Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 07:27:26 -0500 (EST)
From: Larry Moss <moss@balloonhq.com>
To: Balloon Twister List <balloon@balloonhq.com>,
Subject: Re: no twisters at IBAC?

I'm going to answer two notes posted about IBAC twister participation.  One
of them was posted to just the twister list, the other went to both lists.
(Just pointing this out so I don't hear form a lot of people saying that
they missed the beginning of the discussion.)  this is long since my goal
is to inform and provide two different view points.

On Sun, 11 Mar 2001, Red Doc wrote:

> I happened to overhear a few gentlemen discussing the decline in IBAC 
> participation this year. I was curious if others had the same perception. 


On Sun, 11 Mar 2001, jay wrote:

> I, however, was disappointed NOT to see any
> twisters working the festival as they have in
> past years. 
> 
> The last time IBAC was in Chicago, twisters had a
> large part of the festival hall set aside for
> them to work. This year there was only a stage
> set up with single twisters performing. There was
> not the group of 10-12 twisters working as in the
> past. 

A number of factors contributed to this.  I didn't jump into the debate
over the value of IBAC for twisters, but I feel I have to now in order to
answer this question.  My feeling is that it's a personal decision to spend
the money or not.  there's no question IBAC is expensive.  that will never
change.  It's just as expensive for the decorators so complaining that it's
expensive for twisters doens't make much sense.  Many decorators also want
something cheaper.  For decorators looking for something cheaper, there's
the All Star Revue in November (which also has twister classes).  For
twisters looking for something cheaper there's Twist & Shout and TJAM in
February (alternating years between them).  I go to all of them if I can.
Obviously it's hard for everyone to get to all of them.  You just have to
decide for yourselves which events are best for you and your business.  I'm
still in Chicago now, and other than being more than a little tired, I'm
having a great time.  

In a nutshell, I know that not everyone wants to (or should) attend IBAC.
It can't be all things for all people.  But in peak years, something like
1400 people attend.  the numbers say enough about how many people do think
it's worth while.  That said, I happen to be one of the people that thinks
IBAC really did try to accomodate more different types of people this year
(in particular, twisters).  Last year was an amazing year for twisters.
More showed up than ever before.  Unfortunately, IBAC wasn't prepared for
it.  Since they never had that many twisters, they just hadn't planned
properly for it.  As a result, many of the twisters that attended last year
had complaints about things and rather than trying again this year, they
gave up on it.  (Hey, it is expensive.  It's understandable if you showed
up and didn't like it you wouldn't come again.)

Now IBAC is in a funny position.  They found out how many twisters might
want to come, but seem to have missed the opportunity to serve them.  They
tried really hard this year to have more classes involving non-round
balloons.  Aside from the large number of twister oriented classes taught
by Royal Sorell, Marvin Hardy and myself, there were decorator classes that
used non-round balloons.  I taught a class with Bruce Walden that was all
about blending the two disciplines.  (Thanks Don, for the kind words.
Listening to the feedback from everyone, I can assure you that class was as
much fun for us as it was for those of you that took it. I learned a lot
working with Bruce.)  Anyway, they put money and resources toward twisting
and after a great show last year, the twisters just didn't come in the same
numbers.  Those that did come had a great time from what I saw.  Outside of
official classes, it seemed that it wasn't hard for people to get Ken
Stillman and David Grist to also teach them stuff.  Spontaneous jams
appeared from time to time in the lobby.  If IBAC had a crystal ball and
knew that last year would have been the year for twisters to start coming in
droves, things would have been handled better and you would have seen more
this year.

That addresses the question of why there were fewer twisters in attendance.
That in itself has some impact on there being fewer twisters at Festival.
But this is a much deeper issue that's been going on for years.  Twisters
have always been in the minority at IBAC.  Yet everyone makes a big deal
about twisters at Festival.  If only 5% of the people at IBAC (I just made
up the number, but it will help get the point across) are twisters, you
can't expect all of them to be able to stick around through the extra day
on Sunday in order to work for free.  Every year the producers work really
hard to find twisters to work festival.  It becomes a chore to get people
interested.  I know that after doing it for a few years, I lost interest.
You don't see too many stackers competing year after year (competition
pieces being the other part of festival).  You can't expect the same
twisters to want to twist for the crowd every year without compensation.
The same group was always being asked and dragged in and all were getting
more and more angry about being used that way.  Making the twisters happy
enough to participate was too much of a challenge for the producers, so
they dropped it this year.  I'd love to show off balloon entertainment at
festival.  But that doesn't mean I'm willing to volunteer every year.  It's
impossible to have it both ways so this year we all went without it.  Maybe
some year it will come back in a form that both the twisters and the public
can enjoy.  Maybe there's a way for twisters to be compensated for their
time that wouldn't involve a monetary exchange.  If someone has a
suggestion on how to make that happen so the entertainers and the producers
are happy with the arrangement, I'm sure everyone will be more than happy
to listen.  If you just think that volunteering for something like this is
appropriate and you're willing to do it, volunteer now for next year.  If
there are enough volunteers, festival will go back to the old format.

On Sun, 11 Mar 2001, Red Doc also wrote:

> What little I was able to experience, I thoroughly enjoyed. Also, just a 
> personal observation, I noticed that the smaller balloon sculptures in the 
> IBAC competition were nowhere near as breathtaking as the ones seen at TJAM. 
> Don't get me wrong, they were all over my head! And I was impressed by them 
> none the less. But I was wondering if the twisters were all breaking away 
> from IBAC ? 

there was no time limit on the small figures at TJam.  At IBAC the limit
was 12 minutes and it was done in front of the judges.

Larry Moss
BalloonHQ.com