Tag Archives: Yearbook committee

5 top yearbook ideas to get you started…

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  • 5 yearbook tips and ideasAre you struggling to decide who works on each yearbook page? List out the pages you want to include and go thorough them one by one, allocating them as you go.  If you still can’t decide, you can always draw names out of a hat – it’s one way to solve the dilemma!
  • If you have lots of people in your yearbook committee, or have multiple people sharing tasks, consider setting up a generic yearbook email address (you could use hotmail or gmail for example) for only yearbook-related correspondence and only allow committee members to access it. Alternatively, set up a separate email address per yearbook department, (eg sales or marketing) but make sure everyone concerned knows which email address to use.
  • Take your yearbook committee online – use a social network such as Facebook or Twitter to keep up-to-date with committee communication and yearbook progress. Create a Facebook Group and only invite people you want involved to join! Visit www.facebook.com/groups to find out more.
  • If you’re creating your own yearbook (or planning to submit a design brief to SPC), but struggling for design ideas and inspiration, try making a mood board. Take magazine cuttings and collect anything that catches your eye i.e. scraps of material, papers, etc. and put these on your mood board to show to other committee members. We’ve posted loads of yearbook theme ideas here on the blog.
  • Drum up extra business by running a ‘win a free yearbook’ contest – advertise that everyone who orders a yearbook will automatically be entered to win their copy for free and draw the name of the lucky winner later in the year.

This is our last post of 2011, but we’ll be back on 4th January 2012 to bring you more help, ideas and resources for your yearbook project. A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year from all the staff at SPC Yearbooks.

SPC Yearbooks sample guide 2012

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More great ways create a buzz about your yearbook…

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Ideas on how to promote, market and sell your yearbookFollowing our posting on 15th December titled ‘4 great ways to promote (and sell) your yearbook…’, we’ve got a few more ideas for you…

When you first start promoting your yearbook and making students and teachers aware, you will either find that people are falling over themselves to buy one or that the uptake is a little slow.  If you find there is a lot of interest in your yearbook then you’re halfway there.  All you need now is the initial commitment from the students – maybe a deposit of some sort which commits them to their yearbook order.  Beware that you will come across people who say they want a yearbook, but then decide they don’t.  Keep up the memento of interest by showing them the yearbook proof when it comes through.  Allow others to see what the yearbook will include, as this will maintain that buzz of excitement and they will see what they are paying for (similar to buying an item from a shop or seeing an image of something you’re buying online).  If you are in the position where you are finding it hard to gather interest for your yearbook, then it’s time to start promoting the idea and speaking about the advantages of having a yearbook.

There are many different ways that schools are promoting their yearbooks, so here are a few ideas to help out:

  • Keep your yearbook at the forefront of people’s minds – put a note into the register every morning that mentions the yearbook, this way it will stay fresh in people’s minds.
  • Another easy way to promote your yearbook (as mentioned in our previous yearbook marketing post) is to create a social buzz – ask a member of staff or a fellow student to set up a Facebook group where staff and students can keep up with what’s going into the yearbook.  Get involved or ask questions. Make others aware of your Facebook group in letters home or send an email to the school’s contacts which includes a link to join.
  • Once you have started promoting your yearbook using the above ideas, try creating your own video commercial. You could post it onto both the school website and the Facebook group page you have set up.  SPC could help you out with this by providing you with various samples that you could use in the commercial to show the students and teachers what they can expect from their yearbook.  If you’re short of time or facilities for producing a video commercial, why not put a power point presentation together to show during your assembly?  This presentation could include the pages going into your yearbook as well as other ideas you have, such as award pages – these always create a good vibe for your yearbook. During assembly is also a great opportunity to ask for ideas, feedback and contributions for the yearbook.
  • You could hold a ‘Yearbook Promotion Day’.  Going back to when I mentioned having a yearbook proof to show everyone, on the ‘Yearbook Promotion Day’ you could have your yearbook proof to show all the students and teachers, and note down their ideas and suggestions for the yearbook. You could also offer a ‘one day only’ special price to encourage people to sign up for their copy on your promotion day.
  • Get the competitive people among you involved in a challenge – for every 100 yearbooks sold, a willing teacher could perform a forfeit or bring in a treat for those who have bought a yearbook.  Perhaps for every 200 copies sold the school could donate something special to your end of year prom.  If your teachers are a little shy about getting involved, arrange a friendly contest just between the yearbook committee members – a prize to the member who sells the most yearbooks.

