Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 09:02:32 +0200
From: Jan Lissens W 51737 <lissensj@access.bel.alcatel.be>
To: Marydell combs <sispreach@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: how many in one hr.

It is hard to avoid being a balloon machine sometimes. I never actually counted
how many simple balloon animals I can do in a minute. In my experience asking
th kid what he or she wants takes up more time than making a simple animal. I
think making a poodle takes me about a minute or a minute and a half. So
theoretically, I could do  around forty. But that would mean just twisting,
almost zero interaction with the crowd and even less contact with the kids, and
personally, I see no fun in that. Since fun is essentially why I do this, I
don`t think I would like it.

I think I would, when anticipating such a situation, make a number of animals
beforehand, hand them them out, but still take a minute to talk to the
recipient of the balloon. I know everybody has their own style, but me, I try
to hand out entertainment, with a balloon a byproduct. On many occasions, this
does not work out as well as I would hope, but I suppose it is a
ballooncupational hazard.

There are a lot of tips in the Guide on how to manage long queues, but in the
end, every situation is different. There`s just no one way to handle this

Jan aka The Trekkie Twister