Publications are the primary cost being covered by the membership fee paid in advance of your Costume-Con. The fees you receive during the course of the three years prior to your CC will help you dictate how much you can spend on each publication, and how many you can offer to your members.
The main considerations are:
Theme
Content
Scheduling
Distribution
We will cover theme first, then content, scheduling, and finally distribution.
Theme
Publications generally have an artistic theme, which coincides with the theme (if there is one) for the overall conference.
For example, CC18 used a carousel horse theme because of the Bushnell Carousel located in a nearby Hartford park. The theme was incorporated into the Progress Reports, Program Book, signs and prizes awarded to the competition Best in Show winners.
Choice and acquisition of artwork is at the discretion of the Publications Director. It is best if you have a staff artist available to provide original art. If this isn't possible, the next best thing is to have good clip-art you can use to dress up the documents.
Betsy Delaney (CCXV) writes:
CCXV did not use a specific theme for its Progress Reports, but when the letterhead, Program Book and at-con materials were designed, we were fortunate enough to have a graphic artist on staff (who also worked for a printing company), and she provided us with a logo that we used throughout our CC.
We had a beautiful color cover for our Program Book, notepads (which she acquired for us for free), acryllic awards which used the logo, canvas bags for our program participants and award winners, and a "gobo" light for the stage that also used the logo design.
While it didn't particularly fit any costume-related theme, it did give the whole event a unified look.
Content
Progress Reports
These Progress Reports (based on PRs from prior CCs) generally contain the following information:
[Insert a list here for each PR]
Bruce Mai writes:
We planned 3 progress reports to be mailed out, which served as both a newsletter and promotional tool. We made sure there was new information in each one. The first was handed out shortly after our bid was accepted. It mainly concerned things about St. Louis, the core con staff, and the conference hotel. The second had mostly new developments and introduced the Masquerade Directors. The third contained more tourist info, programming plans, and directions to the hotel. We felt it was important to give our members something new in each report, to justify the cost of their memberships. Each of the PRs were timed to be distributed shortly after a membership rate hike deadline.
Review the progress reports of previous Costume-Cons. They will help you determine the content to be included in each issue of your CC's PRs. A rough outline of the contents for each PR is below (subject, of course, to your CC's requirements):
Set realistic deadlines (and stick to them if possible) for acquiring the content from your committee members. Publishing these deadlines in each PR will also help define when advertising needs to be in your hands so that you can better market the ad opportunities.
Be prepared to nag your committee members so that content arrives in advance of your printing deadline. No matter how dedicated your con com members are, you will still need to follow up with them to be sure that the material they owe you is complete and in your hands. It is never acceptable to simply guess at what the content should be. You may guess wrong, and have to correct the mistakes later on.
Some of the items in PRs are required materials. Pull-out items especially should be accounted for when planning the contents (and costs to reproduce). For example, you can expect a pull-out survey of what members would like to see, to be published in PR1. PR2 should contain the Hotel Reservation Card or Envelope, and PR3 must contain the Site Selection Ballot (unless you want to spend the extra postage and send it separately).
Always have your CC Chair(s) proofread the PR before it goes to print. It really is worth the extra time it will take to make sure everything looks the way it should. Typos don't look professional, and you may miss something that really should be published.
Check often with your Advertising Coordinator (if you have a separate coordinator) to be sure you have all the ads for the book prior to layout.
Make sure you let the advertising coordinator know what formats will be compatible with your printing format. If possible, provide people who are interested in purchasing ads with some sense of the capabilities your reproduction method of choice can handle. (In other words, let people know you're going to be using a plain paper copier, and not a desktop publishing set-up to reproduce the PR - everyone will be happier with the results!)
Be prepared to provide some creative support for your advertisers. Sometimes you will run into delays that necessitate an ad you will have to design yourself.
Jeff Morris writes:
Pat Ritter wasn't able to send me the [CC17] full-format ad in time, so she sent the text and left it up to me. I figured that, it being Philadelphia and a "Costuming Revolution", a patriotic, 1770- style theme would be perfect and I was frankly impressed with the results--especially with it being done at the last minute. Imagine my surprise when I saw their actual ad--which incorporated none of those themes. Frankly, I still think my ad was the better of the two.
Future Fashion Folio
In addition to Progress Reports, you will publish a "Fashion Folio" (which can go by other names), which contains the winning designs for the two-dimensional future fashion illustration competition that most often goes by the name Future Fashion Competition, or Dimensions in Design competition.
