the book that is either about to arrive or almost done is going to OUTSTANDING! For the next three days let’s focus on how you might recognize their
accomplishments.
Give each student an award. If you have a small staff, this should be easy. Award ideas: creative caption writer, deadline achiever, leadership award, best
attitude, most thorough, design diva/dude, most reliable, best photographer, etc. If you have a large staff, maybe you also throw in some silly ones that
the staff will appreciate. There are only so many best/most categories. The important thing is that everyone feels special and recognized for their efforts.
You could go to the dollar star and get fun little prizes to go with each of these. Invite other people to be involved with the awards (administration?), and
have administration congratulate the kids too. You could even take this a step farther, and do an awards banquet one evening, and invite parents too.
Sports teams do this… why can’t yearbook? Sports celebrate one season – yearbook has three full seasons to celebrate (in some cases four)!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 24, 2007—-Make them famous.
I know a yearbook staff who takes a yearbook staff photo each year, blows it up to at least 8 x 10 inches, and posts it in the yearbook room. You can start
doing this each year, and it can become a tradition. Kids look forward to going on the yearbook wall, where they will always be remembered. Maybe
you take a photo that has to do with your theme (so if you did “007” maybe everyone does a James Bond pose), or maybe you do a mini-field trip and
go somewhere scenic to take your photo. Once it is printed, you could also have everyone sign it before it gets posted on the wall. You can print smaller
versions for each of the students so they have it to keep.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 25, 2007—- Pin ‘em
A really cool idea is to give them letterman’s pins. Many schools now give academic letters for yearbook. You can give them a pin whether you do or not.
If you would like letterman pins, we have pins available on your website that you can order for this. There are a few different options: staff, journalism,
editor, photographer, business manager, etc. To get these, you want to click on the link that says order supplies, and you’ll find these under educational
materials.
What about ordering special staff t-shirts? Lynnwood High School does this every year, and they get t-shirts that have to do with their theme. Then
the staffers wear them to the distribution party. Everyone there knows that they are special, on staff, and the people responsible for putting the book
together (t-shirts can also be fun to do at the beginning of the school year).
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 26, 2007—- Don’t forget others who have helped.
This is also the time of year to recognize those in the building and in the community who helped with the yearbook. Did specific parents help contribute
photos? Were certain teachers really understanding about your editorial staff always being late to their class? Did a counselor help identify kids in photos?
Did the photo teacher contribute photos, or did the FBLA adviser take on your book campaign? Did a language arts teacher proof read your pages before
you submitted them? A simple thank you note would probably mean a lot to them. Or even better, create a certificate of appreciation that you can present
to them at the yearbook distribution assembly. You are having a yearbook distribution assembly aren’t you?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 27, 2007—- Another response on the Spring delivery vs Fall Delivery.
We had a whole bunch of advisers chime in with their views in favor of Spring Delivery. Here’s one adviser who loves Fall Delivery and does a great job of
telling us why.
“We enjoy having only the one school year in our book. It also allows us to put Graduation in the book for the seniors. With us being a K-5
through 12 school, we put a lot of emphasis on our graduating seniors. They love having those last days in the book. We have an open house before
school starts each fall. We make a big deal of having the books there to give out. All students are required to be there and the seniors return for one
last blast of glory. The kids love it. They are glad to see the graduates that won’t be returning and the upcoming seniors get their first glimpse of the
spotlight. A big signing goes on while students roam around the gym looking at the different class booths on display. Everybody gets a great start
to the new year by reflecting the old one.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for April 30, 2007—- A request for help with distribution events
One wonderful adviser out there in yearbook land is looking for some help in planning a super distribution event. If you have done a great one in the past,
could you please let us know what you did when you gave out your yearbook? I am looking for any and all ideas. Remember, there are no bad ideas. So
send them all!
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Yearbook Tips of the Day for May 2007
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 1, 2007—- On picking your editor
About a week ago, I asked for your help out there in yearbook land for an adviser who wondered how you choose your editors. Here are the first few
responses I got.
“This is my present dilemma too. Each year is different because the pool of candidates changes. I am going into my philosophical cocoon right
now to decide if the book we produced was of good quality, good staffmenship and also most importantly did it teach editors and staff something
important besides just shoot the shot and get their names on the page. Each year is a large debate, meet and confer with present editors to get some
of these answers and to interview and "hire" next year's editors with a new and revised mission. The under riding current, however, has never been
about the quality of the yearbook, but the quality of the editors and staff. In other words, if the organization is cohesive and driven then the end
product will be something to be proud to hang your hat on. Then the question of the editor choice becomes: 1) who has half a brain and can communicate with students and staff 2) who are the driving forces that want to work together with each other and staff and 3) more importantly aren't
afraid to try new things to make it better.”
Another viewpoint—
“I have my students to submit a letter to me explaining why they would be the best candidate for editor - this shows if they are truly
committed to the job and also gives me a preview of their writing skills. This has worked well for me.”
And one more...
“The "Editor" is one position which I fill myself - and I explain to the students that there will be no questions asked about why. I
worked in the business world for 17 years prior to going into teaching, and I am a good judge of who is and who is not leadership material. Some
years it is a student who has been on staff previously and who knows how to lead. Other years it has been someone who is new to the staff, but has
excellent leadership skills and is already recognized by many of the students as one of "their" leaders. I had one student who was the editor for two
years running because he was so good at it. Another year I had no one - only me - because there were so many followers and several cliques, and
no one who could bring the entire staff together to work for the good of the "company" rather than supporting their own personal agenda. I always
recognize the editor when I list the staff in the yearbook. This year I will also buy my editor a gift card for a pizza parlor because she has been soooo
helpful and soooo good with ALL of the staff...a real gem I wish I could keep for many years. Alas, they do graduate eventually, and now I have to
begin looking for someone for next year.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 2, 2007—- More on picking your editor
This question has generated a bunch of great responses. Here are five more great ones!
“I believe in more than one editor, sharing the load is important (after all to many students yearbook is just a class). I would be hesitant to make a person with no experience the editor. Just this last year, I was very worried about my crop of returning staff members and possible
editors. It took me a long time to decide the positions. The students have totally surprised me with their commitment and have produced the best
book that I have advised so far.”
“I look for my editor from my underclassmen. One of the main qualities which I hae found works for me is if the person seems to be a go-getter.
I do not have to ask for their pages. They always have their pages finished on time and actually works hard to help others. My next editor is a prime
example of this. She always stayed late and helped others even when she did not have a deadline. She has made herself into a leader. This is the
main quality I look for in an editor.”
“Over the years I have had anywhere from 1-3 editors. Sometimes there is that one person who clearly can captain the ship with minimal
assistance. He/she is more than competent with the computer work, is good with design, is a good writer, and is a positive leader in class. Usually,
though, it takes 2-3 people to form that person. We have 3 co-editors this year. I felt that it took some part of each to create the one leader we
needed. One is brilliant with design but a bit too harsh on others, not fostering a happy, classroom feel. One is a great writer and good with design
but is too quiet and avoids confrontation at all costs. She will simply do it over instead of confronting the person responsible for messing it up. She
needs a bit of the umph from the first editor mentioned. The third is able to get along with anyone and is a good writer. She is a good worker bee
who doesn't get too high strung over the details. However, she has no eye for design and doesn't care enough about every detail. They have all been
on staff for three years and have learned their leadership roles well. Having three of them also meant they could tie break on decisions without me
having to get involved with everything. Without all three of them, the book would have been either too cheesy/high school or too journalistic and
no fun. That being said, I have my eye on two rising juniors for next year. They have it all...except the eye for design. We may just have the "design
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team" do that part and the co-editors handle everything else. My point...feel free to change it to fit that school year. It's like a theme...it depends on
the climate of the school that year and the students in the class.”
“I select my editor-in-chief based on the performance of the students in the year prior. I look for very specific things:
Meeting deadlines
Proven dependability
Ability to lead/direct staff members
Ability to command respect
Ability to proofread accurately
Knowledge of the programs/software
Attendance/punctuality
I would never pick a student who hasn’t been on the staff before, no matter how great his/her leadership skills. The staff is unlikely to
respect or pay attention to someone who hasn’t “paid the dues” or is unlikely to know the yearbook program(s). Finally, I have been a yearbook adviser for over 20 years. Three times during these years I’ve had co-editors. It proved to be a mistake each time. I don’t plan on ever doing it again.”
“As I am in Middle school it can be a different picture, they can be reliable one day and then not the next; so here is what I do. I have
them apply for the job - editor - photography, sectional, editorial, whole book. They have to have teacher recommendations and a 3.00 or better
gpa.
Of the people who apply - I usually pare them off, and or swap them around if they say they are interested in more than one area. It
does not pay to depend on ONLY one child to be responsible for SO much.
I also put a disclaimer in the book - all work, images, and editing done by students!!!!! I can't do it all either - especially with 6 preps a
day! “
I got a whole bunch more great responses to these and we will get to those next week.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 3, 2007—- Final Exams for yearbook
Also in the last two weeks an adviser wrote asking if anyone gave “Final Exams” for yearbook. Here is a great response.
“Personally I am not giving a "final" exam. I do have two copies of the yearbook. My class is fairly small, so last week I made up a treasure
hunt for them to go through the new book with. I'm tweaking it out as a fun project for our big unveil in May. I also had my students write an essay
about their involvement with the yearbook, what they accomplished; most proud of, least proud of, what they wish they had done etc. They enjoyed
getting this down on paper.”
Here is another response that came with some great handouts. They are attached.
“I found a great portfolio idea for final exam on the web - I tweeked it for my purposes but can't remember where I found it
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 4, 2007—- A super Photo Composition Handout
One of my wonderful fellow Jostens reps put together an outstanding single sheet on Photo Composition. You know what I mean, how to take great pics.
Nothing technical, just six solid tips with illustrations. It is so good, I had to pass it on to you.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 7, 2007—- More responses on picking your editor
Here are some more great thoughts about choosing an editor. Great topic. Great answers! This will be the last day on this subject so if you have more
thoughts, please send a new question.
“I have always used two co-editors for the book. It's too much to put on just one student, and three co-editors are too apt to two-vs-one power
struggles.
I look for students who have good leadership skills, but I also look for people who know as many parts of the job as possible. How can
they lead a fellow student without any knowledge of what that student is trying to do. Editors for our book are also essentially the lead designers,
choosing the graphic themes for the book, so they need to have some good design skills as well. And they need to be students who are seriously
committed to yearbook staff, because I'll be asking them to sacrifice time outside of school and over the summer. If yearbook is not a particularly
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important part of life for them, they won't be very useful as editors. Part of the year-to-year process, for both advisor and senior staff members, is to
train and groom the future leaders on staff. It's very easy, particularly if you have a large and talented group, to have the seniors do the whole thing
while underclass sit to the side and watch. I make it clear to all section heads that they are also trainers, and I that I will judge their success by how
well their people do.I can't really imagine putting a complete newby in charge of yearbook, no matter how great a leader s/he was. First, so much is
needed in terms of skills and knowledge. Second, the message it sent to the rest of the staff would not exactly inspire loyalty or commitment to the
organization.”
“The editor-in-chief is usually my most dependable and organized returning staffer who has demonstrated leadership and cooperation throughout the year. I usually have co-editors for larger sections but have never had co-chiefs. However, that would be an excellent
resolution for the great leader with no YB experience to be coupled with your most dependable staffer from the current year. Most students realize
their leadership potential—or lack of—and are more than willing to share the responsibility. I do however see a potential problem with the current staffers feeling that they have been "passed over" if the newbie is named as chief. Therefore, I personally would not give that position to a new
staffer to handle solo. A leader will be a leader regardless of the title he/she is given. More than two chiefs?? I see that as an easy way to pass the
buck.”
“Because I have been the advisor for so many years, I often spot a freshman with potential, and I try to give them a wide variety of
tasks over the next several years so she gets the whole picture about running the yearbook class. I've have had juniors become either
assistant editors or co-editors I actually prefer having co-editors, because they can draw on their strengths and compensate for any weak areas. (For
example: One might be good at positively motivating staff, while the other is good at checking for layout details. Another advantage is that if one
is absent, the other one is usually there.) Throughout the year, the current editor, or co-editors, and I keep "an eye out" for a potential candidate(s)
for the next year. Sometimes we've had someone in mind at the beginning of the year. (We don't tell them we are observing them with this in mind,
because on occasion that person has flaked out by the end of the year). Other times we still aren't sure until spring. On rare occasions, someone has
asked how to "apply" for the position. When it's time to approach the person with the job offer, it's done privately (sometimes just me, or just me
and the current editor(s). We emphasize that having "yearbook editor" on a transcripts tells scholarship committees a lot about a person's character.
Unless someone has a strong sense of confidence and enjoys being a leader, most are relieved if we tell them they will be a co-editor. High school
students like having a partner. (Don't we all?)”
“I choose my editor in chief on several criteria (these are in my personal order of importance because I rarely get all of them) : Does
the staff member get his or her assignments in on time? Does he or she pay attention to details? Does he or she put in extra time? Can he
or she work well with others? Does he or she have a flair for writing or design?I would never choose a new staffer as editor in chief. Since editorsin-chief must help others on the staff in addition to completing his or her own tasks, it’s too much for a new person. Even choosing one as a section
editor has its drawbacks, but that’s a possibility if you are absolutely desperate and as long as you know the student is responsible and willing to
learn.I like co-editors if I don’t have a person who is a stand-out. It seems to give the students more confidence and often when one is strong in an
area I can pair him with someone who is strong in another (like a detail person with a big-idea person)”
This one came with attachments. Good ones too!
“Well, I've got lots to say about this. I'm attaching my application packets. I now announce their availability to the entire school. All of my editors this year were new to yearbook, it just requires more input from me to the EIC before she talks to the staff.The previous year I stuck with people
who had been on staff the year before because I was new advisor, but it was horrible. I couldn't depend on any of them. Ideally, an experienced
person would be able to do the job, but I'd rather have someone I could trust than someone who knows about yearbook. I also get recommendations from our English and Photoshop teachers on students they'd recommend and I invite those students to apply.I do point out on the app that
ability to do the job will be considered over experience.
And this last one is rather lengthy but it says a lot of great stuff so here it is as the concluding remarks on this topic.
“Well, over about eight years, I have moved from inheriting a staffing plan to slowly modifying it to something that I think will
work better. It is a work in progress. Since every staff is different, I have found it is not feasible to use canned written "job descriptions," but as
time goes by these are starting to gel and transform.
Our editor-in-chief sort of emerges ahead of the pack. There are always one or two students who I notice are steady, dedicated and skilled
enough to do this very demanding job, so I gradually cultivate them. I start around February by asking the outgoing staffers to start to teach some
possible candidates in special editor's duties - such as prepare to submit, copying and sending lost links, or setting up files and maintaining files of
photos in our technology. Personalities of editor-in-chief can make a difference in how the staff runs. Volatile personalities would be too stressful
for me, but a laid back editor can make life miserable. They must really care that work gets out the door! They must be able to stand up in front of
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the class and organize the assignments. They must be able to lead the class and make everyone do their jobs - willingly, well and on time. I would
never take an unseasoned person for this position. They would have to have pretty decent editing skills and the ability to take over the technology
duties (along with help from other students). I would also look for someone who is going to be honest, responsible, kind, level headed, and supportive of me as the advisor.
In the last couple of years, I have handed out a form with positions listed and asked what they would like to do in the next year. They
can put several options - 1-3 or 1-5 in order of preference. It does not mean they will get any of the positions they select. (Somebody has to be in
charge of indexing.) Applicants have to describe what they did this year and how that went - problems, successes, ways to improve our process on
those pages and duties etc. I also ask them to say why they would be a good candidate for the job(s) they want, what they believe to be the duties
of that job, and what ideas they have for ways to make that a more successful position. Generally, everyone comes back the next year unless they
graduate, so we have about half of our staff to fill with new recruits. This process paves the way to get a vision of what your numbers will be when
selecting newly incoming staffers. (We maintain a large staff of about 27-3l.)
With all this information from returning staff, I meet with the outgoing (senior) management staff to review the requests, our
needs, and to come to a consensus on who should do what jobs. I am always so proud to see how amazingly insightful, fair and firm these
students can be when it comes to decision making processes regarding staffing - and other details as well. They see the inside story of what is going
on and who is sluffing off - something I am not always aware of with all the other things we are doing.
The newly selected management staff then works to sort through new applications and make decision on interviews. I keep the
teacher recommendations pretty vague when discussing this with yearbook managers. Teachers are concerned about damaged relationships with
students, but you really need them to be forthright. Even so, anything said about recommendations - good or bad - is clearly in strictest confidence
among the staff! That's a good policy anyway - what goes on here is in confidence.
We are reorganizing our staffing for next year to include section editors, so I may have to sit with the incoming management staff
to adjust it somewhat. We added "committees" a couple of years ago, and this can be very good way to make sure big jobs get done. One very
useful group is the "Large Group Picture Committee". It is a good place to put some of those students who otherwise would be returning but who are
not really strong management personalities, and this helps insure that we don't leave a group out of the book! (We used to have so many red bands,
grey bands one and two etc that a band seemed to be overlooked every year because the director had some photos taken himself and expected us to
remember all of the others!) Committees can tackle a lot of miscellaneous things such as organizing the large group senior picture, making sure it
gets enlarged and up in the halls before the end of the year, or working with the district to create a promotional booklet for the schools.
The senior managers and I select assistant to the editor in chief - and there are now three. The students feel that this is a good thing to do
since our staffers tend to be very involved in other activities which occasionally pull their energy away from our focus. Others can cover the necessary duties for a short drama or sports season. These assistants to the editor now have jobs as section editors at times, but they are not the only
ones who can be section editors.
Our most challenging issue is the photographic management staff. I have found that it is best to have only one chief for this position!
Something competitive goes on with the positions - maybe because they have less to do in the room and more to do after school hours. This can
leave you with neither one doing what they are supposed to do or taking charge. I once felt that the editor-in-chief was the absolute top manager,
but I am realizing more and more that good photo staff is more critical than I had realized.
Well, this has been quite lengthy and probably more than anyone wanted to know. I am interested to hear how others manage their staffing. Since we just went through our selction processes, this is fresh on my mind.“
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 8, 2007—- A quick question about covering spring sports
Just got this e-mail. Have my own ideas of how to handle it but thought you folks might have a better idea. Please send me your thoughts.
“Question that maybe you can answer or send it around the horn w/ Monday or Tuesday’s “Tip”… We are putting this year’s spring
sports in next year’s book. How are the students supposed to identify athletes and such… do they put this year’s grade or next year’s grade
since it’s going in next year’s book? I’m thinking they put this year’s grade...”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 9, 2007—- Distribution Events
WOW! You guys came through again. Big time! I had an adviser ask me last week for distribution ideas and when I asked you folks to send me yours, it
didn’t rain—it poured! Thank you. Here are the first bunch.
“We do a dedication ceremony every year. We begin by having the gymnasium set up with chairs and a special place for our seniors. The
seniors and the annual staff dress up and really put on a show. This year dimmed the lights and added spotlights to set the mood. We also added
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music that celebrated the "theme" we chose for our book which was a road trip. The music played while the students filed into the gym and as they
left. Then we went through certain parts of our book by reading portions of it and displaying the corresponding "page" on a PowerPoint presentation using a laptop, a lcd projector, and the back wall to our gym (which happens to be white). We announce our theme, read the introduction and
editor's pages, as well as announce our Teacher of the Year, STAR teacher and student, Dedication, and Tribute pages. As we announce, we present
each of these people with their own yearbook and flowers. All the seniors and special "folks" receive not only the book, but also an engraved nameplate that corresponds with out cover. We wrap the seniors' books and announce that they cannot open their books until instructed to do so. The last
announcement is, "Seniors, you may now open your books." Our last slide is a picture of the cover. This year, we did our dedication in the morning, so
only the seniors and the annual staff had their books. By that afternoon, we handed out everyone else's books. It makes it special for the yearbook
staff and the seniors to get their books a little before the others. Everyone said that this was the nicest dedication we have had.
We really like a very formal presentation.”
“We had a great distribution this year. Our theme was Mission 007:Tradition With a Twist. In our book, and in our distribution, we did the
whole James Bond 007 thing up big. The principal allowed us to have an assembly and the kids came into the gym to the sound of the James Bond
theme playing in the background. My kids and I wore black suits, and I wore a fedora while the kids wore their shades. They looked really cool!!!!!!
The person we dedicated the book to was Bill Bonds, so we played that up big - you know, his name is Bonds, Bill Bonds. After the books were
distributed, the students had a little while to sign them, and then we had a reception (food, cake, goodies) in the media center for the yearbook and
teaching staffs after school. It was a great day!!!!!!”
This adviser (in his fourth year) and his staff are certainly having a great time giving out books.
“Here is what we do—
1st year, we had the local police come in with their K-9 unit and have a drug assembly that was real. The assembly was at the end of the
day. Then they announced a drug search of everyone’s lockers so we had all students go stand by their lockers but of course could not open. Then our
principal announced for everyone to open their lockers at the same time and our yearbook staff came over the intercom that yearbooks are here. It
was great. (While all the students were in the assembly, the yearbook staff with administration who had the master key to lockers stuffed all the
lockers. We knew who went where ahead of time.)
Another year we worked with the local fire department to pull the alarm at the beginning of the last period of the day and we went
outside for the fire alarm and of course while the students were standing out there an extra long time – while boxes assigned by
homeroom were being delivered to each homeroom by yearbook members. Then as the fire truck arrived, there was a large banner on the
truck that the yearbooks are here and our principal announced as she stepped out of the truck with a partial uniform on. Our students were on both
sides of the school for fire drill so the truck circled both sides of the school. Then the students were dismissed back to homeroom for distribution.
My third year – never done before, we all met at school 1 hour early, had homeroom and seat assignments and when the students
arrived that morning, books were waiting on them. This was great and we had extended homeroom.
This year is even better but can’t give out the secret yet.”
I made them promise to tell me after this year’s book was given out. I will let you know what they do. Sounds super!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 10, 2007—- More distribution events
Here is a very elaborate distribution event. Fantastic!
“The first, most important, thing to create a successful event is to motivate the students to come to the event. We have found that
getting the book two days earlier that others seems to work well. We generally have 700-800 students at the "yearbook release party". By the
way, we don't just have the event for the seniors as we need to train the students to the idea of the party for all the people in the school. We also
recognize that the 9th graders have never been exposed to the event at all, so about 10 days before the event, the yearbook staff goes out to all the
classrooms during our class period (which happens to be in the middle of the day) and do a 2-3 minute "commercial" explanation to all students
(not just 9th graders). That personal touch seems to work well—it is informative, enthusiastic, answers other questions AND is a "practiced"
presentation.
We are on the doorstep of the classrooms that students will speak to when the bell rings. Each partner pair from yearbook that goes out
together are put together by the editors so that all the senior staffers are paired with a younger one. This makes them an effective duo. Each pair
has to do about 5 classrooms. (We have a school of 2400 students).
Prior to going out on their "commercial" tour, the staffers are given a script and a paper on "talking points". It takes two class periods
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for me—one to introduce what they need to say and then they practice it on their own, and one for them to get up in front of the staff with their
practiced presentation. It's an enjoyable event within the class and helps them to be able to do an effective "commercial". It also helps them to
have a higher profile on campus so that others in the school now know who actually made the yearbook. Surprisingly enough, having the staff do
these "commercials" helps with recruitment for next year. Everyone likes being associated with something great!
By the way, I send out a global e-mail to the staff ahead of time explaining to them that the students from yearbook will be coming
to their classroom on a certain date. If it isn't convenient for them, they are told to just tell the students when they show up and they will just
drop off a flyer OR they can send me an e-mail in advance and we will skip their classroom all together. Having the other teachers on your side
helps to make this a successful technique. Also, I get all kinds of praise from the teachers that the students from yearbook were impressive in their
presentation because it is a "practiced" commercial and professionally done. The staffers report back to me that, generally, the teachers chime in
that the yearbook is great, blah, blah, blah—this also helps sales and boosts the egos of the staff members.
One other thing we point out to the students during our "commercial" is that they get their money's worth for the $2.00 admission. Tons of candy, a drink, a personalized pen with the theme on it, and a chance at a whole boatload of great door prizes. We spend the last
two months before the party collecting free stuff from local merchants—Things that students want—food, gift certificates, gas cards, etc. We
also buy some gift certificates, DVDs and other stuff at Costco when we get all the food, etc. (we spend about $100 buying other stuff.) to pad the
"groovy" stuff that we give out. We tell the students that we don't make money, but we generally collect about $700 in excess of what we have
taken in. Personally, the benefits for getting rid of the books early and providing a celebration for my staff is the real reward—I just don't want to
lose money.
The day after the yearbook release party we go out to the classrooms of the winners and hand out all the goodies. We also post
the names of the winners in a couple of posters outside the counseling office (it's a prominent location). The best part about this is that it boosts
yearbook sales—we still have time to sell them one as the yearbook release party is the Tuesday before finals week. Also, we get to give away over
half of the books and so it makes our other general after school distribution two days later a much faster time. We only have to be out doing it for
45 minutes or so.”
Here is another great set of ideas.
“I've done this differently at each school where I've been, depending on the mood of the principal, size of school, exam schedule,...
1. Throw a beach themed signing party in the stadium at night. Your ticket in is your book. Have kids bring beach towels or blankets to sit on. Sell
colorful sharpies to sign with and have refreshments to sell also! Play beach music over the stadium PA. Throw all the photos (in the days of the hard
copy photos) in a kiddie pool and let the kids pull out the photos they want to purchase at a quarter each.
2. Distribute to seniors the night before the rest of the student body.This built more suspense and excitement for the book.
3. Have seniors go to auditorium for their own distribution party at the beginning of the day. Announce for the teacher to whom the book is dedicated (voted on in the fall by the senior class) to come to the auditorium. Read out the dedication spread and allow the teacher his or her own time
in the spotlight. Hand out all other books throughout the day, but the party is a senior privilege.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 11, 2007—- Some tips for a smoother distribution no matter what you do
The last two days of tips have been some pretty incredible ideas for huge distribution events. These are some smaller tips that advisers sent that might
help with the logistics of any size event.
“On the Tuesday of the last week, we let the kids have a double lunch. We set up tables throughout the school and they can sign like mad! I
sell covers and autographs sheets from my room. I have my seventh grade students go around and take pictures. We print these out and sell them so
students can have them in their yearbook.”
“Post your list somewhere way in advance, allow only pre-ordered books to be passed out after school for the first 3 days (announce
this, post it on the walls, and also post to student email)”
“We always give seniors their books first, usually a day or two in advance. The last few years we've had a senior night in the cafeteria, but
attendance was limited, maybe 30%. But this year we're having a senior brunch and then distribution.”
“We now handle distribution in the cafeteria. Before the student body arrives, the yearbook staff organizes the books by grade - each grade
is a different color and another color for personalizations, another for autograph pages, combinations of, etc. — we previously buy raffle tickets
and plastic tablecloths in the colors. Students line up outside (administration is there for crowd control assistance) and we have a "first" table where
they receive a ticket for their color. They then proceed to the frosh, soph, jr, sr table. There is also separate table for students who are purchasing
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yearbooks and/or "problems" — the business editors (and helpers) man this table. Each table has a printout of those who purchased books, and
once they pick up the book, they initial the printout. Be sure to have extra pens, etc. around. If the colors are organized, it works great.”
“Last year I printed all the portrait pages and marked each student with color-coded highlighters (ie. pink = deluxe package, yellow
= basic green = inscription etc.) bundled the books by class with the portrait page on top and distributed them to their teacher in the class room
(elementary level). No lines and classes were minimally interrupted and everything went really smooth.”
“Over the past couple of years, we have a done a distribution by way of a movie night after school. We have a good turnout and get
virtually all of the yearbooks distributed.”
“I set a delivery date with the principal for mid-May, usually after all state sports events are completed and I still have my seniors
who are the yearbook staff in my school. We publish the event, starting about a month before (increases sales too because kids want to come
to it). We deliver the books during the end of 5th period and all during 6th period. We have music and plenty of supervision from teachers on prep
and the administration. The students have a good time signing the books. visiting, reminiscing, and of course, getting out of class. It also stops
some of the distraction in class after the books have been signed at the party. It's fun- try it!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 14, 2007—- A couple more major distribution events
You fine yearbook people out there have been wonderful on this topic. So many great ideas. Here are a couple of more I got last week.
“We have been doing the YIKES (Yearbooks Incredibly Krazy Evening of Signing) for about 4 years now. It is a chance for the students to
get their yearbooks a week early. It is held after school in the cafeteria, (2:30 to 4)we provide snacks and pizza (one piece per person) Seniors get in
for free, underclassmen pay $3. (the $3 defers the cost of food and also acts as a fundraiser) We also solicit prizes and have drawings. One student
wins a free personalized yearbook.
Announcements are made the last week of April saying that YIKES is coming, details to follow. The staff makes large signs to hang in the
buildings, they go up the first week of May. Announcements become more detailed in May, the when, time and cost. We also stress that if you DO
NOT get your yearbook at YIKES, you will have to wait another week. There are no exceptions to this rule. The books are locked up where I can't get
to them without a key and I don't have the key. Three days before YIKES, cards are delivered to the homerooms with the students name, personalization, extras and if they owe money. The card invites them to join us at the YIKES party. (YIKES is also on the school calendar)
Set up day May 16 staff is dismissed period 5 to each lunch period 6 meet me for final organization strategies and assignments
period 7 start unloading books from the room (books are stored in the cafeteria in a locked room, no one is permitted access to the
room unless I am with them) periods 8 and 9 set up cafeteria. 2:30 start passing out books
The cafeteria is divided into sections, the middle of the room is where the food is. Each corner represents a section of the alphabet, found
it is easier to pass out by last name then grade level. An area is set up to buy books and handle problems. There is also a small area set up with the
raffle items. The first year we had a sign maker make us large signs for the sections. Since they are laminated, we have them year to year. We also
leave sections of the cafeteria tables up so the students can sit, eat and write.
We have 1300 books ordered, it takes about 25 students to set this up. We pass out close to 600 books in the first 1/2 hour. We also sell
books then. The $3 cost still applies to the underclassmen, the seniors don't have to pay the extra $3 to get a book.
The first year we passed out approx 400 books, last year we passed out close to 800 books during this event. The rest of the books where
passed out in the cafeteria during lunch periods for two days. The staff loves doing this, students are aware of YIKES and start asking about when
it happens. It is great to listen to the students look and the books. We take all kinds of pictures and use the YIKES party as the closing page to our
supplement. It is a lot of fun.”
Here’s another quick tip.
“Hmm, well my idea is not super but it works smoothly. After school on the Friday before distribution, I have my yearbook staff sort books
according to 6th period classes. We have a list of all classes and a list of students who bought yearbooks and we highlight those students names
on the class list. We put name stickers in the books which the secretary makes for us. We deliver books to those teachers the day before and as they
hand them out, the student signs showing they received their book. The secretary also gives me a list of all students who have fines and we pull
those books which they can get when their fines are paid. We end the sorting with having pizza.”
This one would work great if you are using YearTech Online.
“Here is my idea that we may or may not do this year. On the Yearbook Avenue website there is a place (somewhere—maybe the image
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library?) that tells you exactly how many pictures are in your book. Have a contest before the book is handed out for students to guess how many
pictures are in it. The closest two-three people can get their yearbooks before anyone else.“
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 15, 2007—- A special request for Middle School/Junior High yearbook advisers.
Early last month we had a request from a high school adviser asking for job descriptions for the yearbook staff. Every single one we got back really applied
to a pretty large staff at a high school. Now one of my favorite middle school yearbook advisers has asked if we have any job descriptions for middle school
staffers or are they the same as high school. I am ashamed to say that I don’t have any. So if any of you fine folks out there have job descriptions you have
used at the Middle/Junior High level, could you send them our way. We would be very appreciative.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 16, 2007—- Answers to how to identify this year’s seniors in next year’s book.
Last week an adviser wrote,
“Question that maybe you can answer or send it around the horn w/ Monday or Tuesday’s “Tip”… We are putting this year’s spring
sports in next year’s book. How are the students supposed to identify athletes and such… do they put this year’s grade or next year’s grade
since it’s going in next year’s book? I’m thinking they put this year’s grade...”
So we asked you for your opinions and like you always do, you came through! Thanks a bunch.
“I would just put the person's name and position. I don't know that I would even put a grade unless they were people who graduated in 07.”
“Use this years grade, stay in the moment. Our book goes from March to February. We offer a $10 discount to the out going class. If someone
from the out going class buys a book we try to make sure they are pictured in spring sports or any other spring event.”
“For the first time in our book's history we included spring sports from last spring. In order to identify the students without creating mass
confusion, we put in parentheses after their name the last two digits of their graduation year. This format was explained on the opening DBS of the
book.
Example: Racing around the bases, Eric Jones (08) capitalized on the fielder's error to score the winning run.”
“I'd identify them by 'grad years' ('07, '08, etc.) That removes any question.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 17, 2007—- Two great last-minute sales ideas if you have some unsold yearbooks.
We know that some of you still have a few last minute books to sell. Plus you never know when the plant my send you some extras as well. Here are a
couple of tips we got this week on selling those books.
“We went hi-tech to sell our extra books! After we finally made the change to Jostens (and, we’re really glad we did!), we enjoyed the online
program so much that we’re letting the whole school know about it! A week before our planned delivery-date, we set up a new staff member in our
staff list – Cougar007! Then, we sent out a note to the entire school inviting parents to “preview” our book online by going to www.yearbookavenue.com <http://www.yearbookavenue.com/> and using Cougar007 Cougar007 and our job number. Parents were instructed on how to use
the Virtual Book to page through the book. WOW! We really created a buzz! We sold more books than ever before and we even have a list of new
volunteers for next year. Thank you, Jostens!”
"As of this morning we have 65 books unpaid for. I told the class today I would give 2 bonus points for each book they collect on. Some of my
students are in the position that they can really use 20-30 bonus points. Only thing, I told them that bonus points alone could not push them into a
passing grade. Hopefully this will boost up our sales."
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 18, 2007—- Selecting a Business Manager
Having a skilled business manager on your yearbook staff is just as important as creating the book itself. After all, if no one buys the book, why create it?
As one of the most responsible members of the yearbook staff, your business manager carries the same respected status as the editor-in-chief. The business manager will be asked to take on a lot of responsibility this school year, but it is definitely worth it. This is a great opportunity for a student to run a
small business and to build a resume or gain experience for a college application.
Here are some things to consider as you begin the process of recruiting a business manager:
Good attention to detail and strong follow-through are most important.
The ideal candidate should be a budding entrepreneur—self-motivated, responsible, personable, driven and extroverted.
Execution is more important than creativity. You need a student you can trust to follow up on all details.
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The editor-in-chief’s personality is inclusive in nature, whereas the business manager needs to be more directive.
The business manager needs to be hired in the spring.
Test your candidate’s skills by having him/her plan a distribution event. If that student succeeds, make him/her your new business manager for the fall.
The new business manager will also need to plan the back-to-school sales event with the administration and make sure any summer mailings follow the
campaign phases.
To train a business manager for the following year, assign an underclassman as an assistant business manager to learn the ins and outs of the job.
As the adviser, you must assume the ultimate responsibility for the budget and all it encompasses. A balanced budget and on-time delivery of the
yearbook usually top an administrator’s expectations for an adviser and staff. As the adviser, you have many responsibilities to advise and oversee the
production of a “dream book.”
From past experience as an adviser, I know how much this can help you in your job as an adviser. I also had business managers that felt that this was one
of their greatest accomplishments in their high school career and who have grown to be very prosperous adults.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 21, 2007—- Adviser or Advisor? Which is correct?
So which is it? Adviser or Advisor? One of you fine folks sent me this today.
“After reading this mornings entries about editors I was struck by the fact that almost everyone spelled adivser with an o (advisor).
I have always spelled it with an e based on the AP stylebook. (I'm one of those crazies that minored in journalism). I found a few sites that discuss it
that I thought were interesting. What is your take?”
http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/forums/~105.html
http://www.cjr.org/tools/lc/distinctions.asp
http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/forums/~98.html
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 22, 2007—- Getting your book critiqued and rated.
I know that many of you will soon be sending out your yearbooks for ratings and critiques. And most of you will send them to one of the two traditional
rating services CSPA or NSPA. Well, recently have come across a new place to have your book rated and completely critiqued and it sounds like they may be
a great alternative. But I don’t want to influence you on this so judge for yourself by going to http://www.smarteamforum.org/
I think you will find that they have a great service they can provide you to help you improve your yearbook. But you be the judge.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 23, 2007—- How to evaluate your editor(s)?
Last week I got this in an e-mail after we sent out some answers on finding your editor. See if you can help with this one.
