The Yearbook World of Scott Geesey
from Jostens Yearbooks of central/northern Pennsylvania
ARCHIVE - APRIL 15, 2018
PLANNING YOUR DISTRIBUTION DAY: Spring Schools, Are You Ready?
Hello! Wow, how about that weekend? For anglers out there you couldn't have asked for a better first day of trout season Saturday. I was able to get some early yard work done but this week's chillier weather may put everything back on hold again.
Things are getting crazy in the neighborhood, so many things happening at the same time - plenty of state testing is underway, upcoming Proms for high schools, spring sports games and meets, and of course there are Graduation ceremonies of all kinds really not that far away. Here's a wish to hold onto your sanity as we approach the crazy month of May.
Next week I'll be starting my annual JumpStart series of spring workshops at the State College Creative Center to help schools begin their work on next year's 2019 yearbooking effort. I have a huge number of schools attending one day from late April into June this year and I'm eager to go over new ideas, new services and create many awesome new custom cover designs.
For Jostens schools, have you checked out your new 2019 Yearbook Avenue website yet? The new sites were just activated recently for those "early birds" who want to get started already on next year's effort. It's never too early to start.
As a reminder to YTO users, take a moment now to carryover any images or page designs to your 2019 YBA. In the Image Library just click on an image folder and then click the 2019 button at the top of that left column - everything in that folder will carryover to next year. Ads images and faculty portraits are two top candidates for carryover. And with page designs simply save the spread as a template (spring schools can do that now even with your book finished) and those spreads will automatically carryover to next year.
Does your school do a yearbook distribution day? If so, it's time to plan; if not, it's time to start...
For spring yearbooks it's time to celebrate - you're finished!! But you're not DONE - know the difference?
That's because it's time to plan and work for what should be one of the biggest days of the school year - the day you hand out your brand new yearbooks to your students. Hopefully you've already finished your planning. But amazingly, there are a surprising number of schools that have no real distribution day event at all, they just open the boxes and hand out the books. No fanfare, no celebration, no excitement.
I hope that's not your school because after nearly a year of hard work by you and your staff, you deserve a big celebration to mark your accomplishment, plus your students are understandably excited to see what you've created for them, what pictures you used, what memories you noted. And it's not too late now to put together some plans for THIS year.
Here are some thoughts on holding a great distribution day...
PROMOTE YOUR DAY IN ADVANCE: Make sure everyone knows about your distribution day well in advance. Print out posters, locker stuffers, even a foldable table tent message that you can customize with your particular information. A table tent is something you can place on tables in the cafeteria to promote your upcoming big day. Create a press release that you can send to local media outlets to put out the word there about your big upcoming event.
TRY AN ASSEMBLY: Some schools have a yearbook assembly in which they introduce the yearbook, honor the annual yearbook dedication recipient if one is chosen, and even show a slide show of some of the images used in the book. Then they hand out the new books to everyone, sell extra books received, and allow time for students to go around and get those prized messages and autographs from friends.
The assemblies I've attended over the years have usually been filled with fun, laughs, perhaps a few tears and lots of expectation. I've always found it neat to watch the students almost tear into their brand new yearbook to see where they and their friends are pictured.
REMEMBER THE CELEBRATION: Maybe this is the key word to keep in mind. Handing out the new yearbook should be much, much more than just handing them out. It should never be a ho-hum affair. Instead, your yearbook distribution day should be a huge day. It reminds me of the first day of an art display or exhibition, or the debut of a new anticipated movie.
Another word to remember here is "buzz." For spring yearbooks, hopefully your students will already be talking it up come mid or late May about the new yearbook, "where am I in it?" and so on. If you need to bump up that buzz at your school don't wait till a few days beforehand, start your work now.
WHAT ABOUT FALL BOOK SCHOOLS?: A distribution day is more difficult for a fall yearbook that arrives at school in August, when most fall yearbooks are delivered. There's no school, no chance for an assembly, more difficult to promote and doesn't get as much hoopla.
The challenge: create some hoopla and make an event. Some ideas? By your last day of classes, promote to everyone what your distribution event will be and perhaps even the date. Of course make sure you stay on schedule and hit that final page submission deadline to guarantee your ship date. It's a lot harder to promote your distribution day over the summer when everyone is busy with vacations, jobs and the like.
Once you have your date, try to plan for an actual distribution event. It could be a party, maybe hire a student DJ to provide music, perhaps make it an outdoor event. One angle for your event would be that it would be the last time the now-graduated senior class can get together, at least until their first class reunion in five years. Play it up big, add some snacks and drinks and a lot of fun.
For underclassmen, some schools wait until the new school year begins to hand out the new yearbook. That's fine, although inviting them to a distribution event should certainly be allowed so that it's not just a senior-only event. In fact, inviting underclassmen should be a first event in the transition into the new school year.
YOUR YEARBOOK IS YOUR TICKET: Some schools hold a distribution event and the ticket of entry into the event is a purchased yearbook. Virtually every school receives extra overrun yearbooks or extras were ordered beforehand. Buy one of the extras on distribution day and that's your ticket of entry into the distribution party.
MAKE IT A FUNDRAISER?: Some schools turn their distribution event into a fundraiser. Ask for donations from local stores, then have plenty of snacks and drinks available for sale, for a low price but still a nice little fundraiser.
Another idea is for an advanced event - buy a ticket to a special advanced distribution event after school or some evening for a low price and those folks are the first to get their books. Then everyone else gets their book the next school day or later that week. Again offer snacks and drinks, perhaps for sale for a low price. Every little bit helps, right?
THE BOTTOM LINE: is to make your distribution day one of the most special days of the school year. Play it up BIG, have plenty of FUN, and make it a SPECIAL day. You and your yearbook staff deserve it after a year of hard work. Ready? Start your planning!!