Ask Mike

Looking for something to do with your students after your yearbook is complete? Consider creating a podcast! In this episode, host Mike Taylor and Samantha Jo Berry, the publications adviser at Bridgeland High School in Houston, Texas, discuss the ins and outs of podcasting. That's right, it's a podcast about podcasting! Mike and Sam walk through the ins and outs of podcasting, and why they're a great project for journalism students.

Four years ago, the yearbook program at Williamsville North High School in Williamsville, New York, was fine. Their yearbook club was creating image-based books that the community liked. However, that wasn’t good enough for adviser Erin DeVantier. Once her eyes were opened to the possibilities journalistic yearbooks offer, she brought on Kate Curcio to kick their yearbook program into high gear. It worked. Their second-ever journalistic yearbook is a CSPA Crown finalist.

Season Two kicks off with a bang! Host Mike Taylor, CJE, discusses the importance of Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) and the services they offer with Executive Director Ed Sullivan. Mike and Ed cover the benefits of being a CSPA member, the difference between their critiques and contests, and dive into the details of the upcoming annual Spring Convention. You can learn more about CSPA at cspa.columbia.edu. You can find Mike on Twitter @yrbkmiketaylor.

Your yearbook staff may already take great photos, but there's always room for improvement. That's where photography expert Mark Murray comes in. Mark and host Mike Taylor discuss the keys to great photography, from composition to equipment to etiquette. Mark has great advice to share for every part of scholastic photojournalism. If you have questions for Mike, send them to podcasts@walsworth.com or find Mike on Twitter, @yrbkmiketaylor and #AskMike.

Finding great yearbook stories can be a challenge. Yearbook staffs want to make every year different, but much of the school year is always the same. There are always football games. Prom always happens. Two great advisers are here to help your staff fight the yearbook doldrums! Tiffany Kopcak has a staff that consistently turns out great student life stories. Brit Taylor has turned his staff into amazing sports writers. By the end of the episode, you'll be ready for a major brainstorming session!

Some students are born leaders. Some develop into great leaders. Either way, strong student leadership fosters strong yearbook programs. Recorded on location at the Elite Weekend yearbook workshop in Kansas City this September, host Mike Taylor found for extraordinary young women leading their yearbook staffs. These four students sat down with Mike to share their yearbook stories, and discuss how they help their staffs develop their writing skills.

Happy National Yearbook Week! NYW is the perfect time for host Mike Taylor to bring in Gary Lundgren of the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA). In this episode, Mike and Gary discuss the benefits of NSPA members, and how the organization helps yearbook staffs and advisers hone their craft. Learn more about NSPA at studentpress.org. You can find Mike Taylor on Twitter at @yrbkmiketaylor (#AskMike) or podcasts@walsworth.com.

Bruce Watterson is widely known as "The Yearbook Whisperer," and episode eight of Ask Mike helps illustrate how he earned that title. Watterson and host Mike Taylor delve into the possibilities yearbook staffs can create. Watterson and Taylor cover the topics of creativity, digital storytelling tools, winning awards, the perfect yearbook and the benefits of yearbook critiques. Even after 44 years in the yearbook business, Watterson's enthusiasm continues to shine throughout the conversation.

Kathy Beers is a marketing genius. It's not just us who think that. Her creative methods are used by yearbook staffs far and wide.  In this episode of Ask Mike, Kathy chats with host Mike Taylor about some of her favorite methods to sell yearbooks and ads. For example, she doesn't call them "senior ads." They're "senior tributes," and it works! Kathy shares more than 30 minutes worth of selling advice, then Mike brings in fellow advisers who have used her methods to discuss what works with them. 

Mike Taylor is helping editors prepare for the school year in episode six of Ask Mike! He interviews former yearbook editors, current editors just starting their year, and even brings in a couple of advisers! They discuss how yearbook helped recent graduates prepare for college, how busy editors balance yearbook with all their other school activities, and what two editors with an inexperienced staff will do to ensure a great year. 

In this episode of Ask Mike, Mike Taylor discusses yearbook boot camp!  At the start of the year, guest advisers Allison Miller and Susan McNulty each run their own yearbook boot camp. It helps them start the year off right! They're sharing how they run their boot camps, and dishing about the importance of bonding among staff members.  Do you have a question for Mike Taylor? Use #AskMike on Twitter or send them to podcasts@walsworth.com. 

In Episode 4, Mike Taylor discusses the benefits of attending an Elite Weekend. He and former attendees discuss how they took their yearbook to the next level in one weekend. 

In episode three of Ask Mike, Mike Taylor, CJE, sits down with Becky and Dow Tate. They're both very good at inspiring creativity in their students, and shared some of their methods with Mike. From putting inspiration in front of their students, to sometimes having to draw out the creativity, the Tates have plenty of experience and have created some incredible, award-winning yearbooks over the years.

Recorded live at the NSPA/Gloria Shields workshop in Dallas, Texas, episode two of Ask Mike focuses on how to structure your yearbook for better coverage. Whether it's chronological, traditional or blended, Mike Taylor brought in a group of knowledgeable advisers and yearbook reps to discuss the details of great yearbook coverage.

A great yearbook theme takes more than choosing from a list – although that’s a great place to start brainstorming! Mike Taylor explores the ways to find a yearbook theme that fits your school this year. He’s joined by Susan Massy and Cindy Todd, two long-time yearbook advisers who have helped their students shape and carry a yearbook theme throughout the book. They discuss yearbook theme dos and don’ts, coming up with ideas, and how to get creative but keep it approachable for the rest of your scho