“New question on the same line of thought: I not only have Chief Editor (sometimes co-editors or a chief editor and an Assistant
Editor), but I also have section editors as I’m sure most schools do. I would like ideas on how other advisers evaluate editors to make sure
they do what is required to maintain their position. Observation is obvious – but does anyone have an evaluation form with specific criteria or
guidelines? The reason I ask is that my Student Life editor this year did not perform to my satisfaction, and she applied again for next year. I have
given her the post again (with much reservation) after explaining to her that I expect more commitment and attention to detail. However, I’d like to
have some kind of rubric or something to evaluate my editors next year, so I feel I have legitimate reason, based on hard evidence, to pull a student
from that position if he/she fails to do a solid job. Basically, I want them to know they must meet requirements X, Y, and Z or their position may be
up for grabs in the coming year.”
I would love to be able to respond to this adviser so please come through for me like you always do. Anyone have anything that would help this adviser?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 24, 2007—- Job descriptions for Middle School yearbook staffs.
Last week I asked for some job descriptions for middle school yearbook staffs. I got some great responses.
“We have a general staff application for all students to fill out. We also tell them that if they want to apply to be the editor, they need to
write us a letter/essay explaining why they want to be editor, and what they think they could bring to the yearbook staff. It's worked well for us.
We don't usually have too many people apply for the position, but it gives us a feel for some of the students. Last year, the girl who applied and was
chosen was not someone either of us knew, but we picked her based on the strength of her letter. It turned out to be a good choice.”
And an alternative from a long-time adviser who does one of the best Junior High books in the nation.
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“You know, I don't use job descriptions. I did ten years ago, but I find that the junior high experience is all about exploration—the kids all do a
bit of everything as they go through the year.
The editors, who are back for a second year on the staff (and a third year with me, 'cause most of them were in my seventh grade
language arts/social studies class) are the only specialists: tech goddesses (lab assistants who handle software and hardware questions for the larger staff while we're in the lab); pixel princesses (photography and Photoshop); and style queens (graphic design,
editing, and proofing).
I generally have two of each, and I even change the titles whenever I select boys as one or two of the editors.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 25, 2007—- A few more GREAT distribution ideas
After we sent out all the distribution ideas last week, it must have really sparked the rest of you to send in what you do. Here are some additional GREAT
responses I got.
“GET THIS! We had the Firehall donated to us for FREE May 24th! Guess what! We are asking parents to bring covered dishes, we are premiering
the video year book on cd, all businesses from the community are invited (to entice the companies top purchase one) and all students will be able to
sign, socialize, and get together before the seniors leave for the senior trip next day! YEAH! This will be great!)”
“We only hold a big event for the seniors - but it follows the school's senior awards ceremony and we also offer cake & punch - The
best part is that it allows the seniors to receive their books before the underclassmen so they feel very special. It also gives them the
first opportunity to purchase any extra copies we have (you know how seniors love to wait til the last minute). It is a great evening for everyone.”
“We have an annual yearbook show, an hour-long presentation of our theme. Everyone gets involved. This year we had 26 teachers and
50+ non-yearbook staff members in the show dancing and doing skits with the kids. Students who have purchased yearbooks are invited to the
show, and everyone has a BLAST! It takes weeks to plan it, but it is the highlight of the year. Also, it is a bit of comic relief in the middle of testing
and end-of-year stress. After the show, we distribute books to SENIORS only. Then, we get VERY organized and distribute underclassmen books the
next day during all lunches. Our lists are very detailed, so we know who has personalized books, who has the extras, and who has paid for just a
book. It works very well and causes little stress. The best advice to other advisors: Get organized and make sure your staff knows who’s supposed
to do what and when. This will ensure that distribution is a pleasurable experience. Also, since I am too busy to deal with the “mistakes” during
distribution, I have a PROBLEMS table set up. The staffers who work this table take students’ names and complaints WITHOUT JUDGMENT. After the
lunches are over and our “mess” is cleaned up, I find these students and listen to them. By waiting, I am not stressed out, and I can really hear what
the kids are saying and make impartial decisions.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 29, 2007—- A great website to help eliminate an ugly problem
Don’t you hate it when kids (or anyone) use alot as one word? Drives me nuts. Or when they can’t figure out when to use its or it’s? Or other simple grammatical items?
Well check out http://vtbsd.net/english/
It is superb!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 30, 2007—- It’s that time of the year when we find out what we didn’t edit.
Every year about this time I get at least one e-mail from a fellow rep, a friendly adviser or an ex-yearbooker about a yearbook gone bad. It always concerns
a yearbook that prints something they shouldn’t. And I always have real mixed emotions about it. I feel bad for the adviser and kids involved because due
to their lack of judgment their yearbook program and the yearbook they produced this year has been completely overshadowed by one small part of it.
But I still want to send this out to all of you in my yearbook community so it doesn’t happen to you.
I would love to hear your comments after you read this: http://www.kcci.com/education/13364357/detail.html
By the way, even though the school is in Colorado, the website that was covering is a TV station in Iowa. And I also heard about it from reps in Florida and
California.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for May 31, 2007—- A request for help with distribution events
Two weeks ago one of you fine folks sent me some wonderful things you have done over the last three years to distribute their yearbooks. And that person
said that this year would be even bigger and better. He promised to send me what went on after the fact. (I guess he didn’t trust me not to blab ;-)).
Yesterday I got this from him. All I can say is WOW!
“Okay, here is this years, as promised. Each year, we have a Fine Arts Festival with a musical gala preview, etc. So this year, we decided to do a
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show teaser, in the theater during period 13-14 so we were on assembly schedule that day. We picked some fine art acts that would perform. The
students and teachers thought it was real. We even did the PowerPoint art show and this is where we came in. Once the screen came down and art
pieces were shown with their names, after about 12 pieces, all of a sudden pages flew across the screen radomly and very fast. At this point the
music changed to the Heisman and all of a sudden while these slides were rapidly appearing, the yearbook students starting getting out of their
seats doing the "walk it out" up on stage and of course were joined by me the sponsor also walking it out and doing the Heisman (the kids went
wild.) And the cover was shown announcing that the yearbooks were here. The students went wild.
Then before we distributed the yearbooks, I gave crystal engraved awards to those seniors that had been on staff for 3 years or more
and gave each member a yearbook pin. Each student was announced and presented. This was the first time the yearbook staff was awarded
like this in the history of our school.
Then we announced the teacher of the year that was decided by a vote of all students in grades 9-12.
Then we had the yearbooks in boxes in order of homeroom behind the second curtain. We announced all bus riders to approach first and
then all students.
I have a list of those that bought yearbooks by homeroom with each box and the students had to sign off.
We did this all in an hour and was a huge success!!!!!
We have 688 students and 75 faculty and staff and sold over 500 books.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 1, 2007—- A great letter you should read and send
This is a great letter one of my wonderful advisers sends out the week before yearbook distribution. She really thinks it helps with some of the negative
comments so many students and teachers like to make about the yearbook once it's out. She sent this letter to the faculty and staff at her school. She was
nice enough to copy it to me and she thought it would make a great tip. I wholeheartedly agree!
“It looks like our yearbooks will be delivered on Monday, April 30 and we will pass them out on Wednesday, May 2 during homeroom for the freshmen and sophomores and after the senior and junior assemblies. I will need my yearbook staff the entire day on
Wednesday to help distribute the books.
All the proofs we have seen look awesome and we're really excited to see the finished product. So please help us out*I doubt anyone
would criticize a football player's fumble in class on Monday after the game. I know no one would tell a theater student how he forgot his lines in
the play. However, people tend to love to find errors in a book. The nature of the printed document is for people to find errors. Please remember that
these yearbook students worked long and hard on this book all year. They gave up hours and hours of their personal time, staying late during the
week and working on week-ends to make this book the best one ever. As soon as we get a copy we look for the mistakes. When we find one, we're
sick, but at this point, there is nothing we can do. So please, do not criticize the book in front of the students or allow other students to criticize it. It's
our baby, and no parent likes to hear that her child is ugly.
If you have a concern about the book, please stop by my room and talk to me privately. If you love the book, tell the world and all these
kiddies who spent long, hard hours here late into the night.”
June 2007
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 1, 2007—- A great letter you should read and send
This is a great letter one of my wonderful advisers sends out the week before yearbook distribution. She really thinks it helps with some of the negative
comments so many students and teachers like to make about the yearbook once it’s out. She sent this letter to the faculty and staff at her school. She was
nice enough to copy it to me and she thought it would make a great tip. I wholeheartedly agree!
“It looks like our yearbooks will be delivered on Monday, April 30 and we will pass them out on Wednesday, May 2 during homeroom for the freshmen and sophomores and after the senior and junior assemblies. I will need my yearbook staff the entire day on
Wednesday to help distribute the books.
All the proofs we have seen look awesome and we’re really excited to see the finished product. So please help us out*I doubt anyone
would criticize a football player’s fumble in class on Monday after the game. I know no one would tell a theater student how he forgot his lines in
the play. However, people tend to love to find errors in a book. The nature of the printed document is for people to find errors. Please remember that
these yearbook students worked long and hard on this book all year. They gave up hours and hours of their personal time, staying late during the
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week and working on week-ends to make this book the best one ever. As soon as we get a copy we look for the mistakes. When we find one, we’re
sick, but at this point, there is nothing we can do. So please, do not criticize the book in front of the students or allow other students to criticize it. It’s
our baby, and no parent likes to hear that her child is ugly.
If you have a concern about the book, please stop by my room and talk to me privately. If you love the book, tell the world and all these
kiddies who spent long, hard hours here late into the night.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 4, 2007—- Congratulations! You are on the yearbook staff
I got this request yesterday. Can anyone send me a copy of the letter that you use:
“Do you have a letter that I can send to students congratulating them on being part of the new yearbook staff?”
I would appreciate it and so would this adviser.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 5, 2007—- Comments from you about the drug coverage in the Colorado yearbook
Last week I sent you wonderful yearbookers a link to an article about a yearbook that had printed pictures of students doing drugs and discussing their
drug use. If you missed it, you can find it here: http://www.kcci.com/education/13364357/detail.html Well, I asked for comments and as usual you came
through like gangbusters! Here are some of the great responses I got.
“I read this in my local paper and it broke my heart but I couldn’t help but wonder how it got past the adviser!! During my first year as
adviser, when I was green and still wet behind the ears in yearbook, one of my co-editors failed to make corrections on a couple pages and never
wrote any captions or anything. On those pages was all the gobbly-gook typing. I was called on the carpet for that and rightly so. At the time I didn’t
know how to make corrections on a zip drive, so the pages went in as were. I had proofed them and gave them to the co-editor, however, school was
out for the year and she told me all corrections were made and I sent the zip drive in. It was a hard and tough lesson for me. As much as I love the
kids I work with, I must have the final say on the pages that are submitted.”
“The best thing that happened to us was when we started using YTO!! It’s easy and nothing goes in unless I send it!! When the new
yearbooks come out and I find typing errors or misspelled students’ names, I have nobody to blame but me. So I really try to be extra careful when I
proof. Once corrections are made, I proof again before I submit the page.”
“My heart goes out to that adviser. I still don’t understand how this got by her unless she didn’t see the final pages and trusted the kids to do it. I
did that once. Never again!!”
“Wow! That’s just insane. There’s trying to be cutting edge, but I think that was simply a very poor choice in judgment. We had a yearbook long
before I started that was entitled “Breaking the Limits” and the advisor allowed some stuff in that indeed pushed the limits. I guess if she hadn’t
been a long-time, somewhat respected English teacher at the school with a good record, she probably would’ve been let go. Of course, that is
second-hand information. Regardless, I took what I heard to heart and have been very cautious about what is allowed in the book—much to the
upset of many students through the years.”
“I actually saw this on CNN the night it broke, and I was blown away. I told the kids the next day, and they seemed to feel the same way.”
“This is just stupidity and laziness, plain and simple. If the adviser had proofed the book, this would not have happened. Period.”
“While I do feel a little sorry for the sponsor (and hope she was really inexperienced), it was her responsibility to make sure the
yearbook is appropriate - and, last time I checked, pot smoking was illegal, regardless of age. I just don’t understand what was going
through her head. And I can see the parents’ point that, besides the illegal aspects, they weren’t highlighting all of the good things that the students
did throughout the school year. By the way, what do you do in that situation - redo & reprint?? Who pays for it?? Just curious.”
More comments on this on Thursday. And to answer that last question, I would have to say, it depends on what he administration wants to do. You could
print stickers to go over the offending material, you could just cut out those two pages (of course you would lose the two pages on the backs of them) or
you could completely reprint the yearbooks (not likely due to cost and time.) In this case I would guess that no matter what they decide to do, the school
ends up paying for it since the adviser did approve these pages.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 6, 2007—- Toolbar graphics for both YTO and InDesign schools
Recently one of you wonderful advisers asked me if I had a graphic they could print out that showed what all the tools on the YearTech toolbar for InDesign were. I didn’t. Shame on me. But I sent out an e-mail to some other reps I knew and a very good friend, Regina Murray in Illinois came through with
both an InDesign YearTech tool bar graphic you can print out and a YearTech Online toolbar graphic as well. Thank you Regina!
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I have attached them to this e-mail. You can just print them out and tape a copy to your monitors and your kids will be all set for the 2008 school year.
Very cool!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 7, 2007—- More on the Colorado drug articles in the yearbook.
As I promised on Tuesday here are some more comments concerning the tip I sent l about a yearbook that had printed pictures of students doing drugs
and discussing their drug use. (If you missed it, you can find it here: http://www.kcci.com/education/13364357/detail.html ) The first one is very well
thought out. (I should add that while I said I was surprised at the poll results I did not say whether I agreed of disagreed with them. Just that I was
surprised at the results.)
“I had previously read this particular yearbook’s story. However, I had only read the parent’s complaint and not the teacher’s apology. When I
first read it, and then when I read it again today, I was mortified! How in the world could a responsible teacher allow this to be printed in the school’s
yearbook? The pictures were inappropriate, the captions were inappropriate, and the whole concept of this type of coverage was inappropriate. It
should never have been in a school yearbook. What was that adviser thinking?
I am not naive enough to think that my own students don’t also partipate in underage drinking, drug usage, promiscuity, etc. I
know some of them do, and I know they are faced with tough choices every day — choices that may shape the rest of their lives. However, as their
teacher, as their leader, as one of the adults entrusted with molding them into responsible, mature, educated young adults, I cannot and will not
condone, promote, or justify these types of activities. And, I vehemently believe that a school yearbook isn’t the place to “show” them, either.
I was surprised at your statement that the results of the online poll were discouraging and shocking to you. When I looked at the
results, a little over 75 percent of the responders said the teacher/adviser should be fired. I thought she should be fired, too. To me, this was an extremely poor judgment call on this teacher’s part. This teacher obviously had no regard for her own accountability — and that’s a part of teaching,
too. We, as yearbook advisers, should be held accountable for the products (yearbooks) our students produce.
We should also set the example for our students. If we say (even through acquiescence) that it’s okay to flaunt drug use, underage drinking,
and resistance to law enforcement, the students will emulate us. We must remember — at all times — that they are watching us; we must be
careful in what we do, what we say, how we act, and how far we’re willing to go with “freedom of speech” and “freedom of the press.” Some things
are worth risking your integrity, your reputation, and your job for — and some things are not. “Weigh the consequences and make good choices”
— this is what I tell my students and what I also tell myself.”
“Is this lady CRAZY??? I don’t think she should lose her teaching job, but she does not need to continue to do the yearbook! As a wife of someone
who is in law enforcement this is a slap in the face to people who work very hard to try to help and protect young people. I can clearly see why so
many people were upset!”
“Wow, I read the article and looked at the poll. I am shocked that a spread like this made it into the yearbook. I think it IS the adviser’s fault. I
understand minor errors and layout issues, but putting pictures and captions IN the yearbook about drug use and wishing the cops didn’t find out is
completely inappropriate. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but that teacher should NOT be the adviser next year. It’s sad that one bad aspect can bring
down an otherwise great publication, but to publish a spread about underage students (or of age, for that matter) and their drug use is disgusting.
How do you not know what is going into your yearbook?! There’s just too big of a line being crossed when it comes to publishing negative/illegal
issues.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 8, 2007—- Do you ever change the resolution on a digital photo? If so you need to read
this article.
You are placing a photo in InDesign or YearTech Online and you get the dreaded “There is not enough resolution in this picture to fill this window. Try
another picture,” but you ABSOLUTELY have to have that photo in that space. So you open Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and you enlarge the photo.
NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Before you do that, read this article: http://www.creativepro.com/story/howto/25527.html?cprose=daily
The article does a WONDERFUL job of showing you why you should not do this and the very best way to do it if you ABSOLUTELY have to have that picture.
Read it before you resample one more picture from 4x5 to 8x10.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 11, 2007—- A response on congratulate students on making it on the yearbook staff
Apparently not a lot of you send out letters to congratulate the new members of your yearbook staff as I only received one. Maybe you all do it in person.
But for the adviser who wanted an example of a letter she could send to new staff members, I got the attached. I hope it works for you. And of course
anyone else who wants to use it can.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 12, 2007—- Are you registered?
We haven’t asked that question very much in the past few weeks so I thought we better address it today. So, are you registered? For a summer yearbook
workshop.
Don’t miss it! It is truly the best thing you can do for your 2008 yearbook!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 13, 2007—- A fun way to build buzz about your yearbook prior to distribution.
Here’s a fun one….a way to create the buzz about yearbook distribution.
Last week while at a school, I picked up a really neat idea. They were going to distribute their yearbooks after school that day so the editors were given
their yearbooks first thing in the morning. They got to carry their books around all day so their friends could get a sneak peek and so they could create a
fun buzz about yearbook distribution. All too often your editors get very little recognition for all their hard work. This fun idea is one way for them to get
some of the recognition they deserve.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 14, 2007—- Two final notes about the Colorado yearbook.
Here are the two final comments concerning the tip I sent l about a yearbook that had printed pictures of students doing drugs and discussing their drug
use. (If you missed it, you can find it here: http://www.kcci.com/education/13364357/detail.html ) This adviser had much to say.
“OUCH! That’s gonna leave a mark. Here’s my take from the point of an adviser:
#1. Not an off-limits Topic...but Waywayway off base with lack of directing of the story angle.
#2. The photo selection ALONE should have alerted the adviser that, WRONG WAY do not enter. Those pictures were clearly going to give the wrong
message regardless of the content of the copy.
#3. Was anyone in her building assisting with prior review? I have two secretaries and an English teacher who proof read pages before we send
them in. Other sets of eyes are SO beneficial, because after an editor and an adviser has worked with a student staffer and a dozen or more pages
and stories for several weeks, it all looks the same. It needs a fresh perspective from someone who’s not seen it before. These ladies are INVALUABLE
to me and love helping out, in fact they offered and could easily be hired for the price of a Diet Pepsi and a chocolate bar (which were being sold as a
fundraiser by the freshmen class :-)”
And one very smart adviser came up with the best way to fix the problem. (I had suggested stickers, a tip-in or cutting the offending pages out. This
adviser got it exactly right:
“Just a suggestion… glue the two pages together!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 15, 2007—- A great article on copyrighted material
In the fall many of you will face a new staff. Some of them will want to use copyrighted materials. Here is a great article on why you shouldn’t and can’t.
Run some copies. File them for future use.
http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/trends/~law0407hs.html
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 18, 2007—- Curing Senioritis on the yearbook staff
Oh, our favorite spring time disease—Senioritis. Here’s an unsolicited tip for senoritis from one of my wonderful advisors:
A tip for the future year, for advisors. I am speaking from the frustrated with senioritis point of view. I was new to high school and to yearbook production,
so I never knew I could do this to students, and perhaps other advisors don’t know this possibility exists: The hold list. My high school has a hold list of
students who have not turned in all required items/fees. According to my principal (whose shoulder I nearly cried on) that can include yearbook assignments. This means the lazy students will not be issued grade reports or TRANSCRIPTS until the teacher signs-off. Its a big stick I intend to pull out only
when necessary.
Would love to hear any views on this subject. Maybe a different solution?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 19, 2007—- A cool tip for our InDesign users-Save time and get new ideas with PageSurfer
Whether you are designing pages to complete your 2007 book or looking for new ideas for next year, don’t overlook Jostens Page Surfers. There are hundreds of pre-designed layouts to use “as is” or customize to fit your needs. Not to mention, they can save you hours of time.
These professionally designed layouts are a great way to get over that fear of the blank page! You’ll find the best of InDesign’s innovative design features
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in the “Especially for InDesign” category. Check out the trendy looks possible with InDesign as well as award winning designs from the annual InDesign
Design contest co-sponsored by Jostens and Adobe. We’ve added 28 new layouts for 2008.
There are also 32 new Color Mod layouts for 2008. Color Mods are Page Surfer designs featuring process color graphics including geometric shapes and
colorful backgrounds. You can preview these exciting additions in the soon to be released Jostens Page Surfer guide included in the 2008 YearTech kit.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 20, 2007—- A cool tip for those of you using YearTech Online-Template Exchange coming soon.
Do you have a great design you’d like to share with other yearbook staffs around the country? Or maybe you’d like to borrow a template or two? Both will
soon be possible thanks to the new YearTech Online Template Exchange feature.
Template Exchange will allow you to save any page design as a template and post it for other YearTech Online users to see and use in their book. It is a
chance to show off the talents of your staff as well as benefit from the creative ideas of others.
Template Exchange is just one of many new features you’ll experience with YearTech Online 2008.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 21, 2007—- Make your Personal Recognition Ads a whole bunch easier
Recognition Ads go by a lot of different names – personal ads, senior ads, baby ads and senior salutes to name a few. The common factor is that they are a
hit with parents and students alike and they are a great yearbook fundraiser. However, we know that the time and effort it takes to sell the ads, collect the
money and design the pages is a deterrent for many staffs. That’s why we developed Jostens Ad Service – to make Recognition Ads easy for everyone.
We are excited to announce Jostens Ad Service, a program designed to make selling and creating Recognition Ads effortless! Watch your mail for more
information on this new program. Now is the time to begin thinking about offering Recognition Ads in next year’s book. Let us help you make the offering
easier, more convenient for parents, and more profitable so you have the time and money to build the yearbook your students really want.
Unfortunately this wonderful program only works for those schools using YearTech Online. But if you are interested in how to make it work when using
InDesign, contact me.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for June 22, 2007—- The final tip!
This is it! The final tip of the 2007-2008 school year.
Have a wonderful summer. Make sure we see you at our summer workshop and watch your mail for our Back to School newsletter on the day you return
to school in the fall.
September 2007
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, September 4—Welcome back to school!
Not much of a tip really. Just a huge welcome back to school. And a quick reminder that if you use InDesign you should make sure you find your Teach Tech
CD that came in your Back to School mailing from Jostens. It is the BEST way to teach YearTech for InDesign to your students.
And if you use YearTech Online, the best way to teach is to use pages 2-11 of the Creating Your Yearbook section of the Jostens YearTech Online User’s
Manual that came in your yearbook kit. Run a bunch of copies and get started that way.
No matter which way you do your yearbook, we hope that this year is your best (especially if it is your first) year ever! Remember, we are always here to
help.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, September 5—Taking a look at the Back to School issue of YourBook—Part 2
By now you should have received your Back to School issue of YourBook. We hope you like the new design and that it is a big help in teaching yearbook
and developing ideas for you and your staff. If you can find it amidst all the mail from this summer, grab it quick and let’s walk through the first few pages.
First you may note that we have now put our message to you right on the outside cover. Please make sure and read this. We will almost always put the
most important stuff in there.
Then when you open it up you will find three articles (count them—3) on the inside spread. The first is a quick note about the makeup of your yearbook
staff. If yours is set in stone then read this with an eye towards the end of this year when you pick next year’s staff. Also on that page you will find our
monthly reminders. We have condensed these with our What You Should Be Doing Now column so you will find all the monthly reminders right there.
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Lastly, that page also has a quick note about meeting deadlines that we want you to share with your staff. More tomorrow about what’s inside.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, September 6—Taking a look at the Back to School issue of YourBook—Part 2
Open YourBook to page two and you’ll find a big focus for us this year—getting everyone in your school in your yearbook three times. It’s something we
hope you and your staff will strive for. We give you some concrete ways you can do this but suffice it to say that the biggest thing you need is a system that
make sure everyone is there three times and you need to stick to it!
On page 3 you’ll find an article that should help you teach your kids how to do THE most important writing in your yearbook—captions. Run off some
copies and have at it.
The centerfold spread is all about covers. Not our covers but your cover. An amazing sample cover that I am carrying with me that will let you see all the
incredible things we can do with covers that are not lithos. And you’ll get to see our capabilities in litho with three over very cool covers we also have in
our bags. Make sure and ask me to see them before you make your final cover decision this fall (if you haven’t already.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, September 7—Taking a look at the Back to School issue of YourBook—the final
pages.
To finish up our look at your Back to School YourBook, let’s head on over to page six where you will find some great ways to keep track of who is in your
yearbook and who isn’t. This ties right into our (and we hope YOUR) main objective for 2007-2008—getting everyone in your school in your yearbook
three times.
On page six we detail two great ways to keep track of your coverage, the first is for YTO schools and then there is a little more difficult method for InDesign
schools but one you can use none the less.
And lastly on page seven all you techie folks will find a really cool technique for popping out photos that just might work for your dividers or intro/closing
and a way for InDesign schools to create a cool grid without much effort—ENJOY!
And no matter what you do, have a great weekend. The first week of school always takes a lot out of you. Doesn’t it seem like we started school about a
month ago?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, September 10—A very important CD-Rom
This morning I got an e-mail from an adviser who uses YearTech with InDesign and wanted to know if there was an easy way to teach her kids InDesign. I
said of course, and you already have it. It’s the Jostens TeachTech disk and it didn’t come in your yearbook kit. It was mailed to you in a large envelope right
at the end of August. Jostens calls it their “Back to School” mailing. Here’s what Betty Bacon, Jostens InDesign guru told me about TeachTech.
“There is no better way for schools to get a jumpstart on YearTech then by reviewing the TeachTech Tutorial CD. Topics include everything from Page Wizard to Picture Placer, Submitting pages and Proofing. A review quiz is available from the Main page. This review sheet can be
printed and filled out as they review the CD or used as a quiz by the adviser. An answer key can be accessed and printed from Yearbook Avenue.
Login to Yearbook Avenue, go to Help, then Advisers Only. The TeachTech Tutorial CD is being sent to all YearTech schools in the Back to School mailing.”
So if you use InDesign to create your yearbook, find that disk in your mail and give it to your kids.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, September 11—A crying shame.
I have been signed up for a Google alert for the word “yearbook” for most of the summer. One of the saddest stories I saw was this one: http://www.
kauaiworld.com/articles/2007/08/04/news/news04.txt
Imagine not being able to give out your yearbook due to “substantial errors.” If that isn’t a cry for proofreading and editing I don’t know what is. Please
do your best to always stay on top of it. I know none of you fine folks would ever let this happen to you but sometimes things get away from you. Great
planning makes for great yearbooks.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, September 12—A Yearbook Avenue What’s Up
There are a whole bunch of you out there that think that Yearbook Avenue is only for those schools who are doing their yearbooks online. Nothing could
be further from the truth. So each and every Wednesday we are going to visit Yearbook Avenue to find one new feature that everyone can use.
Today let’s start with the Creative Corner. If you go to Yearbook Avenue and choose Home>Creative Corner up will pop a page with downloadable PDFs
that can be a HUGE help to you in getting creative. There is one there as I write this about doing your book chronologically. I don’t know about you, but
this section organization thing gets old sometimes. Why not check this article out and see if chronological organization is for you.
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And once your on the Creative Corner page, feel free to download all the great articles put there by our Creative Account Managers (CAMs). They’re free
and we know they can inspire you and your kids. There are usually four or five current articles on the page and you can always click the archives link at the
bottom of the page to access TONS of previous articles.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, September 13—Check out these very basic but really cool Photoshop tips.
Check this out. One of you wonderful yearbook advisers decided to share this website you found and I can only say—THANK YOU!. http://www.dezinerfolio.com/2007/08/30/simple-and-effective-photographic-results-for-beginners/ has some great tips and tutorials that every Photoshop user should know.
Enjoy.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, September 14—The Digital Photography Curriculum is ready!
It’s here and it’s ready. Our brand new digitally oriented photo curriculum is in my hands. And it should be in yours. It’s called “Get the Picture” and comes
in a very cool, yearbook kit-looking box. When you open it you’ll find an entire ready-to-use photojournalism curriculum. There are 15 student textbooks
and a teacher’s CD with handouts, tests, quizzes and more. The CD is being mailed separately so it can be as up to date as possible.
The course covers seven areas of photographic expertise including situational shooting, creating a digital process, essential good-photo habits, technical
advice for digital photogs, ethical photo dilemmas plus shooting scenarios and checklists. It is truly quite a package.
If you are interested in obtaining one of these for your classroom, call me today!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, September 17—Do you have a Senior Picture Policy?
Do you remember the big ruckus last year that I sent you via these tips about the student in the Northeast who wanted to be in his senior pic with a sword
and shield. But the administration said no because it had a total ban on all weapons in the school? If you don’t just know that it started a BIG discussion
about senior photo specifications.
Now from New Hampshire comes this news item. http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070910/NEWS01/209100376/-1/
news01
It concerns a young lady who wanted to hold a flower in your senior picture. But because of the backlash from the previously mentioned sword and shield
incident.
All this brings me to my original question—do you have a Senior Picture Policy? Do your students know what is allowed and not allowed? Is it written
down? Is it clear? Has it been approved by your administration? If you don’t maybe it’s time to think about getting one.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, September 18—Special note for YearTech Online users.
If you are planning on doing an index (or even think you MIGHT want an index) get your staff in the habit of adding names to everyone in every photo in
your Image Library. If you do it now, it will save you a ton of time and hassle later should you decide to have an index. And it will also keep track of who
is in the yearbook and not in the yearbook by using the new Yearbook Coverage Report that we covered in the Back to School issue of YourBook. If you
haven’t read it yet, now is a good time. See page six for complete details.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, September 19—A Yearbook Avenue What’s Up—Contests
Once again we want to remind all of you that Yearbook Avenue is NOT YearTech Online. It is for everyone. All of you. Even if you use YearTech for InDesign to
produce your yearbook, there is still a bunch of stuff that you can use on YearBook Avenue.
This week let’s look at Contests. To access them go to Home>Contests. Specifically I want to focus on the Yearbook Business Manager contest. Especially
last year’s winners. If you have a Yearbook Business Manager (YBM) this year (and you should!) make sure that he or she reads the winning entries in last
year’s YBM contest. There are four of them and they are OUTSTANDING! Then encourage your YBM to enter the contest for this year. He or she could win big
prizes for themselves and your school.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, September 20—Buying digital media for your camera—be careful.
We saw this online recently and thought it was worth passing on. Keep it in mind when buying memory cards for your digital cameras.
When you start to shop for a memory card for the new digital camera or other device you recently bought, youíll likely come across a few Web sites where
lesser-known companies are offering memory cards with huge amounts of storage at very low prices. Although itís tempting to jump on such offers,
refrain for a bit and do some research both into the company selling the card and especially its return policy. Over the years, the memory cards some
manufacturers produce have gained a reputation as having faulty performance, such as corrupting the data stored on the card. Although it will cost youíre
a few extra dollars, consider buying memory cards from a respected manufacturer, such as SanDisk or Lexar, which have been in storage business for years
and have easy-to-find support pages on their Web sites.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, September 21—Every picture needs a caption.
Yesterday I was in a school that was setting up their pages for the coming year. I was going over them and asked where the captions were going to go on a
particularly full double page spread. The responded to me that “we are a really small school and everyone knows everyone else, so we don’t need captions
on the pictures.”
Well I don’t know about you but I have been out of high school for a while now and if you asked me to look at my yearbook without any names on the
pictures, I would be hard pressed to name more than my very best friends. And it seems that the older I get the less I can remember.
So pass this on to your staff: every picture in your yearbook deserves a caption. And every person in the picture (five or fewer) deserves to be named with
both their first and a last names. Remember, you are creating a history of your school here. In 20 or 30 years, you won’t recognize that many faces.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, September 24—Problems with dishonesty on your staff
Here it is folks, the first really great problem that I need your help with for this school year. Today I received this note from one of you fine folks asking how
to handle this situation.
“Last Monday, the staff went out into the community to sell business ads. The amount they collected seemed a little low compared to last
year, but lots of business are closed on Mondays. Emilie, our business manager, was concerned about the low total & did some digging. One group
of staff members apparently didn’t spend all of their time selling ads. They went bowling! On school time! Needless to say I am mad as hell. I don’t
know for sure which group it was. Emilie didn’t want to totally rat them out & was afraid it would come back on her. I understand that. The staff is
going out tomorrow to sell ads again & now I can’t trust them. As you know, there’s a lot of trust involved with yearbook. I have to trust that they
will go where they are supposed to go & complete the tasks they are assigned. I’m very disappointed that one of the groups sees selling ads as unimportant & that yearbook is playtime. If a community member had seen them bowling & reported it to my administration, there’d be big trouble. I’m
sure administration would never let another yearbook class leave school to go out to sell ads. Right now I don’t even want the culprits on staff any
more. Being on staff is a privilege & if they’re going to abuse the privilege I don’t want them around. Any of your other advisers have this happen to
them? I’m planning on talking to all the groups before they go out tomorrow morning. I’m really disappointed in them & needed to vent. Thanks!”
I have had this happen to one of my best advisers in the past so I immediately sent back this reply:
“Strangely enough, I had this happen to another adviser early in my career. Here is how she dealt with it. On the ad contracts there is a
little line that says, “WHY”. At least there used to be. She REQUIRED that even if the students did not sell an ad to a particular business they had to
fill out a contract for each and every business (before they went into the business) and if the manager/owner did not want to buy an ad, they had to
write down why he/she didn’t want one and ask him or her to initial it.
Those were all turned in to her Business Manager and she would randomly call those business people who had turned them down
(their phone numbers were on the contract) and thank them for their time in speaking to her students and tell them that she hoped
they would be able to advertise with them next year.
Once, a business person said, “I didn’t have anyone come in here from your yearbook staff.” She thanked them, figured out who had
turned in that contract and sent a note to that student (in his homeroom class the next day) that as yearbook was a job, they were fired for lying,
just like they would have been in the real world. She told them not to come in to yearbook class that day but instead to go to the counseling office to
find another class to be in. (She had previously talked to the counselor in question, so he was ready for them.)
She made sure the note she sent was on pink paper because she wanted them to see that dishonesty had caused them to get their
first, “pink slip.” which in those days, meant—YOUR FIRED!
Now, there may be other ways to handle it, but the Why line (and if it’s not there anymore they could write it on the back of contract)
and random calls to non-advertisers worked then and I know it will work again.
In the meantime, I am going to put this out there as a tip of the day for Monday and we will see what comes back from other advisers.”
So there you have it yearbookers. What do you say. How would you have handled it. Was my second adviser to harsh? Or would you have done the same
thing? How do you make your kids accoutable? Please let me know. I would love to offer other solutions to the original adviser.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, September 25—National Yearbook Day—PLAN NOW!
The week of October 1 has been designated National School Yearbook Week to commemorate excellence in scholastic journalism and acknowledge the
publication efforts of yearbook advisers and staffs across the country. You should do something to celebrate it. If you are in the middle of your yearbook
pre-sale, what a great time to bring it up. But no matter what you are doing, publicize what that the week of October 1st is NATIONAL SCHOOL YEARBOOK
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WEEK!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, September 26—Another problem we need your help with—student permission to be in the yearbook?
When it rains, it pours. No one had asked for help in the first three weeks of school and then I get two (see Monday’s tip) requests in a week. I got the
second one yesterday. This one came from a rep-friend who is dealing with a whole new problem with one of her schools. Here’s what I got.
“Just got a call from one of my advisers and she was told by her Principal she has to get a “signature” release from EVERY kid in
school in order to be put in the yearbook. Have you heard of anything like this? If so we will be in trouble tracking down students. I told her I
have never heard of it.”
So, how about it? Have you had to do this? Is this a new thing? If you have had to deal with this, do you have a form this adviser could use? Any and all
help is appreciated.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, September 27—Get a morale officer!
We know that we bug you constantly that you need to have a Yearbook Business Manager (YBM) and you do but here is another unofficial staff position
that needs to be filled—a morale officer. Now I called them an officer because that’s what they have in the military. Every brigade has an officer in charge
of morale. You should consider having one too.
As you come up with your different staff positions and roles, consider having someone who is in charge of the social portion of yearbook. This student
can plan parties for celebrating birthdays and deadlines. They can be in charge of decorating the yearbook bulletin board/corner with updated important
information. Maybe you have a student who communicates well, but doesn’t have the strongest yearbook skills. This could be a good fit for that student.
They would still work on the yearbook, but as for their “editorial” role, they would be in charge of keeping yearbook a fun place to be.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, September 28—Senior pictures—what’s your policy?
A few weeks ago I sent out a note with a link to a story about a young lady who was told she could not use the senior picture she wanted because she was
holding a flower in the photo and all props were banned. Here is one response I got back and I think it is a good one.
