Treering Blog

When it comes to the yearbook principal message, there’s a trick we often see with the best ones: Involvement from the yearbook adviser. We know that might sound a little odd, since your principal is the head honcho, and, let’s face it, none of us like to tell our bosses what to do. (#Awkward.) But the trick to a really good yearbook principal message isn’t just to let your principal write whatever it is he or she feels like. It’s making sure you help shape that message. Think about it: You’re the expert on the yearbook. You know the book’s theme, and how it’s being carried through on all the pages. Your principal doesn’t. That makes your viewpoint a good one for the principal to hear. Look, we know that every yearbook adviser is going to feel a different level of comfort when it comes to telling your principal what to write. If that’s not for you, there’s another way to help. Helping them how to shape what they want to say. And that’s what the rest of this post is about. Read on, and we’ll explore the most important aspects to writing a good yearbook principal message.

6 Tips For Writing a Better Yearbook Principal Message

Start with a story.

Did you know that there’s science behind storytelling? Seriously. Our brain actually reacts differently when it receives information as plain ol’ data than it does when information is delivered in a story-like format. That doesn’t mean a principal’s message needs to start with “Once upon a time…” It simply means that using more adjectives, including metaphors and sharing personal anecdotes are techniques that help a message connect with the reader—so start your message with a story.

Connect to the theme.

There is a lot going on at your school, right? That’s exactly why your yearbook has a theme. The yearbook theme serves as the unifier between all the clubs, activities, sports and classes that take place throughout the year. So it makes sense that, as the leader of the school, your message both unifies and sets the stage for that theme. Plus, tapping into the theme is a way to recognize the hard work of your yearbook team -- and a subtle way of supporting them.

Write like you talk.

This is your principal's message, and it should sound like them. Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine. Avoid long words, formalities and clichés that wouldn’t be part of your vocabulary in everyday conversation. One of the benefits of keeping your language simple is that it will be easier for readers to remember and connect with your message. And that’s exactly what you want.

Show gratitude.

Remember to thank the people who worked really hard to make the yearbook—and the school year—amazing. This recognition of a job well done goes a long way, especially if you rely on a group of volunteers throughout the school year.

Be concise.

Attention spans are shorter than ever. For most people that means shorter than a goldfish. There’s a better chance that people will read your message if they can see that it won’t take much of their time.

Find an editor.

This is where you, the yearbook adviser, get to play a really big role again. Once your principal has created a message they're happy with, it's your turn to step in, and give it a good edit. Check for the other five tips, then proofread it. Doing so will ensure that their message is clear and error-free. It's the best way to make your principal's message stand out (and to save them unwanted embarrassment). Your yearbook principal message isn't just the responsibility of the principal. And it's not just letting your principal write whatever it is he or she feels like. You need to step in and help shape that message. If you use these tips, your principal will deliver his or her message better than they would have done on their own. And that'll make you a hero.

A good yearbook staff needs to know how to write a yearbook story, but that can be easier said than done. After all, writing something that people enjoy reading takes a lot of practice—even more than yearbook design and photography. And by the time you're done working with your students on all the other aspects of creating a yearbook, well, there's not a whole bunch of time left to spend practicing how to write a yearbook story. That's why we wrote this post. In it, you'll learn five easy-to-follow tips you and your yearbook staff can start using to improve all the copy in your yearbook, especially the copy that makes up your yearbook stories. We have pointers on improving headlines, writing ledes, finding your voice, and laying out your yearbook stories. Before we get to those tips, though, we want to spend a minute on the big reason knowing how to write a yearbook story is important. And that's this: If you overlook your yearbook copy in favor of bold designs and strong photos, your yearbook is incomplete. That's because your written yearbook stories put memories in context. They tie your narrative together. They make readers want to spend more time on your pages. They make readers revisit your yearbook over time. Let's get on with those tips, then, shall we?

5 Tips for How to Write a Yearbook Story

#1: Power Up Your Headline A strong headline can make or break your yearbook story. Headlines draw readers in with a promise or a bold claim. They hold attention and create anticipation.   The best yearbook story headlines are:

• Short – they quickly summarize the content to come
• Specific – they tell readers exactly what to expect
• Standalone – they make a statement on their own
• Special – they are unique, powerful and interesting

Headlines have the power to transform a mediocre story into something truly spectacular. For example, instead of using a straightforward headline such as: The Blue Hawks’ Memorable Season Add excitement with a headline that pops: The Blue Hawks Swoop In For an End-of-Season Win! The second option ups the emotion while giving readers a reason to find out more about how the Blue Hawks overcame challenges during the season. You can even try to switch up the format of your story by using a “list headline”, such as: 5 Times the Blue Hawks Surprised Fans This Season Or: 10 Reasons We Love Cheering for Our Blue Hawks Your yearbook story’s headline not only sets reader expectations, but also sets the tone for your following narrative. Which leads us to … #2: Take A Strong Lede Lede is a journalism term for the opening section of a news story. (Need a primer on yearbook terms? Check out this blog post and interactive quiz to keep fresh.) Reporters start their articles with the most critical information, enticing readers to continue and ensuring readers grasp the story’s main message. Think about this when you write your yearbook story’s introduction. The beginning of your story should:

• Deliver on the promise made in your headline
• Give readers the critical information they need
• Introduce action, conflict or emotion
• Prompt readers to continue to learn more

Need an example? Go back to the lede of this blog post. In it, we tell you exactly why yearbook story content is critical, and how this article will help you write better stories. (If you’re reading this right now, our lede worked!) #3: Be an Active Writer To write active and entertaining yearbook stories, you need to use active and entertaining language. And this means writing in the active voice. For those who need a refresher, active voice is when the subject of a sentence is doing the action, while passive voice is when the subject of a sentence is being acted upon. An example of passive voice: The team was cheered on by hundreds of fans. This sentence falls flat, because the fans are acting upon the subject (the team). It’s easy to switch to active voice, however: Hundreds of fans cheered on the team. In this new sentence, the subject of the sentence (hundreds of fans) performs the action.   Another way to keep your writing active is to use strong verbs. Verbs are words used to describe an action – and they can be strong or weak. “To be” verbs such as “am, is, are, was, were” often weaken a sentence. Here’s an example of a weak verb at play: The debate team is responsible for researching their topics. Here’s the same sentence, using a strong verb: The debate team investigates their topics. Strong verbs convey more meaning than weak verbs, and help bring a yearbook story to life. #4: Give It Some Voice Quotes and testimonials from students, parents, faculty and staff are great ways to bring both personality and personal meaning to your yearbook stories. Whenever possible, include statements from the individuals who were directly involved in the stories you’re recapping.

