Creating a yearbook can be a fantastic opportunity for students to develop and learn new skills. A yearbook committee is an environment of inclusion, where students from varying experience and skill levels work together to produce a memorable yearbook.

As you’re building your yearbook staff for this year, you’ll likely find yourself facing new members who need to be brought up to speed. It’s also a great opportunity for veteran yearbook members to brush up on their training, and possibly even learn something new. Teaching your committee the right skills and lessons can make the yearbook process much easier. To help, we’ve put together these training tips.

4 Tips for Training New Yearbook Staff Members

It’s a big, wild internet out there. To help make your journey easier, we’re looking at the best places for yearbook tips, tricks and inspiration. 

While you may be tempted to spend every day mentoring your yearbook staff, that’s neither practical nor realistic. Training an effective yearbook staff will free up your time, plus empower the students to take control. Here are some tips for training new yearbook staff members. 

  1. Review the Previous Year – This is the perfect opportunity to get seasoned yearbook staff members involved. Encourage them to talk about the yearbook creation process from the previous year. Take the time to discuss what went well, or areas that could be improved upon. Listen to feedback, and urge new staff members to help brainstorm – they could come up with something entirely different and exciting!
  2. Get Everyone Involved from the Start – Creating an amazing yearbook is a team effort. Getting everyone involved from the start can help build a cohesive unit. Determine who will be doing what for the yearbook. Yearbook staff members should be able to take on their own responsibilities as soon as possible. Not only will this help to encourage ownership, it helps to build clear, defined roles for your yearbook team. You can find out more about the key yearbook staff roles and responsibilities here
  3. Team Building – There’s a theme here, have you noticed? Working as a team is a crucial element to a successful yearbook. Work on building a team, ensuring that you get seasoned yearbook staff members and new staff members involved. Think of group activities that encourage active participation. Think of discussions that will get people engaged. What theme will you plan for this year’s yearbook? Is there a particular event that you’d like to highlight? These are examples of questions you can use to get a roundtable started!
  4. Teach the Core Skills – There are a few key skills that are important in creating your yearbook. Interview skills, writing and editing skills, photography skills to name a few. Focus on teaching the core skills for your yearbook. This is another great opportunity to get the seasoned yearbook staff involved! Get them to mentor the new yearbook staff, offer tips and advice on best practices, tricks and techniques. 

It’s not always easy to train new yearbook staff, but it’s definitely worth it! Following these 4 tips for training new yearbook staff members can get your yearbook creation off to a great start!

Once you’ve trained your staff, finding a yearbook publisher will be next on the to-do list. At YearbookLife, we make the yearbook process easy. With easy-to-use software, free webinar training, great customer care and technical support assistance, we provide you with all the resources to simplify the yearbook process. Request a free quote on yearbooks by clicking here today.