September 1, 2011 / The Big Event

Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time

Written by Marketing Staff

They say you learn by doing. These advisers have hosted a distribution event and share their lessons on what they wouldn’t do again. Read what they have to say.

“Food was an issue. No matter what we have used someone ends up making another’s book sticky!  Middle schoolers don’t always wash their hands:(”
– Susan Stolley, Boundary County Middle School

“Start earlier! My kids made a black light maze for people who pre-ordered to go through last year. The maze went along with our theme of “Perpetual Motion.” However, we didn’t get started on the maze until Friday. We actually started setting up the gym on Sunday. Distribution kicked off for seniors on Monday night. If I had to do it over again, I’d have the kids get a plan in place before the Friday before distribution.”
– Submitted to the Walsworth website

“We have a fall delivery and one year our books came about the same time as the organizations were having a swimming party to welcome kids back to school. We thought that would be a great way to catch everyone. Yearbooks and water don’t mix.”
– Lisa Hynek, Hanover High School

“My worst idea was to cancel the signing party. We blew our deadlines and we didn’t expect the books to arrive before the seniors left. Since we had already announced a party, we announced that we were canceling the party. I immediately received angry emails. What I thought was no big deal turned out to be a very big deal. A parent of a extremely-involved student even claimed the yearbook signing party was one of the greatest moments of the year… and I had just ripped it away.”
– Matt Hallauer, adviser, Saint Thomas Aquinas (Overland Park, Kan.)

“The biggest problem was students who had paid were not included on the distribution list. That was due to record keeping beforehand in the front office which was beyond my control.”
– Jessica Brantley, adviser, Burke County High School (Waynesboro, GA)

“Something I’d really recommend is making set-up and clean-up mandatory for the yearbook staff, because otherwise the adviser gets stuck picking up book wrappers, putting away tables, etc.”
– Andy Clinton, adviser, Saint James School (Montgomery, AL)

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Marketing Staff

Marketing Staff reports are posts compiled by the Walsworth Yearbooks Marketing Department, covering a wide range of yearbook topics.