• Interview the swimming star on her big win.
• Ask a science student about his favorite experiment.
• Talk to a teacher about how her students changed over the year.

These individual moments will give your yearbook stories more context and emotion. #5: Design Your Yearbook Copy While you may think of copy and design as two separate entities, design plays an important role in your copy's readability. The right fonts, layout and sentence structure all work together to move a reader easily and comfortably through a yearbook story. Here are some ways to better design your content:

• Keep sentences and paragraphs short.
• Cut out unnecessary words.
• Add subheads to divide stories into sections.
• Break up text with call-out quotations or facts.
• Use bullet points to list short moments or stories.
• Keep fonts simple – select one font style for headlines and one for body copy.

Finally, in both content and general page design, be aware of white space. Don’t fill every blank spot with text or imagery; let your story breathe. When it comes to creating a yearbook, knowing how to write a yearbook story is important stuff. Even if great writing takes a lot of practice, there are some easy-to-follow tips that will get you closer by the day. Follow them, and take time to write focused, meaningful and engaging yearbook stories. You'll end up with a stronger picture of your school year.

Outside of yearbooks, the only thing you might possibly need to throw a great yearbook signing party is a solid playlist. Science tells us that music elevates our moods and we all know the right playlist elevates our moods. When it comes to a yearbook signing party, incorporating the right tunes can evoke nostalgia—we all have flashbacks when certain songs play in the car. ("Motownphilly" gets me every time.) Let's create that same musical magic for yearbook memories.

Play Now: A Ready-Made Yearbook Playlist

We curated a feel-good, classroom-appropriate playlist for your singing party. They’re all available on Spotify, and you can get them right from this blog post.

How To Create My Own Playlist

You know your students best. If lines like "The highs and the lows, yes and the no's; Only gonna make you strong; Yeah, bruh" don't resonate with your students, I've got nothing for you create your own. All jokes aside, build your custom yearbook signing party playlist to reflect your school, your students, and the vibe you’re trying to create. Here are a few tips

• Select songs with positive messages.
• Use your yearbook theme as a guide.
• Avoid radio edits/clean versions. Our kids know what's being bleeped out and will fill in the blank.
• For a throwback vibe, ask teachers for their "senior song."

Adding music is an easy—and cheap—way to put a polished touch on a fun event.

When it comes to marketing your yearbook, it’s probably enough to tell some students and parents in your school that the book’s on sale. For everyone else, though, you need to work a little (and, sometimes, a lot) harder. It’s almost like you need to get in their heads. Luckily for you, we’ve got four yearbook marketing ideas that are backed by proven psychology principles. And you don’t even need a degree in that field to use ‘em. These tactics will make marketing your yearbook twice as easy (and you’ll sound four times more impressive talking about why you used them*).

Yearbook Marketing Ideas Backed By Psychology #1: Ask for help.

• Psychology Principle At Play: The Ben Franklin Effect
• Fancy Definition: “You grow to like people for whom you do nice things.”

Sure, you might be thinking, this principle makes sense. Of course we help people we like. If that’s you right now, go back and read that definition again. The Ben Franklin Effect actually says that you grow to like people because you do them a favor (not the more commonly thought of reverse). Weird, right? Here’s the thing, though: it’s been proven by psychologists. If you want to put this principle to use in your yearbook marketing, try this idea: Instead of asking someone to buy the yearbook, ask them to do something that will help you produce it. It doesn’t have to be a lot of help. It could be something small, like contributing a couple of photos from a field trip or asking an event participant for a quote to use in your coverage. Or it could be large, like coordinating an effort to get everyone from a specific grade to fill out a survey. The point isn’t so much the help you’re getting (though that’s a wonderful benefit) as it is the relationship you’re building. Do it enough times with enough people and you’ll be creating connections with a growing list of people who like you, your team, and the yearbook more than they did before (hard to believe that’s possible, we know). And that connection is the key. It’ll make your helpers more likely to buy a book.

Yearbook Marketing Ideas Backed By Psychology #2: Advertise how many students have bought the yearbook.

• Psychology Principle At Play: Informational Social Influence
• Fancy Definition: “You look to the behaviors of others who are also in the same or similar situation to see how they behave.”

It’s been said before that humans are pack animals. And the truth of that is apparent in a lot of different ways: Ever watch a movie just because you saw a number of your friends post about it on Facebook? Or check out a restaurant because you noticed it was always busy? It’s a phenomenon called informal social influence, or social proof. There are a bunch of different types, but the one we can all probably relate to best is “wisdom of the crowd.” If you want to visualize it, it’s basically the sign outside of every McDonald’s that reads, “Over X Billion Served” in action. “Wisdom of the crowd” practically forces you to tell yourself, “That many people can’t be wrong.” If you tell yourself that that many people can’t be wrong, then you’re already well on your way to recognizing the action as a good choice. And, when it comes to making a purchase, you just cleared a major hurdle. All thanks to social proof. For your yearbook marketing, you can use social proof in a few different ways. The easiest, though, is to start adding your sales numbers to posters and flyers after you’ve sold an impressive number of books. That many people can’t be wrong to buy a yearbook, can they? (Of course not.)

Yearbook Marketing Ideas Backed By Psychology #3: Keep the advertisements coming.

• Psychology Principle At Play: Mere Exposure Effect
• Fancy Definition: “The more often something is presented to people, the more they tend to like it.”

