I decided a while back to take some time off conrunning and try to spend more time going to programme items at conventions. I can't say I've been to all that many in the past year, but I think I saw enough to convince me that there is a definite "sameness" to much of what's on offer. I think that the problem is not so much having the same item at each convention nor that the same people, the reliable performers, crop up again and again. No, I think that it's simply laziness on the part of programme designers who look at past conventions and lift an item here, an item there, and perhaps never think up one genuinely original idea. In an effort to help with this problem I've listed as many different types of programme item and setup as I could. The first list is thematic and may simply spark some thoughts which challenge your assumptions on the format of a particular item. The second list is an idea generator - take one word from each column (2 or 3 words from column 3) and see what you get.