Once you’ve set your yearbook up, you should be thinking ahead to the end to ensure you can get your books printed on time.
1. Get people started early
In our most recent survey of yearbook editors, the thing most often cited as causing issues was that of getting people to fill in their profiles on time.
To avoid this, it’s best to get everyone signed up as early as possible, and set a strict, tight deadline well in advance of the actual deadline. Getting people to join right away will ensure the buzz around the book starts early, and setting a tight deadline will give people the incentive to get their profile done as soon as possible. It will also give you plenty of time to chase up any stragglers, and complete the final edits without the distraction of chasing people up.
2. Leave yourself some time
It is also worth setting the deadline early to ensure the yearbook doesn’t clash with any end of year exams you might have. Your GCSEs or A Levels will have a huge impact on your life after school, so it’s important to prioritise these. For this reason, you should aim to complete your yearbook well in advance of study leave, so that you can give revision the attention it deserves. If you decide to have your books delivered later in the year, you can pick the book back up after exams. However, with everyone no longer in school, it will be trickier to coordinate the process, so it’s a good idea to get as much as possible done before exams, so that you just need to add the finishing touches afterwards.
If you’re struggling to get people to register, remember there are three different ways to invite people to join, so make use of all three to ensure each person is invited in the most appropriate manner.
3. Polls
Another thing that will ensure your book is a success will be to include Polls. Polls make your yearbook much more engaging, and greatly increase activity in the book. It’s best to set them up as soon as you can, so that as people start to cast their votes the second they sign up.
4. Use all the tools you can.
Make use of any help your school can give you. Ask the staff to set aside some tutor time for completing profiles, or make an announcement in assembly. There are lots of ways your school can help you get the word out and ensure everyone is on track, so be sure to take advantage of these.