Adviser Assistance Checklist 6
CHECKLIST 6 of 12:
december-january
ESSENTIALS
- Meeting deadlines should be your top priority. If you’re stressed, (and all advisers are stressed at this time of year) make this the
one item you check on this list. - Make sure you have a handle on winter sports teams photos. Ask coaches or players you know to ID players. Double-check using team rosters.
- Check your non-buyers report and your coverage report (or run your index.) Time to remind students who have not bought a book that they’re covered.
- Enter any in-school sales into eBusiness to keep accurate records. Send invoices for all ads with balances due.
- Enter any complimentary copies (office, media center, administration, resource officer, etc.) into eBusiness for accurate order numbers.
NEXT LEVEL
- Plan a series of sales promotions around upcoming holidays and school events.
- Confirm your deposits are up to date. Deposits total 90 percent of your base agreement price so the final 10 percent is due along with any additions, upgrades, tax and shipping if applicable on your final invoice after the book delivers.
- Distribute staff applications for next year. Interview, recruit and ask for recommendations.
- Check and recheck your master list of ads sold and confirm they are included in the book. If you’re building ads for parents, plan proofing into the production cycle. If parents create ads using OAC, they have already proofed them.
EXPERT
- Dream of distribution day. Talk to your rep about the date you could expect your book to arrive on campus and allow several days leeway before you schedule your event. Consider how you will promote it. Do you get to have a signing party or distribution event? Check out herff.ly/ybk-day.
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Adviser Assistance Checklist 7
CHECKLIST 7 of 12:
January-February
ESSENTIALS
- It’s never too early to work on your index. It’s a great way to check for misspelled names and other errors.
- Plan a “spring fling” sales push. Get the word out in every way possible that this is the last chance to get a book prior to distribution — when the highest price of the year is typically charged.
- Post lists of buyers to both reassure and thank your supporters.
- Consider giving students a sneak peek of a yearbook spread or two as part of your sales efforts.
- Enter in-school sales into eBusiness on a weekly basis to keep accurate records.
- Consider giving students a sneak peek of a yearbook spread or two as part of your sales efforts.
- Proofread the list of personalizations and submit corrections now so that errors discovered during distribution will not complicate the process or create unhappy buyers.
NEXT LEVEL
- Reflect on your staffers’ work from the last few months. Start choosing and training editors and leaders for next year.
- Start planning for new staff members. Plan to welcome them in a memorable way.
- Discuss plans for distribution with administration. Schedule the big day at least five days after your ship date. Will you host a signing party? Senior assembly? Yearbook night after school?
- Have your photographers select their best work for a slide show during your event.
EXPERT
- As spreads and sections are completed, have students save the final PDFs to a secure location. Remind students to save their best work and begin building their portfolios.
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Adviser Assistance Checklist 8
CHECKLIST 8 of 12:
February-March
ESSENTIALS
- Warm and sunny day? All hands on deck to get spring sports covered!
- As you make pages final, assign a staffer to clean up computer files and archive this year’s work.
- Run your index (again)! Make sure a responsible staffer has ownership of the index and is tracking finalized pages.
- Get started on spring sports and a seniorsonly supplement. These are great training tools for younger staffers, plus they can be used to generate additional revenue.
- Spring-delivery books, know your end date for selling through Yearbook Order Center and publicize it to those last-minute buyers.
- Sell to non-buyers if you still have unsold books. Run eBusiness reports to identify everyone who has not bought a book.
- Do you need help with distribution day? Go to herff.ly/ybk-day.
NEXT LEVEL
- Interview applicants for next year’s staff. If you don’t have the best of the best, start recruiting and asking for recommendations.
- Plan fundraisers for spring like photo booths at prom, car washes and yard sales.
- Look at your photography equipment and start your wishlist for next year.
EXPERT
- Continue training your editors and leaders for next year. Make time for your new leaders to shadow their peers, especially if you have seniors graduating.
- Plan around spring conventions. Don’t miss those deadlines!
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Adviser Assistance Checklist 9
CHECKLIST 9 of 12:
March-April
DISTRIBUTION DAY
- Check out herff.ly/ybk-day for tips, tricks and resources.
- Will you be moving boxes and setting up tables? Do you need help?
- How will you handle “extras” such as name plates, dust jackets and autograph supplements?
- Think through how you’ll distribute personalized books without mixing up names.
- Will students need places to sign books? Will it be a party atmosphere?
- How will students prove their payments? Did you know Herff Jones has wristbands you can hand out as entry tickets to your events?
