BASA Qld - WBC & modern aviation issues....

I was invited up to Brisbane by BASA QLD to present my last Best of WBC for 2010! It was part of the 2 day training and also included presentations to the new CBA's. I was due to arrive in Brisbane at 3.3pm, ready for the presentations at 7pm. Thanks to the miracles of modern aviation, I did not arrive in Brisbane until 7.30pm, and was informed that my bag (along with about 70 others) was still in Sydney.

I finally made it to the hotel at 8.30pm, and everyone was very good about it, and very accommodating under the circumstances. It reminded me of a lady by the name of Bonnie Thurber - a Stampin' Up creative genius who arrived in Melbourne for regionals in 2009, to be told her bags were still on their way. She rose to the occasion in magnificent style. This video is a tribute to Bonnie. Thanks for the inspiration!

Certified Balloon Artist

Certified Balloon Artist (CBA) is the only internationally recognised accreditation within the balloon industry. It is the benchmark of industry professionals, and customers should be ensuring the company supplying the balloon decor for their event has CBA's on staff.

The reason you, the customer, should do this is because it takes a considerable effort to attain your CBA. The process is as follows.

Firstly you need to join the Qualatex Balloon Network and purchase the three kits. The topics are Balloon Basics kit, Balloon Deliveries & Bouquets kit and Balloon Decor kit. Each kit contains an extensive DVD with demonstrations and information of that topic. Once you have watched the DVD you must complete the online test and submit it for a Qualatex Education Officer to mark. Once you pass all tests with 80% or more you are eligible to sit the 4 hour practical test.

The 4 hour practical test includes replicating a design, submitting two of your original designs, constructing a column and more. During that 4 hour practical test each person will have to face a panel of CBA's who will ask a number of questions that include colour theory, design, business principles and safety. Again the person must get above 80% to be awarded their CBA.

Last week I was in New Zealand to test a number of balloon professionals that had completed their online tests, and were ready for their practical tests. 13 people took the tests (in Auckland and Christchurch) and New Zealand now has 12 new CBA's. One person was not awarded their CBA because their work was not up to the standard required. Below is a 'fly on the wall' experience of the CBA 4 hour practical test.

"Your 4 hours starts now!"

after 1 hour the designs are taking shape....

2.5 hours in and it is looking good....

"you have 20 minutes to go..."

The new (and relieved) CBA's in Christchurch!!

So, next time you are looking for balloon decor, make sure the company you use has CBA on staff. It indicates a level of professionalism and commitment to the balloon industry that you can rely on.

BASA Victoria - Best of WBC

In june I was fortunate to be invited to Victoria by the Balloon Artists & Suppliers Association to teach the Best of WBC Class. Whenever I go to Melbourne it rains, and it was good to see that the the weather was as good as ever.

25 brave and hardy souls ventured out into the elements, and made it to The Manningham for a fun filled day of balloons. One of those trusty souls was Raelene who attended WBC in Dallas earlier this year. As a WBC attendee she had the honour of modelling the beer mug....

The thing I really love about teaching is the fact that I learn so much from the group. I prepare a class, demonstrate the designs I have and then hopefully have enough time to let everybody loose. It was fantastic to see people using the ideas I presented and then taking them to another level. For example I demonstrated how to create a topiary ball inside a 24"deco bubble (yes, INSIDE a deco bubble...). Anyway one of the ladies then managed to replicate the topiary, added a stem and hey presto, she created a flower. Brilliant! It added a whole new dimension to that design. Unfortunately I don't have a pic of that, but here are a few snaps of other bits and pieces we did.

And at the end of the day, when everyone went home, with buckets of balloons and loads of new ideas, I immersed myself in this long cold one. It barely touched the sides, but was just want the doctor ordered.

Thanks BASA VIC. Love your work!

Go Socceroos

Alas, the Socceroos did not fare so well in the FIFA World Cup this time. 2010 was not to be our year. Only another four years to go. I am still involved in the sleepless nights as we head into the quarter finals shortly. At least I got to have some fun with the fantastic Qualatex Bubble Balloons. The soccer ball bubbles are featured here. Bigger and longer lasting tha your average foil balloon. It is also much rounder so it looks like a real soccerball.

Check this one out!

Better luck next time boys!!

Starpoints and Tapers

Before you ask, yes I am still here and still in business. It has been pretty crazy since I got back from World Balloon Convention, and unfortunately the Blog has been sadly neglected. However I am back on track.

