A local school gave me a serious problem this week.
First of all they invited me to come to their school. They
then proceeded to be one of the most wonderfully helpful, friendly and accommodating
schools I have ever had dealings with.
Doesn’t sound too much like a problem? Well, no. Unless
you are the next school who invites me to visit. This school has set the bar so high that they will be a VERY hard act to follow.
Now, I’m a great believer that every problem has a potential gift in it, if we are open to seeing it. And here’s the gift. As well as the lovely day, the school has given me the chance to write this blog, which means that from
now on, if anyone invites me to visit their school, I can simply point them
here and say, ‘Can you do it like this?’ and if the answer is ‘Absolutely,’ then we’re
on. So, thank you Truro School for making those conversations much easier.
So here are my top ten tips for a great school visit...
1. The first email from the school’s librarian was friendly,
clear in what they were asking of me and polite. Oh, and it included this
line:
‘Your books are extremely popular, particularly with their
local connections, and we very much hope that you will consider visiting us!’
Lesson one: flattery will not hurt your case.
2. When I stated my fees, the librarian was absolutely fine
with this. No quibble; no, ‘We can’t afford to pay you, but it will be great
exposure for you’. Just a, ‘Great. Please can we have a full day’s visit?’
Heaven.
Lesson two: please remember that in order for an author to
visit your school, they will be giving up at least a day that they would
otherwise have spent working at home and earning money, so please do not ask us
to visit you for free. Before you do, ask yourself if anyone else – the
teachers, the librarians, the head of English, the cleaner who will prepare the
rooms for the visit, the admin staff who will send letters home – will be in
school that day without being paid.
NB: If you still have any questions about the whole ‘being paid’
thing, take a look at this wonderful blog by Nicola Morgan. Hopefully this will
ease any remaining doubts.
3. Approximately four emails into the exchange, the
librarian brought up the issue of selling books. We discussed which ones would
work best for the age groups I would be talking to, she agreed to send a letter
home to parents letting them know books would be available and organised the
ordering and selling of all the books.
Lesson three: Our livelihood depends on selling books. Most
of us love visiting schools and talking to children – but we do need to sell books
or our publishers stop publishing us, and if this happens, we stop being authors and you don’t get
to invite us to your lovely school. So, yeah – well organised book sales will
make us happy every time.
4. The exchange of emails was extremely friendly and lovely
and easy from start to finish.
Lesson four: authors spend all day in front of their
computers. We LOVE receiving friendly, lovely emails from people.
5. The librarian asked me how long I would like my sessions
to last, how many children I’d like in each group, which ages I'd like to talk to, and we discussed between us whether workshops
or talks would work best.
Lesson five: find out your visiting author’s strengths. Ask
what works well for them. Negotiate. Do NOT ask them to do eight sessions in
one day. Ever.
6. A couple of weeks before the visit, I was sent a proposed
timetable for the day. It was just as we had discussed, showed the number of
students in each group and included important things like ‘tea break’ and ‘lunch.’
Lesson six: Going to a school you’ve never been to can make
even the most experienced amongst us nervous. The day will be full of people,
places, routines and rules that YOU are probably very familiar with but we are encountering
for the first time. A very clear schedule for the day that tells us where to
be, when, who with and what will happen in between takes a lot of question
marks out of the day for us.
7. Let’s just go back to the bit about lunch. Two librarians
took me to the canteen with them. I was shown where everything was, and we sat
together and enjoyed a lovely lunch. The only hardship was the bit where
(because I’m on a diet) I made myself walk past the delicious-smelling fish and
chips and choose a jacket potato and salad instead. Which was actually very lovely, as was the company.
Lesson seven: It doesn’t have to be grand or gourmet, but
please do feed us. And even better, eat with us and chat to us and don’t make
us have to sit on our own in a scary staffroom wondering where to go to get
some food.
8. A week or so before the visit, the librarian emailed to
ask me how I’d like to be paid. I was given an email address for the finance
department to send my invoice to and was assured that payment would be made
direct into my bank.
Lesson eight: Pay us. Please. On time, nicely, easily. No
one likes to chase money, and most of us don’t like to spend all that long
talking about it.
9. The day itself! This was absolutely wonderful from start
to finish. I was met in the foyer by the librarian who by now felt almost like
an old friend. I was taken to the library where my books were on display, with
showcards and posters everywhere.
I was offered tea regularly throughout the
day. I was greeted by the school’s headteacher who came in to see me and thank
me for coming. I had plenty of teachers on hand for the crowd control during
the talks. I had friendly, enthusiastic kids, teachers, librarians who
listened, asked questions, joined in and generally made the whole day feel
wonderfully smooth. I have to mention the lunch time session with a small group
of very keen readers. This session was so warm and lovely and gave me an
opportunity to share my writing process and some of the more personal aspects
of the job with young people who I think really appreciated the opportunity to
have this smaller session with me.
Lesson nine: I think by now, if you do all the things above,
the day with you will probably go a bit like this too. I know that schools are
all different and it won’t always be smooth and easy all the way – and nor
should it be. But as librarians and teachers, what you can do is put in the
legwork to make the day as organised as it can possibly be. The rest is up to
us. If you’ve done your side of the deal, it makes it easier for us to do ours
– which hopefully means that everyone involved will get the most out of the
day.
Oh, and if you want bonus points, saving a space in the car park for your visiting author would be an extremely lovely touch.
10. After the event, the school wrote a little article about
it which they sent to me. They emailed to say what a lovely day it was and
shared photos on twitter and Facebook. This rounded the whole thing off
perfectly.
Lesson ten: remember, in a few years, you’ll have a whole
new set of students. If we had a wonderful time, we
will almost definitely want to come back next time!
Thank you Truro School for setting the bar so high and for making my job a pleasure!