We can probably all agree that we like familiarity. It’s safe, it’s comfortable, it’s easier for the brain to process. The funny thing, though, is how much we seem to not like how we get to familiarity, especially when it comes to advertising (think of all the billboards and commercials you’ve seen like a million times). Since the 1960s, four different groups of psychologists have put the process of repeated, frequent exposure to the text to see if a psychological principle called the “mere exposure effect” would hold up. And you know what? It did. Every time. It doesn’t take a psychologist to figure out what that means for your yearbook marketing: Keep it up with the announcements, flyers, newsletter mentions, posters, and whatever other advertising tactics you have up your sleeve. To flip an idiom on its head, familiarity breeds fondness.

Yearbook Marketing Ideas Backed By Psychology #4: Invite everyone to your yearbook signing party.

• Psychology Principle At Play: Fear of Missing Out
• Fancy Definition: “Pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent.”

You’re familiar with the term “Keeping up with the Joneses,” right? Fear of missing out, or FOMO for short, is basically that. It’s just a new term for an old social anxiety. At the core, FOMO is the nerves you feel when you think everyone else is “in” on something cool—and that you’re not. Here’s how you market your yearbook using that psychological principle: Invite everyone in your school to your yearbook signing party. Under the FOMO principle, the fear of missing out on owning a book isn’t nearly as powerful as the fear of missing out on being part of a community where members get to have fun, sign each other’s yearbooks, and recall nearly forgotten stories from earlier in the year. It’s not just the yearbook you’re selling, it’s also the memories of laughing with friends and sharing a collective experience with a group of people. Of course, this marketing idea only works if you’ve got extra books to sell. When it comes right down to it, you sometimes need to get in the head of your customer. You can make that happen, no problem at all, if you understand a few bits of psychology and apply them to marketing tactics. That’s why, if you use these yearbook marketing ideas, everything will get twice as easy. (By the way: If you’re looking for even more, awesome yearbook marketing ideas backed by psychology principles, check out this amazing post from Buffer, which served as inspiration for this piece.)   *Impressiveness not guaranteed.

After the holiday break, it’s easy to slip into a little bit of a funk. The winter blahs are setting in and your yearbook progress might begin to stall. Don't let that happen. Whether you decide to give your yearbook staff motivation through playlists, famous movie clips, or good ol' fashion praise, it's your job as the editor to make sure everyone stays pumped. And it's not too hard to do. Read on for the best motivation ideas you'll find for your yearbook team.

Show Your Progress

The road can look exhausting until you turn your head and realize how far you’ve already come. Take a moment to celebrate the victories of the first half of the year and show how much you’ve already accomplished. One idea is to create an infographic to show the progress by the numbers. HubSpot has a library of infographic templates that you can download, and they're even available in PowerPoint format. Here are some ideas for stats you can capture to give your yearbook staff motivation in the new year:

• How many spreads have been put to bed
• Which sections are complete
• How many photos have been taken
• How much you’ve raised in ad revenue
• The number of quotes you’ve scooped
• How many words you’ve written
• The number of yearbooks purchased

Remember, it’s perfectly acceptable to showcase accomplishments without staggering numbers—there’s a lot to be said about creating “one amazing theme” or designing “one imaginative cover.” Take pride and share all these factoids with your team. Another way to show progress is to do a little show-and-tell. Select five or so of your favorite spreads and share them with the team. If you have a designated space, you can create a Wall of Fame. If not, create a quick email blast to your crew telling them, “This is why I am so proud of us.” This will unite the group and get them driving again towards a common goal.

Set Goals to Create Urgency

A little bit of urgency can also go a long way. After these breaks, there’s guaranteed to be a little hiccup, because people need to get back in the groove, and they might not know where to start. But if there’s no reason to dive back into battle, your committee won’t really feel the need to jump back in right away—which can turn a little hiccup into a big traffic jam. Here are some ways you can help to create a sense of urgency with your team:

• Make it easy for the team to get back to work by creating a punch list of things that need to be done within the next two weeks.
• Set a timeline in the form of a countdown. Figure out how many days you have left until your final deadline and break it up into smaller, more manageable goals. Share the whole timeline but emphasize the most immediate deadline. You can create a poster, write it on a whiteboard, or send an email with the subject “8 Days to Go!”
• When items are checked off the list, show some appreciation. Send a nice note, give a high-five, or share a motivating quote. Recognition is always important, but this is the time of year that your team needs to feel like rockstars.

Light a Fire

Forgive the sports metaphor, but let’s be real—it’s halftime. If Hollywood has taught us anything, it’s that this is the point where the coach gathers the team and gives a heartfelt and inspiring speech, so the players are ready to get back out there, rally, conquer, and win the game. Taking this opportunity to give your yearbook staff motivation can carry your team to the finish line. If you’ve got the soul of a coach, just go for it:

• Gather the committee into a tightly-knit group—preferably in a huddled circle. (You can even ask them to take a knee if you want to make an impact.)
• Tell your committee what they’re going to do, who they’re going to do it for, and how they’re going to do it—together.
• Instill confidence and pride, steal a few lines from Braveheart (or Independence Day, Knute Rockne, or what have you), and let them know what’s what.

If your inner Madden isn’t quite ready for his debut, you can always bring the pep through an alternative source. Share a famous halftime speech from Youtube, create an “Eye of the Tiger” playlist on Spotify, or reach out to a peer to motivate the team. Honestly, it’s the intention that counts—show them you care. At the end of the day, you just need to get your team to shake out the cobwebs and get a fresh start. Your committee is amazing and they want to do great work; they just might need a little push to get things started again. Show them how far you’ve come and create an atmosphere that will produce the excellence you need in the coming months. Your yearbook deadlines will thank you.

We think that teachers should always be treated like the rockstars they are. But that’s a double-edged sword. Because of their school “celebrity” status, we can sometimes get a little tongue-tied when it comes time to snag some quotes.