So....... a fortnight ago we did a sensational job for Harley Davidson. They had a HOG (Harley Owners Group)convention with all the chapter big wigs and then a awesome party in the workshops to finish the event. Now workshops are pretty dull places, even with a couple of shining Harley's in them. So the brief was to dress the place up, fill the huge empty spaces and make sure you complement the chrome style of the bikes.

So we dressed the back of the stage....

And then had 6 huge taper topiary balls through the venue.

So do you think we did it?? The client was over the moon. Like the A-Team says "I love it when a plan comes together."

Our 14th Anniversary

Unfortunately I wasn't with my good lady wife for our 14th Anniversary, however I do a have a little something for her when I get back, so the ocassion will not go un celebrated.

Thankyou to everyone for all your good wishes. It was a lovely surprise and as Marelle mentioned I was "tickled pink". I'll be back on coffee/tea duty very soon.

Day 6 Festival of Balloons

Ok, I am back on time with this blog. Unfortunately the last one was slightly delayed due to very sore head. However a day to recover is always very welcome.

On the final day, the Grand Hall was opened to the public to view the balloon sculptures, competition pieces and pretty much everything that we have produced. The WBC has been featured on the news for the last three nights. Despite this Amanda Dolecheck (Pioneer PR guru) was somewhat anxious that her PR had been deficient and no-one would turn up. Pioneer had projected that maybe 1500 - 2000 people would turn out between the 11am start and 3pm finish.

This picture was taken at 2pm at the back of the entry queue. Estimated wait time of 50 minutes.

So it seems that most of Dallas turned out. Straw poll has the numbers at between 8,000 - 10,000 people turning up, with well over 5,000 balloons sold. It did not close until after 4.30pm and it was absolutely feral down there. Of course, it wasn't all bad......

I had an easy day, as previously mentioned. Watched Sam Stosur win the final of Family Circle Open in Charleston (?). Tonight all the teachers, Pioneer people and some distinguished guests had dinner at a local BBQ bar. It was a great way to unwind, and a great chance to actually stop and speak to the instructors that we had greeted as we ran past each other for the last four days. A nice relaxing night, but as usual didn't get to bed until after 1am. Some of you balloonies may recognise some of these people in the pictures below.....

That is pretty much it for coverage of World Balloon Convention. I have NSW and New Zealand training days coming up, where I will present a much fuller presentation of photos and some of the new designs. If anyone else wants this then speak to your BASA and/or Qualatex distributor.

It has been an awesome event and I have met some wonderful people from around this great big world we live in. I hope to see "y'all real' soon".

MAD Dave Taylor - in Dallas Texas!!

Day 5 Final Night

All I can say is "WOOOOOOOOOOOW".

What a day. We started the day with an Aussie morning tea that included tim tams, vegemite on jatz, minties, furry friends and caramello koalas. These were taste tested by a number of delegates- the vegemite got mixed reviews......

Then I had my last class - Speed Decorating. A fantastic class to do as there was NO PREP yay. I enjoyed this class and my Pioneer monitor who sat in on the class said that it should have been a mandatory class for all delegates. when it was done though I felt huge relief.

I was asked to present one of the final night awards, and this was a huge honour - and good fun too! They mustn'y know me very well because they let me loose with a microphone in a room with 720 people. I did the Deliverable Sculptures Award.

We finally got a picture of the Full australian contingent. What a good looking bunch of people.

At this stage I must mention that this blog has NOT been sponsored by the HiFloat Company. I had the pleasure of meeting the two special women in Phillip Kash's life (his mother and wife). Andrea (wife) said she has bee following this blog and they were disappointed that Hi Float had not been mentioned. In return for this free plug Andrea, I will require you to leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

The final night decor was truly amazing. I can only add a few pics here. Words are superfluous at this point. check out the pictures.

Bruce Fraser found a friend - spongebob......

...and Beth found a friend - Treb Heining

Day 4 - large sculptures, jamming and final night prep

OK, campers. Not sure how much longer I can hack the pace with minimal sleep. As the convention progresses it becomes more and more jam packed with fun stuff to do. less and less time to do this blog, so today's is a short one. BIG one tomorrow!!!!!

My day started at 5.45am (as usual). I did my Dazzling Dancefloors class first two sessions. I had 71 people turn up to my 8.30am class. This is what one side of my class looked like. The hands on was absloutely insane. 60 turned up for session two. The best thing was all the positve feedback that I have recieved throughout the rest of the day from a number of people in regards to the classes.

Large sculptures were being judged today. Here is my favourite sculpture. St George slaying the dragon. Awesome. I'm so glad I don't have to judge the large sculptures because they are all magnificent.