- Make a kit for last-minute sales with a receipt book, computer, pens and money collection envelopes. Make sure you have staffers assigned to a sales table.
- Print a distribution list from eBusiness and resolve any potential issues such as duplicate orders, balances due, missing information or students who have moved.
- If you opt for name plates, you should receive them in time to check spelling and cross-check against your eBusiness list. If you
check these as soon as they arrive, you may even have time to order replacements. - When books arrive, take a minute to have a big reveal moment with your staffers. Make it special, and take lots of pictures! Send them to us at ybk@herffjones.com.
- Inspect and count all of your books when they arrive. We try to send extras to account for any scuffs acquired during shipping.
- Don’t forget to pull books for your classroom, administrators, the library, contests and critiques. When you get down to about five books, start a waiting list.
- Keep entering all sales into eBusiness so your records are correct.
AND ANOTHER THING
- It’s time to get your spring supplement done! Allow two to three weeks for printing and shipping.
- Get next year’s staffers together and let them know about summer workshops. Plan some whole-staff activities for the spring.
- Look for summer workshops in your area and start the paperwork to make those happen.
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Adviser Assistance Checklist 10
CHECKLIST 10 of 12:
April-May
ESSENTIALS
- Spring delivery books, if you do a supplement, it’s time to submit.
- Make your final invoice payment before you leave for summer. (This invoice does not arrive until after shipping is added.) Also, plan your budget for next year.
- When your book is delivered, submit it to Portfolio, a showcase of Herff Jones’ best
books. Find the form at herff.ly/portfolio-submit. - Write thank you notes to all who assisted with this year’s book — handwritten is best.
NEXT LEVEL
- Submit your book to NSPA, CSPA and state organizations for evaluations.
- Have outgoing editors write job descriptions and letters to next year’s editors.
- Hold one-on-one interviews with each staff member about the good and bad of the year. Compile ideas for future growth.
- Design theme packets as a class project.
- Create a tentative ladder.
- Notify rising seniors and their parents about required photo deadlines and costs. If possible, insert a flier into rising senior mail or email from the school.
EXPERT
- Plan next year’s ad campaign and begin selling. Send renewal letters to all existing advertisers.
- Get book and ad sales fliers ready for next year’s registration packet or online newsletter. Update your school website for the summer.
- Develop an exchange list and share your book (or PDFs of your favorite spreads) with other schools.
- Establish a plan for summer coverage.
- Schedule summer get-togethers and make contact lists. Start team-building between new and incoming staffers.
- Make final workshop arrangements.
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Adviser Assistance Checklist 11
CHECKLIST 11 of 12:
May-June
ESSENTIALS
- Make your final invoice payment and budget for next year. Your final invoice reflects 10 percent of your printing agreement, along
with any additions, upgrades, tax and shipping, if applicable. - Plan for summer coverage. Think about events in the community as well as those related to school.
- Schedule staff social events. Build mentoring relationships between new and incoming staffers early.
- Make final summer workshop plans.
- Organize computer files and archive your final spreads (InDesign). Export a PDF file of your book and send it to your rep.
NEXT LEVEL
- Develop next year’s theme. Brainstorm ways to carry it through the book. Let it sit for a while and see if it still seems relevant and fresh. Consensus isn’t always the answer.
- Give staffers an assignment to build portfolios of their work. Hello résumé!
EXPERT
- Write thank you notes to all who assisted with the book, including advertisers and sponsors — handwritten is best.
- Send renewal letters to all existing advertisers — and take the time to follow up.
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Adviser Assistance Checklist 12
CHECKLIST 12 of 12:
Summer
ESSENTIALS
- Rest, relax and then read our curriculum. If you don’t have the full 12-booklet set, you can order one at herff.ly/curriculum-set.
- If your book delivers in the summer or fall, make sure to submit it for consideration for Portfolio. Find the form at herff.ly/portfolio-submit.
- Oh gosh! Did you just get here? Are you overwhelmed already? No worries! Take a deep breath and check out herff.ly/newadviser.
NEXT LEVEL
- Plan a boot camp for the days before school starts. Check out section two of the curriculum, Teams and Leaders, for help.
- Check out our library of podcasts for even more ideas from some of the best and brightest yearbook minds. And remember, you’re not alone in the yearbook world.
- Even if you’re not attending a yearbook workshop over the summer, it’s great fun to get your staff together at a local coffee shop or bookstore. A couple hours of bonding and looking for inspiration starts the year off right.
