Online Yearbooks: Welcome to the Digital Age

I am dating myself here but do you recall serving on yearbook when we used real, hard copy photos?  It was necessary to label each photo and tell where it was to go on the template you chose from a manual provided by the yearbook company. You also had to type and print out the captions for each photo and indicate which caption belonged with each photo. Submissions had deadlines and had to be snail mailed to the yearbook publisher in order to arrive by the stated deadline. Everything for each page-labeled photos, captions and template all went into one large white envelope for each page. Then the several pages for that deadline were put into a box and sent to the yearbook company. If someone had told us online yearbooks were in the not-so-distant future we’d have been shocked

When digital cameras arrived the process was streamlined. We didn’t have to “crop” photos by marking the corner of the photo section we wanted to use. Photos could be cropped on the computer and emailed directly to the yearbook company attached to an email describing the template and the copy for that page. Envelopes, photographs, tagging and mailing were all eliminated.

Copy was done on a word processor and sent as an email attachment to the company with instructions as to the page. Instead of counting words and agonizing over space, copy could be inserted right into the template of choice via a software program bought from the yearbook company. You simply typed your  copy into the space and adjusted for font and size so that it fit. Typos were virtually eliminated by spellcheck and the fact that they did not have to be retyped.

Wow! Didn’t we think we had arrived? We had no inkling that hardcopy year books were about to become dinosaurs.

With the number of graduates from high schools, colleges and universities who move from city to city or even country to country hardcopy year books became less appealing. I don’t believe they will ever become truly extinct. Some grads will always want hardcopy yearbooks for book shelves and coffee tables. Libraries, school offices and police departments still want hard copy yearbooks.

However, with the digital age, mobile Internet devices, and social networking, more and more people want electronic versions of things like warranties, manuals, novels, and even yearbooks. It’s possible then to carry the yearbook in your smart phone, tablet or laptop. You can read it while travelling and call it up to check something anywhere and anytime.

Online yearbooks are more than convenient. There is a significant cost saving by opting for an online version. When hard copies do not have to be printed printer’s costs and materials are saved. Just as Amazon now sells more e-books than softcover and hardcover books combined, yearbook companies are selling increasing numbers of online yearbooks.

Online yearbooks can provide wider options in visual presentation. Covers can be animated. Team photos have been replaced by slide shows and video clips of the teams. Online yearbooks have more visual appeal than their hardcopy counterparts..

For more information, I recommend Memory Lane yearbooks.

A Stress Free High School Class Reunion

Too many individuals spend too much time thinking about all the aspects of their high school class reunion that worries them. By wasting your time worrying about the event you will not only make yourself feel worse all the way up to it, but you will make yourself enjoy it less as well. Rather than worry about it at all just reassure yourself that if you decide you don’t want to go to it that you won’t, that way you won’t have to worry any longer.

Grudges aren’t that important, especially old ones. Keep that in mind at your reunion and don’t worry about what someone did 10 years ago because chances are they probably don’t even remember it. If you don’t worry about the grudges you won’t get dragged down by the drama and you will have a better time.

One great way to enjoy a reunion is to gather up a group of friends to go with before the actual event. This gives you time to reconnect with old friends and you will feel more comfortable while you are meeting all of the other people you went to school with if you have a supportive entourage to rely on during the event.

It is easy to get sidetracked by past animosity but chances are the people you are angry with probably don’t even remember you, or they don’t remember ever holding a grudge against you. Even if you feel like the issue is still unresolved just avoid the person throughout the night, don’t even give them a second thought and you will have a better time because of that small effort on your part.

Talking to people you don’t know that well any longer is tough. You will feel awkward when you first talk to them if you are like most people but you can smooth that moment over with an observation that you can both relate to. Pick something nearby that is pretty neutral so that you don’t offend anyone and go with it. Talk about the music, the decorations or the food and you will be good.

It is stressful when approached by people that you just can’t remember no matter how hard you try. If someone remembers you and you do not recall them you have to draw attention away from that the best way that you can, by broadening the impact. Admit that you don’t remember them but don’t fail to include that you don’t remember much about class XYZ either so they feel like they are just one of the many you can’t remember and praise their good memory at the same time to make them feel good about you forgetting them.

Don’t ever let yourself feel like you have to go to a reunion no matter what anyone says to you. If you are worrying too much you will have a poor experience and then you will avoid them all after that missing out on some really great times. By skipping the first when you are really apprehensive you can prepare to enjoy the next one and you will have a better time when you eventually make it there.

These steps should make it easy to avoid any stress that goes along with a high school class reunion so make sure to follow them closely.

To learn more about high school class reunions, visit Classmates.com.