Remember to order your free yearbook marketing posters from SPC Yearbooks, put these up in around school to advertise your yearbook.

Get your free copy of SPC Yearbooks Sample Guide

Get your free copy of SPC Yearbooks Sample & Information

Yearbook committee meeting agendas – what should you talk about?

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Yearbook committee meeting agendasThroughout our yearbook blog posts we’ve spoken a lot about organisation. A significant part of the organisation during your yearbook project comes from teamwork and communication. This is why a yearbook committee and yearbook committee meetings are crucial during your leavers book project.

Display a calendar in your common area or your designated yearbook committee meeting place and arrange to meet perhaps every week during the early stages of your yearbook project (i.e. planning) and increase this as you get closer to your deadlines (i.e. collecting content & design). Record your meeting dates on the calendar and, if possible, send a reminder via email or Facebook the day before your next scheduled meet up.

Here are a few ideas and suggestions for your yearbook committee agenda:

  • Try and keep meeting day, time and place the same each week to help people remember them, e.g. every Tuesday lunchtime.
  • Nominate a member of your yearbook committee to make notes at every meeting so you can look back at what was discussed and re-visit any thoughts or ideas.
  • Begin meetings by recapping action points/targets set in the previous meeting. Ask each yearbook committee member to talk about their designated tasks and progress.
  • Allow everyone to voice their ideas and opinions and make sure that anyone who missed your previous meeting is brought up to speed.
  • Are you creating your own yearbook? Ask whoever is in charge of the design to bring print-outs of the yearbook so you can all discuss it.
  • If you are having your yearbook professionally designed by SPC, make sure you set a meeting date when you receive your yearbook proof as it can take time to go through it.
  • Always set action points/targets to be achieved ready for the next meeting to keep your yearbook project moving.

Got a yearbook question for us? Contact us for help on 01480 410435 or email us with your query. Looking for a place to begin your yearbook project? Request a sample and info pack here.

The nitty gritty of your yearbook committee!

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Your yearbook committee

Who will be in charge of what in your yearbook committee?

When you’re just starting out you will need to form a yearbook committee to help you manage your yearbook project.

Let everyone know you need people on your yearbook committee, and that the following roles are available:

  • Editor – you will be responsible for giving other members deadlines to meet, deciding the design (if you are designing it yourself), layout, theme, what will be included and how much it will all cost.
  • Marketeer – Marketing is a very important part of getting your yearbook out there. Make sure everyone knows you’re having a yearbook and how much it will cost. If you have a budget, fundraising days can help towards the cost.
  • Editor (for text) and Proofreader – you may need to type comments if they’re hand written and remind students if their comments still haven’t been handed in. You’ll also need a proofreader to make sure they’re appropriate – we would recommend asking a teacher if they could help with this.
  • Photographer – if you’re using a school photographer then you don’t need to worry about the single headshots. You will need to make sure photos are taken at specific events (prom, sports day, etc.) and that students supply you with pictures they want included in the yearbooks. You could maybe have 2 people organising photos.
  • Finance Coordinator – you will be responsible for collecting payment from students. It’s probably best left to a teacher or school finance.
  • Staff Supervisor – you will need a teacher overseeing your project to ensure everyone’s included and everything is proofread before your yearbook is sent to print.

You can designate a single person to each of the above roles or split each role between 2-3 people. Make sure that you get others in your year involved in your yearbook.

For more help and a sample guide to see more yearbook examples, visit the SPC Yearbooks website.