Pioneer put on an Internationals Reception this afternoon. All us overseas types were able to get together and share a story over a beverage. Very civilied really. Then tonight at 7.30pm I was on the gumballs and bubbles skills table. This is where delegates can ask questions, get some one on one intensive training, and generally hone their skills in a particular area.

I snuck a peek inside the ballroom for final night dinner. Not allowed to take any pics yet. Words fail me.

Day 3 Plant Tour and swingin' 60's

Wow, what a day today.....

I had my first classes today - topiary's and gumballs, and it was great. I was surprised at the number of people who struggled to even make a basic topiary ball, but once we cleared that hurdle we had some fun. Made some crowd balls also, and some 16" gumballs and deco bubbles. Had an Aussie in each class so it was fun.

I got to go on the Qualatex Plant tour this afternoon. Qualatex has a manufacturing plant about 10 minutes out of town, where they actually manufacture the latex balloons, and then ship them all over the world. The whole things was mind blowing. Not only do they make between 4-6 million balloons per week (of all shapes and sizes), but their quality control processes are amazing. I'm surprised we get any pops at all......

Then it was the Swingin' 60's Party last night. A good excuse to dress up and have some fun. The decor for it was predominantly neons with black light and there lots of peace signs, flowers and free love.....included in the theme!

Managed to catch up with most of the Aussie team. Pictured here are Bruce F., Rachael, Claire, Kristine, me, Mala and Beth.

There was also Major Marvin hardy on hand to keep everyone in order.

Oh and I bumped into these to rockers. Recognise them? I'll give you a hint. The chic next to me is Betty, and that bloke on her arm's name is Ted.A !!!

note;

All incriminating photos have been removed from the blog to protect those pictured. However these photos will be kept for later bribery!!!

Day 2 - registration and competitions

Jet lag sleep is always lots of fun, but there is plenty of time to sleep in four days time.

There were people everywhere this morning as the bulk of the delegates came in to register. A few stats about WBC. Just short of 600 delegates, 45 nations represented, and some amazing decor and competition pieces on display.

Much of my day was prep, attending the CBA function and then instructors meeting. Not the most scintillating day...however I did manage to get to the grand ballroom to see the medium sculptures competition. Here is just two of the amaxing pieces on display.

There is also an awe inspiring Alice in Wonderland theme under construction. A Jim Skistmas inspired design that has to be seen to be believed. Here is a sneek peek of the trees at the entry. Larger than life mushrooms, and an amazing 'gate' is hidden behind the trees...

And of course the Australian flag is flying high in the bar...literally. And there were some Australians spotted upholding the beverage traditions....

Gotta head to bed as I have two classes first thing in the morning.

Day 1 - We are at WBC 2010! YAY

After a long and eventful day I finally made it to WBC. 21.5 hours from leaving my house to arriving at Sheraton. My trip was pretty smooth. If any of you know Beth Boynton send her an email and ask her how her trip went....... it's a 27 hour horror story.

Anyway our favourite instructors Dee White and Jodie Norris have been here since Sunday and had just whipped up the fantastic entry decor. I took these photos at midnight as the team were still adding the finishing touches as you can see.

The registration area also looks pretty awesome.....

and the hospitailty suite.,.. OMG so many amaaaaazing designs in this room it would take 50 blog pages to show you, so you're gonna have to cope with one little pic. Take note of the "flowers" on the table.

Tomorrow is when the delegates start arriving and the fun begins. hopefully by then we will be able to send through some pictures with peope in them as well as balloons!!

P.S don't forget with the time change that you guys are a day ahead of us over here.....

...so No I am not running behind........!!

P.P.S - Had dinner with John and Sue Bowler (formerly Marsden-Weston), and they send their love to all.

love your work.

Well with less that a month to go until World Balloon Convention it is getting all very exciting. Since last time I have picked up another class, so I am doing a "topiary's and gumballs" class as well as "dazzling dancefloors" and "speed decorating".


Full details at http://www.worldballoonconvention.com/




Here is a sneak peek to some of the designs we will be doing during the topiary's and gumballs. Sshhhhhh......don't tell anyone.

Terrific TAPERS

...So in the last post we looked at the starpoints. This post features the other part of the new design - the terrific tapers.

Very simplistic in their line and form, but they allow great creativity and are hugely versatile. You can see how we use them below.

taper topiary balls and a funky design

and great if you ned to fill a big space like Parramatta Leagues Club Auditorium (before 2009 NRL Grand Final)

You can also have a bit of some magic flowers hovering in mid air as a different type of entry for your guests.

and want something around the office to add some colour but not get in the way - the blue and gold theme here again.

so give the tapers a go, and let your imagination run wild