Thanks for posting all the pictures Graham, I thought that you had lost the last one ???

My Thoughts on Twist & Shout

The Journey……………and what a journey

The fun started for me about a week before I was meant to fly off over the big pond to America as I’m not the best of flyers and only started to fly two years ago for the Diamond Jam convention in Phoenix in 2007. Before that it was over 25 years since I’d been in a plane. I get very stressed out with the whole procedure of getting on a plane and the stress & worry normally kicks in for me from the week before which was made worse this year by the weather on the Sunday night before we were due to fly out on the Monday, it started to snow & didn’t stop until we had around 14 inches of snow on the ground which is the worst snow storms in the UK for over 30 years. Colin Myles who I was travelling over with and is kind enough to keep me company got stuck at Edinburgh Airport as Heathrow was closed for the whole day, he managed to get a flight to Paris later in the day but with only a 50 minute window to catch his connecting flight to LA. Time was too short & Colin stayed over in Paris and arrived in LA only a day late. My flight on the Monday was re-scheduled for the Wednesday as all other flights were fully booked with all the chaos of closing down the whole airport for a day does to the system. I was informed I could take a chance and turn up at the airport on the Tuesday as the plane may have seats available due to people all being stuck in the wrong places so off I go to the airport on the Tuesday which was a challenge in itself as we drove to the station through all the snow, even the main roads were not clear and driving was very dangerous.
From arriving at Heathrow it only took an hour and a half for me to get my flight changed & confirmed onto the 3.15 afternoon flight and to get through security with as an added bonus being up graded to business class. Perfect, all sorted, what could possibly go wrong, well………….we are just waiting for the gate to open so that we can start boarding the plane when they make that dreaded announcement that the flight has been cancelled. We queued up again to change our flight for an hour before we were moved up into the main terminal where I was informed that the information desks were working at full capacity & there was no queue, what a complete lie that turned out to be………….BA you should be ashamed at the way you treated people.
The earliest date they could arrange on the phone for the re scheduled flight was for three days time on the Friday and the only way to get an earlier flight with a different carrier was to wait in line, the good news when we started to wait was that all the 17
desks were manned but as the day wore on one by one they closed so that by the time I was at the front only 5 desks were in operation and I had to wait for 6 and a half hours to get a flight with Virgin airlines for the following morning at 11.oo a.m.
With it being nearly 11.oo p.m before getting my new ticket and it taking approx 2 hours to travel home and needing to be back by 8.oo AM for following morning we decided to sleep at the airport with all the hundreds of others, it was not the best nights sleep I’ve ever got with all the stress & worry put on top of my original problems about flying but at least after a 48 hour delay and being booked onto 4 different flights I was on my way on my first plane journey to America all on my own.
I can honestly say that those two days were the most stressful I’ve ever experienced in my lifetime and one that I hopefully wont have to experience again

So on with the write up for the convention, these are only my thoughts on the convention and some of the classes I was not too impressed by others thought were excellent, so as they say it may well be horses for courses. I feel it’s very important to be as honest as possible as I’ve read so many reports & write ups by others that I’ve actually wondered if they were at a different event & show as some reporters seem to view things from rose coloured glasses.
I will try & be as honest as possible,

TO BE CONTINUED

thanks for posting the pictures and the comments Graham. Its really great for those like myself to know what is going on at T&S. Hopefully I'll be able to go next year....

keep the write up coming!!!

wow looks great i will have to save and go next year great pics graham

The list of winners from the convention;

Small Sculpture

1, Jack Mattson, "Bear on Grass"
2, Twistina, "Sweet-Smelling Roses"
3, Nancy Dalton, "No Contest"


Medium Sculpture

1, Alberto Falcone, "3 Elephants"
2, Vicky Kimble, "Clock"
3, Twistina, "King Tut"


Large Sculpture

1, Satomi Kinoshita, "Fairy"
2, Rob Balchunas, "Jazz Band"
3, Jack Mattson, "King Neptune"


Stage Competition

1, Willy Monroe
2, Manon Dudziak
3, The Atwistocrats


People's Choice Stage Award
The Atwistocrats

TOP TWISTER:
Jack Mattson

"David Grist Memorial Award" - Royal Sorell

Some thoughts & suggestions on/about Twist & Shout.

The hotel venue was very nice although the sign attached to the front of the building stating that this area caused cancer was a slight concern, talk about covering your backs.
The four lecture halls were of a good size with only the Artesia room getting very warm & claustrophobic. The jam room was way too small with possibly the Crystal A room being bigger and perhaps more suited to being the jam room, the large competition balloon sculpture area was also not ideal but trying to find a venue in a different location every year that is ideal for the balloon convention is a thankless task and the Sheraton Hotel, Cerritos seemed to fit most of the criteria that the balloon convention required.

I would also like to see the lectures start later in the day as 8.3o am for the first one is way too early especially if you’ve been partying the night before, a l0.oo am start would seem a sensible time to me
The problem with using hotels is the high cost for rooms etc as our room cost of $115 dollars a night just for the room made the convention work out to be very expensive.
I’m also not a lover of the $5 charge for each lecture you visit. If you stayed for a minimum of four nights, went to all the lectures possible and paid $229 registration the total cost is $750 or £520 or if you can share a room $519 or £360 for what is a 2.5 day convention. So when you compare this with The Millennium Jam cost of $441 or £306 for a 5 day convention with the added extra of fantastic evening entertainment with the Iron Latex & Fashion Shows and you can help to decorate the venue pre TMJ as well on the Saturday.

