TheProgram Book (PB),Pocket Program,Souvenir Book, Conbook^[1] andProgram Grids andPink Sheets are allconvention publications meant to convey information about theprogram, convention policies, even details of local restaurants, when they are not in a separate guide and other things happening during the event.

In the Early Days, the Program Book (Programme Book in the UK) was a publication distributed atregistration that listed the convention's program schedule and other useful information (such as, perhaps, biographies of theGoHs).

Today, conventions are beginning to drop some or all of this printed matter in favor of online materials or apps. Except for a souvenir book,Chicon 8, the 2022Worldcon, did all of its publications online, spread across a myriad of applications.

Pocket Program[edit]

As conventions grew larger and the program expanded, it became difficult get the program finalized far enough in advance of thecon to permit inexpensive printing of a fancy program book, and too expensive to print it once the programwas final. Additionally, the program book (now often containingarticles,ads and even sometimesfiction) was too cumbersome to conveniently carry through the whole convention. Conventions responded by printing a “pocket program” (in theUK, aReadMe^[2]) at the last minute using inexpensive repro technology and lesser typographical values than the (often fancy) program book.

Souvenir Book[edit]

Starting withNoreascon Three, some conventions began calling the Program Book the “souvenir book,” which, perhaps, better reflected its new function: a large publication full ofgoh andprogram participants’ bios,articles and other natter, but not necessarily listing theprogram. (And many congoers leave it in the hotel room to read after they get home.) Some cons are now producing them after thecon, withphotographs andconreps, even the final accounts.

Because a pocket program must be printed at the last minute (the program continues to change right up to the convention asprogram participants drop in or out of the program) it is usually typeset simply and printed cheaply. Later changes are notified usingnewsletters, “pink sheets”^[3] or online and in mobile phone apps byprogram ops to list the changes which had to be made to the day's schedule as printed in thePocket Program.

Program Grids[edit]

“Program grids,” meanwhile, display theprogram schedule in an abbreviated format meant to make it easy to see what different events are all happening at the same time.

As conventions increasingly turn to online publishing to save costs and convey information quickly, it can become confusing and overwhelming to congoers to figure out what’s where.Chicon 8 in 2022, for example, had a printed souvenir book; a pdf pocket program distributed only online; an online program app; printed program grids passed out only on request at theInformation Desk; a multi-page website including a weblogconvention newsletter; aFacebook page; a separate Facebook group; plus Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Airmeet accounts, with some of the program virtual only, some live only and some mixed.

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