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Subject: Re: DNC Balloon Drop What went wrong?
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2004 03:59:07 -0400
From: "Chris Jackson" <ChrisJackson(at)balloonhq.com>
On Fri, 30 Jul 2004, "Rocky Toomey" said:
>Obvioulsy there were problems during the balloon drop! Lets discuss
>what they were so we can all learn from it!
>
>Here are some links from the press.
>
>http://drudgereport.com/dnc86.htm
>
>http://www.boston.com/news/politics/conventions/articles/2004/07/30/b
al
>loon_drop_dribbles_instead/
>--
Personally... having managed several dozen 1200-balloon drops... I
think that the main problems were miscommunication, and somebody not
taking the time to run the numbers...
When I am doing a 1200-balloon drop for a High School Graduation, the
primary effect is: "Dump those 1200 balloons as fast as possible!
Pull those ripcords! Shake the Bags! The Party's over, and the
Cleanup Crew wants to get in there to prepare for the next event
(which is scheduled to start in about 2 hours!)"
Those 1200 balloons need to be out of the nets and on their way to
the floor within 5 seconds of the "Go Balloons!" cue... The kids on
the ground are LEAVING!!! Move It!!!!
This kind of drop is intended to be a "Dump"... Maximum
balloons/Minimum time.
From what I can reconstruct from the news articles, and from actually
viewing the entire length of the TV Coverage, the intended effect for
the DNC Balloon Drop was: "O.K. people... we want to have balloons
falling 'for the cameras' for at least 15 minutes... so we want to
time the ripcords to have balloons falling for the enitre 15
minutes! That way, people who tune in a bit late can still see the
ongoing balloon drop..." (and other celebratory effects, such as the
confetti cannons....)
This kind of drop is intended to be a "Timed Drop"... Minimum-Medium
Balloons/Maximum time for the cameras!
Now let's run the numbers...
1200 balloons in 5 seconds... spread that out over 15 minutes and you
would need 216,000 balloons... That is doable... but it would have
required more than twice the balloons that the DNC paid for.
That 1200 balloons in 5 seconds is usually intended for a class of
less than 600 graduates to be under the Drop... Does anyone know how
many people were at the DNC that evening?
I don't! I usually vote Libertarian! :-D
So what went wrong? The guy on the ground (who unfortunatly had a
mic to CNN) was expecting a "Dump" rather than a "Timed Drop"... He
was expecting a fast effect, rather than a long, drawn-out effect...
Mis-communication!
Long after the balloons stopped falling, there were still a lot of
people batting the big 3-footers around, and the mood for the crowd
was still along the lines of "Let's Party!"
Personally, I would consider that to be a well-organized and executed
drop... and I would complain to the DNC about the goofball who
refused to read the memo about the plans!... and suggest that they
have someone actually run the numbers before they plan their
celebration in 2008!
Chris Jackson
Fort Collins, CO.
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