Many times, advisers struggle with identifying their role on a yearbook staff. Most advisers feel that they are a club sponsor and should let the students decide everything, from font selection to ship week of the yearbook. As much as this can lead to student excitement, remember one thing… your role as an adviser is unlike any other sponsor or teacher. Your decision on how to manage your publication can make the difference between a successful yearbook or a yearbook that is over budget and incomplete.
As the adviser, you have been chosen to be the project manager of the publication. As project manager, be aware that your primary responsibilities lie in two areas:
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT (the creation of the yearbook) and FINANCE MANAGEMENT (the sales and finances of the yearbook).
As a production manager, you will be responsible for the entire creation of the yearbook. Remember that you were chosen by the school administration to fill the position —ultimately, you are the decision maker on all parts of your program, and you report to the school administration. Sure, it is great to get student input on all decisions, and this is highly encouraged, but you must set realistic goals and deadlines for all decisions. This being said, it’s important that you know that you are also responsible for keeping the administration informed on choices, decisions, set backs, advancements, and more. Make sure you ask the administration how much “input” they want to have on the program. Understand that your administration, more than likely, does not want to know which photos you put in the yearbook, unless they are of important events or of questionable
nature. They are trusting you to create a product on time, that is free of problems. If you can do this, your efforts will be appreciated.
When it comes to being a production manager, this usually means you have to do or assign the following tasks to key people to complete within a specified time frame:
• Deciding what is on every page in the yearbook
• Photographing key school events
• Writing headlines, stories, and captions
• Choosing a cover design
• Choosing page designs
• Choosing type/text/font specifications
• Training staff members on production issues
• Page creation of custom pages to meet content elements
• Reviewing/proofreading page designs and stories
• Completing pages in a timely manner (deadlines)
• Completing advertisement pages
• Working with your yearbook representative
• Working with your school photographer
• Working with club sponsors and coaches for photos AND MORE…
USING A PAGE LADDER FOR YOUR YEARBOOK
You will need to develop a page ladder that shows what is on every page of the yearbook. The ladder will help determine how many pages to issue to sports, portraits, organizations, academics, advertisements, and student life. Review last year’s yearbook to give you a guideline. Your ladder will also help you organize the sequencing of your sections to give a nice flow to your yearbook.
Your ladder can be used as a checklist during the year to help track your progress.
BEGIN TO COLLECT PHOTOS Of EVENTS & PEOPLE
Begin collecting images as soon as possible. We encourage the use of a digital camera that takes photos of at least 3-5 megapixels in size, for easy sorting and management of digital images. Film cameras work well and can be used, but we encourage your development of the film to include a photo CD from your film development store. If no photo CD is available, invest in a scanner that will allow you to scan photos of paper prints for yearbook use.
Make sure you are having all major events and important functions photographed for proper coverage. We encourage you to speak to all club sponsors and coaches and ask them to have a parent or student associated with their organization or team to provide you a list of important events, functions, rosters, and some digital images of multiple functions. Your staff will need to photograph “planned and targeted” events, but any amount of images help. The more coverage you have, the more interest will develop in the yearbook.
ORGANIZE YOUR FILES AND IMAGES
Once you have started collecting your photos and content for pages, make sure to organize a simple tracking and management system for the data, so you will know if you have enough data and images to complete your pages. One great method is to have page envelopes. Invest in some 10”x 13” or 9”x12” envelopes. Have one for every yearbook page. Keep all your notes, content, photos, images, etc. in the envelope. Our Resource Section has a “note sheet” form you can reproduce and staple to the outside of the envelope. The form tracks data and notes like page #, deadlines, etc. Keep photo envelopes sorted and stored in a key location for all staffers to access.
KEEP YOUR PAGE DEADLINES!
Plan your yearbook progress to meet your submission deadline. As your ladder develops, list next to each page the expected month when each function will occur. This allows you to plan for page completions every month. Allow time for proofreading and review of each page, so if there are errors you will have time to fix them. Planning deadlines will assure you submit your yearbook on time without feeling last-minute pressure.
Welcome back from the Thanksgiving break! We hope that you had a wonderful time with your family and friends. Now.. back to work! Here are some reminders….
PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES! A yearbook is just a bunch of words and names on a page without photos! And now, with the digital age, pictures are more accessible. Everyone has pictures in their cell phones and digital cameras. Have your school community send their photos into the yearbook for consideration!
Activate your Pictavo BuyTheYearbook and send parents, teachers, students and staff to www.community.pictavo.com to set up an account and upload pictures for consideration in your yearbook! As the holiday season comes and goes, there are many opportunities for pictures and you want to get as many as you can.
ADOBE FLASH – Pictavo requires Adobe Flash in order for all the graphics to operate properly. If you are ever having difficulty viewing pages or seeing all of your graphics, please make sure that you have the most recent version of Adobe Flash. To download the most recent version go to http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html.
