Presentations and Daily Announcements
Below, I have several presentations on print design standards, conducting interviews, copyright laws, and the basics of creating layouts on inDesign. I created these slide shows over the summer and I taught my fellow editors to create similar learning tools to use while giving presentations. I also updated and modified several of last year’s presentations on SnoFlow and social media requirements, using the skills I learnt from my Al Neuharth Freedom Spirit conference. These slides were used during our beginning-of-year workshops when we introduced new class members to journalism, and they’ll continue to be used in the future, as a tool for future editors as they add to and revise the information we currently provided them with. At the beginning of every quarter we have each editor run a presentation encapsulating the common mistakes they’ve seen over the past quarter and go over ways to correct them. For print, I typically re-iterate the interviewing procedures (cc’ing Imua, following up with late responders, asking a diverse group of students and teachers for multiple opinions, Otter protocol, etc.) and layout errors from the last issue (mostly journalistic AP standard mistakes and pull quote mishaps). Daily announcements serve a similar purpose, as I announce upcoming deadlines, answer questions about individual articles, and suggest social media and online article opportunities.
Presentations: Sno Flow Presentation, Print Standards Presentation
Presentations: Sno Flow Presentation, Print Standards Presentation
Weekly Editor Meetings
In an effort to keep the staff as informed as possible, I started the practice of having weekly Friday meetings to check in on Social Media, Print, and Online editors. They discuss the pros and cons of the week, any struggles they might be having, and articles that need additional work. In turn, I provide support by reading over pieces that need additional direction, using my 5 years of journalism experience to suggest alternative angles and additional sources. We always end our meetings with a “happy story” of the week, to keep morale up and staffers motivated. We really come together at these weekly meetings, and they ensure that all three branches are a united front for the week ahead.
Summer Training Sessions
To come together as a team and get everyone acquainted with their new roles, I reinstated our summer training sessions. We reviewed our roles and responsibilities, weighing in on how each branch would coordinate and contribute in the following year. We also created and updated our print, online, and social media presentations in preparation for the training month we do for new staffers. Because my advisor and I decided to create two new roles this year: Photo Editor and Design Director, I had the added responsibility of having discussions with these two to establish what their role would entail and how they’d contribute to the publication as a whole.
Print Issue Responsibilities
I’m responsible for writing the Letter from the Editor, creating the and creating the front cover art or commissioning an artist to make it. This year I created the theme “Waves of Change,” so each print issue has feature articles chosen to fit the theme (explained in the Letter from the Editor), a designated color scheme that fits the ocean-theme, and a cover that aligns with the season and the theme. For the Spring issue that means pastel blues and greens to match the title of the issue, “Spring Tides.”
I also create the print deadline schedule with my copy editor, and after I collaborate with class advisors to cement the final dates, I release the production schedule to the rest of the editors. It’s my responsibility to make sure we stick to our deadlines, so I send out email reminders to staff members to check up on their progress in and outside of class. For new staffers this typically means reminders before every major deadline, including Late Nights, 1st Drafts, Final Drafts, and Layout deadlines. For returnees and editors the process is slightly more relaxed-- typically I'll answer texts in our group chat or check up on articles in class.
I also help my advisors organize late night, which means deciding on food, the most convenient date, determining how to share the room with Yearbook, and creating a google spreadsheets to document attendance. At Late Night itself, I usually provide inDesign help to anyone struggling with their design, as well as direction and guidance, as I have the overall concept of the magazine in mind. This can mean revising the pagination, editing the color theme, or making last-minute grammatical changes to ensure that we have the best copy possible before we send it off to print.
I also create the print deadline schedule with my copy editor, and after I collaborate with class advisors to cement the final dates, I release the production schedule to the rest of the editors. It’s my responsibility to make sure we stick to our deadlines, so I send out email reminders to staff members to check up on their progress in and outside of class. For new staffers this typically means reminders before every major deadline, including Late Nights, 1st Drafts, Final Drafts, and Layout deadlines. For returnees and editors the process is slightly more relaxed-- typically I'll answer texts in our group chat or check up on articles in class.
I also help my advisors organize late night, which means deciding on food, the most convenient date, determining how to share the room with Yearbook, and creating a google spreadsheets to document attendance. At Late Night itself, I usually provide inDesign help to anyone struggling with their design, as well as direction and guidance, as I have the overall concept of the magazine in mind. This can mean revising the pagination, editing the color theme, or making last-minute grammatical changes to ensure that we have the best copy possible before we send it off to print.
Editing Pieces
At my publication we’ll typically go through three rounds of editing, the first being a quick check on the story’s outline, to ensure that the direction matches the original pitch. Next, we have major first draft revisions, where we fix AP style mistakes and ask staff members evocative questions to push their level of journalistic thinking. These types of questions can be simple, like “Do you think you could look at this issue from another angle?” Or more complex, like “Do you think the sources that you use for this piece accurately represent the viewpoints of this community?” The third round of revisions includes polishing the articles and making revisions based on Dr. Chin, our Dean of Students’, suggestions. In past years the Print EIC and Copy Editor have each taken a round of revisions, typically the EIC doing the first and last edits, but my Copy Editor decided to switch things up this year. We both felt that we’d be able to communicate on a deeper level and have a more personal connection with our reporters if we divided up the print articles and each took on all the revisions for that article. This has allowed us to suggest sources and provide helpful articles to staff members, in addition to providing edits. I’ll still do a last round of edits on all the pieces before the issue goes out, but it’s primarily to catch minor issues like overlooked Oxford commas and erroneous numerical.