How to keep a printed programme up to date on the day
Paper can't change, so make it point to the Board. Print your programme with its QR code, then post each change once and every phone shows it.
A printed programme can't change once it's in guests' hands, so make it point to something that can. Once your Board is published, the programme you print from CueDuck carries the Board's QR code and short code. When something changes on the day, you post it once, and every open phone and the foyer screen show it within about 10 seconds. Guests don't need an app or an account.
Why printed programmes go out of date
You print the programme the week before, and by the morning of the event something has often moved. A speaker's train is late, or a projector fails and a workshop needs another room. Reprinting takes time, and the old copies are already in bags and lanyards. An announcement from the stage only reaches the people in that room.
The paper isn't going to change. What helps is giving everyone holding it a quick way to see the current version.
How to print a programme from CueDuck
On Schedule, choose Print or export, then Printable programme. On Publish, it's Printable programme (PDF). Either way you get an A4 programme of every day, which you can print or save as a PDF from your browser's print window. It's always A4 and always covers every day.
The programme opens with your event's name, dates and venue. Once your Board is published, it carries the Board's QR code, with "Live times" and the short code underneath, and the day and time it was printed. It also tells guests "Times can change on the day" and points them to the code for the latest, so anyone holding a copy knows how old it is and where to look.
Each day has its own heading. Every row shows the time, title, speakers and room, and sessions are marked "· Cancelled" or "· Full" where that's true. Topics aren't on the printed programme. If your Board is private, the programme shows the QR code only, never the long code. It's free. Publish your Board covers publishing, posters and the foyer screen.
The same QR code is on your posters (Download poster) and always on the foyer screen (Open foyer display), so the paper isn't the only way in.
How guests get from the paper to the Board
Guests point their phone's camera at the QR code and tap the link it shows. Or they go to cueduck.com and type the six-character code printed on the programme. Capitals, spaces and dashes don't matter.
The Board opens on Now. Schedule has the whole day, and Changes has everything you've posted. It keeps itself up to date while it's open, so nobody has to refresh. Open a Board walks through it from a guest's side.
When a session moves on the day
Say you're running Harbourside. The programmes were printed the week before, and on the day the 14:00 workshop has to move to the Garden Room.
- Choose Change a session and pick the workshop.
- Set its new place, the Garden Room.
- Check Was and Now, add a line in Note for guests (optional) if it helps, then choose Post change.
A guest holding the paper programme scans its QR code and sees the workshop in the Garden Room. The change is in Changes too, and the foyer screen updates by itself.
The copies already printed won't show the move, and a reprint doesn't mark it either. A new print simply shows the workshop in the Garden Room, with a fresh printed time.
For news that doesn't touch the schedule, like lost property, choose Notice, write it and choose Post update. Turn on Urgent only when people have to act: it leads the Board until you resolve it. Moving sessions and urgent updates are for your team, and stewards can post normal notices from their own phone without an account. Posting on the day has the rest.
If you've got an event coming up, put your programme into CueDuck for free at cueduck.com and print it to see how it looks.