So if you’ve got a mod that needs some teacher insight, a spread offering a look ‘behind the curtain’ about teachers, or if you’re writing an article on a specific teacher and are looking for some pizzazz, you’ll need to ask some great questions. And we’ve got just the list.

Set up a time for the interview, take a moment to brush up on your interview skills, and then take the bull by the horns with these quote-baiting questions for teachers.

About Life Outside of School

• What is one of your hidden talents?
• What would the students be surprised to find out about you?
• What’s a typical Saturday night like for you?
• How often do you accidentally start speaking Spanish at home? Lecturing about fractions? Correcting grammar? [personalize to their subject].
• What are some pets you’ve had or would like to own?
• What is your dream vacation?
• How do you spend your summer breaks?
• What are your “trapped on a desert island” books or movies?
• What would your last meal be?
• What can you cook to perfection? Are you willing to share the recipe?
• If you won the lottery and decided to give up teaching, what would you do instead?

About School Life

• What are some traditions or superstitions you have for the First Day of School?
• What makes a ‘good day’ at school?
• How do you show your school spirit?
• What accomplishment fills you with pride so far this year?
• What is your favorite dish from the cafeteria?
• What sort of morning routine do you have to get jazzed for class?
• How do you keep things fresh? [particularly good for seasoned teachers]
• What inspires you?
• How does technology make teaching more simple or difficult?
• Are there any embarrassing teaching moments you’re willing to share? What are they?
• What’s the best/worst thing about being a teacher?
• In which other teacher’s class would you like to enroll, even for a day? Why?

https://blog.treering.com/65-academics-headlines-for-yearbook/

About the Students

• What current trends are baffling to you? Why?
• So many students admire you. How do you make those connections? [*note: question should only be asked if the teacher is universally known for making great student connections]
• What differences do you see in your morning students versus the afternoon classes?
• If you could pass on any wisdom to your students, what would you share?
• How do you remember all of your students’ names?
• What’s a school sport or activity you enjoy watching?
• If you could take the students on a field trip to anywhere in the world, where would you take them?
• Why do (or don’t) you friend former students on Facebook?

Along the Lines of a Specific Article or Theme

• What kind of driver were you when you first got your license?
• If you were to be given a superlative when you were in school, what would it have been?
• Our yearbook’s theme this year is [....], how do you work to bring that to life in everyday classes?
• What song should students listen to when doing work for your class?
• What is your first memory from school?
• When or why is (or isn’t) a picture worth a thousand words?
• How do you think students will remember you and your class?

https://blog.treering.com/classroom-photo-tips/

About Nothing—Just for Kicks (or Mods)

• How long would you survive a zombie apocalypse? Why?
• In which Hogwarts house would you be sorted?
• If you could grow up in any decade, which would you choose?
• What are your thoughts on astrology? Do you know your sign?
• What are your must-have smartphone apps?
• Did you see the new Star Wars on opening night? What memories do you have from the first movie you ever saw in theatres?
• Is there a quote or saying that you live your life by?
• What would your perfect party look like?
• What is your spirit animal?
• What song do you know all the lyrics to?

And there you have it—48 yearbook questions that you can choose from to build an interview with a teacher. It’s important to remember that an interview is a conversation. Keep it natural, and use your time wisely. It’s better to get five quality responses instead of a dozen one-word answers. If you see a hook, run with it. Don’t be afraid to veer a bit off course when the opportunity presents itself. Wherever the conversation goes, these questions are a great start to an intriguing spread or mod, and can add some wonderful insight from your teachers to this year’s book.

Some yearbook articles practically write themselves (looking at you, sports and activities), but a great yearbook will feature additional articles that give a holistic view of your high school’s student body. Coming up with ideas for these articles is as simple as considering what the students will want to remember. We’ve broken down some potential ideas into categories. Even if you don’t use any of these exact ideas, we’re sure they’ll get your brain kicking into high gear.

School Life

Academics are important, but high school is also about socializing, gaining responsibility, and becoming an adult. Some of the most vivid memories are created outside of the classroom.

• Most embarrassing moments
• Hitting the snooze bar: do or don’t?
• Homework style: git ‘er done or procrastinate?
• Worst school-related nightmares
• Locker or backpack?
• Passing time during passing time
• This year I was proud of…
• Backpack must-haves
• Favorite class experience
• Lightbulb moments
• Making time for everything
• School uniforms: love or loathe
• What’s your commute: busing, driving, or walking?
• School rivalries: why we’re the best!
• Morning routines

Coming of Age

Throughout high school, students are growing up. Each year brings unique challenges and changes. It’s fun to celebrate these milestones.

• First concert
• Getting your driver’s license
• Rock the vote: politics in school
• First jobs
• Taking the ACT/SATs
• What’s next?
• Summer job earnings: spend or save?
• Have you ever been grounded?
• AP classes or college in the schools
• Too old for toys?
• Childhood foods you’ll never let go
• Curfews
• Doing chores
• Naps: be a kid again

Leisure Time

Sometimes school is more about the fun over the fundamentals. Reserve some space to tell the stories that are happening when the students are kicking back and listening to cassettes on their boomboxes (they still do that, right?).

• Gaming
• Fantasy football
• Favorite books
• Obsessions (Taylor Swift, TikTok, binge-worthy shows, etc.)
• Social media
• Hangouts
• Friday night social
• Garage bands
• Non-school sports (skateboarding, snowboarding, figure skating)
• How we shop: in-store or online?
• Constant communication: how many texts do you send in a day?

Current Events

One of the most fun aspects of the yearbook is that it is essentially a time capsule. Up the ante by overtly including current events, music, and trends of the year.

• What’s in the news this year?
• Fashion trends
• Style inspiration
• All about hair, makeup, and beauty
• Favorite TV shows
• Music: best bands and favorite concert experiences
• Dance moves of the year (The Git Up)
• Knowing all the words to your favorite song
• Movies and blockbusters
• Seeing it first: midnight showings
• Your go-to memes/gifs
• New technology: wearable tech and hoverboards

Lunchtime

Whether it’s chatting with friends, playing games, or finishing up some late homework, a lot of stuff goes down in the cafeteria. With these ideas, you can focus on the food or the fun.