“The only pictures accepted in our yearbook is a bust shot with a standard background. The students can be seated sideways, but can not
be looking over their shoulder. No hands to the face or additional objects are allowed in the picture. The seniors know this before they get their pictures taken. If they don’t abide by the policy, they are allowed to get a bust shot taken at retake day for the school.
Attached is the handout that is given to the students prior to making appointments for pictures”
I am attaching this advisers senior specs to this e-mail.
In the meantime, I saw this news item about formal dress for senior pics. Check it out and let me know what you think next week.
http://blogs.news-journalonline.com/education/2007/09/yearbook.html
October 2007
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, October 1—Welcome to National Yearbook Week
Today begins National Yearbook Week—Happy Yearbook!
Attached to this tip you will find a very cool flyer (that you should also receive in the mail from Jostens) that details 30 ways you can use yearbook skills
in the real world. If you didn’t get the one from Jostens (it should be poster-size) then print this one and post it. Make a point of making a big deal about
yearbook this week. You might even circulate it to your fellow faculty members letting them know that yearbook is for real and that it does matter.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, October 2—Do you need permission to put kids in the yearbook?
WOW! In three years of doing these tips, nothing has come close to the amount of mail I got on this subject. I had no idea this topic was so huge. And the
diversity of responses is amazing and polarized. Either you already have to have the permission or you are totally surprised that it would even be suggested.
I will admit I was in the latter camp to start. I did not see a reason for permissions (and still think that legally anyone pictured in a yearbook would have
no recourse just as they would if pictured on TV in a news item or in news photo in an actual newspaper) but it seems the biggest reason for doing this
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(from the responses I have gotten back) is children who are involved in custody cases. How sad is this? When kids can’t even be in their own yearbooks
because their other parent is trying to abduct them? And does that threat mean that the child will have no childhood memories? They are a non-entity
during their school years? No pictures at their reunion to share? Very sad.
But today I will start by sharing some of the responses I got back. I will try and only run responses that don’t duplicate others. Here are the first few I got.
“Oh My Gosh! I have personally dealt with all of those issues within one school year. First, our district does have a publicity release form in the
student handbook that every parent must sign and return. In addition to that form, our school also has a publicity form that every parent has to
return. The yearbook is part of the included media along with website/newsletter/tv, etc . . . Most parents just sign with a “yes” and return it, but at
times, you have a large group (around 50 kids) of parents who say “no,” and I’m forced to make decisions.”
“We have a FERPA list (I am not sure what the letters stand for, but basically, these kids can’t be pictured). As an adviser, I have to
walk around with this secret list of kids and try not to take pictures of anyone on that list. What happens during school functions when all of the kids
are mixed up? Try going out to an elementary school playground with a camera - everyone wants their picture taken! So, I took pictures and then
sent them to the school administration who then went through all the pictures and picked out and deleted those pictures that had the kids on the
FERPA list. They then gave me the ok on which pictures to use. IT WAS A BIG HASSLE AND I BARELY MADE MY DEADLINES! “
“What if the parent doesn’t return the form back? Trust me they will forget; in our school the kids get punished for not bringing it back. For
all of those parents who bought yearbooks and then found that their kids were not in it, I begged my principal to call them and ask them if they
knew what they were signing away on, but she said no. Somehow the teachers called most of those parents through out the year and the list got
shorter. I found that out later after I had not included a lot of kids in the yearbook, and I sent out the class picture proofs to them and the child was
not marked off. In the end, our response to those who bought a yearbook, but were not in it was “Sorry, but you signed the form that did not allow
us to put your child in the yearbook. Here is a copy of it”. “
“Also, during group picture day, the photographers had to take a real picture and a fake picture.”
“The special needs children, WOW! I am actually a parent of one. We include them in the yearbook because they should be included. They are
part of our school and it is nothing to be ashamed of. These kids interact with the rest of the school daily. Now, the only thing that I couldn’t do this
year was label their page as what they are >> “Life Skills.” I argued on that once since everyone else got labeled (K, 1st, 2nd, etc.), so in the end it
looked a little ridiculous that the whole school was labeled except for my kid’s class, but you could clearly see what kind of classroom it was. I was
told that one parent ruined it for everyone and guess what, that parent didn’t allow her son to be in the yearbook. Ironic, huh!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, October 3—The Yearbook Staff wants your photos
I was in a school yesterday and spotted a great idea. On the walls and doors were the posters, asking students to submit their photos for yearbook. Yeartech Online schools can easily direct students, parents and faculty members to the Image Upload site. The tear off tabs at the bottom of the poster make it
easy for people to take the information with them. If you aren’t a Yeartech Online school, you can still use the idea, but give directions on how and where
to submit photos for use in the yearbook. The adviser got the idea when she saw a student trying to copy the information from the poster while a door
was opening and closing. You’ve probably seen the same idea used to advertise other things. I’ve attached a copy of the poster that you can change and
use yourself.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, October 4—Taking a look at the October issue of YourBook
Hopefully but the time you read this you will have the October issue of YourBook in your hot little hands. Make sure and check out:
◊ How to let you parents and students buy yearbooks online using their credit card.
◊ How to make sure everyone’s name is spelled correctly in your yearbook. For both InDesign and YTO users
◊ Some great tips on covering sports
◊ A sports coverage centerfold poster (Get that posted after you read the newsletter)
◊ How to recruit a Yearbook Business Manager (if you don’t have one already)
◊ How to create a cool iPod commercial silhouette guy
And a whole lot more. Check it out today and make sure to show it to your staff.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, October 5—More on you need permission to put kids in the yearbook?
Here are some more responses I got on this topic.
“I’ve not heard of this, but I’m still sort of a newbie. I’ve dealt with this issue in this way….because the school pictures are a school document
for the office they have to get their picture taken on picture day. If they don’t want to be in the yearbook, I told them that they needed to tell me so I
could verify that with their parents. This has worked for me.”
“We’ve never had to get signatures. Mostly we get complaints because someone isn’t in as often as they think they should have been. The
only restrictions we have are the bathrooms and the locker rooms when people are changing for P.E. Otherwise, if you are in a class, a hallway, the
cafeteria or the library, we consider these “public” spaces and we take pictures at will. If a student doesn’t want to be photographed they can always
cover their face or turn away. I wonder if they have some student(s) in their school who are in some sort of protective custody. I could understand
not doing photos of a particular student, but not requiring signatures from an entire student body!”
“I have heard about this and the possibility of it coming…. If this is the case the principal should have had every parent sign this release
when the students were registering. Perhaps a ‘blanket’ release could be signed during registration – we have one for computer/internet use that
has a checkbox on the bottom indicating whether we can use the student’s picture or not – mostly for public publications like the web and newsletter. After all, if no student releases are signed why bother with the yearbook at all? Don’t you think this is unusual since it is a student publication,
sold primarily to the students? “
“We have had students have their parents sign a letter when they DON’T want to be in the yearbook so they don’t come back later
all upset because their student was not in the book.”
This one surprised me. In all the info that is coming in, one adviser found that we (Jostens) already have such a document.
“I was just going through the new Jostens Taking Issue booklet to see if any changes have been made because we are getting ready
to go over publications law, I noticed that the last page has a sample of a release form that may help teachers.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, October 8—Netline comes of age! Fantastic!!!
If you use InDesign to create your yearbook then you may have used Netline to submit your pages. And Netline in the past has admittedly been a little less
than we could have hoped for as a way to upload pages. It got the job done but in a kind of clunky fashion. Well, I am thrilled to say that there is a brand
new Netline starting today that is head and shoulders above Netline of the past. It is a super way to upload your finished pages directly to the plant. And
there is more to this but first let’s talk about using the new Netline.
Here is what you need to know right from the YearTech designers:
Beginning today, (October 1) a new version of NetLine Submission is available via Yearbook Avenue. Based on feedback on the previous version, the 08
version is designed to be faster and easier for customers to use. No software to download and no tests to run. Here is the process:
If you have not used Netline before, I need to have it turned on by our consultant in the plant. So if you want to use it, just drop me an e-mail today. 07
NetLine Submission customers are automatically enrolled.
Then you will need to install the new version of Gather to Submit. NetLine requires zip files. A zip file is a packaged, compressed file that contains the
InDesign page file and links or PDFs. The file size is smaller and convenient for uploading. The 07 version of NetLine Submission created zip files as part of
the uploading process. This added time to the process. For 08, a new version of Gather to Submit will create the zip file as part of Prepare for Submission.
This plug-in is included in the 2008 YearTech Update that is included in the Yearbook It! mailing being shipped to all YearTech customers. The plug-in is
also available as a download on Yearbook Avenue. Go to Help, YearTech Help and then YearTech Updates. And the plug-in is attached to this e-mail. Directions to where to put it follow this tip.
Login to Yearbook Avenue. Go to Plan then Page Ladder. The NetLine upload button will be visible for schools enrolled in NetLine submission.
Click the Select Files button and browse to the Ready to Submit folder and select the zip files for uploading.
It’s a simple process and you will love the new Netline!
Directions on where to install the new YearTech PFS plug-in:
Put this file in the Jostens folder on your yearbook computers via the following path:
Hard Drive/Program Files (or Applications on a Mac)/Adobe/Adobe InDesign/Plug-ins/Jostens
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, October 9—An adviser request for help recruiting kids figuring out where else
yearbook fits in the curriculum
Yesterday I received this e-mail from one of you wonderful advisers:
“As you know keeping up enrollment in yearbook is always a struggle. .but new requirements keep coming down the pike and I struggle
with how to maintain/keep students. It helps that Yearbook counts for Occupational Education but, when I have students who want to take it a
second time and it only counts for Occupational or Elective that’s a drag.
So what I’m wondering is are there teachers out there who AREN’T Art teachers who teach Yearbook on a high school level and it
counts for art? Or is cross-credited that it can count for art? Or fit into any other curriculum area? If so maybe I can hook up with them and make
something happen here at JHS.”
So, what say you? I know that some of you out there get all kinds of credit for yearbook. Can you tell me what kind and how you went about getting
yearbook qualified for it? I will create a master list on this one and send it all back out to you so please respond.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, October 10—Another possible Photoshop-like replacement
Many of you who cannot afford a full version of Photoshop have told me about replacement products that are either free or very low cost. I know of and
have used Picassa (for PC only and free from Google) and iPhoto (for Mac only and free with any Mac, you have to pay for updates). Yesterday one of you
told me about GIMP. It is a free program that I am told does some of the things Photoshop does. You can find it at http://www.gimp.org/ It is available for
Macs and PCs. I have not tried it yet but you may find it is just what you are after. It seemed to be working great for the school who told me about it.
Your Yearook Tip of the Day for Thursday, October 11—Your Yearbook Avenue tip of the week
I have promised you a tip on finding great stuff on Yearbook Avenue each and every week. So here is the latest on great FREE stuff you can download from
your very own Yearbook Avenue website.
Posted last week are a brand new set of Creative Corners from our wonderful Creative Account Managers. These include:
◊ An evaluation sheet you can use to analyze your spread for storytelling quality considering all aspects of coverage and content.
◊ A great piece on getting people in the yearbook three times.
◊ An adviser success story from Andrew Bell of Stratford High School in Goose Creek, SC
◊ An article on getting teachers to photo-share
All of that for FREE? Yes sirreee! You can get it by logging into Yearbook Avenue and choosing Creative Corner from the Home menu. There are four PDFs
right there for you to download.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, October 12—More about rules governing kids pictures being in the yearbook
Last week we ran some of the responses from you wonderful folks about the rules governing kids pics in your yearbook. Specifically the question, “Do you
need permission to put a child’s picture in the yearbook.” We had responses from all over the map and so one of the things I did was ask my manager to
check with Jostens legal department. Here is what they told us:
“Generally, the comment you received is true – there is a federal law that prohibits publishing “personal information” of students,
and that “information” could arguable include photos with names. However, I believe most schools send out a “blanket” release form at the
beginning of the year to get parent’s permission for this type of exposure – which would also include school pictures. If the school doesn’t get this
release from parents, it could not technically give students names to the school photographer and let him/her take pictures of the child and return
proofs with names to the students.
In any event, it is a SCHOOL obligation, not a Jostens obligation, as the school is turning over the names and photos to us.”
Here are some other tales from the schoolhouse I received on this topic. Some of them not so fun.
“We, too, have the FERPA form which includes military , yearbook, newspaper, TV, etc. I just finished calling 230 parents who had
checked the form stating they did NOT want their child’s photo anywhere or any info released. However, when I called them, they said they really
hadn’t read it; they just signed it. But they do want their child’s photo in all of these places – just NO military should receive the info. What a waste
of time that was calling all of them!”
“My school does get permission. On the first day of school, all students receive an Agenda (handbook) which contains a calendar, school policies
like dress code, etc. It also contains a form to be completed by parents called the Directory Information Notice. It reads as follows:
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“Regarding student records, federal law requires the “directory information” on my child be released by the District to anyone who
requests it unless I object in writing to the release of any or all of this information. This objection must be filed within ten school days of
the the time this handbook was given to my child. Directory information ordinarily includes the following:
◊
◊
◊
◊
◊
◊
◊
◊
◊
◊
Student’s name
Address and telephone number
date and place of birth
participation in offically recognized activities and sports
weight and height of member in athletic teams
photographs
dates of attendance
awards received in school
most recent previous school attended
In exercising my right to limit release of this information, I have marked through the items of directory information listed above that I wish the
District to withhold about my child.
◊ Name of student:
◊ Date:
◊ Signature of parent/guardian
Fortunate for me, administration takes care of this so I do not have to on my own. If a parent has marked anything off that pertains to
me, administration would let me know. I have never been told to not put someone in the yearbook yet, but a guess Missouri law requires parental
permission.We’ve been doing this for several years already. Just another way society has changed. I would encourage the teacher to get administration involved because there is more to it than just pictures in the yearbook. Besides, it passes the responsibility to them instead of us. Hope this
helps.”
“My school/district deals with it in student agendas...
“The district classifies the following as Directory information: student name, parent’s name, address, telephone listing, electronic
mail address, date and place of birth, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members or
athletic teams, dates of attendance, diplomas, and awards received, student’s photograph, and the most recent previous school
attended by the student.Any parent parent or eligible student who objects to the release of any or all of this information without his or her consent must notify, in writing, the principal of the school where the records are kept within 10 days of receipt of their
handbook The objection must state what information the parent or student does not want to be classified as directory information. If no objection is received within 10 days of receipt of the Handbook, information designated above will be classified as Directory Information
until the beginning of the next school year.” Each student and parent is asked to sign a handbook acknowledgment form that is also in the agenda
that acknowledges that they have the handbook, have reviewed it and will follow the standards of behavior at all times.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, October 15—A few late comments about Senior Pics
In the last week of September we sent out a tip that concerned a young lady in New Hampshire who wanted to have her senior picture in the yearbook
that showed her holding a rose. Due to the problems another school had been through last year when they banned a student holding a sword and had
to fight that battle in court, the school had banned all props from Senior pictures. The young lady objected. You can see how this case is progressing by
reading the latest at http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Flap+over+flower+photo+takes+a+new+turn&articleId=238efb32-80db-41f
1-bcc0-b70441036943
I have also received one last comment about this topic that truly made me laugh out loud. I thought I would share it with you. The adviser who sent it
shall remain nameless.
I dunno.. it seems like senior pictures are a time to have a special pic with something that is meaningful.. we have many with outdoor scenes and
very nice pics.. so we haven’t gone to the tight policies you are talking about.. maybe because we are small it is easier to give seniors some special
coverage in the book with their really nice senior pics…. I can’t see the mug shot type of pic going over so well in our school… I guess it’s all what
you get used to.. we haven’t had any issues with inappropriate things so far.. (we almost did last year but not really.. one kid – a boy even – wanted
to submit a pic with him holding a cowboy hat down front and wearing nothing else but he knew it wouldn’t fly.. so he had appropriate pics to give
us too…our kids seem to be fairly good at common sense.. believe it or not.
I don’t know about you but I found that image truly funny. And we thought holding a rose was a problem.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, October 16—A superb idea for sharing images from school to school
One staff we know decided to pass along a copy of their ImageShare (schools using YTO can access ImageShare on the Plan menu of Yearbook Avenue)
flyer to other schools in their district via e-mail. The e-mail challenged their yearbook staff photographers to send photos from competitive games if they
were able to get some good shots of our participants while shooting their assignments.
The staff promised to use their photographer’s “photo by” tags with the thought that the other schools would do the same (and, with that, the contest
was on! Now all of their staff photographers are on notice that their images may be replaced by those from a neighboring school — but, if our photog’s
photos are better, their images will be used by the other school’s adviser and will be in their book! Now, if I am a photographer and have the chance to get
a few of my pix in another school’s book . . .?!
Just imagine if your rival school, XYZ HS, includes 20 of your donated images; and, your photog’s name is included in their index! Bragging rights.
Ah, yes, competition! What a super idea!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, October 17—Advice about dishonest staffers
I am so sorry. It seems that in the barrage of responses to the “parent permission to be in the yearbook” topic I forgot all about this topic. To refresh your
memory, on the Monday of the last week of September I sent this story out:
“Last Monday, the staff went out into the community to sell business ads. The amount they collected seemed a little low compared to last
year, but lots of business are closed on Mondays. Emilie, our business manager, was concerned about the low total & did some digging. One group
of staff members apparently didn’t spend all of their time selling ads. They went bowling! On school time! Needless to say I am mad as hell. I don’t
know for sure which group it was. Emilie didn’t want to totally rat them out & was afraid it would come back on her. I understand that. The staff is
going out tomorrow to sell ads again & now I can’t trust them. As you know, there’s a lot of trust involved with yearbook. I have to trust that they
will go where they are supposed to go & complete the tasks they are assigned. I’m very disappointed that one of the groups sees selling ads as unimportant & that yearbook is playtime. If a community member had seen them bowling & reported it to my administration, there’d be big trouble. I’m
sure administration would never let another yearbook class leave school to go out to sell ads. Right now I don’t even want the culprits on staff any
more. Being on staff is a privilege & if they’re going to abuse the privilege I don’t want them around. Any of your other advisers have this happen to
them? I’m planning on talking to all the groups before they go out tomorrow morning. I’m really disappointed in them & needed to vent. Thanks!”
Here are some of the responses I got back from other advisers about how they would react in the same situation and what they have done to prevent it
happening.
“Went bowling? I have the kids call the business, talk to the manager, call back if necessary. Mail or email them the contracts or go by and
deliver. I stopped that leaving the school to sell ads when all the kids started having cell phones. I think the personal meeting to see is great, but in
this day of liability, I’d rather use the phone and keep them on campus. We get replies by email and fax and works for us.”
“First, was she with her staff out in the field? I haven’t had any of her problems yet (cross fingers and toes) but I think what has helped is that
I have been with my staff while we are doing the ads. Even if I am not with each group, we usually get together for lunch and we also stay in cell
phone contact constantly. I also let the staff know ahead of time how much money we need to raise and what it is for. That tends to give them incentive.Secondly, I have two senior editors and I put them personally incharge of one of the groups. If something isn’t right, they are going to be the one
ultimatily responsible for what happens. I agree though that if I had a staff member or members who were caught lying to me I would have them
taken off of the staff. I remind my staff constantly that I have to be able to trust them or it just won’t work. I hope this helps.”
“This is a huge problem and I can totally see why this adviser is so upset. I would be beside myself!! She has every right to kick them off of
the staff. I too require my students to turn in signed nos. I also am out in the community with them when they sell ads. I set up shop at the local coffee
place and make the students check in with me every half hour. They either come by or call my cell phone. They have to tell me where they have been
and what the results were from each business.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, October 18—More advice about dishonest staffers
Here’s some more advice about dishonest staffers and how to handle that type of ad sales situation:
“Does she have enough staff members so she can afford to kick them off? If she does I would seriously consider it or put them on “probation”
for the rest of the semester and not allow them to leave campus for any reason for the rest of the school year. At the end of the year, their work ethic
will be re evaluated and it will be determined if they will be able to remain on staff next semester/next year.”
“Interestingly enough, my first year at this school, I had four students leave campus to sell ads and go swimming at an apartment
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complex pool. Not a one of them even lived at this particular pool! I called the students in after school and talked to them about it, explained
the trust and lying issue to them, and then wrote administrative discipline referrals. They all four had to spend two days in In-School-Suspension,
which, for these kids, was horrible. They never strayed again, nor did any other staff member. And, the four of them ended up being the most valuable staff members for the remainder of that year and the following year. Three of them still come by to check on the book. I think the face-to-face
confrontation with the explanation of what they did wrong was very important. And, I have the students bring back business cards from every place
they visit, even if we’re turned down. It’s proof that they went in and made the contact.”
“I think the second advisor was right on the money. I’d also ask the students to pick up a business card or some sort of promotional pamphlet
from each of the businesses they visited marking the name of the person they spoke with about the possibility of purchasing an ad.”
“Sorry I can’t help with this one. When we sell our ads we take two of the school vans, I drive one and another school employee drives the other.
We divide our teams and areas up and everyone goes their way and we meet for lunch and to compare notes. I have a great group of kids, I’m so
very lucky, they did a great job selling ads and have continued on their own time to do call backs. This must be one of the benefits of living in a small
town!”
“We don’t sell business ads in yearbook, but we do in journalism. I use something similar to the WHY thing. We have an ad attempt form.
That way, if a student gets a “no” I have documentation and I can follow up with a phone call if it seems fishy. I have attached the form if you think
it is of any use. I would also recommend being honest with the class about her predicament. Let them know the position they have put her in. If they
have any decency at all, they will come forward and apologize. If not, she’s going to have a long year.”
“I ALWAYS HAVE PARENTS HELP OUT WITH SELLING ADS. I PUT THE GROUPS UNDER A SUPERVISOR WHO KEEPS THEM ON TASK.”
“I think the second yearbook adviser was absolutely correct in firing the dishonest staff member. She would have had to constantly
check every little thing that staff member did. What an awful way to spend a year! I am all for students being responsible for their actions! This is
the only way they learn to deal with “real life” situations and become productive members of society. I’ve never had this problem and hope I don’t.
My staff divides up the ads, usually taking the ones that they know (small town) and must have the ads sold by the end of August. We are not allowed to send the students during school time, so they must do the selling on their own time. Everyone knows this is a major money makers besides
selling the book and success in selling the ads keeps the staff from doing other fund raisers during the year.”
“I have had problems with this in the past and one of our issues is that “firing” a student who needs the credit to graduate is not
acceptable in our school’s system. What I have had to do is restrict them from leaving campus. They are able to make calls over the phone especially for renewals - and when they are in class, they have to work on whatever needs to be done. They don’t get to leave campus again during
class time, but are still held accountable for the same dollar amount of sales as the other students.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, October 19—A last look at dishonest staffers and how to handle business ad sales
There were so many great responses on this that I wanted to give you one more bunch of them.
“A couple of years ago some of my kids did similar.. not bowling but stopping at coffee shop and shooting the breeze.. consequences affected
the entire class. The boys got a referral and detention and NO ONE in the class was allowed to leave campus anymore to sell ads.. they had to do it
on their own time.. and that really cropped what we got accomplished… as the more insincere students were not willing to spend their own time
working and it showed on their grade as they got a zero for their marketing scores in the class. Unfortunately it affected always and last year and
this we still cannot use school time to sell ads in person. We can telephone or we can use after school time. So the trickle down effect was certainly
felt. I don’t have the option of “firing” anyone… our school is too small to have enough choices for them to take other classes.”
“One of the ways that we have handled that problem this year is to take the time to see businesses out of the school day. Most students visit the businesses after school. I allow time during class only if there are specific reasons that is the only time for that connection. These kids
treat the whole visit like professionals. Another aspect that we have added in that helps is that they are graded on more than just how many ads
they bring in for the class. Thus, they can bring back information from a business which will show that the student was professional and persuasive,
but that the business still desires more time to make a decision.”
“I have my staff keep a record of every business they go into, who they talk to and if they say no, why…. If I question if they actually
spoke with a previous supporter, I will call them. Sometimes I randomly call the businesses anyway. Before the students go out, I remind them they
are representing their parents, the school, community and our book. If they act unprofessional or incompetent, they will be treated the same and
probably will not get the ad. We rehearse the how to’s and offers if someone says no….In answer to your question about being too harsh… I don’t
think I would fire them. The advisor should be looking at everything the business manager has anyway – auditors get really unhappy if only a
student is working on things…anyway, the advisor would be able to tell from the sales which team didn’t meet their sales goal – I would also state
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to the whole group what you heard from a community member and offer them the option of coming forward on their own. They don’t know that
the owner of the bowling alley didn’t call and rat them out.”
“We make a master list of all potential buyers and divide the list among the staffers. My students then make brochures to send to all
prospective ad purchasers. They also include a business card (which we generate in class). Each staff member had a sheet listing all of his or her
businesses. If the student does not get a response within 10 days of the initial mailing, the student makes a call to that business. We have a script
they use to ensure they represent our high school in a positive way. Students have to list the date they made the call, and specifically to whom they
spoke. If they were turned down, they record that on the sheet and explain why the business person was not interested. If the business owner wants
to see them, they pay them a visit. Every staff member has a folder that contains additional business cards, ad sales sheets, and a copy of last year’s
yearbooks. On the master list we indicate if a sale has been made or not. I never send the students out “cold.” Business owners rarely want to stop in
the middle of their work day to talk with an ad solicitor. This method has been very successful.”
“The first adviser needs to take the situation to administration and ask that they determine who in the class went bowling, so that
the offenders can be punished by the school. She should not worry that the rest of the staff or future staff members will be penalized if this is
made public. Instead the adviser should worry about losing the adviser job when this is made public. And, it will be made public. Too many people
already know. It will be much worse for the adviser if the principal or if parents find out that students were not where they were supposed to be
and that the situation was not made known to administration. As a parent, I would be horrified to find out that my child was not where the teacher
thought he/she was. There is simply too much that can happen. The administration can determine what the punishment will be and I’m pretty sure
that the punishment will be in line with the disciplinary action for students who skip class. That’s what the bowlers were doing. In the future, the
adviser will need to CYA. Cover yourself. Create a written agreement/contract in which all staff members and their parents or guardians sign indicating that students who don’t go to the locations for ads will be penalized double for grades and that they will be subject to the same disciplinary
action from the school as any student who is unexcused from classes. This is a serious situation and it should not ignored. The adviser could lose a
job over something this serious, so I hope that my words are considered. I have been an educator for 27 years and taught high school for eight years.
My current position is as a university department chair and professor and faculty adviser of the yearbook.”
“Our school doesn’t allow the students to go out alone. I go with them. I don’t go into each business with them, but I am sitting outside in the
car waiting. I don’t know if that’s possible for all advisers, but it keeps this kind of problem from happening.”
Here is the final one I got. I think it makes a great ending to this chapter of yearbook.
“FIRE them. Unacceptable behavior, in yearbook, in school, in the real world. If you don’t have integrity, you have nothing. Lying and cheating are
NEVER okay.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, October 22—Need more seniors to take their portraits?
It is a common problem at this time of year; many seniors still have not had their portrait photo taken and time may be running out. An adviser gave me
a great idea that I though I would pass along. Some schools have the ability to automatically call a group of students and leave them a pre-recorded message. Many schools do this to notify parents that a student is absent on a given day. If you can do this at your school, why not create a reminder message
to seniors that they need to have their portrait taken by a certain date in order to be included in the yearbook. Set it up to call all non-pictured seniors on
a Saturday morning, which is a common time for parents to be home, but not a common time for telemarketers to be calling!
If you don’t have this system available to you another option is to get a set of senior mailing labels from your school. Create a post card with a reminder
notice on one side, and place the labels on the other side. If you use a post card, it costs less to mail than a regular letter and still does the same job!
Remember that when you distribute the book, senior parents will call and complain if their child did not make it into the yearbook’s senior section. By
being proactive and reminding them, when the parent calls to complain, you have documentation that you sent a reminder phone call or post card.
On a very similar note, there is another problem that pops up with senior portraits. Sometimes other photo companies (not the one your school has
chose) will send out a mailer in the spring to all seniors telling them they can come and get their portrait taken at their studio. In March (yes, March), it
might be prudent to send out a note to all upcoming seniors that the, “Official photographer for your school is so and so, and that they need to go to this
photographer in order to get their picture in the yearbook.” This will help you avoid some of the confusion that happens when several companies send
photo information to your upcoming seniors. You should note that in some schools or school districts it is not allowed to have only one school Senior
photographer.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, October 23—Yearbook Wedding vows
I bet that subject line got your attention. I know it did mine when a friend at Jostens in Topeka sent it to me. This is what I got. I loved it and wanted to
share it. The author was not identified but if it was one of you or your staff, please let me know so I can give you credit.
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“Here is something you can pass on to your advisers. I found it on an online bulletin board I read from time to time.”
“I hope your year is getting off to a great start! This afternoon, my staff is holding a yearbook wedding on the lawn at the school. The girls
bought wedding gowns at the GoodWill, the boys are wearing suits, my rep sent over a wedding cake and a parent provided ring pops to exchange.
Yesterday, the staff wrote their vows. I thought they were so cute, I had to send them off to you all. Good luck getting the year started!”
Yearbook Wedding Vows
With these vows I dedicate myself to this publication which I hold so dear to my heart.
I commit to you, yearbook, not only class-time but also sports games, clubs, and work-nights.
For you I am sacrificing my social life.
For better or for worse, my deadlines will be done on time.
When the FedEx truck pulls away, like a ship from its harbor,
my pages will be on it, precious cargo of journalism pearls.
In sickness and in health I shall arrive to class on time,
and if my companion does not arrive promptly,
I will hold his hand and lead him to journalistic euphoria.
I take this yearbook to be free of spelling errors,
to hold it in my arms with NO mistakes and
to provide the student body with an ideal publication.
Not only, yearbook, do I give you my mind, body, and soul,
but I give you the best quotes, copy, and photos an NSPA judge could ever ask for.
I give you my humility and thus will put my entire self into every silly activity I am required,
no matter how many crazy outfits, drops of sweat, or rolls of laughter it takes.
I promise to provide you with batteries when your camera dies in the first few minutes
of the homecoming football game,
to cheer you up after work-nights that last well into the night,
to cover you, for I know you’ll cover me.
Lastly, my dearest yearbook, I promise you...
ME.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, October 24—Great directions for Online Ordering
Some of you have signed up for Online Ordering on www.yearbooksonsale.com. Recently one of my fellow Jostens reps produced a super PDF that you
can send to parents and students who will be buying online that shows them step-by-step instructions for buying a yearbook. We fully realize that doing
this is really easy but we all know the parent, student or fellow teacher who has problem with any kind of technology. For that person, the attached PDF
should be a Godsend.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, October 25—Shutter lag and how to handle it
Many digital cameras (especially point and shoots) have considerable shutter lag, which is the time between when you press your camera’s shutter button and the time the camera captures a photo. If you are going to take pictures in a fast-paced environment, such as a sporting event, you should spend
plenty of time practicing and learn to anticipate the action. If you want to capture your subject as he catches a football, press the shutter button just
before the football gets to him so your camera captures the moment when the ball lands in his hands. If you want to record someone’s winning block in
volleyball, learn to anticipate when the opponent will swing at the ball and when your daughter will jump for the block. With a little bit of practice, you
will get better at anticipating the action and learning the right time to press the shutter button to get some great photographs.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, October 26—Starting the year with their family
I got this great idea recently from one of my favorite advisers. She said it really helped in starting out her new year. If you are doing a fall-delivery book
you may be able to use it now. Otherwise, maybe you can hang on to it until next year.
“Here’s an activity idea you can pass on.
Before students start working on actual pages, you can have them do a spread or a page on their family, friends, or something that
they are comfortable covering. If they’ve never done yearbook before, and they are all of a sudden assigned to cover the volleyball team that
they don’t know, they might be a little overwhelmed. By having them do a page on something they are excited about and comfortable with first,
they can ease into yearbook. If you are creating your pages online, you can delete their pictures and pages after this project is complete.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, October 29—Why every picture needs a caption
One of my best advisers sent me this note in response to me telling her class that every photo in the yearbook should have a caption and that every caption should identify the people in the photo. I thought it really made the point.
“Having been a part of my husband John’s 40th reunion committee, one of the tasks I completed was making a memorial poster for
those who have passed on. It was hard to get pictures of some people, so I took some from their original yearbook. I was very frustrated by the
lack of captions, and John couldn’t remember who was who anymore. Forty years is a long time.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, October 30—Having an index in your yearbook is a GOOD thing.
At the start of the year I mentioned that you could keep track of everyone in your yearbook with an index. Some schools have told me they don’t think it is
worth the time or the pages to include one. Here is one adviser’s take on that:
“You may want to add that as a senior (in high school, many years ago) and yearbook editor, we made the decision to eliminate the
index. After all, it was nothing more than a popularity contest (or so we thought). We also put all senior photos in a hat and did not put them in
alphabetical order. Now some (I’m not saying how many) years later, it is difficult to find anyone. We had hoped it would make people look through
the entire yearbook. It accomplished that, but it also makes people angry when they are unable to show their children where they are in the book.
You are right about creating history.”
Great advice. And now that creating an index is so easy for both YearTech Online and YearTech for InDesign users, there is no excuse not to have one.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, October 31—Happy Halloween!
Not much of a tip really. Just wanted to say Happy Halloween! Try not and eat too much candy today. A sugar high is fun but you know we all pay for it
later. And don’t get overly spooked tonight and my all your students bring you treats and not a single trick.
November 2007
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, November 1—Locking your focus on digital cameras
I often see yearbooks pics (that don’t get used) with the background in focus and the subject the photographer intended to shoot out of focus in the
foreground. This is especially true with point-and-shoot cameras.
If your subject is not in the center of the picture, you need to lock the focus to create a sharp picture. Most auto-focus cameras focus on whatever is in the
center of the picture. But to improve pictures, you will often want to move the subject away from the center of the picture. If you don’t want a blurred
picture, you’ll need to first lock the focus with the subject in the middle and then recompose the picture so the subject is away from the middle.
Usually you can lock the focus in three steps. First, center the subject and press and hold the shutter button halfway down. Second, reposition your camera
(while still holding the shutter button) so the subject is away from the center. And third, finish by pressing the shutter button all the way down to take the
picture.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, November 2—A special request from a private school yearbook adviser
I had one of the people that I am sending this e-mail to (a Christian school yearbook adviser) come to me with a question and I told her I would ask how
you all handle it.
Her administration expects her to make all yearbook pictures available to them for purposes of recruitment, advertising of the school and the school
website. Is this the case at your school? If so, how do you handle it? Do you let them use pictures that would go in your yearbook? Before the yearbook
is published? Do you pick out the pictures they get? When parents send pictures, does the administration/recruitment person get pictures first and pass
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them on to you?
I would love some feedback to help get a handle on how other schools are handling this or if you have to deal with it at all. If you don’t have to deal with
it, who is taking those kind of pics for your recruitment/publicity people?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, November 5—How do you keep track of quotes?
I got this e-mail last week:
“Please ask this question of your other advisors: Is there an easy way to organize quotes from students and staff like the Image
Library organizes pictures? We do worksheets and questionnaires and get lots of kids’ ideas, but I am clueless as to how to organize them so they
can be easily found and used in our book”
Do any of you folks out there have a great way of doing this? Please send me your ideas and I promise to share them with everyone.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, November 6—Taking a look at the November issue of YourBook
By now you should have the November issue of YourBook in your hands. We like to call November our “Creative” issue because about now, creativity seems
to be starting to fall off. So to help you rejuvenate and move forward here are the highlights I would really love that you made sure to read:
◊ Page 1 has some concrete ideas on being more creative. It might me just what you and your staff need this month.
◊ Page 2 continues our “Back to Basics” articles with one on getting your yearbook there on time with some solid idea on meeting deadlines.
◊ Features and QuickReads (including some great ones in Click’N’Go are the subject of pages 3, 6 and the centerfold poster. Hopefully they will
provide you with the spark your kids need to get started writing the best features ever.
◊ And Photoshop fiends, you will find a cool tutorial on making an exacto knife (remember those) cut to put your headlines in on page 7.
Hope you enjoy the entire issue and I expect to see that centerfold poster on your wall the next time I see you.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, November 7—Book sales help for an adviser
Got this recently from a school I am working with this year. If you have ever had the same problem, how did you overcome it? Or are you still having it but
it is improving. We are looking for some great answers here and you haven’t let me down before.
“Okay, while you’re in the business of finding solutions - how do other advisers overcome the “You only need a yearbook your senior
year” mentality? Most of our students purchase only their senior book, followed by those who purchase a freshmen book then their senior book.
We really struggle to reach the sophomore and junior crowd, despite making sure that we are including 90% of our student body at least twice.”
To me, this is what these tips are all about. Sharing information. Nine times out of 10 when someone has a problem, someone else has already solved it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, November 8—Responses about where yearbook fits into your curriculum and
giving kids credit
Remember this question from an adviser about two weeks ago?
