Mini-Courses
Mini-courses deal with topics that previous attendees have requested. They are held before the workshop for attendees who arrive early. Each course requires advance registration and an additional fee. Note the different time slots, so that attendees may take more than one course. (See more information on registration form.)
8:30-10 a.m. – 1.5 hrs. each
Theme - m1Selecting a theme for your yearbook is the first and most important decision you and your staff will make. Launch your yearbook workshop experience by brainstorming the many options and possibilities you have as you nail down the theme of the book. Get those summer cobwebs out and start by selecting a solid theme!
Instructor – Frank Ragulsky
Beginning Photography - m2
This session is for beginning photographers or any others who want to learn the basics, from composition to exposure. Digital photography issues will be addressed as well. If you’re new to photography or just want to know more about it, this session is highly recommended. Bring your digital camera.
Instructor – Randy Pfizenmaier
Color-correction in Photoshop - m3
Every photo, small and large, has to be color corrected consistently and accurately every time. In this mini-course, we’ll develop a series of steps to ensure quality and consistency for any publication. Bring a laptop with Adobe Photoshop installed to follow along.
Instructor – Bradley Wilson
Censorship/First Amendment - m4
Yearbooks are publications, too, and just like newspapers they carry First Amendment protection – and just like newspapers, they get censored. This session will take a practical look at successful techniques to make your publication censor-resistant, and to calm a potential censorship controversy before it explodes.
Instructor – Frank LoMonte
Converting Breaking News to Yearbook Copy - m5
September’s flu outbreak on campus was huge, ongoing news for your campus paper, but how do you cover that in the yearbook? This session will examine ways to convert hard-hitting and breaking news stories into formats that are more reader-friendly long after the initial event.
Instructor – Andrea Watson
8:30-11 a.m. – 2.5 hrs.
Conquering Your Fear of Adobe Illustrator - m6No longer will this vector-based software be confusing and intimidating! Illustrator is a wonderful tool for manipulating type and generating graphics, but it’s totally different from any other program in the Creative Suite. Bring a laptop with an attached mouse or tablet (those laptop track pads are tricky to draw on) and by the end of this session, you’ll be cruising through Illustrator with confidence.
Instructor - Stephen Williams
8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. – 4 hrs.
Training Your Staff - m7You’ve picked your staff, developed your theme, now what? This session covers workshop and motivation ideas that will help train and prepare your staff members in the beginning of the year and keep them happy and motivated until the last page is complete.
Instructor - Tonya Danos
Getting Into Adobe InDesign - m8
So your yearbook will be designed in InDesign? It’s Adobe’s professional page layout and design program, and this class will help you learn the basics. Maybe you’ll even end up with a few extra tricks up your sleeve. You’ll learn how to lay out photos and text on pages and add some effects to fulfill your vision. And you’ll learn how to make sure that your pages will print correctly when they are sent to the plant. And there’s more! We’ll touch on some of the other programs in the Adobe Creative Suite that will help your book look its best, like Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat. Bring your ideas, or examples you’ve seen, and we’ll see how to turn them into pages. Maybe you’re new to InDesign, or would just like to learn a couple of new things. Then this course is for you.
Instructor – Mike Richman
10:30-11:30 a.m. - 1.5 hrs.
Leadership 101 for Editors - m9This session is designed for editors in chief ONLY to provide you with leadership skills. The focus will be on motivating your staff and making sure you have a successful year.
Instructor – Frank Ragulsky
Color Correct Flesh Tones in Photoshop Like the Pros - m10
You will learn a prepress technique that provides great looking flesh tones when reproduced in offset printing. Bring your laptop with Photoshop.
Instructor – Randy Pfizenmaier
Butchering Type in Photoshop - m11
The type function in Photoshop is one of the underappreciated tools. A lot can be done with type in Photoshop. We’ll play with some of the more fun things learning how to set type on fire or put photos inside it. Bring a laptop with Adobe Photoshop installed to follow along.
Instructor – Bradley Wilson
Copyright - m12
The Internet has opened a treasure-trove of tempting text and inviting images – but can you use other people’s work without paying for it? Sometimes the answer is yes. A review of copyright law, the “fair use” doctrine, and how to stay safe when borrowing or adapting work created by others, including photos that are found online.
Instructor – Frank LoMonte
Converting Breaking News to Yearbook Copy (repeat) - m13
September’s flu outbreak on campus was huge, ongoing news for your campus paper, but how do you cover that in the yearbook? This session will examine ways to convert those hard-hitting and breaking news stories into formats that are more reader-friendly months, years and decades after the initial event.
Instructor – Andrea Watson
1-2:30 p.m. – 1.5 hrs.
Leadership 101 for Editors (repeat) - m14This session is designed for editors in chief ONLY to provide you with leadership skills. The focus will be on motivating your staff and making sure you have a successful year.
Instructor – Frank Ragulsky
Illustrator Fundamentals - m15
As a vector-based imaging tool, Illustrator is great for creating everything from graphic headlines to charts. And it integrates seamlessly with InDesign. Come learn some basics of this powerful program. Bring a laptop with Adobe Illustrator installed to follow along.
Instructor - Bradley Wilson
Privacy/Right To Photograph - m16
“You can’t take pictures of people without their consent.” “You can’t print photos of minors without a parental release form.” We’ve heard the urban myths surrounding privacy, but how many of them are true? Fewer than you probably think. We’ll go over the law of privacy and explain the (relatively few) times journalists can’t freely take and publish images.
Instructor – Frank LoMonte
Covering Sports - m17
Covering sports for the yearbook has to go beyond game recaps and highlights. In this session we’ll examine ways to cover the sports on your campus that will be reader-friendly and relevant one, five or 10 years from now. We’ll look for feature angles and profiles and ways to create cohesive, comprehensive packages.
Instructor – Andrea Watson
Beginning Photography (repeat) - m18
This session is for beginning photographers or any others who want to learn the basics, from composition to exposure. Digital photography issues will be addressed as well. If you’re new to photography or just want to know more about it, this session is highly recommended. Bring your digital camera.
Instructor – Randy Pfizenmaier