• Healthy or not?
• Best lunchtime traditions
• Droolworthy school lunches
• Who packs your lunch
• The best playground games
• Cafeteria workers tell all
• What school food will be missed the most?
• Who do you sit with during lunch and why?
• If you were cooking for the school, what would you make?

People

The most interesting part of anything (including high school) is the people. There are loads of fascinating dynamics, talents, and relationships to explore.

• Siblings
• Nicknames
• Unsung heroes: custodians, school nurses, and admin
• Friends since...
• Fresh faces: a spotlight on new teachers
• Who do you look up to?
• Hidden talents
• How did you become friends?
• Your biggest change in the last four years
• Legacies: kids who go to the same school as their parents

Places

Every story needs a setting, but these ideas turn the setting into the story.

• Rumors about the school: secret hallways, ghosts, hidden treasures
• If you could change one thing about the school, what would it be?
• The best restaurants in town
• Regional specialties (growing up near the beach, Texas football, big city living, etc.)
• Fun facts and quirks about the school building
• Spring break locations
• Where do you want to travel?
• Must-see locations in town
• Indoors or outdoors: where’s the fun?

Time of Year and Events

Over the course of the year, a lot of specific activities take place based on holidays or the season. You can use these triggers as a launch point to look back on the year.

• Homecoming parade
• Halloween: costumes and scares
• Thanksgiving and being thankful
• Seasonal activities: summer, fall, winter, spring
• New Year’s Eve: school resolutions
• Valentine’s day: love or loathe?
• Can we have class outside?
• Field trips
• Science fair
• Graduation

Categories Lead to Brainstorms

Hopefully some of these ideas will lead to some winning articles for your high school’s yearbook. If not, no biggie (we won’t take offense). You can still use these categories to springboard some new article ideas of your own design. Ask your students what they want to remember, and go from there.

Sometimes we like to think of the yearbook as a big, metaphorical ‘Thank You’ note to the school. Thanks for the laughter. Thanks for the learning. Thanks for the memories. We have infinite gratitude for the yearbook advisers and committee members that pour their very souls into the creation of these beloved tomes. We know about the long hours you put in agonizing over layouts and ladders. We appreciate the care that goes into creating a knockout mod or crafting the perfect headline. We understand the weight you are shouldering in working to perfectly capture the school year. We get it. And we are so thankful for that hard work and dedication. This is a good time of year to take a break and admire just how far you’ve come on this year’s book. Take a breath and look at that amazing theme, those punderful headlines, and the stunning photos. Mesmerizing, isn’t it? As long as we’re playing the gratitude game, we’re also going to take a moment and think of why we are thankful for yearbooks themselves.

Why We Are Thankful for the Yearbook Experience

We get to know the student body. Sometimes a school can feel like a sea of bodies in constant motion, ebbing and flowing between the classrooms. The yearbook gives you the opportunity to bring it back to a personal level. At the very least, you are matching names with faces. But more often than not, you are crafting stories and finding sources, reaching out to people you may never have approached if it weren’t for yearbook. We get to focus on the details. Think of all the random information you’ve garnered over the past few months. Because of yearbook, you know that you can’t play field hockey left-handed. You also know that the soccer moms are very superstitious and Nirvana is getting big again. We’re creating something that will last for decades. Students’ memories today are heavily invested in digital media. If we learned anything from MySpace or Friendster, it’s that these mediums aren’t the most dependable. A yearbook is an unwavering record of the time a student spent in school. #PrintMediaIsForever We can take photos all the time without looking like crazies. There’s a special freedom that comes with being a yearbook photographer. You are able to weave in and out of the crowd and snap pictures without having to explain. We learn to speak in code. (Sort of.) “Can you adjust the kerning so the pull quote doesn’t travel into the gutter?” “Is there room to expand the mod by a pica or two so we lose the orphan in the block text?” I mean. Seriously. How cool are we? (Very cool. Obviously.) We get to try new things. You’ll attend more activities than anyone else at the school. You will get to experience the anxious exhilaration of the Spelling Bee Finals. You will be obligated to taste the goods at the bake sale. You will get to see the pure joy that comes from nailing a jump shot at the buzzer. We dream big and find inspiration everywhere. Once you get yearbook on the brain, it’s a stubborn bug to shake. You will be finding fonts in the Chinese takeout menu and a color scheme in your grandma’s afghan. You will find inspiring images to emulate and smile with pride when you manage to pull them off.

Yearbook is a Gift

Working on the yearbook is an incomparable experience, one that we would not trade for the world. This is the perfect time of year to take a break and really consider why you are willing to sacrifice so much of your time and energy into creating the perfect yearbook for your student body. Think of the experiences and knowledge that you cherish the most. What are you thankful for? Take this gratitude and bottle it up for a rainy day. And next time you’re banging your head against the wall as the deadlines steadily creep up from the shadows, remember that you are doing this for a reason, and there is so much to be thankful for.

One of the easiest ways to sell more yearbook ads is to get people who are good at sales to help you. And you know who is good at sales? Booster clubs. Though they sometimes go by other names, booster clubs are those organizations formed by school parents to raise money for sports teams, bands, and clubs. Some schools have one booster club to support the entire student body, while others have a bunch of smaller clubs to support specific teams or organizations within the school. Regardless of the organization, these clubs exist solely for the purpose of enhancing student life. And they’re mostly able to do that by raising money in a variety of ways, like creating an ad-supported program or calendar. Sound familiar? You bet. And that’s exactly what makes a booster club a perfect partner for … err … boosting your yearbook’s ad sales.