“As you know keeping up enrollment in yearbook is always a struggle. .but new requirements keep coming down the pike and I struggle
with how to maintain/keep students. It helps that Yearbook counts for Occupational Education but, when I have students who want to take it a second time and it only counts for Occupational or Elective that’s a drag. So what I’m wondering is are there teachers out there who AREN’T Art teachers
who teach Yearbook on a high school level and it counts for art? Or is cross-credited that it can count for art? Or fit into any other curriculum area? If
so maybe I can hook up with them and make something happen here at JHS.”
If you are in the same boat, here are the first set of answers. I will give you the other half tomorrow.
“Yearbook at our school is an English elective as it is considered a journalism course. (I was originally a social science teacher but I am certified in journalism and English and am now teaching those subjects). My students take yearbook multiple times. They can take it up to 6 times (3
full years) and each time counts as an English elective. This is helpful in keeping my selection pool large with the new state English requirements.”
“When I first started yearbook it was in the English department but did not count as an English credit. Students got the half credit like
any other subject. Now it’s in the business department and is considered a vocational. I don’t know how it got from one the to the other except I kept
telling the administration that if students could not get an English credit, then take it out of the English department…..and they did. The administration decided it was more of a business course and I agree. Although I think it could very easily count as an English credit, but no one else did. Most
administrations have no clue what is taught in yearbook…..and that’s where the problem lies!”
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“ At our school, if you take yearbook twice you get 1 yr Business Credit, 1 yr English credit”
“In our district, Yearbook counts as an English elective. Kids are able to take it for one semester and if they want to take it again they have
to take it as a independent study and do not get another English credit. We are trying to change the course so it can be taken both semesters for
English credit. It is considered an English class because it has a main focus on journalism and it is actually titled “Publication: Yearbook”.
“Yearbook here is counted as a Technology credit. Our school requires one year of Technology (computers) to graduate. I am a Business
Teacher.”
”We offer it as an English Elective because of the writing involved and I require that they do interviews and write up their notes.”
“Mine counts as CTE (career technical) but only because I am endorsed CTE in business management systems.”
“Ours is just an elective course, one they can take sophomore through senior year (or from freshman year, with sponsor permission).
They receive 1/2 credit per year, the same as choir and band, although I really think they should receive more. However, for awhile it was worth NO
credit, and then 1/4 credit per year, so we’re making progress. We had to make a request to the school board, and they had to give final approval for
credit status.”
“Yearbook is a part of our Desktop Publishing curriculum. It isn’t the only thing we do, but it is incorporated. The problem I have is that being in a small school, Desktop isn’t always offered every year. However, on the plus side, it is a dual credit class through Frontier Community College.”
“As you know Yearbook is considered a computer / technology credit at our school. It counts as 1⁄2 a credit, all of our HS students are
required to complete 1 hour of computer credit to graduate. If they have completed the computer credit, it can be counted as elective credits.”
“At our school we worked for years and years to get the class started—yearbook had been totally extra-curricular—and we have
now had the class for seven years. We worked long and hard with the administrators, the English department, and our curriculum committee. In just the last two years, we were able to have seniors take the yearbook/newspaper class for English credit (with a contract to do more in class
than other/younger students), while freshmen, sophomores, and juniors take the class only as an elective. We feel that because of the “elective”
status and all the state requirements that we struggle to put a class together, in both size and ability. It is still a frustrating situation.”
“Our High School moved Yearbook into the art department as an art credit. I do not know what it was before, yet it was not art as there
was an English teacher at the helm. Although, this was an easy move this year seeing how I am the art teacher!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, November 9—More ways to give kids credit for yearbook
Here are the second bunch of answers we got on this very hot topic. Hope they help you in your situation and thanks so much to all of those who sent their
solutions in.
“I’m sure that many have thought of this before—we use yearbook class as a technology class. Of course this is middle school, not high
school. We do cover a number of technologies—digital photography, video/video editing, hopefully pod-casting—later on if we have time. With
a little creativity I would certainly think that this could fit into that category. I get a lot of my yearbook equipment funding under the technology
heading.”
“On our campus I have it combined with journalism (English) and desktop publishing (computer technology). Second year students
are editors, so I will call it something different. It can be anything: Yearbook editors, Student Leadership, Student Publications Editor, Publications
Editing. The curriculum is then designed similarly, but with the focus on student leadership. This is a course colleges will like to see, for it shows a
student who is focused and aware of and meeting deadlines (new studies show this is the biggest concern at colleges for freshmen).”
“Currently, this class counts as an English elective credit. I am writing the curriculum (a huge process) to change it to an elective credit in
my department. The class will then be part of the computer department, and the class will be called desktop publishing. For this curriculum to be
approved, I need to include certain skills, and not mention that those skills will be used to create the yearbook. If yearbook is mentioned in the curriculum, the board will not approve it since its traditionally an English course.”
“Students will still be able to take the journalism elective credit in the English department by creating the newspaper – which has
really lost enrollment since I have been doing the yearbook.”
“The only thing yearbook counts for here is an elective, which I find completely frustrating. To me, the class should qualify as multimedia or art or something. It’s called “journalism” and “publications” and must be taught by English teachers, so it would even make sense to me if it
were called an English elective. What we do in here is part technical writing, part multimedia, so I think that’s where we fall between the cracks.”
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December 2007
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, December 3—Matching colors in YTO to Photoshop
Just last week an adviser who was using YTO asked me how she could figure out what the values for the background colors in YTO were. You know, the
ones labeled Traditional, Intense, Earthwise, etc. Well I got this great tip from one of our tech support guys. To figure out what color to match our background colors to in Photoshop just check out the attached PDF.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, December 4—Successful partnerships
Just the other day I got this from one of you wonderful advisers who thought it might make a great tip and I certainly agree. It is ready made for any of
you who have problems getting kids to work together and meet deadlines. Enjoy!
“After our first deadline my editors and I decided it would be helpful to really focus in on what makes for a successful partner relationship and address some of the situations that are frustrating for students when working on production pages with a partner. We
put together the following set of scenarios, and thought it might be something other staffs could use at the start of the year or when switching up
partners. If nothing else, it helps keep the students aware of what is / is not acceptable partner behavior.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, December 5—Last chance Senior/Personal ads?
I got this e-mail last week from an adviser who has had wonderful luck with Senior/Personal advertising sales. Her methods are superb. She thought
maybe you could use them as well.
“When my deadline for Senior PDAs gets about a week out, I have a staff person make reminder calls to all seniors’ parents. I have a
“script” typed up which is as basic as, “This is <name> from the (Your Yearbook’s name here) Yearbook staff. We just wanted to remind you that
the deadline for the Senior baby picture ads is <date>. If you need an extra form, please stop by the office to pick one up or download the link on
the district’s webpage under the Yearbook section. If you have any questions, please call our adviser, Mrs. XXXXX at...”
I’ve been doing this since I took over, and I always get an additional 20+ ads in by the deadline. It also cuts down on hearing the whining of “I never got
an order form” or “I didn’t realize it was due already” etc.”
What a great idea. I hope it works for you.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, December 6—Taking a look at the December issue of YourBook
By now you should have the December issue of YourBook in your hands. Here’s the stuff you should be sure to read.
Page 1 talks about proofs and how many of you (those using YTO) won’t be getting them. It als has a special reminder about book sales at Christmas.
Page 2 continues our “Back to Basics” articles with one on keeping your yearbook in the black and the best way to do that. So far this year we have focused
on four basic yearbook goals for you to achieve; everyone in the book three times, spell their names right, meet your deadlines and now keep it in the
black. Do those things and all will be well with the yearbook world.
Covering fashions and fads in your yearbook. See how others did it on page 3.
Looking for the best way ever to cover current events in your school, check out page 6.
And Photoshop fans, check out how to create cool edges on photos with colored backgrounds.
And lastly, but maybe the MOST important—make sure your staff knows about our annual Student Photography contest. The centerfold poster is the
perfect way to keep it in front of them. Post it in your classroom and get some kids to enter. They just might win some great prizes—like $1000!
Hope you enjoy the entire issue and I expect to see that centerfold poster on your wall the next time I see you.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, December 7—A holiday tip for you!
HOLIDAY TIME…
Yes, it is almost here! Here’s something to consider…
Do you have some type of holiday campaign for your yearbook? What about communicating with parents that the yearbook makes a great holiday gift?
You can give them a gift certificate so they have something to actually wrap and give to their child. If you need a copy of a gift certificate just let me know
– we have one already created for you. Go to your Yearbook Kit and grab the Sell It Box. You’ll find all kinds of idea inside.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, December 10—A holiday gift idea for you personally.
This isn’t really a yearbook tip, it’s for you personally.
Have you had a chance to look at ourhubbub.com? ( http://www.ourhubbub.com ) At the bottom of each of my emails, there is a link as well as a code for a
15% discount. These books make a great gift! They are full color, hard bound, printed in 3-5 days, and you get to pick out your own cover and create all of
your pages. I love that you only need to print one book. Many people on my gift list will be getting a neat photo book. You can cover a special trip, make a
baby/wedding/birthday book, put together a retirement book, etc.
So if you are stumped for a quick Christmas idea and you have some pictures you can use, why not use your yearbook adviser talent to design a special
book for those you love.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, December 11—An indexing warning and a name spelling tip!
By now most of you have pages in the plant and you should be starting to work on your index. Thankfully, this is a really easy process whether you use YTO
(where it is created automatically for you as you place pictures from your Image Library) or YearTech for InDesign (where you can just click the Indexer button to index to index a spread). But last week one of you great advisers sent me this note and I think it may apply to many of you. It is certainly something
to think about and to plan for.
“I wanted to let you know we ran into an issue that I’m sure experienced yearbook staffs have under control, but something you
may want to share with newer ones: the index. I love this feature, and I printed what we had so far just to take a peek. When I did so, I realized
that we had been entering names without a style guide in place. As a staff we had already agreed that portrait photos would list formal names and
captions would list nicknames, but I hadn’t thought about indexing. So, for instance, the kid we know as “Sammy Johnson” had been indexed as
“Sam Johnson,” “Sammy Johnson,” and “Samuel Johnson,” appearing as three different students. While the index identified potential duplicates,
we found many more it didn’t. We made a staff decision to index all students under formal names, even if the photo that was being indexed had a
nickname caption. Now, however, we’re going through to change all the errors already entered. It’s tedious work (although the “search” feature in
the image library has been a life-saver), but we’re so glad we figured this out NOW instead of later. If you can think of other newbies this information may help as well, please let them know!”
Thanks so much for bringing that to my attention and to everyone else’s.
Another one of you great people sent me this and I think it is very related:
“ As I was checking the coverage page today, I realized it’s also a great way to make sure names are spelled correctly! Similar names
are highlighted, prompting a check for spelling.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, December 12—An adviser request for course descriptions.
Those of you who have a yearbook class may not realize this but not all schools have yearbook offered as a class. Many have it as an after school club or an
adviser supervises a few kids working on it during his or her prep period.
Well one of my advisers who has do just that has been working hard for a number of years to have yearbook added to her curriculum. She now has
approval but the administration would like her to come up with a course description for yearbook journalism. I thought that instead of reinventing the
wheel (or in this case the course description) you could send us yours. So if you have a course description from your curriculum for yearbook/journalism,
could you send it my way?
Thanks in advance with what I am sure will be an avalanche of help.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, December 13—Tracking your pages
With many schools submitting pages over the internet, you’ll want a way to keep track of what pages you have sent, what proofs you receive, and what
proofs you have returned. You can track your pages online under the Yearbook Avenue Status Menu by going to the Summary Report. There you will find a
complete page grid and a proof status grid. However, if you want something you can post in your yearbook room, use the attached forms to mark off what
pages you have sent and the proofs you have completed. It is fun to mark off your pages as they go out the door (or over the internet!). By using these
forms, you can make sure you have sent everything you planned and you can easily see which pages you still have left to go.
Also, if you have submitted InDesign pages, don’t forget to check out the Virtual Book on Yearbook Avenue. It is so cool to flip through your book page by
page. Once you submit your pages, the plant will load your pages into the Virtual Book about 5 days after we receive them. YearTech Online users have the
benefit of the Virtual Book updating automatically as they save pages.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, December 14—Matching colors in Photoshop
On Monday, December 3 I sent out this tip:
Just last week an adviser who was using YTO asked me how she could figure out what the values for the background colors in YTO were. You know, the
ones labeled Traditional, Intense, Earthwise, etc. Well I got this great tip from one of our tech support guys. To figure out what color to match our background colors to in Photoshop just check out the attached PDF.
I immediately got a response from our guru of YearTech, Betty Bacon. She informed me that even though that was a great way to match the colors that we
(Jostens) had put Photoshop swatch palettes for all the Jostens colors on Yearbook Avenue for anyone to download that wanted them. Even I (who should
know this stuff) was impressed that they were there.
You can find them by going to (and they are a little hard to find) Help/Creation Tools then scroll down until you see Photoshop Hot Stuff. The first item is
Color Swatches for Photoshop. Click that link and it not only lets you download the swatches but there is a PDF of how to install them. How cool is that?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, December 17—Please submit this week!
For many of you someday this week will be your last day of school for this calendar year. We hope that you will do us a HUGE favor before you leave and
make every effort to finalize and submit any pages that are finished. So if you can, please take a few minutes today and check with your editors to see if
you have any pages that are close to being done that can be finalized and submitted before you take your well-deserved winter break. It would help us so
much to have those in the plant. You see, while you are gone on that break, our plants will be open, all but a few of the actual holidays and it gives us a
chance to get a whole bunch of work done.
So if you have anything you can send or submit, please do it before you leave.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, December 18—Yearbook Course descriptions
You cannot believe how many of these I got. I sent this out to some other rep friends as well and they sent me back stuff from their schools. That means
that not only is our area represented but pretty much the entire USA! How about that. If you are looking for a course description for yearbook, you have
found it. More are attached.
“This course is designed to give students an overview of the journalistic skills required to produce a yearbook. Units covered include
advertising, sales, photography,computer skills, editing,and a review of Grammar which enhances editing. All of these skills are necesarry for the
college bound student, and a requirement in today’s competitive job market.”
“Yearbook is a yearlong course where students will accept leadership opportunities and develop skills as they build the yearbook.
Specifically, students will begin by organizing their photos of school-wide events, their classmates, younger students, and faculty. They will format
and design layouts of the yearbook pages and assist the yearbook teacher with school-wide communication. Students will improve oral and written
communication skills while interviewing people and events featured in the yearbook. Prior to submission of the final pages, students will aid in the
editing process, specifically for the sections they have been assigned.
Student goals are as follows:
Use computers and digital cameras to photograph, compose, edit, and revise work for publication
Write for an intended audience, recognizing the importance of ethics in information gathering and reporting
Demonstrate knowledge of layout and design procedures by incorporating consistency of style using a desktop publishing system or
traditional methods
Assist the yearbook teacher with organization of yearbook materials and pages”
“Course Description: 8^TH GRADE (2 positions for 7^th Grade) Application is requested, please pick up in office.***
The focus for this class is to produce a yearbook for this school. Students will be encouraged to take photographs of the student body and
develop a theme for the year. The yearbook will follow this theme. The business of producing a book will also be covered. Such areas are: budgeting, fund raising, advertising, balance of information, basic writing skills, computer skills, organization, scheduling and punctuality of deadlines.
Completion of the yearbook for the year will be marked upon the final sale of the yearbook. “Off time” may be used to work with slide show presentations. There is a minimal supply list; pencil, black permanent marker, 12-18” ruler, separate eraser, and 16-24 AA batteries. Discount on yearbook
is based on performance. Equipment replacement is required by student/family of student if student is found negligent.”
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“Advanced Publications/Yearbook
Prerequisite: Adviser Approval, previous high school staff experience or staff editor of an incoming junior high publication.
Students will be responsible for producing the school yearbook. They will learn the fundamentals of producing a yearbook except for the
actual printing and binding. Students will learn layout, design, advertising, budgeting, salesmanship, teamwork and creative reporting about items
of interest around school. Students will be instructed on IBM compatible computers using desktop publishing software and Photoshop to produce
the yearbook. Students will have the opportunity to take photographs and may enter contests and attend workshops that are available. Additional
work will be required as publication approaches monthly deadlines. This work time can require 2-3 hours/week of out of school responsibility.”
“YEARBOOK – 1 Credit, 11th - 12th Grades
This multi-disciplined course provides practical experience and training in the fundamentals of marketing, makeup, layout, and
production of a student publication.”
“The course description for Journalism from Judah Christian is as follows:
Journalism gives students basic instruction in journalistic writing/editing, layout/design, reporting and photography skills. Hands
–on experience is provided through the production of the school newspaper and yearbook. This electiverequires a full year commitment. All
students will be responsible for specific assignments and must be able to meet deadlines.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, December 19—Are you using Image Share? You should be.
I just got this unsolicited comment from one of you wonderful advisers that uses YearTech Online.
“I just want to say…I LOVE Image Share!!!!! J I made ONE email plea to our junior high parents, and they have sent in over 50 images in just
two days!!!! (I gave them some SPECIFIC needs and a ONE WEEK WINDOW and they have really responded well! I think part of the reason is that it is
SO EASY to upload the pictures!!!! THANK YOU for a GRAND TOOL in Image Share!!!!!!!!!!!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, December 20—Three quick tips
Tip #1
If you are looking for current events photos to purchase, check out www.mctcampus.com <http://www.mctcampus.com/> . For a little under $300 you can
buy a year’s subscription to download high-resolution current events photos. Of course using World Beat is a whole bunch easier.
Tip #2
Please check with your photographer on the status of your portrait CD’s if you have not yet received them. They should arrive 4 weeks after your final retake date. There seems to be quite a few problems this year with CD’s arriving late or CD’s being incorrect. It is not just one photo company so if you should
have had your CD’s by now, please check with your photo company.
Online Schools: The plant will upload your mug photos to your online site within 5 days of receiving the CD. After that you can do all the name corrections
and place the pictures on your pages.
InDesign Schools: The plant will send out your photo proofs within 24 hours of receiving your CD so you can correct and return them.
Tip #3
Please let me know if I can help with proofs in any way. I am seeing a trend of proofs being out longer than normal this year. I know the plant is turning
out proofs very quickly; sometimes within 24 hours. If you upload in smaller batches of pages, you will get smaller batches back which are much easier to
manage. If you have any proof questions or concerns at all, contact me so we can get those resolved.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, December 21—The last tip of 2007!
This one is easy. Just two quick reminders.
Send anything that you can to the plant before you go.
Have a WONDERFUL HOLIDAY! And forget about yearbook for the entire time. You have our permission.
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January 2008
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, January 2—Ugly gift giving
A fellow rep sent me this on the last day before the holidays. I loved the idea and thought you might be able to file it for the next holiday season. Enjoy!
“I was visiting a first year advisor just before Winter break. She was collecting presents that the students were dropping by. She told me about an activity
she uses in her English classes for Christmas. I have retyped it leaving mention of Christmas out so that it can be adapted for any time of the year.
I thought this would be a great bonding activity. This could help in those situations where students are not working well together. Instead of having the
students draw names, I would pair those that are not “friends”, are not in the same cliques or not participating at all in the class, with their peer opposites.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, January 3—Having fun with staff clothing
This really isn’t a tip…just a little bit of humor to brighten your day. Those of you that know me pretty well know that I get excited when staffs meet their
deadlines. I was at a school last week and the yearbook students had these great t-shirts….which go totally against my philosophy of meeting deadlines,
but they were funny anyway. On the back they said, “We love deadlines. We like the swooshing sound they make when they fly by.”
I thought that was great!!! I know that staffs work hard to meet the deadlines, yet it’s still important that we have some fun along the way. Creating a
staff t-shirts is one way to add some fun and bond as a group. All you have to do is mention it to a few kids and they’ll be all over the internet searching
for cool and affordable staff t-shirts. Before you order, make sure kids have paid so you don’t get stuck eating the cost of the shirts.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, January 4—An Adviser photography question. How do you handle this?
One of you wonderful folks needs some help. Can you answer this question?
“I am hoping you can put this question out to your schools so that perhaps I do not have to re-invent the wheel. I am about to get approval to purchase a very expensive camera ($700.00) and would like to make sure students understand that if they loose it break etc… that they
are held responsible. I would like to have some sort of form that they sign every time they check the camera out. Will you please see if any one else
does this and if they would be willing to share their form with me.”
How about it folks? Does anyone out there have what they need?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, January 7—Taking a look at the January issue of YourBook
By now you should have the January issue of YourBook in your hands. Here’s the stuff you should be sure to read. In case you didn’t notice this issue is all
about writing body/feature copy. It was in direct response to a request from one of you wonderful advisers. So...
Page 1 starts it off with a discussion of the difference between writing facts and writing memories and continues on to..
Page 2 and 3 which have some concrete tips for writing and organizing your writing. Where to get quotes, who should be covering certain topics and
more. It is a must-read for your editors and writing staff. If you think it is too late this year, save it for later this spring when you start training your 2008
staff.
The centerfold (pages 4 & 5) is all about the difference between your typical yearbook copy (all facts) and memory-based yearbook copy.
Then on pages 6 & 7 is our annual revised look at New Year’s Resolutions for Yearbook Advisers and their yearbook staffs. If you have not seen these before,
please take a minute to review them and review the staff goals with your kids.
Lastly, the two far columns on page 7 have a special warning about using copyrighted photos that your kids download from the web. Please make sure
that all your kids see it.
And from last month,PLEASE—make sure your staff knows about our annual Student Photography contest. The centerfold poster from December is
hopefully on a wall in your yearbook room. It is the perfect way to keep it in front of them. Please get some kids to enter. They just might win some great
prizes—like $1000! All rules and entry forms are on Yearbook Avenue.
Hope you enjoy the entire issue and that it gets them capturing those memories!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, January 8—A tip for those of you using InDesign
A tool to make page proofing easier
The Note It feature is a useful tool when making proof corrections. These drag and drop non-printing notes are accessed by a button on the YearTech
toolbar. Just drag them onto the spread and type a message. With six colors to choose from, you can assign different colors to staff members or to editing
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functions. You can hide the note by clicking between the Normal and Preview mode at the bottom of the InDesign Tools palette. Remember to delete the
notes before submitting your pages.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, January 9—A tip for those using YTO.
Always searching for just the right photo? Image Share can help!
Are you having trouble finding just the right photo to use when creating pages? Having a large selection of shots to choose from may be the answer you
are looking for. Image Share is a great way to boost your image library and have access to photos you wouldn’t otherwise have.
For those who are not familiar with Image Share, if is a free website you can set up through Yearbook Avenue that allows students, parents and community members to submit photos for consideration in the yearbook. It is a great way for you to get more photos and allow others to contribute their favorite
pictures to the book. In fact, those submitting photos can opt in to receive an automatic email if the photo they submit is used on a page in the book.
Those auto emails will begin going out this week. The emails will read:
“Congratulations! A photo you submitted for the (your school name) yearbook has been selected and placed in the book. Thanks for submitting
photos to help the staff create a terrific yearbook everyone will want to own. Have you purchased your copy? If not, there may still be time. Contact
the yearbook staff for ordering information.”
If you have questions about using Image Share, please contact Jostens Tech Support at 1-800-382-2435.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, January 10—10 Incredible Online Applications for teachers
I found this great website while surfing around for yearbook design ideas. It is not just for yearbook advisers but for teachers of all kinds. I had seen some
of these applications before but not all of them together in the same place. If you find it useful, please send it on to the other teachers in your school. Tell
them your Jostens rep sent it to you.
http://www.topeducationdegrees.com/online-apps-innovative-teachers
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, January 11—Camera checkout forms
Last Friday I sent out this request:
“I am hoping you can put this question out to your schools so that perhaps I do not have to re-invent the wheel. I am about to get approval to purchase a very expensive camera ($700.00) and would like to make sure students understand that if they loose it break etc… that they
are held responsible. I would like to have some sort of form that they sign every time they check the camera out. Will you please see if any one else
does this and if they would be willing to share their form with me.”
I also sent it to some rep friends as well to see what they would find out at their schools. And of course everyone came through for me.
Thanks so much to those who did. I could still use more if anyone else has one. And there is also a simple Staff Contract attached that another
adviser sent. It contains a line about camera equipment as well.
“I have attached a couple of documents I created. The agreement form is signed by both the student and parent. The students attend an
inservice I give them on the guidelines for using and checking out the camera. Then they have to get the form signed.”
“As far as checking out the camera, we keep it simple. The students have to come to me. Each camera is marked #1, #2, and #3 (we have 3
cameras) with a case that has the school name and phone number on it and four extra batteries for the camera. We record the student who signed
out the camera and what pictures they were planning to take.”
“This is the form we use for all our classes. We cannot enter into a contract with students but we can certainly enter into a contract with the
parents. We have moms, dads or guardians sign the form. In addition the student signs the form so we know they have read the information.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, January 14—More camera tracking forms
After sending out the first couple of these on Friday, I received a whole bunch more. They are attached. A few came with comments. I hope they help you
in your situation.
“We make each student who wants to use the camera sign a contract with their parents as witnesses (see attachment). Then we just
have a simple sign out sheet in class that tells us who took the camera, when it was taken, when it was returned and any comments about its use.
The contract is the important part since the financial responsibility will most likely fall on the parents.”
“I have students and their parents sign an agreement in the staff contract indicating that they are responsible for damages/price of
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repairs to the equipment they use. Additionally, the policy for tech equipment at our school is to have students sign a check out sheet when they
borrow cameras, etc. Its kind of like a library card for each camera. We keep them taped to the door of the locking cabinet the cameras are stored in.
The staff contract I used for my class is a version I adapted from the original version of Casey Nichols’ staff contract. (His yearbooks are amazing.) He
was generous in sharing his forms at workshop, and I believe he would not mind it being passed along. I have included the contract in an attachment. I hope this is helpful.”
“Reading this kind of late, but I would offer this advice instead of a form. I too have bought two expensive digital cameras over the last 4-5
years. The SLR body styles are great. But I find that the students prefer the point and shoot variety a lot better. You can get them in 4 or 5 meg now
and the do an exceptional job. Have the company taking your school photos show up and take action shots at ball games and other special events.
Spend the money on Photo manipulation software instead.”
“Our students each get their own camera. Not only do they sign a form, but their parents sign one as well. If their parents don’t want to sign it,
then they can’t be given a photo assignment. They get another job to do. The parent waivers have come in handy more than once. I hate to admit
how many times a camera has been left behind at a game or a dance, or buried in a locker. Our cameras all have a name tag in them as well, asking
that they be returned to the school if found.”
“This is a difficult situation. There are many parents who can not afford to replace such a camera. So much so that if their student is called to
replace the camera at the cost of $700, then the parent would rather not have their child handle the camera at all. I best way to handle this is to
properly train the students in how to handle such a camera, and then trust them. The safety and security of our equipment is also our responsibility.
I always impress on my students that the camera is critical to our job, without it there will be no yearbook, and if it gets broken or lost, there will be
no yearbook, as we can not afford to replace it.”
“We have a few standard cameras and one very good one. The standard cameras are kept in the library and checked out just as you would
a book, and can be done by any student based on availability. The good camera is kept in the school by a teacher (our yearbook is an after school
activity) and can only be checked out by the editor, or other designated students. This is handled strictly between the teacher and the student.
Students are well aware of the fact that they are responsible for damages or loss to the camera. Understand, we have a very small school (grades
7-12 = 164 students), so it’s easy to keep track of the student and the camera. We don’t have any specific form that anyone fills out, but if I were in
a larger school I would see if there was a way to ‘hold’ the report card/grades until the camera is returned in good condition or paid for if damages
occurred, something to the effect of what happens if you don’t turn in library books and such.”
“I really believe if I were a parent I would not want my child anywhere near that camera. No matter how careful a person is, whether it be
a student or an adult, accidents happen. I think the advisor needs to look at the schools insurance or insurance on the camera.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, January 15—What to do when weather gets in the way of yearbook
An adviser just wrote me and asked:
“Recently we have had some days off due to weather. I have had a really hard time getting my staffers to work at home on yearbook during
those days or to come in for extra time after we return to school. Does anyone have some ideas on how to motivate kids when this happens? They
don’t seem to understand that even though they had the day off, we still have to meet our deadlines.”
I know that no matter what the time of year, this can happen. Anyone have any great ideas about how to light a fire under the staff who lost days at
school. And I have to say that I would suggest that if the school is using YTO, kids can log on from home and turn that weather-related day off into a full
day of working on the book. That’s one of the many reasons I love YearTech Online.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, January 16—A great last minute book sales idea
Here’s a cool idea from one of you great advisers as a last minute book promotion. They are selling their books online this year and are trying to sell a few
more books. They are announcing their sale over the PA system as well, but the list idea is sort of neat. She posted the list of students who had purchased
a yearbook with this at the top.
“If your name is in red, you have won a bottle of Mountain Dew! Please pick it up from room 1303 beginning Friday December 14th!
As of 12/11/07 these are the only GBN students who will receive a yearbook in May! if you are not on the list you need to go the the GBN
website to order a yearbook by Dec 21. If you do not have Internet access you may purchase one at the bookkeeper’s office for $XX by Dec 21.
(SOME OF THESE PURCHASES MAY NOT SHOW THE NAME OF THE STUDENT...INSTEAD THEY MAY SHOW THE NAME OF THE PARENT OR
GUARDIAN WHO PURCHASED THE BOOK FOR THE STUDENT. IN ADDITION, IF A NAME IS LISTED TWICE, IT MEANS THAT TWO BOOKS WERE
ORDERED FOR THAT STUDENT’S FAMILY.)”
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Don’t know if any of you can use it, but thought I would share. She is also sending out a mass email to all students telling them to check the list to see if
they have won. This is a school where kids have a school email address. The free Mountain Dew idea was to entice kids to look at the list. She just picked
some random names from the list.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, January 17—Selling the last, few Senior Parent Ads
Back in mid-December we sent out a tip about having your staff call any parents who had not yet purchased a Senior PDA ad. The adviser even provided
a script that the yearbook staffers who were doing the calling could use. Here’s another adviser’s view on that. This school used their School Messenger
System (the machine that calls kids parents when they are absent) to inform them that their son or daughter was not going to be in the senior tribute
section.
“The “call” worked for me, also, but I used School Messenger, a wonderful tool we have at CCHS that calls parents automatically.
My editor simply recorded a message and indicated which students’ parents needed to be called. The machine did the rest! Since many of our kids,
especially the males, are camera shy, the senior page packets often do not get home. Contacting the parents is ESSENTIAL!!! Basically, a little effort
equals A LOT of profit!!!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, January 18—Do this today to celebrate Monday.
I think I am going to make this my annual tip for this Friday, each and every year. It has nothing to do with yearbook. I would just like you to get on a
computer that as both internet access and a set of speakers, (if it is hooked up to a digital projector, that’s even better!) get your entire staff to listen and
play this:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
What you will hear will only take 17 minutes. But it will be 17 very powerful minutes if they listen. Something everyone should hear. Every year. Just my
humble opinion.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, January 22—A quick warning about Google’s Picasa.
In the past I have recommended Picasa software that is free and available from Google as a low-end alternative for Photoshop and Bridge. And did I
mention it is free. But yesterday I got this e-mail from an adviser who has been using it to store and organize photos online as well as edit them on his
computer.
“A good tip in the future might be to lookout how one uses Picasa for managing photos. My wife posted a couple of photo albums to family before the holidays and we went to look for our pictures and they were in none of the original folders. We ended up finding them in the Recycle
bin. YIKES. Not sure if it was my wife or the free software but we did notice a lot of other Web postings from people out there seeing the same issue
and asking the same question….”where are my photos?!?”
Just a heads up if you are using this software to organize your yearbook photos.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, January 23—A quick photo shooting tip
Saw this on the web last night and said to myself, “That can’t be said enough.”
Neil Turner at DP Review recommends finding different heights to shoot from - ‘The best photographs are made when the photographer chooses a vantage point to suit the subject, and it is surprising how few subjects are suited by the height of a human standing at their full five to six feet’.
So take a second today to discuss this with your photographers. Ask them to look at the pictures they have taken so far this year. From what angle were
they taken? Are the all from a full standing position? Encourage them to take pictures sitting down, lying on the floor, standing on chairs. But be careful.
For the first few days after you do this, they may come back with pictures taken from the oddest angles imaginable. The key is not to do it all at once but
to just think about how a picture might look if taken from another angle.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, January 24—Spring yearbooks! Final count and Personalization is due next week
This is just a BIG reminder. If you do a yearbook that you distribute in the Spring then your final book count is due next week. And if you are doing Personalization this is also due at the same time. If you need help getting your Personalization into ItPays on your Yearbook Avenue website, please let me know
now rather than on the Monday.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, January 25—Special tip for YearTech Online users
Did you know that you can access PDF’s of ALL the saved versions of any page as long as you are logged in as the adviser?
So, if you want to revert back to previously saved version of your page, you can just by doing the following. Go to the page for which you want to see the
history. Click on the Templates Tab and choose My Deleted Pages. All previous saved versions of that page will pop up, although you’ll only get one side of
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the spread. If you want to view the facing page, you can type in the page number just to the right of the words “My Deleted Pages.” Once you choose My
Deleted Pages, you can drag an older version of your page on top of the current page.
If you want to see a large PDF of one of your saved versions click on the History button next to each version of the page. A window will pop up with the
whole history of that page. It tells you who worked on the page, the date, the time, etc. You can also click on the PDF button to bring up a PDF of that
page if you want to see more detail. Pretty sweet!! The Page History function is new this year.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, January 28—Quotes, the next best thing to photos
There is no such thing as too many quotes in the yearbook. If you ask open ended questions, you will get quotes that really tell the story. It also gives you
the opportunity to get one more student in the yearbook. When the students write their captions/copy, sometimes it is hard for them to think of something besides, “it was a great season/club/year.” By interviewing the people involved, they will get real stories that really bring the page to life. Encourage
your students to get great quotes for YOUR yearbook. Next to photos, kids love seeing their own words in print.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, January 29—Cool new Disney Autograph page design.
We have a new Disney autograph page design that is available to you if you. YearTech customers can download the designs from Yearbook Avenue under
Help, YearTech, and Clip Art. For YearTech Online customers, go to the Page Designer, and then click on the Images tab. From the dropdown, select clip art,
then the autograph/division pages. The Disney autograph page is one of the choices you can drag and drop onto your page. Please note that the Disney
design art may not be altered in any way and may only be used as a full-page autograph page. I am attaching the color version – there is also a black and
white version. This design is available because a year ago this month, Disney and Jostens became partners when Disney chose Jostens as the OFFICIAL
provider of Memory books for all their theme parks. We are thrilled to be able to offer you these very cool autograph pages.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, January 30—Looking for great and catchy headlines!
I was browsing through the Virtual Book tonight for one of my school’s and saw a really fun headline. It was the golf spread and the headline was “Who’s
Your Caddy?” That gave me an idea….send me one, two, or three of your favorite headlines from your book and I’ll share the list in another tip of the day.
The results should be very fun! Can’t wait to read them.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, January 31—Getting kids motivated about making up deadline days lost to bad
weather.
About a 10 schools days ago, an adviser sent me this:
“Recently we have had some days off due to weather. I have had a really hard time getting my staffers to work at home on yearbook during
those days or to come in for extra time after we return to school. Does anyone have some ideas on how to motivate kids when this happens? They
don’t seem to understand that even though they had the day off, we still have to meet our deadlines.”
I of course sent the request on to you and here are some of the responses I got back. Thanks a bunch if you sent one in.
“Grades are very motivating. If a student misses a deadline, production falls behind and their grade falls. Sometimes I feel my staff thinks their
immune to a low grade because it’s “Yearbook.” But, when they get a B or less at grade check (or their report card) attitudes tend to change. Bribery
works, too. I make sure to reward the staff for the littlest of things (with little treats) at the beginning of the year. When deadlines are met, we make
a big deal about it and the reward is good, too. (I’m partial to smoothies. They’re sweet and healthy at the same time!) Last, but not least: scare the
jeepers out of ‘em. Remind students of their responsibility to meet their deadlines. The completion and success of the yearbook is dependent on the
staff doing their jobs. Take individuals aside, if need be, to impress upon them to be more responsible. Yearbook is more than a class/club/activity. It
is a business very much like that in the real world with a budget of tens of thousands of dollars.”
“I offer my students bonus points for coming in during study halls or lunches or after school. For every 3 activity periods they come in they get an addition point on their marking period grade. This has motivated students to come in and work on their page while giving them credit
for the extra time they are spending. I also hold Staff Meetings 4 times a month. This is a two hour session after school or on the weekend. Each
student has to attend at least 1 of those - it is 100 points.”
“I had the same problem last year with our 5700 bad weather days. Giving up their Saturdays to make up for the lost school days seemed to
be a big motivator. We had one all-day work day on a Saturday (9-3 or so) and they never wanted to come back and I got pages to submit! It was a
win-win. We had pizza and stuff, but it wasn’t a fun day by any means. I’ve also got all my kids’ numbers in my phone, so if we have several days off,
I call them up and remind them that deadlines don’t change. And then I’m sure to leave them tons of note-it notes on their pages and make myself
available via phone and email as much as possible so that they can get feedback while they work at home. My kids last year mentioned that’s why
they didn’t work at home—because they never knew if what they were doing was “right”.”