So the cost did seem excessive but then the venue was so much more up market than Sunparks, that said I would definitely recommend you to visit and attend twist & shout as I was made to feel most welcome and had a really nice time with everyone being so kind, warm hearted and very friendly. In fact all that we come to expect from all balloon twisters from around the world as this surely is the most amazing bunch of individuals ever, we are all one big happy family with that special bond that one just can’t describe but we all know is there.

So having arrived two days late it was straight to the bar for a drink with Ken & Colin after Ken picked me up at the airport & trying to wind down from the two most stressful days of my life travelling to the convention.

The first of the attractions was the slumber/pyjama party which I only observed, some people seemed to have no shame in what they turned up in but it was all in good fun and everyone had a great evening, although I didn’t stay to the end as sleep was calling me by then.
Colin woke me early the next day as he still had lots to do on his large competition entry piece that had to be set & finished by 4.oo pm that day. I just had a very leisurely morning meeting & catching up with old friends & making new ones and it was very interesting speaking with Michael Floyd who runs another balloon forum, very interesting indeed. Then it was back to help Colin with a few final touches before I went off to my first lecture of the convention on marketing with Connie Iden-Monds called “Just Say No” There were no planned events on the Thursday morning, the first official lectures not starting till 1.3o pm. The class was discussing & showing ways to promote yourself and your business without paying out thousands in advertising. I found it to be a very interesting couple of hours with some good tips and I would assume everyone gaining from attending the lecture, a tighter 90 min lecture would have been preferred as it was a very quick turn around to the next lecture by Zanie Janie Driscoll called “Balloon Show” Not sure what I was expecting from this class as I’d heard the name a lot over the last few months with postings etc on balloon HQ. If I’m being honest I was not expecting too much but how wrong can you be as the class tuned out to be a joy to attend with Janie being a very enthusiastic and competent & funny lecturer, I thoroughly enjoyed the class and I’m sure it would have been very useful to everyone. Class notes were given out to everyone which was a nice touch and helped you to refresh your memory later on to what the class was about.

Will hunt out my notes to see if I can add to the above with a few more details about the content of both lectures,
TO BE CONTINUED

Found the notes for the classes,

Connie's company is called party animals http://www.partyanimalstn.com/ and things discussed were website design, personalize your email, you tube, facebook, linkedin, craiglist and how to make them all work for you.

Zany Janie, http://www.alwaysclowning.com/ be warned there is some very annoying & irritating music on the site

Janie talked about building up anticipation for your show, making an entrance, how to build a balloon show from a children's story book, act while performing by adding breath control.

While over at twist & shout I added to my DVD collection with,

1, Adjustable hats, Tonya McNeill
2, Class notes, Andrew McDonald
3, Story telling & entertaining with balloons, Gilbert Adams
4, Twisted, a balloonamentary, Naomi Greenfield & Sara Taksler
5, Madhatter, Lincoln Johnson

The Thursday night welcome reception;

A small buffet was provided with fruit, a cheese selection, cookies, soft drinksand coffee. The buffet seemed to be on the small size considering that there were 275 attending the convention so I was pleased that I’d eaten before the event, but the cookies were fantastic and I did have two of them
The evening was just about outlining what was to come over the next few days with the lecturers giving us snippets of their classes, from memory that was the evening. On reflection it should have been more of a razzmatazz extravaganza as it was the opening night of the convention and the organisers needed to get the show on the road with a bang. More needs to be done for this evening presentation & thoughts on it moving to the Wed night should be given as some of the classes had already been & gone with no chance of catching them even if you wanted to. This would then free up the night for yet another night of organised entertainment that all the convention goers could participate in.
The late night lectures run from 11pm with the one that I attended going on for two hours so to try & get up for an 8.3o class is rather a challenge especially if you go to the jam room & have a few beers before getting some shut eye.
I would move all the late night lectures to the Thursday morning so making that a full day and have the welcome reception on the Wednesday night before any of the classes start with the same format of the instructors introducing themselves & explaining their classes and then getting a good small show together, possibly a related art, juggling, magic act and/or possibly asking some of the instructors to do a few minutes on stage as well.

The late night lecture that I attended on the Thursday was by balloonchat member Andrew McDonald, McPump on Mall twisting, an unusual title as only one thing was twisted in the whole two hour session which was on working for the owners of the mall (shopping centre) rather than the shopping centre as they own hundreds of centres rather than just one. Things discussed were how to get contact with the big organisations, how to work the centres, having people stand in for you and doing the bigger events for the venues. Some good tips & advise were given even about the $100 dollar line and Andrew told some nice stories, a worthwhile class that I felt would have benefited from it being tightened up and 30 minutes shorter but this may have been the first class Andrew had given on this subject and he wanted to make sure everyone got value for there $5 entrance fee but sometimes less is more.
TO BE CONTINUED

Hi Graham really enjoying the write up on T & S.

Just wondered did you get to play with any kit pumps etc, if so could you give us your opinion of them.
Did you get a new pump, I know you were thinking about it?

Keep the info on T & S coming, it is really good to read.

Roger

This is the pump I got Does anyone have some sunglasses