Partnering With Your Booster Club to Up Yearbook Ad Sales

If you’ve got a booster club that’s out in the community—right now—selling ads for a program or calendar or other printed piece, don’t even finish this blog post (seriously). Call the head of the booster club immediately and ask that person if their sales team will double as your sales team. It’s a big favor to ask, we know, but the benefits are enormous for everybody. Here’s how to approach it: Since you’re lacking a sales team (or are really struggling to get your sales moving), you’ll need to outline to your booster club contact why you need the help (and the ad revenue) so badly: Are you losing money on your yearbook? Are you trying to raise enough to buy a new camera? Whatever it is, spell it out. You don’t, obviously, have much to offer in return for help. But you do have one thing: Fundraising dollars. If the money raised for you by a booster club is money you wouldn’t have otherwise gotten, it’d be totally fair to give the booster club a percentage of that money. Figure out what works for you and for the booster club, but we’d recommend something in the 10-20% range. This type of setup means businesses are only contacted once, the booster club is making a couple extra bucks for every yearbook ad sale they make, and you’re selling ads you wouldn’t have sold otherwise.

Getting Other Help From Your Booster Club

Your booster club isn’t always going to be able to double as your sales team. And that’s okay. They can still help you. Here are a few more ways:

• Provide introductions. A quick way to get potential advertisers is for a booster club president to introduce you to local business contacts who have been supportive towards your school’s extracurriculars in the past. Having that information will get you to the most receptive audience first—always a good way to start your sales season.

• Package ad sales. While both of your teams are out selling, propose asking a local business to support both programs at a discounted rate. Like having the booster club do your selling for you, this method reduces the amount of pavement-pounding you have to do and increases the reach of your sales efforts.

• Trade ad space. You know who would probably love an ad in your yearbook? The booster club. Give them one for free, if they’ll let you toss an ad in their program or calendar. It won’t boost your ad sales, but it might boost your yearbook sales.

Tracking Down Your School’s Booster Club

Of course, if you’re going to work with your school’s booster club volunteers, you need to know who they are. You probably already do (these folks don’t typically hide in the woodwork), but if you don’t, you can usually find them by asking your normal list of contacts. Your principal, student government adviser, athletic director, PTA president… all of these individuals are a good bet for information. If asking around doesn’t turn up any success, do a quick Google search. Using “your school name + booster club” in the search box should do the trick.

Lasting Benefits of Booster Club Partnerships

You can gain a lot more than a one-time boost in yearbook ad sales by working with your school’s booster club. They key, though, is really becoming a team. A lot of booster clubs have a strong history of raising money and drumming up interest in your school. They know what works (and, maybe more importantly, what doesn’t). If they’re not ready to get their hands dirty with you, you can start by learning from their experiences. And that’s never a bad place to start.

People put a lot of thought into naming their children (and even their pets). Well, this yearbook is your baby, so you want to give it a name that lives up to its content. We’ve put together some tips for how to get the brain juices flowing when it comes to choosing your title, and also some great title ideas we’ve come across over the years.

https://blog.treering.com/how-to-improve-yearbook-headlines/

Set Some Guardrails

The number of yearbook title ideas rivals the number of fish in the sea, so it helps to narrow your sights before you cast the net. One thing that helps is to pull the yearbooks from the last five years and take note of their titles.

You should also decide on the tone. Some like yearbook titles to be inspirational, while others like to provide a nod to the overall theme. And for some, being straightforward works best. Regardless, it’s helpful to set the scene in your mind so you can measure your options against your expectations.

Different Approaches to Yearbook Titles

There are a few different routes to take when pursuing a title:

• Tie it to your School. You can use the school’s name, colors, mascot, or location as a jumping off point.
• Time-Specific Title. Make a reference to this current point in time, by calling out the year, referencing a sign of the times like sustainability or social media, or by using a current song lyric or movie quote.
• Timeless Titles. These ideas capture the overall intention of a yearbook by speaking to nostalgia, memories, and the passage of time.

Whether you build on your school’s spirit or pay tribute to the collection of memories within, your yearbook’s title should capture the essence of your book and give the reader a sense of the journey to come. Select a few ideas and try them on for size. Share them with your committee and gather some feedback. After you let them marinate, you’ll find that one perfect idea, and it will practically jump onto the cover itself.

Yearbook Title Ideas

Interested in a few examples? We’ve compiled several options from the types of covers mentioned above. Feel free to poke around, and take whatever inspiration this list offers.

School-Inspired: Mascots

•  The Year of the {School Mascot}
• The Shine of the {School Mascot}
• From the {School Mascot}’s Den
• The Eye of the {School Mascot}
• This is {School Mascot}Country
• {School Mascot} Territory
• {School Mascot} Pride
• In Our Hearts | On Our Sleeves
• Peace Love & {School Mascot}
• Keep Calm & {School Mascot} On

School-Inspired: Colors

• {School Color} Memories
• Seasons of {School Color}
• Seeing {School Color}
• A Splash Of {School Color}
• Better In {School Color}
• In Color
• Color Commentary
• Showing Our True Colors
• Showing Off Our Colors
• {School Name} In Color
• Life In {School Color}
• These Colors Don't Run
• More Colorful Together
• In Living Color

School-Inspired: Location

• From the Heart of the Rockies
• From the Desk of {School Name}
• {School Name} Presents…
• United States of {School Name}
• {School Name} Is Buzzing
• If These Walls Could Talk
• The Writing On The Wall
• Inside {School Name}

Time-Specific: The Year

• 202X Voices
• We Are #202X
• 20/20 Vision
• The Stars of 202X
• Reward: 202X
• Rocking 202X

Time-Specific: Pop Culture

• The Pensieve
• Snapped
• Blank Space
• 100% Home-Grown, Farm-Fresh {School Name} Memories
• See You Again
• The {School Mascot}: Age of {School Name}
• Reduce, Reuse, Remember
• #No Filter
• Picture This
• Instant Reply
• Filtered
• Catching Fire
• 201X-202X: A Lot To Like

Evergreen: Nostalgia

• Encore
• No Place Like Home
• Total Recall
• Sand Through the Hourglass
• Good Times
• Wouldn’t Change a Thing
• Wrapped Up
• Old Stories
• A Time To Remember
• As Time Goes By
• A Picture In Time
• A Year In Review
• Reflections
• Sands Of Time
• A Point Of View
• A Look Back
• Always and Forever
• Anthology