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“We had this happen last year. Wind storms, snow, and network outages created deadline issues. I actually had a couple of “work parties” after
school. I provided food and drink and we cranked our productivity way up. Students who weren’t able to attend, and it was optional, needed to find
another way to catch up, which generally meant working from home, or coming in during study hall.”
If anyone else has any other ideas, please pass them on. I would love to hear them and I promise to share.
February 2008
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, February 1—A few more answers to the expensive camera question.
Over the last few weeks we have sent out a bunch of contracts and agreement forms for camera equipment after the original question at the start of the
month about how you can keep your cameras safe and make sure you get them back. I received a few more responses just today and wanted to send them
along. And then you’ll find another opinion all together.
“Here are two more for you. One of these is a contract about borrowing cameras in general - signed at the start of the year. The other is a form
they sign each time they check out a camera.”
“In my opinion kids will be kids and accidents happen. If one chooses to buy such an expensive camera “select” students should be chosen
to use this particular camera. Also, at our school students must be in photo club which meets before school. Usually kids that are willing to be that
committed are very careful with the cameras. I can’t see making a kid pay for a camera if an accident occurs. They should only be held liable if they
let someone else touch it/use it or if they misplace the camera.”
I think we have just about covered this topic completely, so no need to send more unless you have a totally different take on things.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, February 4—Proofing Pages
When you are proofing pages, sometimes it is hard to catch all the errors because chances are pretty good you have already seen the pages many times.
Depending upon the kind of detail in your book, you may want to set up a “Proofing Assembly Line.” In a proofing assembly line, one person just reviews
one element of a spread and then passes it along to the next person. Below is a list of elements that need to be checked and what specific things they
should look for. The list below includes a lot of common errors I see on pages.
Captions/Headlines
Check for grammar and spelling errors (their/there, your you’re, and words such as a lot and sophomore are often misspelled)
Check to make sure that the caption matches the photo and that people are id’ed properly. In a group of 6 or more you only need to identify the group and
not the individuals.
Check headline for spelling errors and appropriate content – some common phrases we use may be funny, but are they appropriate for yearbook?
Check for font consistency (type, size, alignment, and readability)
Check for extra spaces in between words
Graphic Elements
Are all elements properly aligned on the page grid?
Is spacing between elements consistent?
Are the tool lines around the photos and other elements consistent with the rest of the book?
Are tints you have used consistent with the rest of the book?
Are design modules just floating out on the page or are they placed on the page in an appropriate spot so that the reader knows their purpose?
Have you eliminated trapped white space?
Do you have white space on the page? Remember we don’t need to cram every page full of photos, white space is okay.
If you have used clip art, have you used it with a purpose? If you used it to fill white space, get rid of it and use a photo instead or leave the area blank.
Kids buy the book for the photos of themselves and their friends.
Photos
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Are all photos as clear as can be?
Have you used the best photos you have available?
Does every photo have a caption?
Are photos cropped appropriately? Look for cut off body parts!
Are people in the photos NOT looking off the page? – A no-no in yearbook.
Folios
Are your page numbers correct?
Is your folio art correct?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, February 5—A Picassa and Photoshop alternative
About two weeks ago I sent out a note about a school who lost some pics when using Picassa, Google’s free Photoshop alternative. One of you wonderful
advisers (who also happens to run a photo business on the side) sent me this recommendation. Thought I would pass it along just for your information.
“An alternative to Picasa is Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. While it’s not free (it’s about $100 for the academic price), it is an AMAZING tool for
adjustments to exposure, color balance, brightness, contrast. You can even do dust spot removal and simple cloning, cropping, straightening, and
red-eye removal. It also does GREAT black and white conversions. All of the edits are done non-destructively, so the original files aren’t touched. It’s
not until you “export” the files does it create a new copy with the edits and you can rename the files on import or export. But the primary purpose of
the program is database management. You can rate, flag, and color code your photos for future reference. For example, you can take all your varsity
football photos and give them a star rating of 1-5 based on how much you like them. Then you can view only those with stars to weed out the ones
that don’t make the cut. You can give photos that are used a red color code so it doesn’t get used twice or for some other meaning.
This is the same software I use for my weddings and portraits and a LOT of professional photographers use it as well. I learned about it at a workshop with
one of the top wedding photographers in the country. I think many schools could use it in place of Photoshop for 99% of their editing. I hardly ever go into
PS for my professional work.
You can download a 30 day trial from Adobe’s website.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, February 6—Yearbook staff parking
Yesterday I was at a school and the editor told me she had her own parking space; it was a yearbook parking space. The school has allotted 2 spaces for
the yearbook editors and 2 spaces for newspaper. The more I thought about this, the more it seemed like a cool idea. The editors come to school early and
stay late and what they do benefits the entire school. This way they don’t have to rely on the school bus, which limits the amount of time they can stay at
school.
This cool idea costs the school nothing (unless kids pay for parking). It rewards the editors for all the hard work they do. It eases stress for yearbook staff
members as they know they always have a place to park. It teaches the kids that their hard work is worthy of special recognition.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, February 7—Scantron usage for yearbook
Does your school have a Scantron machine? If you don’t know what that is you probably don’t. (They are test scoring machines that you can program to
grade tests for you.) If you do have one, here is a tip a fellow rep sent me that she sent to her schools.
“Today I was talking with an adviser who said that they suddenly have 8 pages available and no content for them! She said they were
going to put lots of current events surveys on the pages. I asked her if she had Scantron at her school and she said yes. Then we talked about the
yearbook staff creating a customized Scantron form with multiple choice answers. They create 50 or so questions with 4 answers to each question.
They then put all this info into a Scantron form, have students fill out the survey, and then let your Scantron machine tally all the answers for you! If
you have Advisory at your school, you could hand out the forms during Advisory and collect them that same day!
When creating the pages, staffers can use Click-n-Go modules to display the information on the page. They can then get quotes related to the survey
questions and add these to the pages with photos.
Not only does this allow you get a bunch of survey questions answered at once, but you save a ton of time because you don’t have to tally the data!
I thought this was a great idea and would pass it on to you. And there is a scary thought. Eight pages with no content this late in the year? YIKES!
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, February 8—Empty pages! What do you do?
At the end of yesterday’s tip, I noted that the adviser mentioned had eight pages of content that had no content on them. Which brought me some quick
questions from you folks. It seems that sometimes things get cancelled. Or teams that you think will make the playoffs don’t. Then what do you do.
Well here is my question (and theirs). If you have had this happen—something you planned to cover got cancelled—and you found yourself with a few
empty pages, what did you do to fill them? Please send your solutions so I can pass them on to others. For instance:
What would you put in your sports section if you suddenly found out your basketball team missed the playoffs and you had a DPS that had no planned
content?
What would you put in your clubs section of you suddenly realized that four of the clubs you put on your ladder in September, never got organized this
year?
What would you put in your people section of it turned out there were less freshman(or any class) than you had planned for?
So send back what you would do or have done. I would love to share them.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, February 11—A question about covering Seniors
I got this from one of you great advisers last week. Can you tell me what you do in this situation?
“You would think I would know this by now. But...what seniors are normally put into the senior pages? What about seniors who won’t graduate with their class...not enough credits. Are they usually put in? What do most advisors do?”
That’s the question folks. Now you get to supply the answers like you always do. You are the best at this.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, February 12—Headline responses
Just before I left for Orlando I sent out a tip asking for clever headlines you have used. I got some great responses. Here they are and if you sent them, a big
note of thanks!
“For Soccer/Basketball: Net Profits
For Softball/Baseball: Diamond’s are a Boy’s Best Friend
For Swimming/Soccer/Bowling: Stroke of Genius”
“We have a few. Since our theme is Shakin’ it up, all of our “ing” words have the g left off.
We have:
Heatin’ it up (winter sports)
Livin’ it up (student life)
Wrappin’ it up (seniors)
Stirring it up (sophomores)
Startin’ it up (freshmen
Joinin’ the club (golf)
Crossin’ over (cross country)
Makin’ it tasty (culinary)
Makin’ it hurt (football)
What a CAD (a kicker for a person working on a Computer Aided Design program)”
“One of last year’s headlines I really liked——-Tennis “Love Means Nothing Here”
Social Studies—“Blast Through the Past
Foreign Language—“We Say Hello, You Say….” Subheadline is the language’s “Hello”
“Fall Baseball: (dom. photo of a kid sliding into third, complete with dust cloud): Slidin’ Dirty
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Vo-Tech/Ag/Hands-On Learning: Elbow Grease”
This one is my favorite one I got. It seems appropriate to end with it.
My all time favorite headline was for the basketball spread we did last year: Dunk ‘n Go Nuts
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, February 13—Another Senior portrait question
I think my question about senior portraits (and who to include) from Monday sparked this question. How would do you handle this?
“Here is a question to include in some tips email. How do other advisors deal with the senior photo influx? We are getting a lot of people who
want to use pictures their relatives took rather than pro pics. Now that we are not allowed by law to demand the photos are taken at one studio,
I am concerned about quality. We sent a letter in May re: this but it still seems to be a problem and I am worried there are some pics that are not
professionally done, but I don’t know. I hate having to deal with all the loose photos and cds that come in. Any suggestions?”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, February 14—Happy Valentine’s Day!
Just a quick note to make sure that you have students with cameras in the office today getting pics of flower and candy deliveries. Plus, find out if any
clubs are doing fundraisers today and make sure that those photos are being taken too. And then, have a Happy Valentine’s Day. Consider this tip my
expression of how much I love working with you and your staff throughout the year. You guys are the best.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, February 15—Special Characters in YTO
A school I working with needed to have an accent mark in a student’s name. They wanted to know how to do it on their Window’s machine. Here is the
answer I got from Tech Support. I thought I would pass it on so you can use it yourself.
For Windows XP: Go to Start, choose Programs, choose Accessories, choose System Tools, choose Character Maps. Select (click on)
the character with the proper accent. It will then get big. Toward the bottom of the dialog box, click on Select. In the box to the left where it reads
“Characters to copy”, highlight the character, and then click on Copy.
Go to the page with the name that needs the special character and highlight the incorrect character, and then click on Paste to
replace the incorrect character with the special character.
For Mac: This is all dependent on which Mac operating system you have. To find out, go to your Apple Menu and choose About this Mac. The
first line below the Apple logo will have the version number.
For MAC OS 10.0 to 10.1.5
1. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
2. Choose International from the View menu.
3. Click the Keyboard Menu tab.
4. At the top of the list of keyboards, click the word “Keyboard” (Between “On” and “Script”) to sort the list alphabetically by name.
5. Scroll through the list of keyboards to find Symbol and/or Dingbats.
6. Select the checkboxes next to the keyboards’ names to enable them.
MAC 10.2
1. Open System Preferences.
2. Select the International preference pane.
3. Click the Input Menu tab.
4. Select the checkbox for Character Palette.
5. Quit System Preferences.
Mac 10.3 (Panther
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Open the application you want to type in, and place the insertion point where you want the special character or symbol to appear.
Choose Edit > Special Characters to open the Character Palette.
This menu item is only available in applications that were specifically designed to work with Mac OS X (native applications). If you
don’t see this menu item, you can open the Character Palette using International preferences. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, and click
International. Click Input Menu, then click the checkbox next to Character Palette, and then choose Show Character Palette from the input menu in
the menu bar (the one that looks like a flag or character).
Choose the type of characters you want to see from the View pop-up menu at the top of the Character Palette window.
If you don’t see the View menu, click the button in the upper-right corner of the window to show the top portion of the window.
Click this button again to hide the top portion of the window.
Click an item in the list on the left to see the characters that are available in each category.
Double-click the character or symbol in the right column that you want to insert into your document.
You can also select the character and click Insert. To see more options for each character, such as the variations in glyphs for some characters,
click the Character Info triangle and then the Font Variation triangle at the bottom of the Character Palette window.
MAC 10.4 (Tiger)
Open the application you want to type in, and place the insertion point where you want the special character or symbol to appear.
Choose Edit > Special Characters to open the Character Palette, or click the Input menu icon in the menu bar and choose Show
Character Palette.
Choose the type of characters you want to see from the View pop-up menu at the top of the Character Palette window.
If you don’t see the View pop-up menu, click the button in the upper-right corner of the Character Palette to show the top portion of
the window. Click this button again to hide the top portion of the window.
Click an item in the list on the left to see the characters that are available in each category.
Double-click the character or symbol in the right column that you want to insert into your document.
You can also select the character and click Insert. To see more options for each character, such as the variations in glyphs for some characters,
click the Character Info triangle and then the Font Variation triangle at the bottom of the Character Palette window.
MAC OS 10.5.1 (Leopard)
Go to Edit / Special Characters
Make sure By Category is selected
On left go to Accented Latian
Choose the Special Character desired
Copy it and then paste it into YTO
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, February 19—Responses to our questions about empty pages—we got a bunch!
Boy Oh Boy! Did we ever get a bunch of great ideas for last minute empty pages. Check these out.
“I always suggest doing a few student-athlete spotlights to show that they aren’t just a jock, but they’re also a 4.0 student or a
member of NHS, a bit of a rarity these days. Or a story on which club(s) had the most successful fundraiser with maybe a pie chart or other
infographic comparing the major clubs and their contributions.”
“My go-to answer for all of those issues is ‘student profiles’. We had an academic spread go kaput last year and we put together a “profiles”
spread that interviewed six students about their likes and dislikes about school, goals, etc. While it didn’t exactly fit with the flow of sections, it
related “content”-wise and filled the space. It can work for missing areas in every section. The other option is, of course, just putting in pages of
candids, but that kills the coverage flow (assuming that book doesn’t have “candids only” pages in it already). And the big bonus of this is that with
these profiles you can specifically target students who haven’t been in the book very much, if at all (all students, the athlete at the end of the bench,
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etc.)…”
“Teacher Hall of Fame is always fun. Dress Barbie dolls with the latest trends and do a fashion page/trends page. Unofficial Hall of Fame is fun
if you have some obscure photos. Student hobbies or interests not sanctioned by the school (snowmobile racing, snow boarding, etc.) Look in old
yearbooks for how teachers looked then and now. Look in old yearbooks for trends no longer trendy. Survey students about what they remember
from each grade level - 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. Bring in toys or games and pose the students. Focus on a particular part of the school - lunchroom trends
(maybe you could get some recipes), custodian hidden areas, what’s happening in the library. Shadow a principal for a day. What does he or she do?
A day in the life of . . . Driver’s education - students learning to drive - funny stories. What are they doing now? Do an update on famous alumni from
your school. Almost famous - Do you have students who have unique talents? Some students have businesses, sing or have bands on the weekends.
Odd talents - Do you have students who can cross their eyes and make them wobble? Tongue curlers, double-jointed students. These are a few that I
have pulled out of my hat when I have been surprised.”
“For this year, we ended up with two pages in student life because the missions trip isn’t until Spring Break. So. . . We’re actually do a
spread on students working . . . jobs, etc. (some students actually are working two jobs PLUS school!) It’s a pretty different spread for our school, but
in a quick survey we found over 30, which is a lot for our school!”
“My class discussed this scenario, and the students suggested that pages could be added on these subjects:
Did You Know? (Fill the page with school fun facts that happened during the year) Jersey Page (Take pictures of sports jerseys and ask readers to
guess which players wore the uniforms) More candids on pages with few student panels. Blast from the Past (take pictures of students w/parents
that grad. From the same high school. holding their older yearbooks)”
“Here are my ideas (hope they make sense - it’s been a long week:)
This year we needed to “even up” our mug pages - a consistent size - so we decided to make them all smaller. In doing so, we ended up
with 4 extra pages - we’re going to devote a page to each class, giving “freshman news,” “sophomore news,” etc. - things about and important to
each grade. We’re excited to do so, and we’ll see how it goes.
A flashback page - collage of all sports - always seems to interest our kids.
On the club pages, we try to ask a question (theme-related) to the kids involved in clubs, including their picture and quote on the
page their club picture is on.”
“Extra pages sounds like an opportunity for making certain that you have everyone in the yearbook 3 times by finding a way to do a
spread full of interviews/quotes. Our favorite idea came to us from you, Carolyn, when you sent us the powerpoint of ideas for this year. We’re
looking forward to doing a DPS like the one attached here, “He said, She said” — this could be a stand alone DPS or could connect with Sports,
Clubs, or “People!”
“We had three or four clubs (I lost count) this year that have no members, thus no club. Since it’s our 100 year anniversary, we’ll probably
fill those pages with history stuff. My senior flow also took up way too few pages. I’m probably going to move those pages for more ad space.
Usually I fill leftover pages with blooper or candid shots. I just go around at lunch with my camera, and I’m bound to get some camera hogs posing
for me. And there’s always the kids who nobody ever photographs. I get photos of them and stick them on those pages. Something else I’ve been
considering is showcasing student artwork on the filler pages. We have a lot of talented artists on campus, and immortalizing their artwork would
thrill them beyond measure.”
“In the people section, we have done pages on siblings with quotes, best/good friends, and surveys with quotes from students. This
year we were a page short of content and are doing a page on twins (8 sets) with quotes. We also have a teacher who is an identical twin that will
make the page more interesting. When we don’t have enough to fill a clubs section, we try add some candid pictures to the other club pages. A club
with a half page of coverage might end up with a full page for example. We have used ads as filler in any section, since we scatter them throughout
the book.”
There were so many great responses, we are going to continue with them tomorrow.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, February 20—More, more, more...things to do when you have empty pages
Here’s the second half of suggestions for things to fill with when you have empty pages. You said it, we’ll pass it on. Thanks to all (I think it was almost
everyone) who contributed.
“Since I’m with a grade school rather than a high school, my problems are a bit different. But last year I had 2 extra pages. I looked at
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all of my pictures and realized that I had tons of unused pics. So I divided each of my pages into 4, and made mini-collages of 8 “special days” of the
year that didn’t get really highlighted in another part of the book - Mardi Gras, Christmas, the school play, Kindergarten graduation, getting new
desks, etc. I put 6 pics in each group, put a title, and drew fat black lines to separate the sections.”
“Candids, candids, candids........... Like the Josten’s poster says,”........if you want people to buy your book, put their picture in it.”
“This has happened to my staffs in the past. When it happens, it is time for a brainstorm. Have the staff get together and brainstorm for
content ideas to fill the pages. The only rules are that the ideas must include photo options. For example:
In sports, it’s easy to pull together a sports fans DPS, sports family members’ DPS, individuals who participate in sports such as
karate, snow skiing, water skiing and so forth, or even a DPS about injuries over the school year.
For clubs, do a DPS on one club member [from a variety of clubs] who goes above and beyond, the cost of club membership DPS,
fundraisers DPS, retreats DPS or competitions for clubs DPS.
If there were fewer freshmen than planned in the section, we would redraw layouts and create larger feature layouts within the
portrait pages. Several ideas that can be used in the people section include: a favorites section - favorite restaurants, teachers, car, movie, song,
website, game and so on [do a poll among freshmen to get results]; room decorations, locker decorations, fads and fashions, best or worst experiences [another poll to get the results] and so on.”
“About your request for empty page ideas....We were planning a page on dirt bike & ATV racing page. A lot of our students do that.
Unfortunately, we were relying on these students to give us pictures of themselves racing. In order to meet our last deadline, that page had to be
completed. The student working on the page did the interviews & had the lay-out done; just needed to drop in the photos. Long story short...we never got the photos, so the editors turned that page into an autograph page. If we have extra pages as part of our panel flow pages, we do interviews
& candids. I encourage the staff to ask questions specifically aimed at that grade level. Then they target those students who aren’t involved in sports
or activities, so we can make sure we get them in the book!”
“Using student work (with their permission of course) is good. Poetry, activities, etc. Also, what about a spread on NOT making the playoffs?
Not that it was disappointing or anything, but what they can learn for next year. Maybe the agony of defeat? We always put the good stuff, but
maybe the “bad” stuff is worth making it too.”
“For Clubs that suddenly cancel we have done a random assortment or collage of club photos….all clubs. On class pages we place in
class sponsors or even class officers in action. Maybe this will help some people…..for sports that hasn’t been an issue…..we never have enough
time to place the pics we really need…..in the allotted time…”
“We take pictures for EVERYTHING during the school year, whether or not we plan for it to make it into the book. Last year we had this
very thing happen, we ended up with empty DPS’s. To compensate, we did a “Let it Snow” page about the 12 inches of snow that we got, with pictures of the students out playing in the snow. (When we took those, we didn’t have plans to use them in the yearbook.) I have heard many students
say it was one of their very favorite pages in the book. We also did a page called “It’s All Relative” with pictures of brothers and sisters, cousins, staff
parents with their kids.”
“When I first took over the yearbook, we had this happen. In our case it was ad pages that we didn’t have enough ads for. We started doing
what I call “Fun” pages on whatever we could think of. Some examples from the last few years are:
When I get older (survey with pictures of those surveyed)
New Things (we had a bunch in our school last year)
School spirit (ways in which students and our school showed our school spirit)
Snow Days (with all those snow days we had gave us some cool pictures - we asked the students for them and they came through)
Science Day (this was something new we did last year and we already had a bunch of good pictures)
Nicknames (we asked students if they had a cool nickname, who gave it to them and why) What is the worst breakup you ever had
(survey with pictures)
Best friends (we even got some of the staff involved with this one!)
What do you look for? (for example: in a friend, a movie, first day of school)
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Who is this? (we took pictures of students with a large ? over their face and the students had to guess who they were. Yes, we put the answers in
the book)
Random formals (what the students did before and after dances like prom and homecoming)
People and their pets (says it all) Students to work (pictures of students working outside of school)
Dance Wows and Dance Woes
I usually tell my students to think “outside the box” and come up with something interesting and fun. If they would like to see it the rest
of the student body probably would to.”
“We did a “Making of” page where we got pictures of the yearbook staffers in action. I would love other ideas, too. We have a lot of
pages allotted for ads and have not sold that many.”
“This sort of thing happens to us all the time - we can rarely predict with accuracy :-( So...one thing we find that helps is that all of
these “special” pages (state sport events for example) are placed at the end of a section. If we do not make state (which does sometimes
happen) we use up the pages with generic “whatever-the-section-is” pictures. Sports would be a collection of all of our sports teams in action;
classes would include generic pictures of that particular class; clubs would include pictures of some of the meetings of these clubs, or of our ASB
meetings. This really helps in filling pages and gives us some “wiggle” room.”
“We had that happen in our Senior section last year. We had students turn in baby pictures and group pictures of birthday parties and other
grade school activities. The kids loved trying to guess who was who.”
“For Sports: A fans section, what they thought about the season. For clubs: If you have a more prominent club, give more space, if not,
maybe a survey of what clubs students would like to have at school and why or quotes of experience from club members this year. For Student Life:
Random images like rallies, dance, with most students in the picture being in that grade level if possible.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, February 21—Answers about how to handle Seniors who don’t graduate
Last week we asked this question of you great folks:
“You would think I would know this by now. But...what seniors are normally put into the senior pages? What about seniors who won’t graduate with their
class...not enough credits. Are they usually put in? What do most advisors do?”
And of course, you responded like always. You came through big time! Between this and the answers the last two days about empty pages my inbox has
been FULL! Thanks so much to all who contributed on this topic. If you have any problems dealing with this issue, I highly suggest you read this and then
formulate a written policy that you get approved by your administration for use in future years.
“Since the book must be in stone by March, I never worry about whether they graduate or not. They are in that specific class and will
always be remembered in that class. If they don’t graduate, that usually is a last month of the year decision. My senior pages are in stone and gone
to press by the second deadline, and those students are still in the “class of....” I remember back in 1962 when I graduated that my girlfriend did not
walk with us because she failed senior English. However, when we have reunions, she appears because that was supposed to be her year.”
“I get a list of all seniors, take the list to guidance, and ask the guidance counselor if there are any students that are not on the list
that will graduate. She adds the names on and this becomes the list I use. For those that are in the senior section and do not graduate; well it’s
better to have them included than not. I wish that we had a policy that helped us in these types of situations.”
“If the school still classifies the person as a senior then I would include him or her. What if he or she finds a way to graduate with outside
credits, online credits, etc? If it is a senior who doesn’t have enough credits to be considered a senior and there is no way possible for graduation and
it is obvious from the beginning of the school year, then I would not include him or her. This actually happened here last year. I didn’t include him on
the senior portraits pages, but the staff did include him in other pictures.”
“I leave the senior and junior pages for last since we do not consider a student a senior unless they are graduating. They stay on the
junior pages. I feel that this is something special that they earn. At my school we don’t have 2nd year seniors, they stay as juniors until the year that
they will actually graduate.”
“We put in all seniors who are mathematically eligible at the time we do the layout (beginning of second semester). Seniors who do
not have enough credits are not put in the layout. We normally don’t put fifth year seniors in the book if they were in the book the previous year and
didn’t graduate unless they request to be in the book with the class they are actually going to graduate with. We do this on a case by case basis.”
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“We’ve struggled with this, too, over the years. My first note is that, anyone who gives me a senior picture gets one in there - they’re not likely
to get another one taken, even if they don’t graduate in May, and they’ve spent the money on it. Secondly, we check with the guidance office in early
January to see if we’ve missed anyone who’s crossed over from jr. to senior status. That’s what we do.”
“I have just made it a policy not to go look at who probably won’t graduate. I get a class list from the secretary on who is considered a
senior. If they are on t he list, they go in the book. I have an different twist on this type of question. Could you ask this of your advisers? Do you
include students in your book that no longer attend your school, but instead have transferred to an alternative school? We have a couple who have
never attended our HS, but legally they are considered our student.”
“We put everyone in the yearbook, but they are not included on the class composite that is hung in the school highway. We are even
including a girl that was here for 3 1/4 years and kicked out.”
“We put them in for two reasons...usually we try to have the pages finished before we know whether or not they’re all going to
graduate, and with ours being a small school, most of the class still consider them a class member even if they don’t graduate. I have
often times had the same people in the senior section more than one year. We also do a hall composite, but the ones who don’t graduate are not
featured in it. That usually isn’t printed until the very end of school and you know by then who will and will not be walking at the ceremonies.”
“If they took the picture, we run it. If they don’t graduate (which happens more often than you’d think), that’s their business. We just run their
senior photo again the following year. Most of the kids who find out they’re not graduating find out at the last possible moment anyway, long after
I’ve submitted the panel pages to the plant. I know of a student who’s been a senior for three years in a row. Oddly enough, we didn’t recycle his cap
and gown pic. He took a new one each year.”
“If they have taken their pictures with the school photographer, we put them in. If they have not taken a picture, we call and make other
arrangements as parents are the first to complain if their child’s picture is not in the yearbook. It really is not a big deal as there are only a few in that
category of not graduating.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, February 22—More about what to do with Seniors who don’t graduate
We had so many great responses we just had to finish them up today.
“If I were the advisor I’d use this as a model. If the student will not graduate this year but will have enough credits before next year (as in over
the summer) I’d keep the picture in. If the student needs to return next year I’d remove the picture. If the student probably will leave school and
pursue a GED I’d remove the picture too. Bottom line is that I look at the published book as a pretty official record. I say pretty official because there
could always be some last minute snafoo where someone doesn’t graduate but the book has gone to press.”
“Since we’re an all-color book, we no longer need to submit the portraits at the first deadline. We therefore moved our portrait-taking
date back to Jan. so we could include those students returning from the continuation school, and delete those who went there because they lacked
credits to graduate at our school.”
“When I took over the yearbook over 10 years ago the advisor would only include kids who had enough credits to graduate. This
was always a hassle because kids would take night school and get credits from online classes. We had to contact counselors and figure out if it was
possible that they would have all the credits needed to graduate. My feeling is that the kids who have gone through twelve years of school with
their peers should be included. They may not actually graduate until the end of summer school, or even after another semester or year, but they are
part of a group that has been in school together for years. So whether they graduate or not they are still “seniors” in the yearbook. I’ll leave the big
decision—whether or not they “walk” at the diploma ceremony to the administration.”
“I put all seniors in the senior section, even though they may not graduate. Our deadline is early and sometimes kids do manage to pull
it off. At our school we are sometimes waiting until finals are taken to determine graduation for some seniors, and you wouldn’t want to have a
graduating senior not in the yearbook. As for what they put on their pages, I give them guidelines and tell them it must be schooll appropriate. I
also check the pages before entering them into the yearbook and if there is something questionable I talk to the student and ask them to change it.”
“I always ask administration—don’t let such a decision rest on our shoulders! Their answer has been that if the student has senior status
in September, he/she is a senior. If the student doesn’t, he/sh isn’t. Chances of them graduating on time with their class is not good if they are a
semester behind in credits.—ULTIMATELY, We leave it up to Administration.”
“I would say that if the student is listed as a Senior, they should be included. It is a breach of privacy if we get into the details of each child’s
grades. Basically, I’d say it is none of our business.”
“We include students with the class they entered high school with. Even if students don’t have enough credits to advance from a freshman
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to a sophomore, they will still be included with the sophomores in the next year’s book. So, students would be included with the seniors in their
fourth year in high school—regardless of the number credits they have—the class they entered high school with. If they submit a photo and
they’re seniors by virtue of longevity, I include them.”
“I get the most up-to-date graduation list I can and place only the seniors who will be graduating in the senior section. Seniors who
are not expected to pass are placed in the junior section if a picture is available.”
“We are definitely facing this problem, but we have come up with an agreeable solution. We have two seniors who will be “Super
Seniors” next year, and there are a couple more on the fence that we won’t know about for sure until in March. One of our yearbook staff is a senior
and he is doing the pages. We’ve come up with the idea of not putting the pictures in order - just randomly, that way if someone doesn’t get all
the credits they need, we can switch the last person in the section into their place. We will still include the non-graduating seniors in candids, but
they just won’t be included in the formal pages. This happened a couple years ago when one of our seniors got himself into some trouble and was
expelled, but there is at least one picture of him in the senior candids.”
“We include all of those who are called seniors during their fourth year. That way, a student who takes an extra year is not given that
special notice of being a senior that year. The only photos of a 5th year senior are the sports, clubs, and casual shots. Otherwise, we would find that
some students would be taken out at the last semester, and we don’t want to go through that craziness.”
“Basically we go by their status at the time of the deadline. I also ask the principal and/or counselor who should be on the senior page. If we
know they are coming back as a “Super senior” we don’t put them in until the next year. If they are SPED kids who walk in graduation but come back
until they’re 21, we put them with the class they walked with. It’s a slippery slope and not fun to second guess.”
“I talked to my school counselors, and they provided me with a list of current seniors. We waited until after 1st semester to print this list
so that we had a better idea of who would still be on track to graduate. If students were not still on track to graduate after 1st semester they were
then moved into the junior section. Note, some students may appear on the junior OR senior list incorrectly, and therefore, I highly recommend
reviewing these lists with the counselors to make sure students are placed in the correct class section.”
“Our administration sets the policy... If they are not going to graduate, they don’t get put in as a senior. They give me a list at the third nine
week grading period. If something happens that a student fails late in the year after the pages are sent, they’re in.”
“First of all, regardless of whether or not a senior is going to graduate, he/she is still a part of that senior class. I have two students
who are three to five credits shy, but they are both in my senior section because they are seniors. They’re already not graduating with their friends/
classmates; don’t oust them from that section too.”
“If they were expelled before the pages were submitted, I do not include them. If they might not have enough credits to graduate, I include
them. If they definitely won’t, but plan to finish them in summer and still spend the entire year at the school, then I do include them. Often, pages
are due before I even know these things, though.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, February 25—Handling the senior picture rush—how to organize senior portraits
On the 13th of this month, I sent out this request.
“Here is a question to include in some tips email. How do other advisors deal with the senior photo influx? We are getting a lot of people who
want to use pictures their relatives took rather than pro pics. Now that we are not allowed by law to demand the photos are taken at one studio,
I am concerned about quality. We sent a letter in May re: this but it still seems to be a problem and I am worried there are some pics that are not
professionally done, but I don’t know. I hate having to deal with all the loose photos and cds that come in. Any suggestions?”
Did you have suggestions? Of course you did. Hopefully they will benefit a bunch of more folks.
“For the influx of the variety of portraits, since I took over as advisor, I have not had the headaches I hear from other advisors. I
have a contract with a local professional photographer who provides sports pictures (formal team photos, individual player shots, action shots, and
Homecoming festivities coverage) in exchange for me requiring the seniors to go to his studio for their senior portraits. In April of every year, my
photographer comes in and does a presentation for the Junior class. I talk to them as well, explaining they have to go to XYZ photographer for senior
portraits in order for it to be in the Senior Portrait section. I give certain stipulations (torso or head shot, no props, etc.) By September 10th, I have a
list of all the now seniors who did not get their pictures taken, send a letter home reminding them of it, and it gets taken care of. What is nice for me
is that my senior portrait photographer also does all of the underclassmen. So, this year when I had seniors who did not get out to his studio over
the summer or fall, he set up a separate backdrop on Picture Retake day and photographed the remaining seniors then. I have two students out of
150 who didn’t get their picture taken. The Senior Section looks great because the photos are of the same quality, professionally done, and exactly
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what I want. And, when October 1st hits, I get a CD of all of the photos to send to Jostens or upload myself, and it’s done. Do some research on this,
talk to the photographers, ask if they can handle the amount of people who would be required to go to their studio. It is so easy!!!”
“As technology becomes more readily accessible/easier to use, we will see more and more photos taken by non-pros. Most students
will opt for the professional, but those who can’t or won’t spend the money will resort to getting it done on their own. While it does take away from
the aesthetics of the overall look of the portraits, it is more important to me to have a student’s portrait in their senior yearbook than to have consistency in the portraits. It’s a tough thing to let go of. I do still insist on size specs, but even the professionals interpret that differently.
As for collecting portraits from many different sources, it has always been that way for me. I asked for digital portraits this year, and I
probably got 75 percent that way. As the CDs trickled in, I would drop them into the file I have on the server, naming them last name first. It was sort
of my rule to take care of them each day so there were never too many to handle at once. I got the bulk of the portraits from two or three photographers, who provided them all to me on a CD.
As for the prints I received, I have a file box with alphabet dividers. I also kept a list of seniors. I would highlight them in yellow if the portrait came in electronically, and in pink if it was a print. If the print needed cropping, I would make a note of it. If it was the correct size, I let Jostens
scan it. If it was the wrong size, we scanned it.
Crucial to this system working for me is that I have portraits due Oct. 15-ish, which is about two weeks before we even begin working on
the deadline that includes mugs, which isn’t due to the plant until January. Students are still working on the sidebars for the portraits pages after I
am done checking the portraits in. I have also had a student do the job when it works out to do so. Being organized and starting early is the key.”
“I know we have the same problem, honestly some of our parents can’t afford the senior pictures. As long as they look nice, we use
them. I have even had to take some kids pics here at school and put a nice background behind them. We do what it takes to make all the kids look
their best. If they do not have the means, we make a way for them. We do not want to leave anyone out, due to lack of financial resources. I give
the parents credit who try to make it special for their senior within their means.
We send out a letter, worded in the following way: “With the availability of digital cameras to the general public, many seniors
have opted to have their pictures taken by non-professional photographers. Please keep in mind that the quality of the photo in the book
is only as good as the quality of the photo submitted to us. While in some cases the result from a non-professional is acceptable, there have been ongoing issues with quality of many of pictures which were processed and printed incorrectly. If you choose to submit a photo of that type, we cannot
guarantee the quality of said image in the yearbook and will not make any refunds on that basis.” Next year we may consider giving students the
option a a.) submitting a professional photo, or b.) using the school photographer photo, because the majority of students are submitting snapshotquality photos that look horrible.”
“To deal with the photos, I have a three-ring binder with vinyl baseball card protectors that hold nine wallet-sized photos to a page.
I number each photo pocket as well as a list of our senior class members. When the student submits their photo, we check off their name and put the
photo in its pocket for scanning and uploading later. And we require wallets rather than allow CD’s. “
“Our school policy is as follows:
We allow students to have their senior pictures taken anywhere. HOWEVER, the picture we use in the yearbook and the one that goes in the
paper for our “senior celebrities” is taken by a professional photographer we have come to the school for a special senior sitting. We have a senior
slide show at graduation and at that time the students may use whatever senior picture they want. We use to make them go to this one particular
photographer, but I didn’t like that we were forcing them to spend money somewhere—so we changed our policy and allowed them to go wherever
they wanted. That lasted two years and then we asked if our “school photographer” (the one we have a contract with) could make a special trip to
cover seniors. The kids don’t have to buy anything or pay for anything—they just have to be present at school and they understand that the photo
he takes that day (unless they’ve chosen to hire him for their senior photos in the first place and then we will use one of those) will be the one we use
in the yearbook. And well, so far, so good. We’ve done that now for about four or five years.”
