The Yearbook World of Scott Geesey

from Jostens Yearbooks of central/northern Pennsylvania

ARCHIVE - JANUARY 9, 2021

 

TRY THESE UNIQUE IDEAS FOR 2021: It's a Different Year Soooo....Do Something Different

Hello! Off to a good start? Many schools in the neighborhood were doing remote learning for the first week of the new calendar year; some went two weeks remote to start. But then some were all in - the craziness continues...

Apparently teachers and staff will be among the next big group to get one of the new COVID vaccines, but when? From the slow rollout so far it could be WEEKS until that happens. And until that happens school will still be rather fragmented and still nervous.

Here's hoping winter sports seasons actually get rolling and STAY rolling. I'm a pessimist on that, just too many opportunities to shut things down for any indoor sport, or some games will be cancelled because of a virus problem just like too many college and pro games. Cross your fingers!

Some different ideas for a MUCH different year...

If you ever wanted to try something different for your yearbook, THIS is that year. Some possibilities?

USING UNUSED FUNDS: I could be wrong but I'd guess that EVERY school out there has some excess funds this year because of canceled or disrupted events that were budgeted for.

For high schools, maybe use those funds to buy a yearbook for every senior. Most or all schools have already canceled spring features like a senior trip or the like. The year has already been a real drag for their final year in school, why not give them SOME kind of reward?

For any school, maybe use funds as an incentive for students to improve their grades. I've seen many stories about a record number of failing grades this year in most schools. If a kid improves their grades they earn a discount off their yearbook this year, or even a FREE book.

Or perhaps a student performs some service, creates some special project, or does some things around school or around town to earn a reward. Many kids would LOVE to earn something this crazy year - excess school funds could be used positively to help.

TOPICS, NOT GROUPS AND EVENTS: This one has been mentioned here before. Most yearbooks cover the same events and groups year in and year out, but in the past year we've found that groups and events can be CANCELLED.

Instead switch some of your page coverage to timely topics for this year - trends, hot subjects, or feelings and opinions on just about anything.

No matter the year, people LOVE to share their opinions. Here's a chance to create some readable content and feature more students with images and quotes.

For Jostens schools be sure to check out the cool Yearbook Express templates on Layout Pro, a LONG list of timely topics with the page design already done for you. Just drop in your pictures and information for that topic, or make changes as desired.

MORE TEACHER COVERAGE: Why not? Teachers are as much a part of the school as the students, and this year many teachers are either doing cool innovative things or at least they're going the extra mile to help their students this year.

Why not give them more attention in this year's book? Let's remember the historic things your adults are doing this historic year. Instead of just a couple of pages of teacher head shots, give them more coverage on what they've been doing and how they've been doing it.

DON'T IGNORE CANCELLED EVENTS: Let's go back to the spring when many sports and events were suddenly canceled because of this insane situation.

Too many yearbook advisers and staffs saw sports teams who never played any games and considered them extinct. No coverage, not even a mention. But they DID exist - they started practice and only then had the plug pulled on their season. And pages were cut because "nothing happened."

Those kids DID happen. If the worst happens for winter sports and seasons are ended or cut short, they still deserve coverage. Instead of results, report on who was on the team, what MIGHT have happened this season, how they prepared, etc. Those kids and teams still have a story.

WHAT WAS CANCELLED?: And why not do some reporting on what didn't happen this school year? That's part of this year's story. Again it's not the fault of the students who would have been involved that their event didn't happen.

Obviously you wouldn't give as much coverage of these as you would in a normal year, but condense these cancelled events on fewer pages and feature students who would have been involved with pictures of them and quotes on what might have taken place.

FUTURE CHANGES: I could be wrong but I expect schools will be different places when the new school year begins in August/September. What we've endured this year has to force some changes in school buildings, how education is handled, etc.

Maybe devote at least one spread and take time to ask administrators, teachers and students what they think will be different next year. Or what SHOULD be different. It's another chance to picture different people and include their comments and ideas.

REPORTING ON SURVEYS AND POLLS: Want an easy way to fill up pages? Do some surveys and polls, then report the results with some different kinds of infographcs and including lots of quotes and reactions.

For Jostens schools this is why we created our cool Story Starter Surveys topics and questions. Our crew has already done the heavy lifting for you with lists of survey questions on lots of topics. Just choose what you wish, plug them into Google Forms or something similar, send out to your audience and gather the results.