This book provides your members with the drawings on which your conference's "Future Fashion Show" will be based, and should be published in enough time to reach the members so that the costumes can be constructed.
The Folio contains the following:
The rules of the competition (so that members can see the criteria by which designs were selected).
The requirements for reproducing the published designs.
The line-drawn versions of the designs themselves in black and white (most often listed in order of placement - Third place, Second place, First place, etc.)
Descriptions for each design, with explanations of purpose, fabric and color choice, or expected purpose of the costume.
A notation for each design that has been reserved by the designer(s) for actual reproduction for the Fashion Show.
Any special design prizes and the designs which won the awards.
A list of the designers who submitted designs for the competition.
A notice that your Costume-Con has the right to publish a designer's designs, but that the rights revert to the designer at the conclusion of your Costume-Con.
This book can be published using a variety of methods. The printing method is often dictated by the size of your CC's bank account at the point when you are ready to publish the book. Most often-used is the 11 x 17 format, with a card-stock cover, since these tend to fit best in envelopes and provide the nicest presentation.
Reproducing the illustrations, since the advent of the home computer and scanner, has become much easier. With cut and paste techniques and rubber cement a thing of the past, layout of the book should not pose a problem.
Beware, though, of replacing the artist's original work with your own. While you may feel that you have no alternative, there have been instances when designers' original work was replaced, and the replacements were not acceptable. In general, if the designer's work cannot be reproduced appropriately, contact the designer and request a new version to be used in the printing process.
Whole Costumers' Catalogue
The Whole Costumers' Catalogue is an optional publication. The book is published by Karen Dick, co-founder of Costume-Con. It was (and is) intended as a reference book for costumers, and contains a wealth of reference information about shopping locations (storefront, mailorder and online), book references, organizations and so on. The book is completely updated roughly every two years, with an interim update of additions, corrections and deletions published in pamphlet or insert form.
Including the book in your packet adds quite a bit of value to each membership as a whole. It can also add some costs when the packet must be mailed to the member at the conclusion of the conference (either because of a Supporting membership or because an Attending member was unable to actually attend the conference).
This book is generally available wholesale (at a discount) for Costume-Con committees to include with their membership packets. Contact Karen in advance to find out what will be available at the time your Costume-Con will take place, and to get an idea for the cost of the publication. She can also give you a schedule so that you will know when payment will be required for the printing/shipping of the books, and so that you can coordinate the shipping with her.
Program Book
Program books are the place for the following:
The complete list of program items taking place during the weekend
A program overview with the major events highlighted
Brief biographies of the program participants
Rules of all the competitions
The list of committee members and their responsibilities
The policies of your conference
The Costume-Con ConStitution
A list of the dealers at your conference
Hotel layout information (and possibly amenities)
Acknowledgements of sponsors, gifts, donors or people who provided assistance to the conference.
Advertising
Free flyers (exchanges from conference to conference)
Some of this material is repeated from the Progress Reports. That's okay. Unless you are prepared to provide complete copies of the Progress Reports to walk-in members, this is the only place the information will be provided to these members of your conference. It is important to make sure that the above information is included in the Program Book because that is the document most likely to survive the weekend, and for those people who prefer not to schlep their paper from home, the only place where the competition information is available.
To create the book, you will need to acquire the contents from the responsible parties well in advance of the deadline for printing. There is usually a fixed lead-time for having these books professionally printed, which includes proofing, approval and actual print run.
Once the content is in your hands, you will want to do a preliminary lay-out, to see just how large the book actually is. You will also need to have someone else proof the document, to be sure everything that needs to go into it is there, spelled correctly. Believe us when we say that no document should ever go to press without the help of at least one competent proofreader.
Again, you will need to specify to the people providing ads just what your printer is capable of handling. The printing company is valuable in determining what you can handle, because there is a direct relationship between the ad you receive and its reproduction costs. Some media simply is not suitable for some reproduction methods.
Selection of font, style of writing, and ancillary articles that aren't included in the list above are all at the discretion of the Publications Director, though these choices may be made based on what the printing company is capable of handling.
Jeff Morris (CC16) writes:
[regarding articles]: I figured Pierre could do a great job on a history of the Costume-Con's (since we were going to have a lot of first-timers, I thought it'd be a good thing to have in there), and I wasn't disappointed. Steve's report on how the [award] medallions were made (as well as his "care and feeding" instructions) gave him deserved credit for a great job. My own contribution was an optional item--I wrote it up on the proviso that I wouldn't use it unless I had to. I'm still astonished that people liked it.