“I just keep a manilla envelope that we put all of the pictures and CDs in - we work from there. As to the quality, as long as the resolution
is high enough (for a CD) we use it - we have many kids who simply cannot afford professional pictures. We also use the school portrait if no other
photo is available - we try to get everyone in there.”
“Our seniors can use what ever photographer that want for their senior pics. The photo just has to conform to out guidelines. (Guideline
are sent home at the end of junior year & posted on the high school website. I aslo send the guidelines to the popular area photographers).They
usually bring in a wallet size for the yearbook. A few have brought in a cd. I had one or two photographers upload them with Image Share. I usually
encounter 2 problems with students using non-profession photos: image resolution size or poor print quality. Sometimes, a student will give us a
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file & the resolution will be too small. This is easy to fix with Photoshop. If they give me a photo they’ve printed out themselves & I just know it won’t
scan well, I ask them for a copy of the file. (And if I’m in a really good mood when I get the file, I’ll do a little photoshopping to remove some zits, etc.
Nothing major!)They have a deadline to get the photos to us or they won’t be in the book. We only have 120 seniors, so collecting wallets & cds is
easy. The wallets we send to Jostens to get scanned & uploaded. If our adviser is worried about collecting individual photos, Image Share might be
the easist solution.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, February 26—A little more on the Senior picture subject—have a policy.
There was such a wide variety of responses on yesterday’s topic of how to deal with Senior pictures coming in from lots of places at lots of differing quality
levels that I thought I would provide some clarification. For instance, I got this e-mail back from a long-time adviser.
“I’m not sure I understand the nature of the question. Is she talking about photos for senior ads that are of poor quality? If that’s the case,
I’d probably call the parent and explain it to him/her. No parent wants to pay for poor quality, and I’d rather have them turn in a different photo
because I don’t either.
Last semester, I had a ton of photos turned in for senior ads at the last minute. I nearly went crazy, but I kept everything organized with
a manila folder for each kid. That’s what was done in previous years – we have manila folders for every senior ad purchased with the information
and all relevant photos inside. I also made it a policy last year that photos would NOT be returned to the parent. That decision alone made life way
easier for me.
If it’s parents wanting to turn in a photo for the panel pages, that is strictly a no-go, unless they missed both photo appointment
days. That’s the only exception I allow, and only if the parent comes to me about it. I don’t hunt down seniors who were too lazy to attend school on
both photo days.”
There’s the problem many of you are having understanding this problem. So to clarify, yes, we are talking about Senior portraits. You see many schools
are not allowed to have just one portrait photographer take all their senior portraits. In fact, it talking to other reps across the country, it is illegal in some
states to require that all seniors go to a single portrait photographer if they want their senior portrait in the yearbook. I want to suggest that if you have
not encountered a parent who wants to provide you with a snapshot from a non-approved portrait studio, you may have one someday. To prepare for the
day that happens, it is important that you have a written policy in place about exactly what you allow in the Senior portrait section. And that the policy is
approved by your administration.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, February 27—Great idea for your yearbook distribution
When I was in Orlando at the beginning of the month I heard about a really cool idea for putting on a distribution event. If you are planning one (and you
should be), this might be something you could look into doing.
I had a school who wanted to have a big distribution party but could not find a way to pay for it. Then one of the staff came up with a
great idea. They sold the ‘naming rights’ for the event to a local Ford dealership. $1500 bucks to have it advertised as Yearbook Delivery Night –
brought to you by Winner Ford. Included the deal were a piece of paper in every book with an ad on it, ads on each signing table and a used car rep
in the corner (who didn’t talk to one customer all night- but was still happy). I asked her if she thought it was worth the money- she told me “all of
these students will eventually buy their first car- it could be tomorrow or it could be 5 years from now. If one or two them (out of 300) come to our
dealership to make that purchase- it was worth it”.
Check with your administration and see if it’s OK with them and then—go for it!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, February 28—A different viewpoint about Seniors who aren’t graduating with
their class being in the Senior Section
Last week we had a fairly extensive discussion of whether students who were not going to graduate with their class should be in the senior section. I
thought the topic was exhausted but then I got this note.
“As you know I’m a middle school adviser, but my experience was as a parent. My stepson struggled through high school and was not able
to collect his diploma at graduation, but did receive it after one summer class. He had a senior photo taken and we purchased a yearbook for him.
When he got the book, he was not in even one photo anywhere in the whole book. What a disappointment.
To share another part of my life experience...I have managed high school reunions for many years and those students who were on
the edge and not included in the yearbook and attending the reunion years later... 10, 20, 30, 40 + years later found they were still left
out and once again slapped with the memory that they were not included as we did not have a photo to place on their name tags. My advice to
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high school advisers is to put them in...they have been in the class, struggling or not, as a member of the class for up to the four years of high school
and someone that should be acknowledged for being there with their class...Not their struggles.”
It kind of puts an entirely different spin on the entire thing. Something to think about.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, February 29—Some notes on proofing.
There are lots of things that are so simple to do, but we don’t always have the time to get them set up properly. This is one of those things that when done
on a regular basis, it will become a regular habit and it will mean fewer errors in your book.
With deadlines happening everywhere, your staffers are doing a lot of careful proofing of pages before you submit them. By making a small investment in
some colored pens (either Flair pens or fine tip Sharpies), you can easily mark up your printouts with the corrections that need to be made. Gel pens work
as well (Costco has those large packs with 30 or so gel pens in them), but sometimes gel pens do skip on the page when you write. By using a brightly
colored pen, it is easier to find the mistakes as you are making corrections on your pages.
Now, once you have made the correction on your pages, either highlight or circle the error to note that you made the changes. I like to use a highlighter so
it’s easy for me to see which corrections I still have left to do.
Remember that on YearTech Online you have a spell check button. That spell check button also spell checks the names in your book if your portrait CD
images have been uploaded by the plant. For InDesign users, there is a spell check button the YearTech tool bar or you can hit “apple i” or “control i” on your
keyboard.
If you make this proofing correction process the norm for your pages, it will soon become a habit. You could even hold a contest for the staffer who has the
fewest errors on their page. You can give out silly prizes or small gift cards (target and starbucks are popular) to a bi-weekly winner. Students appreciate
ANY kind of recognition they get and by recognizing those that do a good job, they are setting an example for others.
One other note, check out the clearance racks at the office supply stores and maybe you can find some cool colored pens there that will work.
March 2008
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, March 3—How cool is this? We’re on Adobe’s website
The contest we co-sponsor with Adobe is now featured on Adobe’s web site: http://www.adobe.com/education/community/k12/ . It will also be featured
in their Education newsletter this month. We are thrilled to have such great relationship with the leader in desktop publishing.
And we hope that after you check this out, you will encourage your students to enter. Time is running out. Find out more by clicking on the Contests link
on Yearbook Avenue’s main menu bar.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, March 4—An adviser request about handling money
Last week as part of a response about seniors came this question. Hopefully you can give this adviser some of your wonderful insight. Let’s hear it!
“Now, I have a question for the tips queries: How do other advisers handle money receipting with staff? What checks and balances are
in place for how the money is handled by staff members?”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, March 5—Buying computer equipment—go big!
We know that a lot of you wonderful folks are currently in the budgeting process for next year. Your administration may have freed up some funds for you
to be able to purchase computer equipment or you may have a little left over in your yearbook account. We know this because over the last few weeks we
have received some requests for advice on what to buy. Well here is one idea we want to pass along—go big!
Now we don’t mean a real super computer (like the ones the Defense Dept. uses), we mean one really good computer and one really good monitor. If you
have a lab full of fairly common computers and fairly common monitors we suggest you spend some of that budget on one really FAST computer. One that
will really be quick handling whatever files you throw at it. And get one BIG monitor. At least 24 inches plus and color correcting as well.
And once you have these, what do you use them for? Final page prep and proofing. Either you or your editors will love the fact that finding problems and
troubleshooting is so much easier when you can do it quickly and see everything you are doing right in front of you. No more waiting for the computer,
you work FAST!
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, March 6—More Proofing Ideas and Fall Delivery Yearbook Advisers Pages Due List
A big thank you to two different advisers for reminding me of an AWESOME proofing tool you have – the Note It function. YearTech Online users, simply click on the
yellow Note it button on the YTO toolbar. It is right next to the Lock button. For InDesign Users, click on the yellow Note It button on the YearTech toolbar and you have
6 different colored post it notes at your disposal. Both of these functions allow you to post non-printing notes on your pages for students to see. Remember to give
out some positive comments as well as constructive feedback. Those positive comments go a long way with students, especially at this time of year when “yearbook
burnout” is taking place.
Attached is a helpful tool for advisers of fall delivery yearbooks. Many of you have about 20 pages in the plant thus far and before you know it, May will be here. By mapping out and posting in your classroom what pages will go in each month, you increase your chances of meeting all your deadlines AND not having to be at school in
the summer to work on pages. By posting this, students can’t say they didn’t know their spread was due. There is nothing wrong with making your plan aggressive and
padding each month with a few extra spreads. This way, if you fall short one month, you will still be on track. I’ve attached a PDF of the months February through May
and a word file of just February. I’m an idiot when it comes to Word so you’ll have to add the other months….I don’t even know how to add a page in word and make
the next month start at the top of the next page without using a bunch of returns!!!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, March 7—PHOTO CONTEST… deadline is approaching
Please encourage your students to submit photos to our annual photo contest. Entries are due April 1, so they have about one more month to work on taking their best
photo. The categories include: academics, student life/activities, school spirit, athletes in action, life in the hallway, open and junior high/middle school. You can download an entry form on www.jostens.com <http://www.jostens.com/> (click on the yearbooks tab, and then you will see a link for it on the left hand side) or on your
Yearbook Avenue site (home menu/contests). On both of those sites, you will also see the winners from last year. This is great to show your students. You can critique the
photos, and they can get ideas for what makes a good photo.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, March 10—Two really cool forms
I was visiting a school today and the awesome advisor shared the two attachments. One is a form that is given to random students to get information regarding a club.
They are not assigned to that club page, but each student has one to complete. The to-do list a sign up list for items that each student is responsible for. That way when
someone asks for pictures, the advisor can send them to the student responsible for pictures. I saw it as a great way to dole out all the individual responsibilities instead
of relying solely on an editor. It makes the students more invested in the creation of the book if they are each responsible for one item in addition to their assigned
pages.
While there, she had a student hand her a page printout. Another student was looking over her shoulder and started making comments about that page. She handed
him the page and said “You said it, You edit”. I loved that.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, March 11—Indexing Clubs and Teams with YearTech Online
If you are working on your index, this handout is a MUST READ. Follow these simple instructions to quickly and easily index your team/club photos. If you have any
questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’m here to help!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, March 12—Are you doing a Colophon?
For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about, a colophon is a description of how your yearbook is put together. Just yesterday I got two e-mails asking me
what goes in one. So, I went back and dug up an article I had done in a newsletter about colophons. I hope it helps everyone out there.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, March 13—What’s in your March YourBook
By now we know that everyone has their March issue of YourBook. So let’s dig it out of that pile on your desk, pop it open and read along. (Or find it later if these articles
sound interesting.)
Since many of you ask me every year once your book is finished, “What do we do now?” I have decided to make the March issue, the “What do we do now? issue. So
starting on page one, there are ideas to; sell the rest of your unsold yearbooks, plan your distribution, decide how you will cover spring activities, (continues on page 2)
enter a Jostens contest (we sure have a bunch of them), read a great book (watch your mailbox for the Gotcha Covered Look Book) and finally get started on your 2009
book.
And speaking of 2009, for most of you who plan early, the ladder is usually the first place you go when you start to plan. Before you do, please take a really good look at
page 3 where we discuss the idea of switching from section-based coverage to chronological-based coverage. It is an alternative you should all at least explore.
Which brings us to your centerfold poster that we hope we will see on your wall the next time we visit you. It is about both our design contest (InDesign w/Adobe and
YTO) but it also has some great design ideas on it as well. And please encourage your students to enter the design contest.
Page six is all about planning a distribution event. If you aren’t doing one, why not? Read it and start planning.
And finally page seven has the full plan to sell any of those unsold yearbooks. If you have ordered books that are not yet sold, grab this one and read it today.
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That’s about it but there is definitely enough in this issue to keep you busy for the rest of the school year. Now let’s get going!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, March 14—Photographers, leave room for text
I found a great online magazine site (they also publish a printed magazine as well) that is all about travel photos. And they encourage their readers to send in photos
that actually get printed in the magazine (as well as reader-submitted articles). In an effort to get really great photo submissions, they put out a set of tips for photographers hoping to get their pictures published in the magazine. And guess what? These tips work perfect for yearbook as well. Some of them are pretty elementary and
we have heard them before, but a couple are new and outstanding. So here is the first of a few. By the way, the magazine is called Everywhere and you can find their
website at http://www.everywheremag.com/
Shoot for negative space — for example, lots of sky, water, street, or surfaces of similar color.
To make photos more integral to a story, our designers look for photos that have strong negative space so that they can be used as openers to articles, sections, or
features. Negative space provides a nice, clean area for headlines and other display text, but text is hard to read when it runs over backgrounds that are complex or busy.
We don’t run text over every photo, of course, so there’s no need to do include tons of negative space in all of your images. But if you find yourself saying, “Wow! This
looks so good it should be on the cover of a travel magazine!” then you should definitely try to include some space for text. (Magazine covers have to accommodate a
good deal of text.)
See what I mean. What a great tip for those shooting for divider or intro pages.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, March 17—Thinking of buying a scanner
After writing about buying computer equipment last week, I got this note from an adviser who is also a the technology person for his school. It was such a glowing
recommendation that I had to pass it on.
“People are always asking me what kind of scanner they should buy (ads) and I’ve always told them EPSON because I’ve had the best luck with
them. HPs are horrible (designed for the home user and default to 200dpi and if it isn’t enough to have to change the resolution every time to 300, it will ask you
if you want to ‘fix’ the resolution; meaning drop it back to 200 – I ask you have you ever had a school not want to ‘fix the resolution’ of course they do and end up
rescanning everything again!) and HP will not interface with PCS2 or higher.
Okay so my Epson Perfection 1600 finally died after many years of good service. Needing one in a hurry, I went to Office Depot and there were half a
dozen HPs, One Canon, and No Epsons. After already visiting Office Max and Best Buy with no flatbeds at all, I asked the guy and he said no one buys standalone
flatbeds anymore, I said yes, but for quality, they’re still the best and in the business of imaging you want the best. So I bought the Canon… thinking anything is
better than the HP scanning philosophy. CanonScan LiDE 90. $75
I have to say, I LOVE it. It has a small footprint, no external power required (it is integrated into the USB), and it is FAST – 14sec full-page at 300dpi.
It is color managed to my 1998 workflow and works flawlessly with PS. The descreen feature is one of the best I’ve ever seen at removing moiré patterns. It
also features OCR and push-button PDF creation, pretty cool. 2400x4800 optical.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, March 18—Cool yearbook T-shirt design
Late last month I sent out a note that advocated improving the morale of your yearbook staff by getting staff T-shirts or sweat shirts made. Well I got this back from one
school. It is so cool, I had to share.
“The editors at our High School have designed a very cool t-shirt for their yearbook students. I love it! The front cup design will be on the front of the
shirt, and the back cup design will be on the back. If you don’t have staff t-shirts, it can be a fun activity to brainstorm t-shirt ideas, and then if you print them for
the yearbookers, it will give them something to show off and be proud of. Maybe you can do something that has to do with your theme? The athletes get special
shirts – why not yearbook, too?”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, March 19—Need help with a manual
Late last week I received this request via e-mail:
“We will be working the beginning of April on our yearbook procedural manuals for our schools and I was wondering if you had located examples
of other schools policies yet? Anything you can find would be of great help for us! Thanks! “
I am guessing that these two advisers are looking for copies of staff manuals. If you have one in electronic form that you could send our way, they would greatly appreciate it.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, March 20—A great idea for selling any unsold books you have ordered.
A fellow rep sent me this and has had great luck using it with his schools who have not yet sold all the books that they have ordered. He even included the InDesign file
and a translated file in Spanish if you have a big Hispanic population. If you use YTO there is a PDF example file but you will need to find a way to remake it. Either way,
the idea is a good one.
“I have been using the attached example.PDF file at several school (Native format InDesign CS is attached too). It seems to be making an impact and I
thought it might be something you could use to increase final sales in your area. And ESOL teacher sent me the translation in Spanish so let me know if there is an
issue (so far, I have not encountered any).
Once you open the file, just “find and change” the words below.
BBB
*Change BBB to HHS, GMS, RHS etc
School Name
Enrollment
Books
$xx
Be sure to check WHOLE WORD in the find change dialog box.
We use numbers like 93, 67, 46 and it’s usually lower than the actual number of books remaining. For example, 67 yearbooks creates greater sense of urgency than 250
yearbooks. That urgency also translates into online purchases :) BTW-I don’t recommend using even numbers like 50,80, 110 etc. A flier/poster with “We only have 50
yearbooks left” comes across as pretty fake and parents/students know it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, March 21—Disclaimer or “There’s no such thing as a perfect yearbook”
It is inevitable. After you have distributed your yearbooks someone has a complaint about a typo, error, or omission. By putting a disclaimer in your book, you can get
the message out to your readers that any errors were not intentional. While it doesn’t fix the error, it at least reminds people you did the best you could. Below is the disclaimer from one of my school’s 2007 yearbook and another example. Feel free to use these or a combination of these as an example for your book. If you have already
finished your final deadline and proofs, consider running a small sheet and placing it inside the yearbooks when you distribute them.
Disclaimer
This is a student production subject to errors. All typos, errors, and omissions in this yearbook are unintentional and we apologize in advance for any resultant disturbance.
Disclaimer
This is a student run publication. While it is our intent to report the events of the year accurately, we may have made some typos, incorrect identifications,
errors, or omissions. We apologize for these mistakes and they were not intentional.
And here is another great idea for the same thing from a school who does a Spring supplement:
“We have an “Oops!” spread in our supplement....to correct any mistakes, feature anyone who was left out, etc.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, March 24—Help with a manual
Last week I sent out this plea for help:
“We will be working the beginning of April on our yearbook procedural manuals for our schools and I was wondering if you had located examples
of other schools policies yet? Anything you can find would be of great help for us! Thanks! “
You must be really busy with your final deadlines or getting ready for your distribution because I only got ONE (1) response. But luckily it was a good one. Lots of great
attachments. Here is what this wonderful adviser told me:
“On our server, each student has what we call a personal space (a My Documents for their own things they are doing- such as a list, a form, a
letter, etc.) Then we have our class procedures, forms, etc. all saved on the server in what we call the Resource Files, organized under the following headings
(ones in bold are only on my computer, not the kids’ server): Ads, Budget, Copy-Related, Correspondence, Deadline, Distribution, Evaluation, Fall Start-Up, Grading,
Informational, Layouts, Organizational, Photos, Planning New Book, Previous Years (where we keep old prototypes, permission to print, etc.), Procedural, Proofs
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and Final Checks, Sales, Seniors, Sports, Staffing, Tech Manual, Training, and Yearbook U.
I have included many documents from those folders below. Some are really specific to procedures in our school; others may be useful to other schools. You
can winnow. J Some are probably out-of-date and not often used. A few are documents saved from your Tips. Hope this helps.”
WOW! In the attached Zip file there are 50 documents. And granted because this very generous adviser is from a wonderful Christian school, all of them may not apply
to you but I bet that most will.
And as great as these are, I would love to have more so if you have a staff manual you could send, that would be great.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, March 25—Topics for discussion.
Late last week I got this note from a super adviser out there in yearbookland:
“I just thought I’d share this idea because I was very frustrated with my staff one day! (Everyday!?) I put these questions on the board and had them
come up with solutions. I was amazed at their answers because they were all pretty good! I compiled the list and attached it. I believe these are their true feelings
because it was anonymous, so it couldn’t have been just to suck up. I then had a conference with each students to discuss any frustrations we were having. Just
thought I’d share... Have a great day!”
I agree that these might make good discussion starters for your class or maybe as a springboard to you making up your own.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, March 26—Get a thousand more pictures in this year’s yearbook today! E
ven if your book is finished.
Ever wish you could include more photos in the yearbook or give extra coverage to specific activities and events? If so, we have a solution. Why not put your extra photos
into a DVD supplement? To give you a preview of what’s possible; we’ve taken a sampling of photos from your Image Library and created a 30 second video. Check your
Yearbook Avenue home page for a link that looks like this. Click on it to take a look:
If you don’t have this link on your Yearbook Avenue home page, click on this link: http://www.jostens.com/dvd/default.asp to see what we are talking about.
There is still time to create a DVD to complement your book this year. Ask your Jostens Rep for details!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, March 27—Finalizing your editorial staff
Last week I was able to experience one of my high schools interview process for the 2008-2009 editorial staff. Students took turns at the front of the classroom, explaining to the staff what position they were applying for and then presented their ideas that they wanted to implement. It was similar to giving a campaign speech if
running for student office – they explained to the staff why they thought they would make a good fit and shared their ideas for improving yearbook. For example, the
student applying for photo editor brought his photo portfolio, and explained what he was going to do in order to get more quality photos in the yearbook. One of the
students created different check off sheets and systems that she would put in place if given the chance to be on the editorial team. And the best part was watching the
current editors ask the applicants tough questions, my favorite being something to the effect of, “This is a great idea, but how are you going to make it happen?” What a
great way to put together a quality editorial staff and to open up communication.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, March 28—A fun idea and a great laugh—we could use both.
You have spent the past 7 months, if not longer, working on your 2008 yearbook. This book is a big deal for you, your staff, and your entire school community. Be sure to
celebrate your success and let your staff know that what they are doing is important and that their work has an impact. We are often so engrossed in the work that we
forget about the huge scope of what we have accomplished and how important it is to people.
Below is a link to a very cool video that my sister shared with me. I don’t know when this event took place, but I thought it was FUN. I then tried to think of how could I
relate this video to yearbook? Well….lots of ways. If you think of more ways, share them with me and I will share them with others.
This could be a pretty far out distribution event gimmick. The people in this video froze a moment (5 minutes) in time and your yearbook freezes a year in time. Have
every member of the yearbook staff round up two to five friends and plan a freeze just before the distribution. Everyone freezes at lunch or some other time. Then when
they unfreeze they all start moving towards the distribution event.
Or you could use this same gimmick as a reminder to people to not miss out on remembering the year and making sure they buy a yearbook. Perhaps your people that
freeze have yearbook reminder forms in their hands that others can take.
What they did was pretty easy to coordinate yet it got people talking. I can bet that every person who was traveling through Grand Central Station at the time of the
freeze made this their topic of conversation throughout the day. That’s the way it should be with your book. Find a way – BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE – to make it the topic
of conversation. Get a yearbook buzz going – get people talking and wondering about how amazing the book will be.
On a not so positive note, this video could also be a topic of discussion for what happens when people don’t do their work. Every staff has a slacker (or two or three).
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Have a conversation about the impact of people not doing their work. The people in this video slowed down traffic in Grand Central Station and even
prevented one man from doing his job. When staffers shirk their responsibilities, it has an effect on the other staff members. Also, what if half the people
in this freeze didn’t actually freeze? Would it have had the same impact? Probably not. Therefore, when not everyone on staff pitches in and does their
share of work, the book won’t be as good.
It’s a quick video….very fun.
<http://www.maniacworld.com/frozen-in-grand-central-station.html>
For those of you who have spring break next week – ENJOY!!!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, March 31—Here is a great website for themes and headlines
Many of you are in the process of planning your themes for next year. If you are, this note I got from a good friend might be just what you are looking for.
It is a great website.
“If you’re looking for a new title for your yearbook sidebars, try this site: 3,300 cliches, indexed. Type in the words, and the finder looks up dozens of
combinations for you to consider. Check out http://www.westegg.com/cliche/”
April 2008
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, April 1—Dividing up those end-of-the-year yearbook jobs One of you wonderful advisers sent this along. I thought it was a great idea for dividing up end of the year jobs as they are not always the most fun assignments.
“One other little tidbit that might help some people— I wrote down everyone’s name on a piece of paper and listed just as many
tasks that were in dire need of getting completed, then I just drew names out of a hat and assigned them whatever the task was. In
this particular case it was going through all of the portrait pages in pairs and deleted pictures, checking for spelling errors, doubles, correct grade,
etc... One person started at page one and one started on the last page and they met in the middle. It took 8 people about 15 minutes and viola! We
got that task done! Can’t complain when its random selection!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, April 2—Something else to do when the yearbook is finished. Some of you have been asking me about what you can be doing at this time of the year. Here is a possibility. When I got it, I laughed out loud and thought
you all might appreciate it even if you didn’t need to do it yourselves.
“If you didn’t get to doing holiday cards, maybe you could do something like this? “When it’s (the yearbook) finished, I’m going to take a
picture of me, holding it all wrapped up in a blue blanket, smiling and gazing lovingly at it, and I’m going to make a postcard that says “After Nine
Long Months...It’s A Book!” and send it out to my friends and family, since I didn’t get around to sending holiday cards this year!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, April 3—Looking at the April edition of YourBook-Part 1!
By now you should have the most exciting newsletter of the year in your hot little hands—THE 2009 PREMIER ISSUE OF YOURBOOK!
If you haven’t read it yet, go grab it and let’s take a personal tour through the cool new products and services you will be seeing in the coming year.
First up on page 1 I am thrilled to announce that your 2009 Yearbook Kit is going green. No, it won’t be green but it is greener. By that I mean it’s recyclable, there is less to it but it is exactly what you need and nothing else and parts of it are reusable in a bunch of ways. If that intrigued you, go check
it out and come back here. Also make sure to note that all the Yearbook Business Manager tools are now in the Yearbook Kit and are not being shipped
separately. Yahoo!
On page two you will find out more about the Yearbook Kit as well as info on our 2nd annual Jostens National Adviser Workshop. Lots of advisers had lots
of fun and learned lots of stuff last year at the first National Adviser Workshop. You are invited to join us for the second this summer. Last year’s was held in
Kansas City, this year—Nashville!
Page three gets us started looking at technology 2009 with your first peak at YearTech for InDesign—2009. We are thrilled to announce that YT now
supports InDesign CS3, has a dockable toolbar and a couple of new tools you will love. I won’t tell you any more here. You will just have to go read it for
yourself.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, April 4—Looking at the April edition of YourBook-Part 2
Yesterday’s tip started getting a little long so I cut it in two. Here is the rest of our look at—THE 2009 PREMIER ISSUE OF YOURBOOK!.
Take a quick look at the centerfold poster. OK, I know, once you look at it, you just want to keep looking until you find just the cover you want. Yes siree
Bob! All the new Studio-designed covers are right there to see. And even if you do your own cover, this poster can be full of ideas you can adapt for your
very own cover. Make sure and check it out.
Page six and seven continue with our look at what will be new in technology for 2009 with the biggest improvement of all for YearTech for InDesign,
Portrait Editor. Yes, next year you will be able to flow your own portraits right off the CD you get from your school photographer. Of course, we will still be
happy to flow them for you (at no charge) but once you see how easy it is and how much control you have, you will love using it.
Other big YearTech for InDesign improvements come direct from YearTech Online—Image Share and Jostens Ad Services, which were both only available
to online schools are now ready to go for you. You will love them.
Lastly, don’t worry YTO people! Page seven is mostly about you. Improvements to YearTech Online include dropped shadows, being able to save templates
as DPSs, one click saving of pictures from one year to another and my very favorite new feature—easier photo upload. This one you will have to read
about and try next month when all the new stuff comes online to fully appreciate it.
So what are you waiting for? Go get the 2009 PREMIER ISSUE OF YOURBOOK and get reading!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, April 7—Grade sheets for all yearbookers who take photos I was in a school last week and saw this photo assignment sheet. This was a “light bulb” moment for me when I saw it. It never occurred to me to require
staffers to turn in photos for a grade regardless of the pages they are assigned. I have such awesome advisors. When I went on and on about it, she gave
me two digital copies to pass on to you. They are very self-explanatory.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, April 8—Tech tips for InDesign users If you are thinking about upgrading to InDesign CS3, do I have a list for you!!! Below you will find the coolest new things you can do with InDesign CS3
that you can’t do with any of the previous versions. Note that the “Palettes” have been replaced with “Panels.” So, you’ll hear me refer to panels instead of
palettes. I guess palettes are just so 2007!
These are not in any order of preference. It’s up to you to decide which items you like the best.
—Double click on a photo with the Selection tool and InDesign switches to the Direct Selection tool and selects the photo inside the
frame. Double click again and you are back to the Selection tool. Double click any text box with any tool and it changes to the text tool and you can
start typing right were you clicked.
Also (this is BIG for keyboard shortcut freaks) in any tool (including text), hitting Escape deselects everything and gives you the
Select tool.
—You can customize the Control Bar (Formerly the control palette) to include the items you want and remove the items you don’t
want. You can also customize menu items.
—Text wrap is on the Control Bar. This may not be so huge for YearTech users who already use the Text Wrap button on the YearTech toolbar,
but it’s still cool. Not everything that has to do with Text wrap is on the Control Bar. To tweak, you still need to use the Text Wrap Panel if you are
going to do anything other than the defaults.
—You can organize links in the Links Panel by name, page, type or status.
— Find/Change now lets you search for fill, stroke, and opacity of objects and type. Let’s say you want to find all 2 point strokes and
change them to 1 point strokes. The Find/Change function now does that.
—And the drum roll please…….The new fx icon on the Control Bar. The fx icon gives you the Photoshop functions of opacity, drop shadow,
blending modes, bevel & emboss, satin, inner & outer glow, feathering (basic, directional, & gradient) and global lighting. But wait, there is more
if you can believe it!!! You can now, in the fx menu, apply opacity to the object, the stroke, the fill, and/or the text. So, if you have a blue box with a
red stroke filled with black letters, you can make the blue box transparent while keeping the letters and the stroke solid – all in ONE object. You can
access this with the old Drop Shadow keyboard shortcut of Command (Control on PC) Option (Alt on PC) M as well.
So, there you have it. Some totally cool InDesign CS3 ideas. If you were thinking about making the plunge to CS3, I think it is worth it. From what I am
hearing, Adobe is offering schools pretty good deals on the whole CS3 bundle (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Go Live, Bridge, and more). Buying the
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bundle for Photoshop and InDesign alone is worth the price. One note though, you can’t save back to CS2 so if you go with CS3, you need it all the way
around your yearbook room.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, April 9—Here is a great website for themes and headlines Yesterday we did some tips for InDesign users. Today here are some cool tips for YTO users that involve your mouse. Last week I was at a school and the
editor right clicked on a photo and chose “Remove Image.” Okay, I must confess I did not know that option was there so below is a list of “right clicking”
functions that you have on YTO. Sometimes we don’t see what is right in front of us.
Click on a photo, then right click, and you find:
Remove Image
Reset Crop
Rotate Left
Rotate Right
Flip Horizontally
Flip Vertically
Grayscale
Show in Image Library
Select all images
Select all shapes
Select all text boxes
Select all incomplete
Right click on a text block and you find:
Bold
Italic
Underline
Left align
Center
Right align
Justify
Select all images
Select all shapes
Select all text boxes
Select all incomplete
Paste
Select All
*Also, if you have styles set, your styles will appear here so you can easily apply them.
Enjoy!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, April 10—A great end of the year idea to sell yearbooks and build your PR
A few weeks ago I asked for some ideas about selling yearbooks that you have ordered but haven’t sold. I got this great response.
“I have no idea why I didn’t think of this sooner! At the end of each sports season, we have an awards banquet for every sport in that season.
This year, I was so impressed with so many of my staff’s sports shots that two members of my staff and I complied a PowerPoint of great pictures
from the seasons to be played at the banquet. It took us maybe two hours. We also stuck in some “subliminal messages”. About four or so times
throughout the PowerPoint, we threw in a slide in an obnoxious color that said something to the effect of “Buy an Yearbook, $32 until April 1”, etc.
We made 7 sales from that group alone the next school day. In our tiny school, that’s pretty impressive! Thought it might be something someone else
could use.”
I hope you can use it. What a great idea.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, April 11—Purchasing yearbooks for kids who can’t afford them. I have a Google alert for the word yearbook. If you aren’t familiar with Google alerts, you can sign up to have Google send you an e-mail every time they
find a new incident of a particular word online. So I have them send me one whenever they see the word yearbook or Jostens. I get a ton for yearbook.
Mostly stuff I can’t use. But today a couple of weeks ago I saw this great article and wanted you to see it as well. It is about a school who found a way to
get local businesses to sponsor a yearbook for those who could not afford it.
Check it out at http://www.journalscene.com/commentary/0326Opfdhs
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, April 14—Here is a great website for themes and headlines Many of you are in the process of planning your themes for next year. If you are, this note I got from a good friend might be just what you are looking for.
It is a great website.
“If you’re looking for a new title for your yearbook sidebars, try this site: 3,300 cliches, indexed. Type in the words, and the finder looks
up dozens of combinations for you to consider. Check out http://www.westegg.com/cliche/”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, April 15—Another Senior Picture question Sometimes I think I have heard it it all as far as yearbooks are concerned. But this morning I got this from an adviser of a fall delivery yearbook who is
working on his senior pages.
“I have a question for the group. What is the policy on seniors posing with their kid(s). Yes, we have an unmarried teen who wants their baby to
be in the shot with her. Mother and infant. I think this is the first time I’ve come across this issue. The principal thought no since this is supposed to
be a senior picture and not a “family” photo but he’s left it up to me. Personally, I think it glamorizes teen pregnancy and will open the door on quite
a few others who already have kids or have kids on the way. I’m curious as to what the group thinks.”
So what do you think? How would you (or how have you) handled this?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, April 16—A great way to find and photograph students who are not in the
yearbook yet.
I saw this in a school recently and asked if I could have a copy of both sheets. I thought this was a great way to get those students that aren’t in the yearbook! I would add asking the student 2 or 3 questions to have some quotes from them as well might be a great idea but even if they just got their pictures
it would be wonderful.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, April 17—A question about your yearbook class and funding. It’s that time of the year again. Classes are being planned for next year. Pre-registration is being done. I am hearing about all kinds of problems cropping
up pertaining to yearbook classes. Especially when it comes to funding. Here is a great example. I got this e-mail late last week from an adviser who has a
big problem and would like to know if any of you have encountered it and what you have done to solve it.
“ The principal has told me that unless I can put 20 students in my yearbook class next year, that I won’t be able to have a class and
it will become a club-type activity. The only problem is that I only has 10 computers of which only eight actually work. So if I do have to take 20
students, what are the rest going to do since the majority of the work is done on computers?”
How about it folks, what would you do (or have you done) in this situation?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, April 18—A very cool website for creating Cut Out Background pictures.
Probably the number one Photoshop question I get is, “How do I cut out backgrounds on a photo and make it look good?” Cut Out Background (COB)
photos are all the rage and have been for a few years. But sometimes doing them is a real pain. Well if you have a handy credit card, you might be able to
avoid having to learn how to do it or at least not have to spend hours on the really tough one.
Check out: MisterClipping. <http://www.misterclipping.com/>
For about $10 you can have a professional graphic designer COB the most complex and difficult image you can find that you don’t have the time, desire,
skills or software to do yourself. For new members, the first one is free regardless of complexity. 24 hour turnaround. And when they send it back, it
already has a clipping path as well so you can place it in InDesign and text wrap around it. YTO schools can save it as a TIFF with transparency and upload
it for placement.
A good friend and fellow Jostens rep sent me this and I went to the website and tried it out. (Remember, the first one is free.) They did great! First you upload the photo, then they give you a quote on how much it will cost to do. Easy ones are cheaper, more difficult ones are more expensive. I sent them one
that was pretty tough and the cost was around $20. The biggest drawback I can see for a school is that you must have a credit card or a PayPal account.
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They won’t take purchase orders from schools. You will also note that they are not a U.S. company. As all the numbers on their site are in Euros. But they
quote you in dollars. The world-wide web really is.
The bottom line is, if you have something that you have-to-have cut out and it is just beyond your ability level, and you don’t mind spending a few bucks
to get it done, this service works great.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, April 21—YTO schools—start working on your 2009 yearbook today! Although we won’t be launching the 2009 customer YTO sites until the start of next month, you can still begin working on next year’s pages. Once you
have submitted all the pages for your 2008 book, you can start on next year’s book by going to “My Templates” and clicking on edit. This will bring the
template up in the designer. Staff members can then remove or edit the content and resave with another template name. When the new sites come
online in early May, you can save these templates to next year. You don’t have to assign them a page now if you just work on them and save them as a
template.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, April 22—A question about buying yearbooks for kids that can’t afford them Back on April 11 I sent you a link to a great web article about a school who did some great work in getting businesses to sponsor a yearbook for kids who
could not afford it. Another adviser sent me this note after reading that.
“We also get community, faculty, businesses and my relatives (!) involved in getting books in the hands of students who can’t afford
them. We target seniors, using our guidance counselors’ help. Last year when the books came out in May, 19 seniors had a happy surprise. This
year is harder; the economy is hitting everyone’s purse. But we are still getting some contributions. My only concern is if seniors realize this is
happening, they won’t buy their own books; they will expect someone else to buy it for them. So I try to keep it really hush-hush. Any suggestions
here?”
