There should probably be a brief letter sent to the shepherds telling them what they're expected to do as shepherds (namely send these letters as appropriate, give the conference chairman status updates, etc.).

Before the conference:

-- Shepherd Introduction -- Introduces shepherd, describes shepherding process, acceptance process, due dates, etc.

-- Acceptance Letter -- Notifies acceptance, reminder of pre-conference draft due date and submission address, conference dates, briefly describes what a reading group is, explains that preparing a slide presentation is not necessary, describes conference incl. cost, room and board included, transportation to Urbana/Champaign is necessary, carpools from U/C airport, whether rooms are available the night before the first day and/or the last night of the conference, etc.

-- Rejection Letter -- Notifies of rejection.

-- Proceedings Letter -- Accompanies proceedings for the conference, assigns reading groups, instructs you to verify your paper is correct and to read the other papers in your group.

At the conference:

-- Writer's Workshop Explanation -- Given first day of conference, usually verbally, explains in detail how a reading group works, announces/assigns reading group moderators.   We usually run a mock writer's workshop on some short paper to demonstrate the details of running a workshop.

After the conference:

-- Submission For Book -- Solicits revised drafts for book, explains book process, gives due date(s) and submission address, includes template for MS-Word.

-- Book Acceptance Notification -- Notification that paper is accepted for book.