Program Book
Sometimes the program book is an all-in-one thing that contains everything members need to know; sometimes it's broken into two parts, with just the program in the program book, and everything else in a separate souvenir book. Sometimes it's an A4 perfect-bound work of art; often it's an A5 booklet made of A4 folded and staple-stitched.
Things that need to go in the book(s) include:
- program grid (with time on one axis and rooms on the other)
- program item descriptions
- welcome to convention / what to do if things go wrong
- con rules
- anti-harassment policy
- WASFF statement of principles
- blurb about WASFF grants
- committee blurbs (and possibly WASFF board member blurbs)
- guest bios (possibly including bibliographies or suggested reading lists)
- key events blurbs
- gaming sub stream
- art show explanation
- guide to local area
- map of hotel including names of rooms
- ads
- sponsors
- LiveCon details
It's not uncommon to put the program grid in a part of the book that is easy to find, e.g. in the very centre (if the book is folded and staple-stitched) or at the very end.
Program item descriptions should (if at all possible) be sorted in chronological order.
In addition to the book, you may wish to prepare a one-page (or very small number of pages) program grid. This can be handy if you run out of program books (it's easy to print more one-page programs if you've already got the Excel or whatever source file) or if program changes stack up and you want to re-issue (it's easy to print lots of a one-page on the spot).