Do any of you have any suggestions for this adviser? I would love to know how you would handle this—kids taking advantage of something good? I sure
would hope this doesn’t happen often but if it has, I know you folks will know.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, April 23—A great list of things to do in the spring if your yearbook is done. I know many of you are done with your yearbooks while others who deliver in the fall are still working hard. For those of you who do spring delivery
yearbooks, here are some great ideas a fellow rep sent me of things to do:
SPRING ACTIVITIES
As promised, I’m sending along some spring activities that you can use for the next few months. Please see the spring activities and planning attachment.
In addition to the items in the attachment, here are a few more:
1.
First of all, if you have relaxed and rested yet, do that. If you’ve finished your book, that is quite the accomplishment and it needs to be
celebrated.
2.
Work on spring supplement. If you aren’t planning one, and would like to, let me know and I can provide more information. It is a great way
to include your spring activities.
3.
Create a legacy….one adviser lets her kids sign a brick in the wall of the yearbook room. They leave a fun message of the time they have
spent there.
4.
Have students create an instruction booklet or staff manual for next year’s staff.
5.
Photojournalist project (see attachment)
6.
Pick out your cover and theme for next year. If you choose a Jostens cover, I already have the samples for next year, and can bring them to
you. If you take care of your cover now, you won’t have to worry about it in the fall. The Spring Activities attachment has more ideas related
to this, and the yearbook survivor activity on the bottom is another example of how to go about this.
7.
Develop a mission statement for your yearbook program.
8.
Clean out your yearbook room. I know some of you save your kit every year. Maybe take out the pieces that you will still use, and recycle the
rest.
9.
Go over your non-buyer list, and make a plan to sell your remaining books. In the next week, I will be sending along more ideas for selling
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your books.
10.Get your yearbook bulletin board ready for next year. If you don’t have one, consider adding one. Things you can include: a calendar,
font poster, photo tips poster that comes in your kit, a place to put sports rosters, a place for sports calendars, a place to store club info sheets,
an ongoing list of who to send thank yous to at end of year, a school list that includes everyone so you can keep track of who has been in the
book, a spot to post a few fun staff pictures, your staff manual, color guide, contact info for the people you contact often, some type of visual
that tracks your ad sales and book sales (thermometer?), your mission statement, etc. Many of these items won’t be available until your
school year begins, but you can get the board prepared so it is ready to go in the fall.
11.
Make goals for next year. Rather than coming up with 20, just decide on your top three so it is manageable and doable.
12.
Plan an awards banquet or end-of-year celebration for your yearbook staffers.
13.
Have the staff write thank you notes to advertisers and to those who made a special effort to help your book (parents who contributed
photos, administrators who supported your program, the bookkeeper who took in all of the sales, the student who wasn’t on staff but who
still helped with the book, the tech person in your school who may have helped get your computers set up, the counselor or office person who
helped identify people in pictures, the teacher next door who proofed all of your pages, etc.).
14.
Have students brainstorm ideas for their ideal distribution party. Anything is possible. One school told me they are bringing in their books on
a helicopter this year. I can’t wait to see this! If you need help making your idea a reality, call me in. I can help.
15.
Make a yearbook display case. Ideas for the case: recognize your yearbook staffers, advertise your book, advertise your program so you get
good staffers for next year, make a public thank you to the people in the building who helped make the yearbook a reality, create a buzz
about the cover, display the best photos taken during the year, etc.
16.
Yearbook Survivor (this comes from a great adviser, at one of my best high school)s: Near the end of the year, when the book is actually
done, I do “Yearbook Survivor.” Depending on the # of kids in class, sometimes they work on their own and sometimes in pairs. Each kid
comes up with a theme, designs a cover, designs an endsheet, puts together a page ladder, comes up with titles for division pages to show
how they are going to weave the theme throughout the book, and also they have to come up with one new idea for next year’s book that
we haven’t done before (for example, it could be students and their jobs). They then present their ideas to the class. I tell them I am the CEO,
and the class is a board of directors. They have to sell their ideas to us. Then we start voting people “off the island,” until we come down to
the final 2 or 3. Then we vote for a winner, etc. What usually happens is that we end up incorporating several ideas. For example, someone
might have a great theme, but we don’t like the cover. Someone else has a great cover—we might end up merging the two ideas. It works
pretty well—-it takes time too, which is needed at the end of the year, and is a major part of their grade. I make the seniors do it too. The
nice thing is that at the end of the year we have a theme and cover that the kids have created, and thus they have to buy into it. We do not
declare a winner until everyone agrees (even if it’s not their first choice) that they can support it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, April 24—A GREAT book sales/spring activity idea! One of you wonderful advisers sent me this last week. I thought it was a very cool idea and thought maybe you would like to try it.
This year our senior video will be a take-off of ABC’s i-caught (Your 3 Words). My yearbook staff has divided up the senior homerooms and they are
responsible for contacting and securing “My 3 Words” from each senior. They have deadlines and are graded on a rubric in terms of the amount of people
who have participated in their assigned homeroom. At the same time, they are trying to sell yearbooks and build excitement. It’s been AMAZING so far.
The kids are having a BALL and are so creative. Just thought I’d pass it along in case others are looking for something special to do. Who knows?! Maybe
you’ll see it on ABCnews.com!!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, April 25—Oh, you overpaid teachers You may have seen this before but I got it from one of my favorite teachers and it was soooo good I had to send it along. Enjoy and rub it in the noses of
anyone who ever says you are overpaid!
Sick of those highly paid teachers???!!! Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in
perspective and pay them for what they do - baby sit!
We can get that for less than minimum wage. That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning
time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 minutes off for lunch and plan — that equals 6
1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that’s
$19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations - LET’S SEE.... That’s
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$585 X 180 = $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair,
round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.
Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is! The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per
day/30 students = $9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student —a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!)
WHAT A DEAL.... Make a teacher smile; send this to someone who appreciates teachers.
I just want you to know that I do—appreciate teachers that is!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, April 28—Responses to the tip about the senior mom who wanted baby in her
senior picture. Back on tax day (April 15) I sent out a tip asking you how you would handle a senior who wanted to have her baby in her senior portrait with her. Boy, did
that stir up some different feelings. Here are a few of the responses I got.
“One of my editors has a 2-year-old, and she took some of her senior photos with her. If she were to purchase a senior ad and requested
that her mother & daughter picture be in it, sure, I’d have no choice but to run it. However, a shot of her and her daughter in the panel pages is
completely out of the question. I wouldn’t even entertain the thought. I agree with the original adviser that it glamorizes teen pregnancy. Our school
has such a problem with teen pregnancies already that we formed a support group for teen parents last semester – and the list of people invited to
the meetings keeps growing every month. What’s next?? Posing for your senior pic with your dog?? I swear these kids never cease to amaze me. Do
all that with your senior portraits, NOT your panel page photo.”
“No way, no how!”
“As far as allowing the baby in the senior portrait, I would say no. We don’t allow props (hats, etc) in our photos so another person would be
out of the question. If the school has recognition/parent ads, that would be the place to have a picture like that if they wanted it.
I think that the yearbook is not the place for “family” photos. If the student wants her senior photos taken with her child, that is perfectly
fine; but her yearbook formal photo should be of just her.”
“I think that it’s a great opportunity for her to buy an ad. The baby is not a senior. When it becomes one - he or she can be in the senior
pictures.”
“A senior picture should be the student alone, however, we have a “family” spread in our yearbook, we include cousins, siblings,
parent/child, etc…it seems appropriate to us, this is a reality today, but in its appropriate place.”
“I would vote absolutely not!!!! What would prevent the next senior from wanting his best friend, his dog in the shot. (Believe it or not, when I
judge books from the south, I have seen boys posed with their rifles!!! It opens Pandora’s box!”
“In our case, for the portrait slot on our senior pages, we only allow portraits taken by the school photographer and they are
restricted to the senior by themselves according to pre-determined criteria (formal clothing, standard pose, uniform background). However, our senior pages also have four “family” photos on them that are chosen by the student and their family and we would have
no problem placing a photo of the student with her child in one of those slots. We don’t think such a photo “glamorizes teen pregnancy” at all and,
furthermore, we don’t feel that it’s the yearbook advisors’ place to impose judgments on what constitutes a student’s family.”
“I don’t think students should be allowed to pose with their kids. I agree that this section is for seniors and their accomplishments.”
“That’s a new one! Maybe we need a written policy. Ours has always been pretty loose, but I don’t think we’ve ever allowed two people in a
picture.”
“I teach on the university level where we have several students with children. This has never been an issue for us since no one has ever
inquired about this. I tend to agree with the adviser who says this sets a precedence and glamorizes the teen pregnancy.”
“However, the yearbook photo is of the person who is the student. The student’s children have NO role in the student’s education. Their
children are one part of their life and school is a separate role.”
“Now, I don’t have any problem if the student wants to pay an extra sitting fee to the photographer in order to have the child in
another photo. That is what we do with students who want a different pose. I would definitely charge any student wanting to do something more
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than the yearbook pose an additional sitting fee. I think by doing so that this would end the issue immediately.”
“As graduation is the work of a single person—the picture should be just of the graduating senior. If the student feels that strongly to
have her baby with her—she can buy a personal ad and put in that picture. When we graduated from college/graudate school many of us were
parents. The picture was still of just me receiving my diploma.”
“We have a written policy that is provided to the photographers that along with no weapons no babies are allowed in Senior portraits. There is no problem that way. If the student wants a mother/child picture, then she can purchase these for family.”
“WOW... great question! I would say being a CATHOLIC school we would easily refuse the request for a family photo!”
“May be an untapped form of birth control............ no one is harder on teenagers than fellow teenagers.......once they see one of their own in
a yearbook with a child...I am betting the number that wish to run out and “procure” their own child will be no where as high as you would think....
thinking the comments by fellow teenagers would be more damning than any thing else. But if I was the advisor....I would get the Principal and the
District in on the decision........share the risk maneuver.”
“I say no. Our school has a contract with a photographer for the senior pictures. This eliminates many problems. We do have parent ads. I would
encourage her to purchase a parent ad and put a picture of her w/ her baby there.”
“I personally would not let the baby in the picture. We do not take group pictures at all at my school. The picture is for the senior; it is their
accomplishment not the baby’s. Plus, if you allow this, you are going to have to allow every single student who wants to have a picture taken with
their child in the yearbook no matter what grade they are in. That is a tradition I would not want to start.”
“We have a written policy that is provided to the photographers that along with no weapons no babies are allowed in Senior portraits. There is no problem that way. If the student wants a mother/child picture, then she can purchase these for family.”
The one thing I got from all of this is that you need a written policy before the fact. Think about creating a written senior portrait policy that you can put
out to all your students and to the photographers before any pictures are taken. Try to get something out to them before school is out for summer.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, April 29—Solutions to too many kids, not enough computers. Part 1
On April 17 I sent out a plea for help from a yearbook adviser whose principal had told her that she had to take at least 20 students in her yearbook class
even though she had only 10 working computers. I asked you folks if you had this problem in your schools and you (as always) came through big time.
Here are some of the responses I got. The rest will follow on Thursday.
“What I do with this is twofold. I had this problem last year when I had 25 students in the class but only 9 computers (most of the time only
7 worked). This caused problems when everyone wanted their pages. I signed out the lab the week before deadlines so that everyone could be
working on the pages. Prior to that, we had a rotation schedule where everyone had equal time on the computer. When they were not working
on computers, students were asked to be hand writing their articles for their pages, taking pictures,, or working on one of the million jobs that we
have to do as yearbook folks: ad campaigns (calling businesses, calling parents, etc.), sales campaigns (making posters, recruiting people to buy the
yearbook, etc.), keeping track of student coverage (we have a highlighting technique where we use different color highlights to track coverage in
the yearbook è eg. Yellow = 1 time, orange = 2 times, etc. If they are at orange by the first deadline, they are “off limits” for the next deadline, etc.
to increase coverage), etc. We have tons of things to do other than just work on the computers, so there is a way to make it work. You have to be
organized and inventive to make sure kids aren’t just sitting around, but there are plenty of ways to get them involved.”
“Maybe you could have the kids take a team approach on the computers if it’s possible to spread the computers out a little. You could
also say that all copy must be written before it can be typed. This would force the students to use their time more efficiently on the computers. They
could make a layout and place their pictures then print their spread. Body copy and captions could be written in the margins or on a separate sheet
of paper. When they are finished writing, typing shouldn’t take long. This would cut down on the idle time on the computers and get you past that
dilemma. As for your administrator, remind him that finding 20 students to represent the school as members of the yearbook staff is tricky business.
You can’t just accept any student, but remember that there are those who may surprise you and ultimately surprise themselves. If you do get 20
students (as I have in the past) then you just have to be a bit laid back and accept the fact that some students will happily let others do most of the
work—the trick is not to let them get away with doing nothing because that disheartens the ones who are doing something. Whatever happens,
gently break it to your administrator that you can’t see yourself working on the yearbook as a club sponsor. After asking around, he’ll soon realize
that no one else in their right minds will either. This may help him come around. Want to hear what I heard this year? My principal came to my classroom and said that only 4 people had been scheduled into the yearbook and newspaper classes for the following year so the classes may have to
be closed. I told him that that’s because the counselors told anyone that scheduled publications they had to have my approval first and went ahead
and scheduled them into other electives. They never asked for my approval and never sent the students to ask either. Luckily I had applications on
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file and a list with at least 75 names for those who were interested in taking the classes. A day later each counselor had the list of those that were
approved and as of now, two weeks later, not one extra person has been scheduled into my class for next year. But they’ll get to it, I hope!” “In this situation, I might talk to the principal about the computer issues and try to find any open computers within the building.
There may be a teacher who would willing take some kids in class as long as they showed up with a set plan for the day. But, I see this as being a
huge problem, so I would talk to the principal first. Who knows, computers could magically appear from this year to next too!”
“I wish I had this problem – We always have 45 kids signed up for the class. Anyway, there are many other things they can do – take
photos, proofread pages, run errands, hand out materials to teachers (this is a big problem with us – we always have materials to distribute from
photographers, etc.), check all names from a master list, etc. Do they have computer labs? We always sign up for a computer lab a month in
advance so we have it every day. We are flexible, however, and we will allow other teachers to come in with us or we’ll give up the lab for a day or so
now and then.”
“When you get an answer, let me know. I have the same problem. I currently have 14 enrolled in a classroom with only 5 computers (one of
them mine), and I can look forward to the same problem next year. My administrators state that if the kids aren’t working on a computer in the
classroom, they should be given an “alternative assignment” to work on at their desks. The problem is I have no idea where to find enough “alternative assignments” that will last 90 minutes, that can be done at their desks, and that cover me for the entire year. Most yearbook curriculums that
I’ve seen have teachable lessons that only last for the first 3-6 weeks of school. That’s no good when I have admins walking in around mid-October
and seeing kids literally doing nothing because they’re waiting for a computer. I also send students to the library to work on their computers whenever possible, but it’s frustrating having only 5 kids in class and the rest of them somewhere else at another computer. I cannot track their progress
or behavior, and I have to rely on the librarians’ word whether or not the student actually did any work. Plus, sometimes the library is booked by
other teachers, and then there’s nowhere else to send them. I hope someone else out there in Teacher-land has some suggestions. I could surely use
them.”
“Being limited on computer space is the story of my life- often our computers don’t work, are too slow, and there are never
enough! This is why we went On-Line! The yearbook students are partnered for page spreads and we only go to the lab three days a week. Tuesday and Thursday are set aside for interviews, photography, story writing, and any other necessary prep work. That way we use our computer time
really wisely. Additionally we only have 4 computers with InDesign installed so only my editors are trained on it. The rest of the kids are required to
work from home and check-in via e-mail and post-its. Being limited on technology can work! And really, it is worth it to try to make it work because
only having yearbook as a club is an impossible nightmare!!”
“First things first: get the twenty kids you need to keep the class. Put the kids in groups of three whenever an assignement must be done—
one kid on photography, one on copy and another on design (six computers). Make one computer available exclusively for scanning / uploading. Make one computer available exclusively for design / emergency use. It cuts down on the time you have to spend grading too since now you
only have six papers to read instead of eight. This would be my first step.”
“Yearbook Class/Funding: We only have 2 computers that work all/most of the time and one that works when it feel like it (about a
third of the time). When I am able to, I reserve the computer lab but that depends on the year and what other classes are being held during those
periods. I have the kids working in pairs/trios most of the time so they can share a computer. Kids not using computers can proof from print-offs,
take pictures or work on writing their articles. I have also set up a calendar of who is to have a computer on what days. If a student know they are
out due to a field trip/appointment on their given day, they can trade with another person. Some people get done faster than others so they may
give up their days for a few times so that others can catch up.”
“It isn’t a perfect solution, but I paired students up so that they were working together on a spread and shared the computer. However, with 24 students and six computers (only three of which are truly reliable), we still had lots of time with students who did not have access to a
computer in the room. If there was availability, I was able to send a few to the computer lab or library. I also reserved the computer lab for the class
when deadlines were close so that everyone could have a computer at crunch time.”
“I generally have the same issues as this advisor, so I pair them up on their assignments. That way, they are working together as two
per computer. Otherwise, my business manager does paperwork, etc. and others can do organizational type things like collecting information or
proofing printed pages.”
“Well, I have 24 students normally and seven computers. If you are a class, you must be teaching; therefore, time should be spent in mini
lessons on all phases of publication. Writing text should take as much time as writing for any other class – rough draft, peer edits, final convention
edit – before it ever goes to the computer. Photography is paramount. Pretend you have disciples and send them out two by two like Paul and Silas
and take pictures – one computer could be used to delete the unacceptable and catalogue the ones to be used in the pool. Keeping students on task
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and productive is demanded of every class.”
“I personally don’t think the principal is unjust. My journalism class has always been mandated this way.”
“We have 15 in class and only 10 computers. It is very challenging. We pair people up together for deadline projects. While one person is on the
computer, the other is working on gathering quotes, writing copy, writing ideas for kickers captions.”
“We also have a group of students that work on promotions; they come up with ideas to promote the yearbook. Slideshows, flyers,
notes on lockers, e-mails home to parents, anything that will help get people excited about the yearbook. That group also checks index to see who is
not in the yearbook 3 times and is in charge of posting the “hit list” (students we still need to shoot).”
“Twenty students! Be thankful. My district is expecting all middle school classes to accommodate 35 students, even the Yearbook elective. Fortunately, my principal is very supportive and is willing to let me take less. I’d be in heaven with 20. But, that doesn’t answer your question of what to
do with twice the number of students as computers.”
“Easy. Assignments are completed by pairs of students. This makes sense from a management POV, too. If a staffer is absent, they have a partner
who knows what to do to keep production rolling along. Also, once production begins, students will doing research, interviewing subjects, taking
photos, etc. In other words, they won’t be at a computer. Even if you are using YTO, there are still plenty of things to be done that don’t require
a computer. The marketing team can be making posters. Editors can be proofreading pages that were printed the previous day. Returning staff
members can be training new staff members. Sometimes, something just needs to be dusted, cleaned, rearranged, delivered or moved. Easier said
than done, I know. Be creative.”
“The students can double up on the computer, or work in teams. There is plenty of work for them to do while not on the computer... Planning,
organization, lists, taking photos, money, marketing, etc.”
“That’s horrible, and, I’m there. I have a class of @21 students and only 9 computers, we’re a YTO school. We have assigned days on the
computers. The off days are supposed to be spent editing printouts, hand writing copy, occasional trips to photograph classes. I also send students
to our media center to use computers. (That makes me nervous because I have no knowledge of their activities.) We sometimes get to borrow
laptops from another class. Last year, the multi-media class was not in session during my yearbook class time and that teacher let me send certain
students to work independently in her room. You can let your administrators know that my experience is that this not a good working situation and
that the students develop sloppy work habits and treat the class time as play-time all too often, forgetting that the assigned days are WORK, also
the amount of work assigned to each student (Number of DPSs) seems too light. (Our book is 144 pages.) My situation is such that next year I get to
place a limit on the number of students: 16. I hope this is helpful!”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, April 30—
A great ad sales idea and a request for solutions to an ad sales problem. You guys are on a roll. I want you to put your thinking caps back on again for an adviser that needs help on an entirely different problem than we have
dealt with in the past. First she has a success story and then the problem.
“Last year and this year we have had our fall delivery book so far along that we are sending out renewals for next year’s business
ads already. Last spring we sold almost $3000 in renewals by mail, which means we have more time to sell more in the fall, and we have gone
from $7000 to $9600 in the last two years. This year, we have that much in renewal ads again but...
What I need to know now is how to I go about helping the kids pay for gas to drive next fall for ad days. It will be an issue for a lot of schools, and I am
looking for ideas. Any help would be appreciated.”
What a superb ad sales idea. Everyone should try it but especially spring delivery yearbooks who are already done with their yearbooks.
But now on to her problem: how do we handle the gasoline issue. With gas approaching $4 per gallon, not a lot of parents are going to be very happy with the
kids using their or the family cars to go and sell ads. This will be especially true in outlying areas. Any thoughts about this. How are you handling it?
May 2008
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, May 1—Solutions to too many kids, not enough computers. Part 2.
Here are some more of your fantastic solutions to what to do when you have more kids on your yearbook staff than you know what to do with, or that you
have computers for them to use.
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“I have 16 students and 4 computers. We assign one day per week that each student definitely gets one of the classroom computers. Otherwise,
when the library computers are free, I send staff members there. If they are not on the computers, that is when they should be doing those things
that don’t require one such as taking pictures, writing captions, proofing each others pages and such.”
“Perhaps that adviser might consider:
1. Put staff in groups/partnerships so some can be interviewing, taking pictures, writing, etc. The partnership idea also helps those staff
members who are weak in one area but strong in another — try to create balanced partnerships
2. Is there a writing/computer lab nearby — rotate computer time for in-class with the in-design program — some students could
be writing body copy and captions the old fashioned way - by hand or on word processing programs, print them out, and then plug into the
in-class computers.”
We have 32 students this year with 22 working computers and next year we’re anticipating 40! The partnership really works well.”
“I have a similar problem. I now have been reduced to having 10 computers, however this class is a 5th period course (after school). I broke
up the students into financial, journalism, layout and photography departments. Photo goes out and trains, learn to take pictures, if there is an
event, they photograph it and clean all pictures. Layout, I only have 4 students, so all computers are assigned, they create pages everyday, so these
computers are theirs explicitly. Journalism writes stories, etc… on paper then type up at home, friend’s computer, other teacher room and e-mail to
me for editing. Fundraising thinks of ideas to sell things, make cookies, quesadillas, etc. prep to sell things after school (too much free time for this
group) and call businesses to see if willing to purchase an ad, etc. I have about 35 students, does make it a bit chaotic at times. However, people
come after school to finish their work and we work most Saturdays and school vacations also. I do also have my “veterans” group that come to
class/club after school and almost all of them do layout (so in total I have about 10-14 people creating pages). In total I manage about 46 students.
What this teacher could do is rotate them, divide them into different departments so they could work on things that do not exactly require a computer each day. I will attach the schedule I created to give you an idea. Good luck, hope this helps (I would not ever recommend over 20 studentsleast of all most being freshmen).”
“I have my kids work in teams to help resolve this problem. If you are used to working with only ten kids having twenty will just make the
job easier. When students work in teams more events get covered because if one student on the team can’t make an event the other one often
can. Also, it helps students that complain about writers block to have a partner to brainstorm with. Naturally the occasional problems arise within
the partners, but then I just tell them to split the layout in half; one student does the right page and the other does the left.”
“When I first started working for the school district, and assisted the yearbook adviser, there were 18-20 kids in the class and four
computers. It did present problems, but at the time they were working on Pagemaker and there was always plenty to do to keep them busy. When
I took over as adviser, and we went online shortly after, I contacted some businesses/corporations in the area and begged for their throw away
computers!!! One company was kind enough to donate 50 to the school district and earmarked 10 for me!! So that gave me 14. I still have more kids
than computers and probably always will. But there’s always things to do, such as billing, sending letters to parents, sorting and labeling pictures
that are returned from the plant and returning them, cleaning out and organizing the cabinets, etc. and this year I partnered them up. Two to a
computer. They had to be creative and help each other, brainstorm and sometimes teach. I always partner a veteran with a new student. They can
also work on next year’s advertising customers, i.e. work out a list of advertisers and a map so there’s no criss-crossing. The more you can get done
for next year, the easier your life will be!”
“I only have 5 computers in my room, one of which is very iffy - I send my most reliable students up to our computer labs. If that’s an
option for you (both in space and technology), it really does work well. I also have students work on other yearbook-related projects - right now
we’re reorganizing 11 years’ worth of sold but unclaimed yearbooks in my room so we can put an ad in the newspaper to get people to pick them up.
I also take on projects from other teachers - two students are currently working on writing down the names of all former cheerleaders for a “reunion
cheer” that is being planned for next year’s Homecoming. And, if nothing else, students can always be sent out to take candids and academics
pictures during the hour, or to interview teachers/students during their prep/study halls. Hope this helps.”
“I am kind of facing a similar situation at my school except my principal hasn’t really threatened me with taking away my class
time. I had 32 students signup for yearbook when I usually take about 10 or 12 because I have 10 computers. I am planning on taking up near the
20 person range and my plan is the students will have to earn the right to design on the computer. I am going to set it up where everyone is planning and design pages on paper, get the photographs, working on story/caption writing, but their design does not make it into the book until all the
leg work is done and the best design completed by a deadline gets their page in the book. All the other rules still apply to those who do not make
the book such as grades for completed pages by deadline, photography, layout, etc. but I am hoping this is going to get me some of the best pages I
have ever had in the yearbook.”
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“We assign teams to work on a page. They are responsible for all aspects of the page so usually on person takes the picture, one works on the
page layout and another checks on the spelling and names, they share one computer for a group of three.
I’m responding to the person with 10 computers and 20 students, here are a few ideas:
Rotate students on the computer each meeting time, if they have log in names they can always edit from home.
1. Use students who are not on the computer to: take pictures of the academic day, candids of teachers, pictures around school, label
names with pictures, draw rough designs or layouts in pencil that can be duplicated on the computer, write copy by hand – to be typed at a
later time, work on marketing the yearbook, and create posters for around school for yearbook sales.
2. Divide the class in two teams – Give each team sections, deadlines, marketing goals, etc. and then divide the computers to 5 each
team and let each team make the decisions on computer time and non-computer time. Great way to build leadership and collaboration.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, May 2—Great responses about getting yearbooks for kids who can’t afford them.
Back on April 11 I sent you fine folks this:
I have a Google alert for the word yearbook. If you aren’t familiar with Google alerts, you can sign up to have Google send you an e-mail every time they
find a new incident of a particular word online. So I have them send me one whenever they see the word yearbook or Jostens. I get a ton for yearbook.
Mostly stuff I can’t use. But today a couple of weeks ago I saw this great article and wanted you to see it as well. It is about a school who found a way to
get local businesses to sponsor a yearbook for those who could not afford it.
Check it out at http://www.journalscene.com/commentary/0326Opfdhs
Well, I got some great responses and this was the best:
“After you sent the email out about the FDHS YourBook Program, I contacted Jim Roller, the adviser, for permission to steal his idea
which he granted. I have 50 letters going out to community businesses today, a letter to the editor will be published this week in the LA Monitor,
and our website has been updated for the program. Check it out at laschools.net/lams — look under “what’s happening.” I’ll let you know how the
program goes.”
Here are some other great ones that came my way. Perhaps they will help you do the same thing.
“In regards to giving away yearbooks....I have a drawing each year. I ask the counselors/staff if there are any students that are truly wanting a yearbook but can’t afford it. Some staff members sponsor one of these students and buy them one The rest of the names go into a hat and then
we have a drawing. Usually there is only one or two in the hat. I have one of the office staff draw out the names one at a time. It’s truly amazing
how the right people win a free yearbook! We all celebrate the good fortune that some people have.”
“We have a Student Assistance Program that helps students with various needs, such as athletic fees, tennis shoes, eye exams, etc. I
approached the guidance counselor who is in charge of the program about helping students get a yearbook. It has worked pretty well for us. After
yearbook orders have been processed, I take a look at who hasn’t paid and talk to the counselor about which students are being helped by the program. Our local Eagles Club contributes to the fund. The club member who got them involved said that he wanted to make sure students could get a
yearbook or other things they need because he couldn’t afford a yearbook or a class ring when he was in high school. The program has also helped
seniors who couldn’t afford the basic sitting fee for their senior pictures so that they can have a picture in the yearbook.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, May 5—Another adviser request. We need your help again First! Happy Cinco de Mayo! And now your tip.
In the middle of last week I had an adviser send me this request: “Are they any news articles about schools or districts getting in trouble for something that was put in yearbook? I want to use them
for next year so that we are very careful about what is put in and left out.”
As luck would have it, on the same day I found this in my inbox from a fellow Jostens rep. He thought it would be good for a fall tip but I think now is the
time to start planning for problems you may have and this is certainly something that will scare you and your kids. Make sure and read it. You will find the
article at http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1152867927883
We would love to hear any experiences you know of that would help the original adviser. Jostens Yearbook Tips of the Day
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, May 6—Answers to the question about selling ads and gasoline Last week I sent out this request from an adviser: “What I need to know now is how to I go about helping the kids pay for gas to drive next fall for ad days. It will be an issue for a lot of
schools, and I am looking for ideas. Any help would be appreciated.”
Here are two great responses that came in on Friday. Thanks to those advisers who sent them.
“We do very little driving. We call the business, ask if they would like to renew, do we need to send them contract and last year ad copy, if they
say yes them we do it all in the mail. The students go after school to pickup checks etc and thus no days out of school and gas isn’t an issue.”
“Our school is located in a VERY “outlying area” - we’re not even in a town. One of the ways we handle ad sales is by mail and also on the
phone. In the past one of the requirements for admission to our program is that students have a car available. However, we only have “leave the
school to sell ads” on a limited number of days. Students are encouraged to make contacts any time they are “in town” - because they all have to go
“to town” throughout the time the course is offered. Students have never been mandated to leave (again because it is 5 miles to our closest town)
but we have always sold a large number of ads. This coming year we are simply going to increase our phone contacts with the statement scripted in
to cover that students are not able to make calls in person because of the increased costs involved with gas. There isn’t anyone who won’t understand. We may still have some businesses who want a student to come by...but those will be volunteers (next year) rather than requirements. We
will have return envelopes available to be mailed out, and our phone and fax numbers are on all of our letterhead. It is certainly going to change our
method of doing business.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, May 7—Taking a look at the May issue of your YourBook newsletter By the time you read this, you should have the May issue of the YOURBOOK in your hands. I like to take you through a little tour and point out the very best
stuff inside.
First up on page 1, you’ll find a super article about raising money to send kids to summer workshops. Many of my schools send their entire staff to the
summer workshop. Other advisors ask me, how do they do that? Well this article will explain it. Hopefully we’ll give you some great ideas on raising funds
for workshops and you will have more kids there this year.
Then when you turn to page 2, you will find our summer yearbook organizer. We know the summer is the time you need to rest, relax, renew and be with
your family. But we also know that if you get some yearbook tasks accomplished prior to coming back to school in the fall you will have a much easier
yearbook experience next year. So our suggestion is to read the entire newsletter, then cut out this page, take it home, and stick it on the door of your
refrigerator. Then check it from time to time. If you do this we promise a much easier 2009 yearbook.
On page 3, you will find a yearbook survey. This isn’t a survey we would like you to take. This is a survey you can copy, and stick it inside your yearbooks
when you distribute them. This is a survey that will ask your students how they like your book. You may not use the one we have on page 3, but we highly
suggest you create your own and what your students think about your book. Be brave! You can do it!
The centerfold poster this month is all about endsheets. Great endsheets. Now we know that your book is done, printed and almost on its way to you but
this is for planning for 2009. And we always give you great ideas for covers, we just thought you should see some great endsheet ideas as well.
Lastly, on page seven you will find our take on the new Adobe Photoshop Express, the brand new online version of Photoshop. It’s free but is it something
you can use in yearbook? Read this to find out how it might fit into your yearbook workflow.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, May 8—Another cool way to sell any remaining unsold yearbooks. A few of you still have a few yearbooks to sell. Why wait until your book arrives. Here is a great idea that just came in from one of you fine folks.
“We are doing a drawing, every day, for about a three week time period. I have put the names of everyone in the school in the drawing, and
have designated buyers from non buyers. Students know that three names will be called each day. If your name is called, and you haven’t bought
a book, you get a 10% off discount, but it is only good for the three week time frame. If you’ve already bought a book and your name is called, you
get a little treat. The students are anxious to hear the names each day (we announce them on our morning news and in our daily bulletin), it has
created a buzz about the book, and it has created a time crunch for some of the students to buy the book.”
I think this is a great idea. Why not give it a try if you still have some books left that are still unsold. Wouldn’t it be great for your yearbooks to arrive and
already be sold out? Jostens Yearbook Tips of the Day
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, May 9—A simple reminder about 2008-2009 yearbook and ad sales. Something you
need to do now! May is a great time to start thinking about how much you will charge for your yearbook next year. And you should be thinking about how much your
advertisements will cost next year as well.
When it comes to the cost of your yearbook, it’s important that any price increase is done at a slow pace. We have always found that it is much easier for
students and parents to accept the increased cost of a yearbook in small increments. By that I mean, it is better to go up a dollar or two each year, than to
have to jump the cost by six or eight dollars every three or four years.
When it comes to advertising, there is a simple rule of thumb. One page of advertising should pay for four pages of yearbook. So take the total cost of your
yearbook, divide it by the number of pages and that’s how much each page costs. Then make sure that your full page ad costs as much as four pages of
your yearbook. That way the ad pays for the page it’s printed on, as well as three more pages. Many of you are still selling ads at prices that were set five or
six years ago. If you would like to have a further discussion on this topic, please drop me an e-mail, give me a call or let’s talk about it the next time I am in your school.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, May 12—Keep a sharp eye out! As many of you know I often remind you through these tips that you need to keep a VERY close eye on every single page for words, gestures or just about
anything that might give you a problem when the book comes out. I am specifically writing about things kids do or might be wearing in pictures. Well my
warnings paid off. I got this e-mail today from a very thankful adviser. “So I’m always really obsessive about looking careful at every picture I upload or approve. Today all that obsessiveness probably saved
my job. There was a picture of a group of students putting up prom decorations and one of the students who would never dream of doing anything
inappropriate in a picture... but I looked at it carefully anyway, because I’m a nutcase. lol. THEN I noticed that the word “COUNTRY” was written on
her shirt... and that a few of those letters were not visable in the picture, leaving an EXTREMELY inappropriate word. Talk about dodging a bullet on
that one, I’m SO GLAD I LOOKED. :) Thanks for all the advice. I’m sure I wouldn’t be QUITE as vigilant without your stress on it. :) Have a great day!
Yearbooks are forever. We have to be very careful what goes in them. I am really glad that this adviser had a very sharp eye!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, May 13—A note about installing YearTech 2009. If you have just received your Yearbook Kit for next year, you may have decided to install and start working with YearTech 2009 right away. I know I can’t
wait to get my hands on new software. Some of you have already started installation and called me when you ran into two new questions it was asking
you. So for those of you who are about to install it, here is the new screen you will come to. It is a screen that pops up and says Submission at the top.
Inside it asks you to choose between: “I will submit on CD” or “I will submit via Netline Submission.” Now it is pretty obvious what submitting via CD is but
some of you may not know that you can submit pages via online transfer using Netline Submission. You may want to try that. Immediately after that screen you will be presented with a screen that says Portraits at the top. It asks you this question: “How will you create your portrait
pages?” And it offers these two choices: “I will edit and flow my own portraits” or “I will submit the portrait CD to the plant and use Panel Flow.”
I need to add here that if you are using a Mac, both of these questions will be on the same screen where it asks you what Trim Size you are. You will need
to make The big message I have for today is that no matter which one you choose, you can change it later. So pick the ones you think you will use and click Continue. Should you decide you want to submit pages the other way later on here is how to change it.
If you decide you want to change either of these two options then hold down the Shift key, go under the Plug-ins menu to Jostens then Panel Maker.
A check in the first box means you will use Portrait Editor, a check in the second box means a zip will be created by Prepare For Submission/Gather To
Submit. So check or uncheck if you decide to make a change later. Two other important things to know. The first is, if you are submitting via CD, then please don’t send zipped files on the CD. Go into this dialog box and
change it. And second, you should know that even with Portrait Editor, we will still be happy (even thrilled) to flow your mug shots for you. BIG WORD OF WARNING! When you have this dialog box opened, DO NOT CHANGE YOUR TRIM SIZE. If you installed the wrong trim size when you do your
first install, you need to reinstall YearTech otherwise you won’t have the correct size blank template or the correct PageSurfers!
