I'm sitting in the jam room writing the reviews up at 11.15 p.m. and the lectures I went to on day two we're Jimmy Leo, Colin Myles, Mark Byrne and Jane Driscoll. This morning the first two classes we're absolutely excellent and well worth seeing with some greta tips on how to promote yourself and a very nice woven heart, I'l do a write up when I get a few more minutes hopefully later on in the week.

A big thank you to Harveyfor helping me find my picture folder on the laptop Harvey was one of my team members last night along with Jenine in the twisting with the stars competition thatwe didlast night which was based on an American TV programme. We had twenty minutes on each to make models related to music, rock, 50's and country. We had a laugh and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Just off to the first class of the day so will try and down load some more pictures soon.

1, Charlotte airport with the birds flying around the inside of the airport
2, The first plane for flight again at Charlotte airport
3, The Tuscanny hotel, I just liked the way the towel was folded. I'm sad

Some more pictures;

1, Hotel room, very large. More a suite with kitchen fecility's
2 & 3, Pink panther on a hat from Bidou's class

Bidou showed a nice ball technique and the face, helicopter are based on this design. The snail had a lovely story to it while it was being made which took you from a twister to an entertainer.

The skull is another variation from Bidou on his bal technique and the dog and elephant are from Ken Stillman's lecture on odd shapes from the Sempertex range.

The first night entertainment was the busking competition which I personally think should be scrapped, it's not a true representation of what you would need to do if you went out into the big world to do some busking. There we're either 6/8 competitors who entered and I believe some had no notion as to what busking was or what was involved in the art of
getting a crowd before you start to entertain them. Some of the acts should not have entered as they just got onstage and twisted without talking at all or even trying to entertain those that we're watching.
Instaed of this being on the stage if the wish to continue with it why not put it on inthe hotel lobby or on the Las Vegas strip where true busking would be possible. Before the evening started Gary Leadbetter the compere/master of ceremonies encouraged the baying crowd to heckle, harrass and really give the competitors a hard time............why? When busking you get some light banter etc but as the audiance we're mainly entertainers I feel this made for a very difficult situationfor those brave enough to take part. It would also have been nice for the compere to do a little research into the names of those taking part and where they came from so that he had a little info on every one rather than saying well here's the next one every time. We had tickets to vote on who we thought should win, I decided not to vote.
These again are just my thought's though.

After the busking competition was the very first balloon world record attempts which was run by Ralph Dewey, there we're two catagories for this year, weaving a two balloon spiral hat and the interwoven flower. All balloons had to be inflated with a hand pump with all the balloons on the table un-inflated and with a 30 minute time limit. I was changing rooms when this was going on and will find out who took the honours and can promote themselves as world record champions. This may very well be coming to the UK with other catagories being competed for so that we can promote and expand the balloon world to the general masses, so perhaps there will be a few world record attempts taking place at a care & share day near you soon

So onto the two best lectures I have beento so far while at Diamond jam,

Jimmy Leo, Marketing beyond the balloon box.

This was an excellent class with not a balloon in sight on how to promote yourself, no matter what I say about this session it won't do it justice. Well worth attending with full notes being sent to you via a pdf file after the event. Jimmy is a very loud person and in your face and it does possibly take a while to get to know him but it's well worth while getting to know him as he is avery interesting character.

So onto Colin Myles lecture, who is a good friend but I did speak with others about his class to make sure I gave a true reflection on what he taught and showed.
I thought this was an excellent class and realy made for a great morning as I attended this just after the Jimmy Leo class, Colin explained very well his heart shape woven technique.
The heart could be left like this or aded to by threading through extra balloons to make the heart look fuller and solid, hopefully the pictures will explain this better. Colin has a nice way with him when teaching and is just the same teaching or socialising and he engages everyone in the classroom, my only suggestion which I have already spoken to him about is that ashe has a fairly soft voice in the classroom it would be better if he was mike'd up so that he projects better. If Colin is doing a teaching day near you, then go as you won't be dis-appointed.

Mark Byrne, Why only balloon hats

Mark spoke about why he likes to make balloon hats in his resturant work that he does as it makes and frames the face for a good photo opportunity. Mark went through his complete set up where everything is bought from and why he does things in a certain way. Plenty of info for everyone and also time for half a dozen hats made the Mark Byrne way.