"As far as the souvenir programme goes, in years where the organisers want to produce a book, that's cool, but I don't think it's an essential part of a convention. FantasyCon has I think only had souvenir books in 2011 and 2012, and neither of those were BFS-funded FantasyCons. Different organisers are going to allocate time and money to different aspects of the event."
Again, due to your somewhat limited experience you make a broad claim that is demonstrably untrue. Any FantasyCons that haven't produced a souvenir booklet are very much in the (very small) minority. I really think you should stop broadcasting your opinions as facts.
I think the difference there is that I’m distinguishing between book and programme, and you’re using them interchangeably. If there’s been an actual book produced for FantasyCon apart from 2012 (and 2011?), sorry, I’m not aware of it – and if there was, I do say “I think”, so I’m very much presenting what I say as a belief based on what evidence I have rather than a fact.
Looking it up, Silver Rhapsody lists all the souvenir programmes from 1975 to 1994, and the only book in that period seems to have been in 1988, which was a World Fantasy Convention:
1975 Fantasycon I: A5, 16pp
1976 Fantasycon II: A5, 24pp
1977 Fantasycon III: A5, 28pp
1978 Fantasycon IV: A5, 28pp
1979 Fantasycon V: A5, 22pp
1980 Fantasycon VI: A5, 34pp
1981 Fantasycon VII: A5, 36pp
1983 Fantasycon VIII: A5, 44pp
1984 Fantasycon IX: A5, 48pp
1985 Fantasycon X: A5, 96pp
1986 Fantasycon XI: A4, 68pp
1987 Fantasycon XII: A4, 70pp
1988 Fantasycon XIII (WFC): Hardcover
1989 Fantasycon XIV: A4, 68pp
1990 Fantasycon XV: A5, 52pp
1991 Fantasycon XVI: A5, 52pp
1992 Fantasycon XVII: A4, 56pp
1993 Fantasycon XVIII: A5, 56pp
1994 Fantasycon XIX: squarish format, 60pp
None even went over a hundred pages. From my own collection, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2014 were all in a very similar A4 magazine format.
That's not to disparage those programmes (many of them sound terrific, from the details in Silver Rhapsody) but they all look to me like chapbook, zine, magazine-style publications, not books like the one in 2012. Despite Peter's creative editing above, I haven't said anywhere that there shouldn't be a souvenir programme, just that the souvenir programme needn't be a book.
Check back over the earlier posts, Stephen: people are asking. They want to know. Just because in your opinion (based on how many conventions, by the way?) you can hang fire doesn't make it so.
I’m not hanging fire on anything, I’m not involved with it! I'm just posting here as a member of the society, one who isn't quite so despairing as some of the previous posters.