Pocket Program
In general, while the Program Book may contain the descriptions of the program items and the participants, it usually does not include the times and locations for these items. That's where the Pocket Program comes in.
The Pocket Program is the single most important piece of paper you will generate for the weekend. It provides each attendee with a snapshot of what will be happening during the weekend, in an easy-to-read format, so that people can block out their time appropriately.
Your Pocket Program should have a complete time-grid (in one-hour blocks) for each day of the conference. The grid should contain all hotel meeting rooms being used, what panels or events they will contain, and who will be in them (panelists, staff, etc.).
For example, your Pocket Program should include all panels, workshops, technical rehersals and events. They should also include at least the first initial and last name of each participant on each panel. This information is vital, not just for the people who will be attending these panels, but for the people who will be giving them.
An example of a Pocket Program is available in Word format. [Coming soon]
At-con Newsletter
This fairly-recent addition to Costume-Con publications serves several purposes. First, it provides you with a place to announce schedule and location changes. Second, it gives you a print space to provide lists of award winners for each of your competitions. Finally, it gives you another place besides the main events to make conference-wide announcements to your members. While this publication isn't a requirement, we strongly recommend that you consider offering one to your members.
The Newsletter (which usually has some sort of name that is appropriate to your conference theme) is usually put out by a dedicated editor who collects information (generally in the Ops Office), and compiles it for publication. We recommend a couple of things to this individual.
First, be sure to test the equipment provided. If you proceed to lay out your template using your home computer and familiar software, be sure that the same software (and printer) are available at the conference, or you will be in for a nasty shock.
Second, make sure you know where the issues will be copied. We suggest that you choose the same paper for each issue, since that is the cheapest way to run copies. Most CCs will not run much larger than 400 members, so a print run of 200-300 will probably be sufficient. Unless you have other uses for colored paper, there's no reason to add the expense, unless your CC can afford the additional cost.
These newsletters are usually double-sided, run on a single sheet of paper. It is unusual that you will need more than one sheet of paper for each newsletter, even if there are a multitude of corrections to make. On the other hand, it doesn't hurt to be prepared.
Finally, At-con Newsletters are an excellent source of information about what actually changes in the course of a CC, for historical purposes. It provides your members with up-to-date information in an easy to read format that they can keep with the rest of their materials.
Scheduling
Costume-Cons traditionally offer three Progress Reports (though some choose to offer a "Progress Report 0" as a more substantial form of flyer. These Progress Reports are intended to provide already-registered members with a snapshot of the planning progress for your conference.
Progress Reports should be mailed at regular intervals (generally along the following schedule):
PR1: Coincides with the Costume-Con after you win the bid.
PR2: Coincides with the Costume-Con just prior to yours.
PR3: Coincides with the half-way point between the last Costume-Con and yours.
Generally, you want to provide for at least four months lead time for the Future Fashion Folio to reach your members. For a February Costume-Con, this generally means a late summer/early fall mailing. For a May Costume-Con, the book can be published and mailed as late as January, though earlier is better.
Publishing of the Folio may fall into the hands of someone who is not handling your other publications, so some coordination between the two responsible parties will have to take place, as the Folio very often ships with PR3.
The Program Book will need to be complete and in the printers' hands no later than three weeks prior to the conference, so that you can avoid last minute "rush" charges. You can estimate the total count by looking at the advance registration (remembering to count both Attending and Supporting members), and all advertisers and sponsors. Include between 25 amd 50 extra books to cover your walk-in members (depending on your projections).
The Pocket Program MUST be available to your attendees as early as is humanly possible. Alterations can be made in announcements, on a "Master Grid" at registration, on the room signage, or in the conference Newsletter (below), so when settling on the design and layout of this document, the earlier it can be completed, the better.
You should have a final deadline for creating the layout of the Pocket Program, after which changes can be recorded and announced separately. We recommend that this cut-off occur no later than one week prior to the conference, and preferably two or more weeks. This gives you enough time to lay the document out, adjust it if necessary, and get it to the reproduction center of your choice, so that it can be available as early as possible. If you're really ahead of the ball, you can even publish the document on your web site, so that people can plan ahead.
At-con Newsletters can be produced along the following schedule: Friday evening, Saturday noon, Sunday noon, Monday Morning. We recommend running no more than two-thirds of your total Attendees, unless you are prepared to mail these newsletters to the no-shows and Supporting members. Not everyone will pick up a copy, and there isn't much point in wasting the paper. If it turns out that you need more of an edition, you can always run extra copies from the original.
