April 17, 2014 / Staff Management

Yearbook editors make deadline using Skype

Written by Elizabeth Braden, CJE

Yearbook staffs embrace technology in different ways all the time, leading one group of editors recently to meet their deadline using Skype.

Paige Finney, Kyle Griffin and Andrew Blanton, the yearbook editors at Central Academy of Technology and Arts (CATA) in Monroe, N.C., needed to get together to make final edits to the portrait, club and ad pages of the Felidae yearbook in mid-January. They decided to go to school on a teacher workday when their adviser, Lisa Eaton, was on hand.

But Finney couldn’t get there. Her brother had to use her car for a job interview and she had a doctor’s appointment later in the day for her knee.

The three talked on the phone for about an hour, but that wasn’t working. Then, they came up with the idea to use Skype and screen sharing, which enabled the three of them to see pages all at the same time so they could discuss each one.

“This was our first time using Skype. In the past we have stayed late after school or even met at Panera Bread on a day off,” Griffin said.

But they had decided to come to school since Ms. Eaton would be there, Griffin said.

“It was good that we could come together and finish our pages, considering we were not altogether in one place. We used technology to our advantage and got our pages done,” Griffin said.

The editors agreed it was a successful first try using Skype, and it’s something they will use again since it can be difficult to coordinate schedules. Finney said she could even see the yearbook staff using it for interviews.

Has your yearbook staff used Skype? How did it work?

2 Responses to “Yearbook editors make deadline using Skype”

April 29, 2014 at 2:59 pm, RM said:

Great article and solution. I’ve used Google Hangouts (similar to Skype) to join my class when I’ve had to miss class. It is a great method of checking in, answering questions and making sure that my sub plans have been discussed and are being followed.

May 08, 2014 at 7:47 pm, Lea Ann Williams said:

When I had to miss over a week of school because my son was in the hospital right at deadline time, I spent lots of time on video chat with my students. Sometimes encouraging, sometimes policing, sometimes begging for their help. Gotta love technology.

Comments are closed.

Elizabeth Braden, CJE

Elizabeth Braden, CJE, is the former editor of Idea File magazine. Before retiring, she was a copywriter for Walsworth Yearbooks for more than 15 years, writing articles for various marketing materials, and proofreading copy for the Yearbook and Commercial divisions. Her career included reporting and editing for United Press International and editing for Knight-Ridder Financial News. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Media News from the University of Tulsa.