With temperatures rising, we can feel summer on its way. But before we grab the sunblock and head for the pool, let’s strategically plan for the three months away from the yearbook room.
As the year wraps up, it’s useful to think of what can be done in the summer to keep the yearbook on track. Here are three ways to prepare for June, July and August.
Schedule summer meet-ups
Pick designated days to come in and work. For summer and fall deliveries, staffers are needed to finish the book. Wrapping up spring content, the colophon and the index shouldn’t be left to the adviser and one or two editors. If the book is arriving before school starts, plan on the staff’s help to unload and organize the boxes. Staffs giving out their book at orientation or the first day of school may need to add a day or two for organization and distribution planning.
For spring books, the summer provides an opportunity to get ahead for the new theme. Staffers can develop theme ideas, organize the ladder and plan templates. Even if the staff is heading to yearbook camp, not all students will attend and additional time developing the new theme is helpful. Late summer is also a good time to finalize the staff manual for the upcoming year.
Magazines, the font guide and a ladder will help with planning and designing spreads.
Assign photo assignments
School may be out, but plenty of clubs and sports are still active in the summer. Communicate with sponsors and coaches to gather schedules and plan accordingly. Meet with photographers to assess photo opportunities and assign events.
Organizations like cheerleading, dance and theater often have camps that make for compelling photos. If the camp is out of town, coordinate with the sponsor to take photos for the staff. Other groups like band and football sweat away at summer practices which is a prime opportunity to show behind-the-scenes looks at the programs. Events like orientation and freshman camps provide coverage of new students and back-to-school activities. Lastly, look closely at fall sports schedules. It’s possible sports like cross country, tennis and volleyball have seasons starting before the school year begins. It’s a lot easier to cover a tennis or volleyball match when you’re not also worrying about homework and Homecoming.
In addition, talk to staffers about student life assignments: jobs, hangouts, travel and other activities. Make a list of potential photo opportunities and who will cover each one. With a little planning and a big calendar, staffs can have photography coverage on all fronts.
Suncoast High School featured summer jobs in their 2017 book, including students working at Michael’s, PDQ and Starbucks. The pre-planning also allowed them to feature students working as lifeguards and a senior interning at a local research institute.
Plan social media coverage
Social media accounts shouldn’t go dark in the summer. Instead, strategically plan coverage in advance. Use the calendar dates gathered for photo assignments to create preview posts. Remind students about arriving books or new buying opportunities. Share feature stories or modules to promote an upcoming book or keep the recent book in their minds. Encourage students to share summer photos by including a hashtag with posts like #RHSsummer or #staycationMapleLake.
The beauty of planning ahead is the posts can be scheduled before the final bell rings. TweetDeck and HootSuite allow users to write posts, add photos and schedule the exact date and time to go live. For new, impromptu posts, ask photographers attending summer events to post on the student media accounts or send the images to a designated social media editor.
Run by Twitter, TweetDeck is a way to schedule tweets. HootSuite allows you to schedule posts on multiple platforms, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Before the school year comes to an end, consider coordinating summer dates, photos and social media coverage. A little organization can make sure June, July and August aren’t sweating away your fall plans.