- Reconnect with your staffers about summer coverage. Are teams holding practices? Are there club or student government retreats? Grabbing candid photos at some of these events will feel like money in the bank when school starts.
EXPERT
Attending a summer workshop with your staff? Here’s a mini checklist:
- 1. Theme (verbal and visual)
- 2. A long list of theme spinoffs
- 3. Cover design
- 4. Endsheets (plain or printed?)
- 5. Tentative ladder
- 6. Learning, bonding and fun!
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Adviser Assistance Checklist 1
CHECKLIST 1 of 12:
Back To School
ESSENTIALS
- Make a plan for school closures. There are plenty of great ways to fill your book — and remember, the yearbook is about the people, not the events.
- Have you called your rep today? Hammer out budgets and deadlines now.
- Curriculum resources aplenty: How to Yearbook: The HJ Way, is available in print with resources online at LearnYBK.com.
If you’re new, read the Welcome section! - Start teaching with online video tutorials for eDesign and InDesign. (Click the help button when you’re logged in to eDesign or check out the Learn menu on myHJyearbook.com.)
- Get right with your admins. Sync your calendars and introduce your editors.
- Set up eBusiness. Find it in the Setup menu on myHJyearbook.com.
- Sell that book. Don’t miss the opportunity to sell yearbooks (if your school invites parents to the school) at registration or back-to-school nights. Consider offering the lowest price of the year at these events.
- Start making decisions about the book and build your ladder. Choose fonts, color palettes and designs using the Customer Resources section at YearbookDiscoveries.com.
NEXT LEVEL
- If you already have a theme, choose a coverage model: traditional, chronological or umbrella. There’s more in the Covering YourSchool curriculum section.
- Get those cameras clicking. Make sure every staffer knows photo basics and won’t pass up opportunities to take photos.
- Review staffers’ role, discuss workflow/approval process and begin gathering content for the first deadline.
- Start designing your cover and endsheets.
- Returning staffers should be planning the look and feel of the book. Theme carries over to title page, opening/closing, endsheets, dividers, mods and folios.
EXPERT
- Build type packages for headlines. Choose styles for caption lead-ins, subheads and sidebars.
- Some advisers start working from the back of the book with ads. Some start with the front. Choose which works best for you.
- Assign spreads to each deadline. Create a calendar and make sure everyone, including parents, know what’s up.
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Adviser Assistance Checklist 2
CHECKLIST 2 of 12:
August-September
ESSENTIALS
- Plan for unexpected absences from school. Especially, consider how to crowdsource info and photos if you are separated from students. Consider eShare as an option.
- Lean on LearnYBK.com for help with lesson planning.
- Assign video tutorials for eDesign and InDesign. (Learn menu on MyHJyearbook.com.)
- Plan for picture day.
- Let us sell your book for you. Sign up for Sales Assist.
- Deadlines are sneaky. Make sure the first one is all planned out.
NEXT LEVEL
- Ask your rep about Send and Sell. It’s a sales machine built right into eDesign.
- Hunt, gather and organize. Make sure writers and photographers have a plan for saving and organizing files.
- Schedule time with your leaders. Make sure everything’s going as planned.
- If you’re not an early bird, cover and endsheet deadlines are right around the corner. Check your deadlines on MyHJyearbook.com.
- Even though you may submit these pages later, plan coverage for your opening, closing and dividers. Remember to make visual-verbal connections.
EXPERT
- How are your ads selling? Consider a wholestaff sell-a-thon if you’re not where you hoped to be.
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Adviser Assistance Checklist 3
CHECKLIST 3 of 12:
September-October
ESSENTIALS
- Check your deadlines for cover and endsheets.
- If spreads are being created without a consistent set of fonts or design templates, HALT. Don’t make more work for your staff. Set ground rules before you get too far.
- Done with picture day? On to club picture day. Go to LearnYBK.com to find the plan in People and Index.
- Don’t forget fall sports teams. Get coaches or other players you know or have on your staff to help identify the players.
- Make sure every page or spread has a folio.
- Are your staffers keeping up with who’s doing what? Remember: All stories and photos need bylines.
NEXT LEVEL
- Set up character styles and make sure your whole staff knows how to use them consistently. Make a chart and put it on the wall so everyone can see.
- Kick off all that senior hoopla before seniors “check out.” Get ads, superlatives — if you do those — and senior features done before they become scarce.
- Your next-level book pricing may go into effect soon. Make sure to have a big sales push before it does.
EXPERT
- Check in with your staffers. Make sure teams are getting along.
- Have you promoted your business and parent ad deadlines? You’ll probably need to do this more than once.
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