Summary by Doug Burbidge
Swancon 18 had lots of progress reports, starting from PR -1, going through PR 0 to PR 4, and then “Progress Report the Last”. Today I wanted to highlight PR4 for its unusual form factor: it’s an A3 page, double-sided, folded in half half half, to A6 size.
The “front page” (which becomes the top left in the unfolded state) has the convention name, logo, “Australia’s national Science Fiction Convention for 1993”, and the mailing address. The “back page” (immediately below it in the unfolded state) spruiks the short story competition. That same side of the unfolded page has convention information, editorial, errata, the constitution of the Australian Science Fiction Convention, “A Three-Hundred Page Manifesto”, an ad for a print shop who presumably gave some cheap or free print services, an ad for Valhalla, and the “Member List As of January 18, 1993”.
The back side has has Programmers’ Notes, Program item summaries, and “SwanCon 18 Preliminary Programme” as a computer-printed grid, with programme items hand-written onto it.
I suspect that fold, fold, fold was easier than fold, collate and staple. And the A6 form factor would fit in a cheaper envelope.
Perhaps we should experiment with the same system for today’s electronic progress reports. But the folding process might break the computer screen.