Remember that Adobe updates Flash several times a year, so be sure to keep this in mind throughout yearbook season. And make sure all of your yearbook committee (parents, students, teachers, etc.) know to update their computers as well!
YEARBOOKLIFE’S ANNUAL YEARBOOK CONTEST!
We are pleased to announce that we will once again be conducting our Annual Yearbook Contest. Please go to our website at https://www.yearbooklife.com/2012-2013-best-yearbook-contest/ to find out more. Look for new categories and prizes this year! We always have some remarkable books. Good Luck to everyone!
Previous FAQ’s….
You can find all of our past FAQ’s emails in the Blog section of our website at https://www.yearbooklife.com/blog/.
Yes Virginia we do have a Facebook Page!
“Like” us on Facebook for more tidbits of information throughout the year! Facebook.com/yearbooklife
Keep your questions coming… we will continue to send out these weekly FAQ’s emails because we know that if you have a question about something – someone else probably does too!
YEARBOOKLIFE’S ANNUAL YEARBOOK CONTEST!
We are pleased to announce that we will once again be conducting our Annual Yearbook Contest. Please go to our website at https://www.yearbooklife.com/2012-2013-best-yearbook-contest/ to find out more. Look for new categories and prizes this year! We always have some remarkable books. Good Luck to everyone!
I need more training on my software. How do I get some help?
We have several different ways that you and your group can get help learning our software! First of all, we offer individual or group webinar trainings. These are conducted and arranged through Beth Clinton. If you’d like to schedule a training webinar with Beth, please contact her directly at Beth@yearbooklife.com. She has day, evening, and weekend times available.
Be sure to also check out the Help Center on our website for instructional videos for both our Pictavo and EZBook softwares. Finally, Pictavo users can also find helpful videos and information through the Help Menu within the program.
Of course our top-notch Tech Support Team is also available to assist you at 1-800-887-0414, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm ET. Or give us a call – we’ll help you out!
Pictavo BuyTheYearbook Users – Pictavo Community Update
In response to feedback we received from many of our schools, we have changed the Pictavo BuyTheYearbook reimbursement process. Starting immediately, we will be reimbursing schools via check, versus their online bank account number, since many were reluctant to share it. Here is the roll-out process:
Any school Admin. who has already provided their school’s bank account number in the School Settings area of the Pictavo BuyTheYearbook will be notified, upon log-in, of this change in procedure and asked to enter in their school’s contact name, phone number and address to which their monthly reimbursement check will be sent.
If a school has not entered their School Settings yet, they will just need to enter in this information as part of their set-up. (There will no longer be any reference to the bank account information on the set-up screen.)
We will be updating the Pictavo Help section and corresponding videos to reflect this slight change in process.
If you or your schools have any questions about this process, please contact Pictavo Technical Support at 1-800-887-0414.
I can’t set up my Pictavo BuyTheYearbook features. What’s wrong?
Remember that in order for you to set up and use the Pictavo Community, you must first turn it “on” in your program. Go to the Admin Icon and select “Manage Community”. On the blue title bar that reads “Manage Pictavo BuyTheYearbook” click the “On” button. This will enable you to have access to set up the community features in your book.
YearbookLife’s new website… CHECK IT OUT!
Same address – www.yearbooklife.com – new look! Be sure to visit the Help Center and our Help Videos tab to find helpful information about our programs and other helpful administrative videos.
Previous FAQ’s….
You can find all of our past FAQ’s emails in the Blog section of our website at https://www.yearbooklife.com/blog/.
We continue to send our best wishes to our customers and friends in the Northeast and along the coast as they recover from Hurricane Sandy and this week’s Nor’easter. If you haven’t already done so, please consider a donation to the American Red Cross to help – www.americanredcross.org. We are located in South Florida and understand and respect the power of these storms and keep those still suffering in our thoughts.
Consider publishing your ad rates at a higher price and then offer all buyers a special discount or coupon of savings with an expiration date.
Your goal to the public should be to sell as many small ads as possible along with a yearbook. The goal should be increased coverage. Buyers who want a full page ad will tell you, but many students and parents may not have the funds for a full page. If you take a business card size ad and a yearbook and package it together, you may create an
attractive package for a parent for under $100.
ADVERTISING
Face it. Social networking is where it’s at. What better way is there to sell
yearbooks than using the internet to your advantage?
• Once you’ve decided what social networking tools you’re going to use, you’ll want to assign key people responsibility to monitor your accounts. Remember, creating a strong online presence takes some time and dedication.
• Ask questions—this is their yearbook, what do they want to see in it?
• Create polls—fill your yearbook with stats that reflect your student’s top picks.
• Post photos—status updates and tweets that include photos receive 50% more feedback.
• Make sure the yearbook staff is visible—students will be more apt to approach and share
their ideas if they know the staff.
Even when you think there is nothing new to say, people always appreciate a reminder about how to get their hands on the yearbook (e.g. when, where, how much, etc.).