Some of you that have called me were worried that if you made a choice today, you would have to completely reinstall YearTech if you change your mind.
As you can see, you won’t have to.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, May 14—What’s true about travel photos is true about yearbook photos
Last week I was browsing the web looking for ideas to share with you concerning photography when I came across an article on the Everywhere Magazine
website (http://www.everywheremag.com/) titled, “Seven Ways to Improve Your Travel Photos.” And as I read it I started to realize that these seven tips
applied really well to yearbook photography. Here are the tip titles. If they interest you, then by all means, check out the whole article at http://www.
everywheremag.com/blog/2008/02/travel-photography-howto.html
1. People make places real. (How true is this? How much better is a picture of the front of your school that establishes your “place” with
students in it. Try never to put a picture in your yearbook that doesn’t have students in it.”
2. Places are more than locations. (You need to show things that will really make your readers remember what it was like to be at a
game, at a dance, in class.) 3. Magazines (and yearbooks) are vertical creatures. (Teach your photographers to turn their cameras vertical.)
4. Leave room for text. (I mentioned this one last month. Great design may put text on top of a photo. Saving some space to do that
when shooting can really help the designer later on.)
5. Look at all the colors. (The writer points out that the world is a colorful place yet we so often take monotone photos. Well, so is your
school but you often have to really search to find those colorful photos.)
6. Captions make a photo stronger. (Of course we all know the basic rule of yearbook captions—every picture needs a caption.)
7. Size matters in photography. (Make sure to take the biggest photo possible with your camera so if you need to, you can crop it later. I encourage you to check out the entire article. It is a quick read but well worth it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, May 15—A great method and script for selling business ads As you may recall a week or so ago I asked how you are handling student transportation costs (gas) when they go to sell business ads. One of you fine
folks who does most of her sales via the phone sent this great plan that her kids use to sell the ads on the phone and then with follow up. I thought I
would share it with everyone. It’s really good!
“Create a data base. Have students pick businesses out of the yellow pages and call these businesses up. Make sure that the student is talking
with the manager or owner of the business. The student can have an ad speil like this: “Hi, my name is and I am from school in and we are selling
ads to help pay for our yearbook. I was wondering if I could send you some information about our ad prices to you for you to look over.” Now, if the
business says yes, then the student would ask for the correct spelling of the manager/owner’s name and their mailing address. If the business says
no, then have the student respond with “OK, I would like to thank you for your time.” Part of my ad speil is that I mail out certificates of appreciation
to all of my businesses that puchased an ad and do community service for the ones who purchased 1/2 page or bigger. We ask these businesses
if they would like us to go to their business to pick up trash or if they would like to donate their hours to the school in which your yearbook staff
would pick up trash around the school. It really works well. In this way, the businesses will be more likely to purchase an ad the following year
because they know that you appreciated their donation.”
I love the whole idea. Especially the “community service” aspect. I will offer one suggestion. There is a much better way to choose people to call than to
randomly select them. I will make that tomorrow’s tip.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, May 16—Who should you be selling business ads to. Yesterday I sent you a super idea for selling yearbook business ads but my only slight quibble with the method was how the kids were choosing who to
sell the ads to. They were picking at random from the yellow pages. I want to suggest a hierarchy of prospects and I think if they use this list, in order, they
will find their sales will go much better. So, when you are ready to start approaching businesses about ad sales, see the following people:
1. Past Advertisers. Always go to them first. In most cases, they are an easy sale. It’s a quick renewal and you are all done. This is especially true if you did a great job last year in thanking them for their support.
2. People you know. The next group is comprised of parents of members of your staff, parents of their friends, the boss at their part-time
job or anyone else that they know personally.
3. Businesses who sell to your school: Everything in your school came from someplace. All of it was bought. Get a list from your office or
district office of vendors who sell to your school. Approach them by phone or by letter. 4. Churches. Yes, I said churches. I believe that every church that has a one or more seniors from their congregation in your school should
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have the option of buying an ad picturing all the graduates from that congregation with a headline that says, “Congratulations to our
Graduates!”
5. Businesses who sell things that teens buy. This one is a no-brainer. But do the other ones first and you may never get to this one.
The reason I would do these in order is that starting with number 1, these folks are going to treat your students right. Even if they don’t buy an ad, it will
be a positive experience. They are used to dealing with kids, your kids may know them and it will make it a bunch easier for novice ad sales people to
make the sale.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, May 19—A great way to communicate good design A fellow rep sent me this URL: http://design-police.org/
I thought it was hilarious. And a great tool for teaching and critiquing design. On the site you will find four (currently, they keep adding them) full sheets
you could run off on sticker stock and use to mark up layouts. Believe me, I am definitely considering doing this for workshops and just to put on stuff in
the big world out there. I see so much bad design, it drives me crazy and this is a truly funny way to respond to it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, May 20—100 Photography Tips Another wonderful friend of mine sent me a link to an incredible photography site. Yes, it is a commercial site for Adorma Camera but they also do a great
job of educating photographers. If you go to this page on their website: (http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=academynew&article=100in100II&s
id=1210948399792582) you will find 100 great photography tips in 100 days. And the coolest thing is that this is Part II. So there may be a part 1 as well. I have gotten through about 30 of them and so far they are all excellent. Good
knowledge to share with your photographers.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, May 21—Don’t let this happen to you. I wonder right now how many of you know if your yearbook files (this pretty much applies to those using InDesign to produce your yearbooks) are
completely backed up? Or if they were during the year while you were working on your pages. Over the years we have heard lots of horror stories about
schools who lost entire yearbooks when hard drives or servers failed. Just yesterday I saw this article in a Google alert I have set for the word “yearbook”.
(http://www.wnem.com/news/16215682/detail.html)
There is an old saying among computer tech people. There are only two kinds of hard drives, those that have failed and those that are about to fail. This
article should be a lesson to you that if you are not the person who is backing up your yearbook data, do you know who that person is? And do you know
how often they are backing it up? And where it is being backed up to? Of course if a school is using YearTech Online, their entire book except for any non-uploaded photos would be on our servers which are backed up on a
constant basis. I am thrilled to say that in the years we have been using YTO I have never heard of any lost data on our part. So, if you aren’t using YTO, please, please, please make sure you have an adequate backup system in place that backs up your yearbook data on a daily
basis.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, May 22—Is yearbook going strong at your school? Yesterday I mentioned that I get daily Google alerts for the term “yearbook”. If you have never used Google alerts, this means that when anyone creates a
new web page that has the word yearbook on it, I get an e-mail alert with the link in it. You can do this for any word you can think of. It’s pretty cool and
great fun if you have a hobby or a job and want to stay right on top of everything that is happening in that field.
Yesterday I got this alert:
The twilight of the yearbook? While declining in college, they ...La Crosse Tribune - La Crosse,WI,USA
By KJ LANG | La Crosse Tribune A yearbook is priceless to some — a permanent record of classmates’ faces and well-wishes. But while still popular in
high ...See all stories on this topic
By the way, that’s how the alerts look. It is an article from the La Crosse Tribune in La Crosse, Wisconsin that asks the question, “Are yearbooks decreasing
in popularity?” And it does a pretty good job of answering it. There is a short interview with Rich Stoebe, who is Jostens Director of Corporate Communications. Rich makes some great points about the declining popularity of yearbooks in colleges but their continuing strength in high schools, junior highs and
middle schools not to mention elementary schools. It’s a great article and worth checking out. And it brings to mind the question I asked in the title of this tip—is yearbook going strong at your school?
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, May 23—A little fun to get us into the three-day weekend! First, I want to wish you all a happy Memorial Day. And if any of you are close to anyone who has lost someone defending our country, know how much
we appreciate their sacrifice and remember them in our thoughts and prayers. But for most of us, Memorial Day weekend is about rest. And about the end of the school year. If it’s not here, it is at least in site. Please take three days
and relax. Some of you are already out of school so for you this will be easy. Others of you are just about to give out your yearbooks—that’s always fun.
While a few of you (who do fall delivery yearbooks) are working hard to meet your final deadline. All of you deserve a weekend break, so get out there
and enjoy it.
And to add to your enjoyment I want to pass on a great grammatical piece that one of you wonderful advisers sent me a while back. I have been saving it
for sometime when we could use to relax. So enjoy. And English teachers, you may want to use this with your classes if you haven’t seen it before.
Can you read these right the first time?
01) The bandage was wound around the wound. 02) The farm was used to produce produce. 03) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse. 04) We must polish the Polish furniture. 05) He could lead if he would get the lead out. 06) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert. 07) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present. 08) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
09) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. 10) I did not object to the object. 11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid. 12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. 13) They were too close to the door to close it. 14) The buck does funny things when the does are present. 15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. 16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow. 17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail. 18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting, I shed a tear. 19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. 20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Let’s face it, English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English
muffins weren’t invented in England nor French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take
English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither
from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why
isn’t the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what
do you call it?
Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite
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at a play and play at a recital, ship by truck and send cargo by ship, have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique
lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which an alarm goes off by
going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all.
That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
PS. - Why doesn’t Buick rhyme with quick?
You lovers of the English language might enjoy this:
There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is UP . It’s easy to understand UP
, meaning toward the sky or toward the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ? At a meeting, why does a topic
come UP ? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report ?
We call UP our friends. We use something to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers, and clean UP the kitchen. We lock
UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car . At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets,
work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special .
And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP . We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at
night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP ! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP , look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desksized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list
of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP , you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens
to rain, we say it is clouding UP . When the sun comes out we say i t is clearing UP When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP When
it doesn’t rain for awhile, things dry UP We could go on, but I’ll wrap it UP , for now my time is UP , so: Time to shut UP !
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, May 27—Do you charge your clubs, classes and teams? A fellow rep sent me this one. He could use some help. It is not something that I think that any of you do but I thought I would check.
“Have you dealt with the billing of clubs and teams to appear in the yearbook before? One of my new schools has historically billed teams,
clubs and classes to appear in the yearbook and needs help to continue the tradition. Do you have any tips justifying this practice?”
I have heard of this before but not often. Some schools ask that clubs, classes and teams pay for their coverage in the yearbook. If you do this at your
school, could you tell me how it works and how you justify the practice. If you don’t do this at your school, is it something you would consider? If so, how
would you justify the charge.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, May 28—A Principal’s Guide to Scholastic Journalism I found this guide on line at http://hsj.org/Teachers/Teachers.cfm
It provides you with valuable information supporting journalism programs in the schoolhouse.
Principal’s Guide to Scholastic Journalism by the Quill and Scroll Foundation at the University of Iowa
The Quill and Scroll Society presents the Principal’s Guide to Scholastic Journalism as an effort to help principals understand the value of journalism
programs in their respective schools and to determine what their roles should be in helping to develop, maintain and support these programs.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, May 29—There is a positive link between journalism and better academic achievement The Newspaper Association of America Foundation has their 2008 research study out, and it shows a positive link between HS journalism and academic
achievement. It is an excellent article and I have attached it to this e-mail. The next time someone says that yearbook (and the article specifically mentions newspaper AND yearbook students) isn’t academically important, show them this article. I may just forward it on to administrators I know. You
should too.
By the way the The Newspaper Association of America Foundation is a wonderful organization and often has great stuff on their website. Check it out
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at http://www.naafoundation.org/
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, May 30—A question of ethics and MySpace (and other social networking sites). Last week I was sent this note from a wonderful (but new) adviser. I think it is a great topic for discussion and perhaps you have had some experience with
the problem. Your views would be appreciated.
“A couple of my staffers this year were in need of some extra images so they went onto, My Space & FaceBook to get some pics from
student’s sites. Since the book delivered some of the kids were angry the yearbook staff went onto their My Space & FaceBook sites to publish their
images. They claim that it is illegal to do so and their site is not a public domain. Have you heard anything like this before? Is there a legal ruling on
this one?
If you have heard of anything that would help this adviser out, could you get back to us with it. June 2008
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, June 2—Yearbook advertising, fundraising, and a photo-op all in one. Consider this idea for next year . . .it’s awesome! I was at a school last week during their Charity Week. What they were doing I propose that you do as a Yearbook Week or a Yearbook/Charity Week. Each
day of the week offered a different inexpensive activity during lunch. One day students could pay $2 to make their own ice cream sundaes. One day students could pay $2 to enter one of those giant inflatable bouncy things, which the school rented. One day (now this is a unique idea!) they had an auction
to see various teachers get their legs waxed. The auction began at the beginning of lunch and when enough students had given money to equal $200 in
a teacher’s name, that teacher got their legs waxed in front of the crowd. They said they raised between $600 and $800 from this activity alone. Of course
most of the winners were male teachers.
Think about the possibilities! Not only could you raise awareness of the yearbook and launch a fall sales campaign, but you are raising money that can be
used to enhance your yearbook (and a portion can be donated to a charity, if you choose). Furthermore, you are hosting an event at which you can get a
ton of really fun photos to use in the yearbook. And it publicizes to the entire school that yearbook is a very fun activity. This pays off next year when you
recruit your next yearbook staff. Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, June 3—Senior favorites rear their ugly head again! As many of you know, I am not a big fan of putting senior favorites in the yearbook. Yearbooks are permanent. Much to permanent to put anything in that
you can’t retract or change. So of course I keep a close eye on the news for instances to support my contention that senior favorites are just popularity
contests and really have no place in the modern yearbook. Well, lo and behold, this week I got one. Check out http://www.wftv.com/news/16417528/detail.html
It details two students who were named in the yearbook as “Most Likely to Appear on Cops.” Oops! The parents of the students aren’t very happy and if
they choose to file a libel lawsuit, they have lots of legal legs to stand on based on previous legal action.
So please be warned and if you still have senior favorites in your yearbook, work hard to get them out. A great place to move them to is the final issue of
the school newspaper. Newspapers don’t last anywhere near as long as a yearbook and not only that, if pushed hard, you can print a retraction in the next
issue, even if it is next year. Or even better, do away with them all together.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, June 4—Answers to the question of charging clubs, classes or teams for yearbook coverage. Last week I sent this request out:
“Have you dealt with the billing of clubs and teams to appear in the yearbook before? One of my new schools has historically billed teams,
clubs and classes to appear in the yearbook and needs help to continue the tradition. Do you have any tips justifying this practice?”
I got back some quick responses and wanted to share a few.
“I would never consider this. If we didn’t include teams, clubs and classes, what would be left in our yearbook? A yearbook is to record the happenings of the year. Our basketball team went to quarter-finals this year—the furthest we’ve ever gone. That’s newsworthy whether coach or the
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team can shell out the money or not. We’re a tiny school with a lower-middle class population. Money’s always tight for our school and our kids. If a
kid can’t buy a yearbook, why should he be expected to shell out $5 or $10 or whatever to his ball team to help cover the cost of being in a yearbook
he’s never going to own simply because he’s on the team? Plus, the the burden of making sure each club, team, class is covered completely evenly
since they all paid the same amount, would drive me insane!”
“We give every club and sports team one free page in the yearbook and if they want a second we charge them $50. Almost every club
and organization buys the second page.”
“Offer a tip-in for spring sports? Charge enough to make a little profit.”
“We could not charge at our school, but it could be easily justified as simply economics. The book is expensive to produce and it the
students want to purchase it at a reasonable someone or something must pick up the cost, hence teams, clubs, etc. Additionally, if a photographer
comes in to take class, clubs, team photos, the yearbook may have to pay the photographer to do so.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, June 5—Find things that make you proud!
An adviser at one of my secondary schools shared this idea with me and I love it. Once she receives her books, and before she distributes, she has the yearbook students look through the book, and find 15 things that they really like about it. She doesn’t tell them why there are doing this until they’ve finished
writing down their ideas. Then, she tells them to hang on to this list, and to keep it in the book. That way, if yearbookers hear other students complaining
about something in the yearbook, they can remind themselves that they still did a really good job, and see the 15 things that are especially spectacular.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, June 6—Do you have a written editorial policy?
From time to time during this year we have discussed the reasons you need written editorial policy about what will go in your yearbook and what won’t.
Recently I found this article online: http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=8349677&nav=menu732
It details the case of yearbook staff that wanted to include some moving testimonials in their yearbook about a student who had died in a car accident
during his junior year. The yearbook staff asked for contributions about the student and they poured in. But the administration of the school would not
allow them to be printed in the yearbook. They felt it would be “too much for students to bear” to read the tributes. I point here is not that these quotes should or should not be in the yearbook. My point is that this should be dealt with now and not when it happens to
you. Do you have a publications policy in place? Is it endorsed by your staff, your administration and your school board? If not, now is the time to start putting the wheels in motion to create one that fits your particular school. Not when something like this happens and you have to have the discussion while
emotions run high. Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, June 9—Responses to the Facebook/MySpace question from last week
On May 30th I sent out this note from one of you fabulous advisers:
“A couple of my staffers this year were in need of some extra images so they went onto, My Space & FaceBook to get some pics from
student’s sites. Since the book delivered some of the kids were angry the yearbook staff went onto their My Space & FaceBook sites to publish their
images. They claim that it is illegal to do so and their site is not a public domain. Have you heard anything like this before? Is there a legal ruling on
this one?”
For the last week I have been getting some great responses. Here are a few of them:
“We occasionally ‘steal’ pictures from Facebook, mostly for things like dances and homecoming, etc. But I ALWAYS personally check with
the student it belongs to. “Hey, Mary, Adam found this picture on your facebook and wants to use it for the Homecoming page. Are you okay with
that?” No one’s ever said no (we have maybe 10 total in the book). And it’s never the plan to get photos from those sites, it’s usually that a staffer
ran across a really good picture while doing normal facebook stuff. I’d never use someone else’s work without their permission from Facebook or
elsewhere and I wouldn’t let my staff do it either.”
“I haven’t heard anything about legality, but they do pixilate nicely. I told them not to use it for that reason, but did they listen?”
“One of my students found an article on the social networking site photo issue while doing the SPLC website project from the 123
Curriculum. Here is the link: http://208.106.253.91/newsflasharchives.asp?id=1569&year=2007 “I’ve also had issues with students taking yearbook photos that they took and putting them on their MySpace page without student’s permission. I’m going to come up with a letter next year saying the photos taken for yearbook are the property of our yearbook and cannot
be used on personal sites.”
“When you can download a picture from a site, such as those they are public domain, unless otherwise stated. If anyone wants to see
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an example, they can go to the site flickr.com People upload photos here and unless you specify on each picture that it is not public domain, that is
how it is uploaded. Teenagers need to understand that is one of the dangers of sites like myspace and facebook, anyone has access to their postings
and can download whatever they want. Teachers have had problems because students have been known to create teacher pages with erroneous
information that has caused great problems. Teachers are advised to search their name on google to make sure they have not been victimized.”
“My staffers attempted to use MySpace photos in the yearbook; however, they were all too low-resolution to use. Since then, I’ve
told all my staffers if they intend to use someone’s MySpace photos, they need to get the original directly from that person. This is what saved us
from your current dilemma. In my humble opinion, if your MySpace page is open to the public, anything on that page can and will be used with or
without your permission. Your MySpace page is not truly your page - it is being hosted by a public domain, period. If the kids don’t want others
using their MySpace pages, they need to either make the photos private or put some sort of copyright information directly on them. I’m not certain
what MySpace has to say about it legally, though. It’s probably worth looking into.”
“Well I don’t know how official or legal my answer is but I always assume that anything published on a web site is copyrighted by
the person publishing it and the use of anything from the website (MySpace or otherwise) for any other publication needs to be by
the original publisher’s permission. This is the rule of thumb I go by with my web design classes anyway. If it isn’t original by you then someone
else owns it and proper channels have to be used to acquire the words or images. Words have to be quoted and cited and images need permission
unless the site specifically says that they are public domain. That’s my take on it. I’d be interested to see what the legal ruling on this would be.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, June 10—What MySpace and Facebook have to say. Yesterday we had the views of advisers from all over about the use of MySpace/Facebook photos. So I did a little research. I actually read the agreements that all MySpace and Facebook users must agree to (You know that screen you get when you join anything online that has the “I agree” button you
click at the bottom?) before they can use MySpace/Facebook. Here is a direct copy/paste from the MySpace agreement:
“The MySpace Services contain Content of Users and other MySpace licensors. Except as provided within this Agreement, you may not copy,
modify, translate, publish, broadcast, transmit, distribute, perform, display, or sell any Content appearing on or through the MySpace Services.”
You can find the original at http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=misc.terms. I guess that answers the question as to whether it is legal to use
it. The answer would be no. Here is what Facebook says in their legal documents:
“All content on the Site and available through the Service, including designs, text, graphics, pictures, video, information, applications, software, music, sound and other files, and their selection and arrangement (the “Site Content”), are the proprietary property
of the Company, its users or its licensors with all rights reserved. No Site Content may be modified, copied, distributed, framed, reproduced,
republished, downloaded, scraped, displayed, posted, transmitted, or sold in any form or by any means, in whole or in part, without the Company’s
prior written permission, except that the foregoing does not apply to your own User Content (as defined below) that you legally post on the Site.”
You can find the original for this one at http://www.facebook.com/terms.php. I guess that answers the question as to whether it is legal to use this one
too. The answer would be no as well. You (as the adviser) are setting yourself up for problems if you allow it. Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, June 11—Students left out of the yearbook
Back at the beginning of this school year we had a series of back and forth tips about some schools having to get permission to publish student pictures in
the yearbook. I recently saw this story: http://www.keyetv.com/content/news/topnews/story.aspx?contentid=2808e8e8-6fbd-485f-b1e8-4c1499023443 It looks like more than 175 students were left out of the yearbook because they did not return the form that allowed them to be in the yearbook. How sad
is that. If you don’t have a way to monitor this, please make sure you do before the start of the 2008-2009 school year.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, June 12—Rules for signing yearbooks?
I sometimes think I have been asked everything you can think of when it comes to yearbooks but I got a new one today. An adviser had her principal ask
her for something and she turned to me. Since I have never heard of it, I wondered if you had.
She asked:
“Do you or any of the schools have a document that is sent out to students with rules about signing yearbooks? I thought if there was
one made, it would be easier to craft one for my school.”
How about it? Have any of you ever heard of something like this. If you have, could you tell us about it. Or if you actually have one, could you please send a
copy.
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Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, June 13—A request for all new advisers. For many of you, today may be the last day of school. A few of you have to go into next week. Some all the way until Friday. You have my complete sympathy. I want to ask you a favor if you are still around. One last thing before you head off to a well deserved summer rest.
Could you answer this question for me to pass on to new advisers in the fall:
What is the one piece of advice you would give a new adviser before they start this wonderful job?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, June 16—Answers to the rules for signing yearbooks question Last Thursday I sent out this request:
“Do you or any of the schools have a document that is sent out to students with rules about signing yearbooks? I thought if there was
one made, it would be easier to craft one for my school.”
I had never heard of anything like this. Looks like I was wrong. There are rules for signing yearbooks. I got back a few responses. It looks like it has to do
with the bullying and respect side of things. Here is what those that responded had to say:
“We don’t have a document, but I think it’s a great idea. I do know that one of the language arts teachers in my building does a mini lesson
on signing yearbooks...it’s a nice light end of the year lesson that helps kids think twice about what they write in the books.”
“Attached is a contract we use at our school. I hope it works for whoever needs it. We have the students sign it before they can pick up their own
yearbooks.”
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, June 17—Do you have a letter insignia? One of you wonderful advisers has convinced her administration that since students at her school can get academic letters (like athletic letters) for band,
orchestra, speech, debate and drama that yearbook and newspaper should be able to get one as well. I know that some of you do this too. She wrote me
to ask:
“I just got approval to award kids letters in yearbook. Can you point me to the insignia schools use for yearbook letters to be put on letterman’s jackets?”
So how about it folks. Does anyone have a letter they have an outlet for the insignia to put on a letterman’s jacket for yearbook?
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, June 18—Still need more advice for new advisers I am guessing that since this is the end of the school year, many of you have been too busy to respond to my request from last Friday. Or you were already
out of school because I only received three responses. But I know there are still a few of you out there that have not responded, so consider this a gentle
reminder. Could you answer this question for me to pass on to new advisers in the fall:
“What is the one piece of advice you would give a new adviser before they start this wonderful job?”
I know you can all think of at least one thing you would tell a new adviser. Think back to how valuable that would have been when you first started. So
send me some answers. Please.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, June 19—Is yearbook going strong at your school? Yesterday I was at one of my schools during their yearbook distribution and was talking to the adviser about how she handles complaints about the
yearbook. This is what she told me:
When there are issues like “my photo is not in the book”, the adviser instructs her students to apologize and hear the complaint
fully, apologizing throughout the dialogue. Students can share that it’s a student done work, and mistakes are bound to happen, and again,
we’re sorry. Ultimately, their staff is instructed to offer a full refund of the book if the student would like to return their book. The book must be
returned to be granted a full refund. They find that the memories held in that book are chosen over the refund. She hasn’t had anyone take them up
on the offer yet.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, June 20—Have a wonderful summer! Well, that’s all there is. Another year of yearbook tips comes to an end. Hopefully you will have the most wonderful and restful summer ever. We look
forward to seeing you back here in the fall. Jostens Yearbook Tips of the Day
211
September 2008
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, September 2—Welcome back! I know that some of you have been back for a week or more, but since most everyone I work with starts today, a hearty welcome back to the best bunch of
yearbook advisers in America. OK, so I am laying it on a little thick, but that’s just to preface the next statement that this is bound to be the best yearbook
year, ever. We hope that you are rested from a great summer vacation and Labor Day weekend and ready to get down to yearbook—so let’s go!!!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, September 3—Taking a look at the Back to School Issue of our YourBook newsletter. Photography and advice. That’s what this one is all about. And not as much the taking of pictures as the organizing of them. Last year perhaps the biggest
problem that most of my advisers faced was the organization of digital photos. So during the summer I made it my goal to find a system that everyone
could use. I had three qualifications for it. One, it had to use be digital as opposed to being printed out on paper. Two, it had to be a method that could be
used by everyone whether they used InDesign or YearTech Online. And three it had to be a simple but effective step-by-step process that anyone could
follow, day to day.
I think (or at least I hope) that I have found such a system. And it is all detailed on pages two and three of the Back to School issue. The method uses
Adobe Bridge. I was looking for software that everyone would have and Bridge seems to fit that. If you own almost any Adobe product, you already have
Adobe Bridge. It comes included with InDesign, with Photoshop and even with the low-cost photo editor, Photoshop Elements. So there is every likelihood that you already have it. If you don’t I highly suggest that you buy at least Elements (besides, you need some software to fix photos with) in order to
get Bridge. Then read the entire article and run off copies for your student photographers. Getting a system for your digital photographs organization is
probably the best way to get your year started right.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, September 4— Some good advice in the Back to School issue. Back at the end of the 2008 school year, I asked all of you to respond to this question, “What advice would you give someone just starting this wonderful
job of Yearbook Advising?” As you always do, you responded with all kinds of GREAT advice for those who are just starting out this fall. And some good
advice for the more experienced advisers as well. I promised in the fall to let you know what every had said. Well there was so much that I decided to run
some in the Back to School issue of the newsletter. So check out pages 6 & 7 for Advice for Advisers. There is a wealth of accumulated knowledge but not
nearly all of what I got back. Over the next few weeks I will be sharing more of the great advice I got back from advisers all over my territory. Stuff that
wouldn’t fit in a newsletter but that you still need to read. Watch for it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, September 5— Fixing photos—more from the Back to School issue. Over the past few years, I have sent you tips and newsletter articles about the best way to fix digital photos using Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.
Many of you have thanked me for showing you these. But it seems like not a day goes by when someone doesn’t call or write me asking, “I know you
showed me how to make a dark photo lighter but I just can’t remember. Can you tell me again?” And of course I say yes and then I tell that person one
of my four favorite photo fix tips. In setting up the Back to School issue I decided, what if I gave you a poster with all four of the “big fixes” on it? That
way you could hang it on your wall, near your computers and you and your staff would always have the quick photo fix for 90% of your common photo
problems. So, without further ado, I give you the Back to School issue centerfold poster. Make sure you post it where you can find it whenever you need it.
It is so simple even your newest yearbook staffer can do any of the four fixes.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, September 8—Getting a list of everyone on a team the easy way. At the end of the year, one of you wonderful advisers sent me this very cool idea for finding out all the people on any team. It gives you a complete roster
for all your teams without even asking for it.
“Instead of pestering coaches, pay attention to the daily “Excused” list. When they list everyone on the track team so that they can be
excused for a meet, file that announcement. Then when it comes time to make the track page, you’ve already got a list of participants, and probably
the coach’s name, too.”
What a great idea!
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, September 9— Some advice that wouldn’t fit in the Back to School issue of YourBook.
Last week I promised to start sending out some of the other advice that we had received from advisers who work with us for the newbies out there. Here
are a two of them from one obviously excellent adviser that we couldn’t fit into the Back to School issue of YourBook but that I would love to have you
read.
212
“In reference to new advisers and suggestions...The first thought that comes to mind is who are my staff members? What are their
strengths, their commitment and how do I develop a good team atmosphere?
Two thoughts come to mind.
1. Send out a reference sheet to all the instructors who have had these students this past year with a check list for them to number in order of their
strengths and perhaps naming one area to be developed. This way you will be able to best select staff members for certain jobs based on their best
skills. You may also ask the staff member to fill out a form outlining their strengths as they see them and to name one weakness they would like to
develop. Make a list of the job descriptions need to be filled ...even though this may have been done for the year already, you will have a better idea
how to match up partner staff members...and ask them to number them in order of preference from the best to the least wanted position. This tells
the student that you are really interested in using and building their strengths and I believe will have the incentive to do better work. Once selected,
you may also have them sign a contract for their part of the year’s assignment. I also post in full sight a list of the assigned jobs and due dates,
list of pages staff member is responsible for and you can check them off after each are accomplished and even give incentive prizes..Jamba Juice
certificates etc, for anyone who completes the task even before the due date or by the due date. Your choice of course.
2. Take time in the beginning to develop a strong team with team building activities such as dividing the staff up with returning and new staff as
buddies to train and be trained. They will also learn interviewing and writing techniques and then use them to interview their partner and then
temporarily assign them a yearbook page to place it on. Have them use their best skills to write a story about their partner and using all the tools
available, including taking great digital photos, scanning pre-taken hard copy photos acquired from their partner as a younger child or a hard copy
photo of them doing something outside of school that shows them as a human interest story. They will also have the opportunity to experiment
with all the tools available to them. Once complete, have each staff member presents their team partner to the rest of the staff. You can then discuss
what layouts/effects stand out best and may become part of the new look in your new yearbook. Even if they have known each other forever, they
might just find out something new about that person. Be sure to post these in your classroom or school bulletin board for others to see. It is a real
ego booster for all staff members to be featured this way before the other staff and students. All my best wishes to the new advisers.
More great advice to you the adviser in future tips.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, September 10—A yearbook feel-good story. A fellow Jostens rep sent me this just after school was out last year. He said he had shared it with his advisers and maybe mine would like to read it as
well. Since school was already out for us, I decided to save it for this fall. It is a great example of how yearbooks can change lives. Enjoy.
“I had to share this wonderful feel good yearbook story from a school I was at yesterday: A teacher was thanking the yearbook
adviser at one of my biggest High School for doing a Braille page for the blind student she taught. There is an article in the yearbook
focused on this student, and the adviser went out of his way to personalize the book for her so she could appreciate her book. She couldn’t see the
page, but an emotion was still evoked. I saw the layout & Braille on top of it and thought it was a wonderful touch. Instances such as that make a
difference and it was very simple to accomplish. If you want to ask that adviser how he did it, I’ll send you his e-mail”
I bet that offer is still open. So if anyone wants to do something similar, let me know.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, September 11—Keeping the most important four things in your mind. It suddenly occurred to me today that I haven’t sent out my annual “Four things that will make your yearbook a success” tip yet this year. I try to send it out
every year for the benefit of those who haven’t heard it before and to remind those who have. And some of you may recall that it used to be a list of three
things but I have expanded it to add a very important one.
Put everyone in your school, in your yearbook at least three times. I know that sounds like a “no brainer” but I will guarantee you that all over this country
there are thousands (if not millions) of kids who were left out of their yearbooks last year.
Spell all their names correctly. People care about their names. And yes, it does take a lot of effort to do this but we guarantee you, it will be worth it. And
that includes making sure that the right name matches the right picture.
Get your yearbook there on time. That means meet all your deadlines. 90% of meeting your deadlines is attitude. You have to believe as a very experienced adviser told me once that “I never missed a deadline. You can’t miss a deadline. It’s a DEADline. If you miss it, you’re dead. I always believe that and
therefore in 20+years of yearbook advising, I never missed a deadline.
Stay in the black—financially. Sell yearbooks to every student, raise funds as needed and keep costs under control. You can survive the top three not beJostens Yearbook Tips of the Day
213
ing perfect but this one will get you (personally) in trouble with your administration, so pay special attention to it.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, September 12—Getting a list of everyone on a team the easy way. Here’s an adviser request that landed in my inbox. Do any of you have one of these? If so, could you send it my way, please?
Is there a form about picture tampering responsibility...like a contract saying they will not tamper with photos or stories or put
inappropriate items in the yearbook for staff members?
And if you ever need anything, please send a request our way and we will put it out to the world. Someone always has an answer. You folks are the best
resource ever! I can’t thank you enough for the help you will give me and other advisers this year.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, September 15—A great idea to get your staff to start taking pictures today! A friend of mine who just happens to be Jostens rep (I seem to have a lot of those) shared with me the attached Photo Scavenger Hunt. He said he circulates it to his schools who change it to make it fit their school and then they give it to their staffers and tell them have a certain amount of time to get out
there and shoot the items on the list. It becomes a competition and can be a great way to build up your photo library at the beginning of the school year.
We agreed and thought we would pass along to all of you with his permission. See what you think.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, September 16— A great list that will help you find anything you might be missing
in your yearbook
It’s that dreaded feeling in the pit of your stomach – did we leave a team/club/activity out of the yearbook? Help is here and it’s not too late to make
adjustments to this year’s ladder.
Attached is a complete list of teams/clubs that could be at your school. They are sorted in the attached excel document by sections. Cross check this list to
what you have on your ladder to make sure you have not missed any groups or events.
If you see that I have missed something, let me know and I can add it to my list.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, September 17—A Middle School adviser request—Please Help. If any of you can help this adviser, please send the info my way. I of course, promise to share it with everyone.
“I was wondering if you have anything helpful for staff positions for a middle school? I am a new adviser and I am looking for some
insight.”
I am ashamed to say, I had staff positions for high school but I think there may be a big difference in middle or junior high schools. Any help would be very
appreciated.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Thursday, September 18—Another adviser request. A form to check out cameras. Do you
have one? This one is very easy but I can’t seem to find one and I know many of you have one you can send. As always, I will share it with every one next week.
“Any chance you have a form that students and parents sign holding them responsible for the yearbook cameras if anything happens while in a student’s possession?” Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Friday, September 19—The picture tampering form and much more. Last Friday, we sent this out:
Is there a form about picture tampering responsibility...like a contract saying they will not tamper with photos or stories or put
inappropriate items in the yearbook for staff members?
The response has been great but this one came back almost immediately. It is not only a picture tampering form but an entire Code of Ethics. It is truly
amazing in its scope. I hope that you will give a good looking over because it seems like something that every school should have.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Monday, September 23—Watch your snail mail for a great new way to keep track of Yearbook Sales! Today we just want to encourage you to watch your snail mail (this is too cool to e-mail) for a package from Jostens. It was mailed on Friday and should
be arriving sometime this week. It is a poster that is very cool and you will absolutely want to post it in your yearbook room. But it is more than just a cool
looking poster, it is designed to help you keep track of those all-important yearbook sales so you can see at a glance how you are progressing and when
you need to make that little extra push to get on track to meet your goals.
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I am attaching a copy of it as a PDF (of course unless you have your own printing press you will want to wait for the real thing to arrive) so you can see
what you will be looking for. We will be looking for it too—the next time we visit your classroom.
When it arrives, please make sure that your Yearbook Business Manager has this outstanding tool.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Tuesday, September 23— Handling scheduling conflicts. How do you do it?
I got this as an e-mail from an adviser almost two weeks ago, and I am sorry to say that it took me this long to get it out to you. She has a problem with
her staff.
“Can you maybe request ideas from all of the advisers? How do they handle it when their best staff members have “scheduling conflicts”? For
me, firing them just isn’t the right answer— not until the entire system is completely self-sufficient enough to sustain the loss.”
How do you handle when your best staffers can’t take yearbook or can’t work after school because they have other commitments? Please send me your
thoughts.
Your Yearbook Tip of the Day for Wednesday, September 24—Camera check out forms. WOW! Did you come through. Last week I innocently asked if any of you had a camera check out form that I could send to a new adviser. It turns out, I asked the same thing last January.
The difference was, last January, I got four of them. This time I got a whole lot more than that. I also got some great comments. Here are some of those,
the forms are attached.
Here is

Jostens Yearbooks Tips of the Day Yearbook Tips of the Day for

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