Evergreen: In the Moment

• It’s Our Time
• Viva la Vida
• Time of Our Lives
• Perspectives
• Meanwhile
• More Than Words
• Side by Side, Hand in Hand
• Nothing But the Truth
• Scratching the Surface
• Our Year
• Highlights
• Living The Dream
• This Is It
• Profiles
• A Closer Look

Evergreen: The Future

• A Future So Bright
• New Traditions
• A New Day
• Bright Futures
• Finding Our Way
• New Takes | Old Traditions
• Unlocking The Future
• Endless Memories
• Into The Future
• The Road to Tomorrow
• Make Your Mark
• Chapter Infinity
• Gateway
• No Turning Back
• Take a Chance
• The Best is Yet To Come

Evergreen: Showbiz

• Welcome To The Show
• Under The Big Top
• The Main Event
• In Lights
• Headliners
• Bright Lights
• Behind The Scenes
• Action!
• Showstoppers
• A Fresh Take
• All Stars
• Stars of {School Name}

Evergreen: Social Media

• Leaving Our Mark on the World
• [Year] Notifications
• Follow Us
• Shareworthy
• For the Likes
• #NoFilter

Evergreen: Documentary

• Write It Down
• For All To See
• A Blank Slate
• The Whole Picture
• Our Story To Tell
• Put It In Ink
• Not Just Another Year
• Take Note
• A Year In Pictures
• Words Aren't Enough
• A Look Inside
• A Story All Our Own
• Quoted
• (Re)Writing History
• Another Chapter
• Newsworthy
• Headlines
• Signed Sealed Delivered
• Memories: Delivered
• Noted
• Pass It On

Evergreen: Technology

• A Bright Idea
• Keyed Up
• Wired For Success
• Pushing Buttons
• Always On
• Press Play
• Plugged In
• What Makes Us Tick

Evergreen: Nature

• Rising & Shining
• Where The Grass Is Greener
• Life's A Beach
• Riding The Wave
• On The Vine
• In Bloom
• Roots
• Planting A Seed
• Watching {School Name} Grow
• Out of Our Shells
• In a Nutshell
• What's the Buzz?

Evergreen: Journeys

• The Road Less Traveled
• Off The Beaten Path
• Over The Hills & ...
• {School Name} Marks The Spot
• In Flight
• Expanding Our Horizons
• New Views
• Out Of This World
• Unchartered Territories
• Horizons
• Setting Sail
• The Sky’s The Limit
• Going Places
• Have Education Will Travel
• Beyond The Shore
• A Bigger World
• Headed In The Right Direction
• Onward & Upward

Evergreen: Adventure

• Amazing Adventures
• Tall Tales
• A Wild Year
• {School Name}'s Safari
• The Sights We've Seen
• The Amazing Adventures Of 2016
• Super {School Mascot}
• The Incredible Story Of {School Name}
• Oh, the Places We've Been!
• {School Name} Superheroes
• Our Heroes

Evergreen: Inspirational

• Better Than Ever
• Naturally Awesome
• Loud & Proud
• Dream It | Do It
• Shooting For The Stars
• Be Happy
• What A Wonderful World
• How Sweet It Is

Evergreen: Success

• Whatever It Takes
• Tricks Of The Trade
• Pulling It All Together
• It's How You Play
• A Whole New Game
• A Streak of Good Luck
• Wired For Success
• Coming Up Aces

Evergreen: Building

• Blueprints for the Future
• A Year of Building
• Building Towards the Future
• Planning Ahead
• Future Plans
• Blueprints for Life
• Blueprints
• Just Like We Drew It Up
• Dreaming Big
• Towering Memories
• Skylines

Evergreen: Individuality

• Express Yourself
• Expressing Ourselves
• Individuals Together
• Just Like This
• Formalities Aside

Evergreen: Community

• It Takes All Of Us
• How We've Grown
• Coming Together
• Putting It All Together
• Pieces Of The Whole
• Parts Of A Whole
• Done Our Way
• What Makes Us
• Who We Are

Evergreen: Creativity

• Hand-Drawn
• Breaking The Mold
• Drawing It Out
• An Artful Year
• Painting A Picture
• A Colorful Take
• Paint The Town
• Strokes of Genius
• A Picture Of Success
• The Fabric of Our Year
• Tightly Knit
• Painting Memories
• Focus
• A Different Perspective

There are some pages in your yearbook that practically write themselves. Your sports pages are not those pages. Because each new season brings a new story, you’ve got a ton of new stories to capture for your yearbook. Luckily, you can do that a little more easily (and a little better than before) with one change: use a survey. A survey is a simple tool that will make your information collecting way easier. Send it to each team’s coach, have a “return by” deadline, and watch the information roll in. It’s so good, in fact, it’ll deliver all the basic information you need to produce the pages for your sports teams—and then some. To get you started, we created a free survey template for you. But read on. We'll walk you through how to use it and how it can help you make your sports pages the best your yearbook has ever seen.

What Your Survey Should Include

It’s best to start your survey with the basics, like the names, numbers, and correct spellings of all players and coaches; the schedule; and the key dates in the season. This type of information isn’t “nice to have;” it’s the information you need to create a page for each of your sports teams. If that’s all you have time for, that’s okay. Everything else is gravy, as they say. If you have more time and resources, though, go bigger. Get the type of information only someone who is around the team every day would know. Ask about traditions, interesting storylines, and off-the-field lessons team members have learned. It’s this type of information that will get you the beginnings of a narrative.

When You Should Send Your Survey

The best time to send your survey depends on the type of sports pages you’ll be running in your yearbook. So, let’s break it down by type:

• Basic Yearbook Sports Page. When you’re running a basic sports page or spread, you don’t need to send your survey until after the season is over. In fact, it’s better that way. You can collect the information mentioned above along with the team’s results (scores, win-loss records, stat leaders) for inclusion.

