An Introduction to the Guilds of the 2010 Convention.

A number of Ankh-Morpork's Guilds, both great and small, are present in Bonk for the delegation; where they are to be welcomed by a number of Bonk's own local associations.

They are:

From Ankh-Morpork:

• The Guild of Assassins
• The Guild of Seamstresses
• The Honorable Company of Journalists, Clackspersons and Gossipmongers
• The Guild of Historians, Teachers and Archaeological Knowitalls

From Bonk:

• The Reformed Athothiation of Thurgeonth, Igorth and Igorinath
• The Missionaries, Proselytes and Botherers of Om
• The Überwald League of Temperance
There is also a (non-competitive) Guild for people who have a yearning to display their skills at performing:
• The Bonk Operatic Society (twinned with the Dolly Sisters Players).
Between them, they possess a power for chaos, mayhem and (we hope) a very large amount of fun!


Guild membership

...Is voluntary. No-one is expected to join a Guild if they don't wish to; and you should have a wonderful time here regardless. You won't miss any events by not being part of a Guild.

That said, the Guilds are the source of all sorts of insanely fun and creative ideas, as well as being a great icebreaker. We'd certainly recommend them and you can join the discussions about Guilds here.

(Admittedly, we're biased.)

Although members will generally be assigned to a Guild at random, you *can* change to another Guild when you arrive at the Convention. We'd encourage you to do this at the Guild Fair, which takes place on the first day of the Convention.

We do also take efforts to ensure that all children will be placed in a Guild with at least one of their parents.

Nothing that happens before the Convention is absolutely final (or we'd be History Monks!).
The Monks of Cool (a.k.a. the Guilds Team).
The great and wise in the Committee called upon us as part of their sage deliberations two years ago. The Monks of Cool are a roaming team of Very Mellow Individuals headed up by the Abbot of Cool himself. Our way is to promote cosmic harmony through the application of relaxation; to smooth troubled waters, to unfurrow Guild brows, to help the Guilds get what they need to get to do what they want to do.

(Within reason. Since the Thieves Guild ran off with our I.W.I.N. button, we do have to say no on the odd occasion. But we don't like saying no and would much rather say 'Wow! cool!')

We will assign deputies, handle transfers, answer your questions, advise on the feasibility of Guild plans, assist where we can, and keep track of the score during the Guild Competition.

Each guild will have two deputies who will be in charge of their day-to-day activities. We are currently in the process of recruiting these. Should they encounter any problems, or be uncertain as to whether it's a good idea to, say, paint the hotel black to match their clothes, we will be at hand to help with friendly advice and blunt instruments.


The Rules
There are one rule and two recommendations, handed down from the timeless wisdom of the Abbot himself. If you stick to these, all will have an excellent convention, and we'll have less to do, leaving us more time to, well, be cool.

* Be excellent unto one another.
* Have fun
* Make fun for others

We look forward to helping you make things incredibly groovy.

The Monks of Cool.