Yes, I'm a Yearbook Groupie

By Lynn Greenberg

Having just returned from the annual Entourage Yearbook Advisors’ Conference, I’ve spent some time reflecting on what it has meant to me to be a “yearbook person” and what I’ve learned from attending the conference for a number of years.

I worked as the parent volunteer who did the yearbook at my children’s elementary school, aka “yearbook person” or “yearbook lady,” as the kids called me for many years. I didn’t know anyone else who created yearbooks. Sometimes as a yearbook advisor, it can feel isolating and like you are alone and work alone, even if you have a team. You know there are others doing yearbooks, and yet, it feels like you never see them out in the real world. All that changed when, after I had worked with a few yearbook companies over the years, I was invited to an Entourage yearbook advisors’ conference. That’s where I found out there are many other “yearbook people.” Wow, were my eyes opened to all the different ways to be a “yearbook person!”

There are many of us, and we are all over the country, in different types of schools, different sizes of schools, and different kinds of yearbooks! There are people like me who are volunteers, parents, and solo creators, but there are also people who are teachers and Yearbook Advisors who work with a team of students and teach them all the aspects of design, sales, marketing, photography, layout, writing and they create a yearbook as a class or a club! I was amazed by them and their processes, which were so different from mine. I learned that there isn’t just one way to make a yearbook, but we all benefit from learning from each other in this collaborative meeting. We may have unique approaches, but we are connected by our drive and passion to create great yearbooks!

The conference had sessions on photography, journalistic writing, photoshop, design, themes, sales, and marketing. I learned so much, and I was in awe! So many things to consider when creating a yearbook that I found invaluable! I took a lot of notes and tried my best to bring pieces of what I learned from them into my own yearbook process.

For me, one of the big highlights of attending the conference is meeting the Entourage team in person – from sales and customer service to production. Being in the production facility and watching the production team printing books; covers, and pages, and seeing the whole facility gives a whole new perspective and appreciation of the process! Walking through the production facility and seeing all the steps in the process of making a yearbook, then connecting it to my role and hours spent creating all the content for those books, was kind of thrilling and humbling, especially knowing that yearbooks are a piece of history and part of a school’s story.

I am so grateful that I have attended the Entourage Yearbook Advisors’ Conference for a number of years. I make new friends and connect with what I now consider old friends, and so many new ideas that I can’t wait to try for my own yearbook! It is very clear that I’m not really alone; I have a team behind me that wants me to make the best book I can! That team is the yearbook company and all its employees— they really did help me make successful and beautiful yearbooks!

I may have labeled myself as the “yearbook person,” but now I consider myself a Yearbook Advisor and a yearbook groupie, who is a person who finds joy and purpose in creating a yearbook and all things yearbook, which is why I am excited to kick off this website to connect to other yearbook people, no matter where you are in the process of becoming a Yearbook Groupie.

Yearbook Groupie is a place to connect with others, ask questions, answer questions, share knowledge, ask for help, and share tips and tricks or mishaps. It is a place for yearbook people to connect, share and grow our yearbook community. Let’s connect, inspire each other, share stories, and build this online yearbook community together! Your experiences and knowledge are invaluable— Let’s be Yearbook Groupies together!