• Magazine-Style Yearbook Sports Page. If your approach to the yearbook is inspired by great magazine journalism, you’ll want to send your survey before the start of the season. Collecting basic—and colorful—information that early will allow you to plan what games you’ll be going to, which players you’ll be interviewing, and how many resources you need to dedicate to the coverage.

How to Use Your Survey Results

The survey is the perfect planning tool. If you’re planning to only use the information that comes back from the survey, you know exactly what you’ll be working with. You can create your page layouts, send out a photographer to a few key games, and wait to do the rest of the work until the survey is returned. In fact, that approach works even when you’re taking a more in-depth approach to the pages. The only thing that changes is assigning someone to cover the team for additional interviews and writing narrative copy. (By the way: You should definitely compile all the key dates and coverage needs into your planning timeline and assign responsibilities. If there are any gaps in coverage, you’ll be able to spot these early on, and fix them.) For those assigned to cover teams, though, the survey results are far more than just a planning tool. That person will learn a ton about the makeup of the team, the coach’s expectations for the season, and which players to keep an eye on. That’s great information. Use it when preparing for interviews.

Tracking Down the Coach

When you send out your survey, do it by email. It’s the easiest, most efficient way for someone to respond, and it lets you set yourself reminders to follow up. Also, let your coaches know why the survey is important, how you plan to use the information they provide, and how much their responding will help you give them awesome coverage in the yearbook. Some coaches will fill out your survey immediately. Most others will wait until the deadline. And a few will forget to turn it back in. So, make sure you build some extra time into those deadlines. Give all your coaches a few weeks' notice about when their responses are due, and establish a relationship early with your school’s athletic director. That’s a good person to have on your side, if the information never shows up. (It usually does, though.) When you get that filled-out survey, you’ll know you’re on your way to telling the right story for the right team. Use that information to guide your coverage, and you’ll be putting together seriously good sports pages for your yearbook.

Your yearbook committee is a wonderfully inclusive environment, where students of all experience and skill levels can come together to learn, collaborate, and produce something meaningful. And that’s a wonderful, beautiful thing. As you welcome in all your new committee members for this year’s book, however, you may find yourself needing to teach a lot of skills to get these new members up to speed. Teaching your students the right lessons, and giving them valuable skills, helps make the yearbook process run easier, smoother, and with far fewer problems. So here are our tips on which are some of the most important lessons to start their education.

Knowing What To Teach

Your time is one of your most valuable resources, and while you’d love to spend every day in deep mentorship, you won’t be able to do that. There is, after all, a yearbook to create. Here are the important areas you need to make sure your staff is trained on. Interviewing techniques. A good interview is much more than just asking a few questions. Students need to know how to make people comfortable and how to elicit the best answers.

• Lesson #1: Focus on asking the right kind of questions. Open-ended questions create the best answers, so teach your class how to avoid leading questions. “What was the final score?” is boring; “What strategies were employed to lead the team to a win?” is an example of an open-ended question that allows the interview subject to think beyond cliches.
• Lesson #2: How to make an interview subject comfortable. Not everyone feels relaxed when interviewing, but focusing on getting the subject in their comfort zone makes for the most relaxed and genuine quotes.  Letting the interviewee talk, and actually listening, are both skills you’ll want to teach.

Writing. Not everyone knows how to properly structure a yearbook article, and even the best natural writer might struggle with the format. Writing an article that quickly brings out the heart of a story is closer to journalism than creative writing, which your students might be more used to.

• Lesson #1: Headline writing. Teach students how to pull out what makes a story unique, and how to sum that up in one phrase, while still giving a nod to the theme.
• Lesson #2: Writing killer copy. Students are going to want to really show off their skills, so you need to teach them how to be brief, how to tell the story, and how to focus on the subject. Sometimes writing simply actually packs more of a punch.

Photography. Similar to writing, students have to know what makes a great yearbook photo, how to find it, and how to compose it. Lessons in camera operation, photo composition, and other photography techniques are important here.

• Lesson #1: How to take candid shots. It’s more than just pointing and shooting. Students have to know how to compose on the fly, and how to spot great photos before they are gone.
• Lesson #2: Using the camera correctly. Composition, the rule of thirds, how not to over-or-underlight, and how to avoid annoying imperfections are all important techniques to learn. Students can have a great eye, but improper camera use makes that moot.

Editing. There are two sides to editing: spotting mistakes, and understanding what can be cut (and what can be left in). Both are equally important.

• Lesson #1: Teach them the layers of editing needed for any piece. Editing is about getting a lot of eyes on any piece, so a lesson about how to progress a piece through the editing assembly line can help prepare them for when copy really starts rolling in.

• Lesson #2: Reading out loud. Demonstrate multiple proofreading tips, including how reading out loud can help people find errors that reading to yourself can’t always uncover.

Photo editing. Figuring out the best arrangement, what to keep, what to lose, and how you can manipulate photos is both an art and a science.

• Lesson #1: Adding text to photos is a great way to spice up and add depth to a normal picture. A lesson here can be about the proper use of it and how not to overdo text.
• Lesson #2: Editing student submissions. You’ll probably be doing more and more crowdsourcing of photos, so learning how to adjust for color contrast and brightness can help enhance student photos without changing what the submitter intended.

Page layouts. Combining articles, headlines, photos, and captions in a way that makes sense, is aesthetically pleasing, and has a natural flow is not an inborn skill. This is where training might be the most important.

• Lesson #1: How to play with font. Using different kinds of fonts not only enhances the texture of a page, but it can help fit in things that a uniform font might not. You’ll probably want to deliver a lesson on how to do it without overdoing it.
• Lesson #2: The Golden Ratio. There is an aesthetically pleasing pattern that is produced both by humans and in nature,  that draws the eye and produces a sense of balance--and repeating it in your yearbook is a solid way to ensure your layout is easy on the eyes.

These lessons are not just important for your yearbook, but is a great way for students to develop skills for the future and grow more confident in themselves. It’s the heart of being a mentor, and one of the great joys of running the yearbook.