Balloon Chat
Uncategorized Boards => Balloon Chit Chat => Topic started by: Graham Lee on November 17, 2010, 11:33:11 AM
We are always looking to improve the forum and the ideas we are thinking about at the moment are to have a website button under everyones post like the profile, quote and PM buttons so that people can click straight thru to your website. Also looking to have a portfolio button added as well so that everyone can add pictures to the site.
Membership is growing and we are always looking for ways to get people more actively involved with the forum so another idea is to have just the balloon chit chat section open to non members and then you have to join the site to view everything else, thoughts are that once you join up you may as well then add comments and start posting. Membership would still be free, I'm not thinking of making this a paying site.
All thoughts, suggestions and ideas are welcomed and appreciated, another idea we are thinking about is starting up a balloon club similar to the United Twisters in Holland which would help in getting money up front to help booking international lecturers for the group instead of myself taking a chance and hoping we get enough people booking to cover my expenses.
THE BALLOON ARTISTES GUILD, to attend all 10 days and receive 3 DVD's from the star lecture days that are recorded with over 4 hours of educational material from
some of the top names in the balloon community. The cost is just £120 with bank transfer or cheque. The fee is £125 if you wish to pay with credit card or PayPal.
Is there or can we have a Mark all as read button for posts we don't want to read so they don't stay red!
Snurb there already is. You can't select individual posts (but then you could just click in and out of them) but if you go to the main forum page there is a button to mark all forums as read and that will remove all the red flags.
I think that the 'balloon club' idea is a really good one and I would definitely be happy to pay an annual membership on the basis of attending a certain number of events.
I think the only thing that would stop me joining would be if the meetings were in the South of England making the travel prohibitive. Midlands would be fine though.
Hi,
I would love to be able to upload my pictures with ease, just like i can from my blackberry straight to facebook.
For me personally i would find this easier than doing from my pc!!!
Im in the south so in terms of supporting care and share lectures it would need to be luton and below.
Normski
Yay found it. Thanks has bugged me since I joined!
Quote from: "YvonneH"Snurb there already is. You can't select individual posts (but then you could just click in and out of them) but if you go to the main forum page there is a button to mark all forums as read and that will remove all the red flags.
I'm glad you replied to that Yvonne as I was not sure what surb meant.
Yep balloon club and click-thru :D
We have decided to go ahead with the "WWW" button so that this will click thru straight to everyones website from the bottom of every post and we will also have a "photo/album/portfolio/gallery" button at the bottom of everyones posts as well. Not sure what out of the four it should be called but possibly portfolio?
The last thing that I'm not too sure about is just having the balloon chit chat part of the forum open to non members and then they have to join up to view everything else, I have been told this may effect our google rankings etc but the idea behind this is to get more members joining the site and being active on the forum. Perhaps we could try this for a trial period and see what the results are?
All thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.
Is it possible to submit photos from mobile devices such as phones and iPods?
I think this is a really good site. I do not post much. This might be my 3rd post.
I live in Canada. The main reason I use this site is the pictures can be seen on my BlackBerry phone. I can not see pictures if I go to "balloon-animals".
You have said that you will not make this a paying site. I think it is very important to keep this site free. I use to post on a different site, but it went became a pay site. Now there is almost no one posting on it.
As someone that does not have time to read everything, I try to mainly look at the pictures. Anything that would make it easier to load pictures would be great.
So back to the club idea, these are just some thoughts but since trying to book David Brenion and trying to work out a fair price so that I cover my costs etc I have been mulling the idea over.
What would a fair price be? Some lecturers would come from Europe and America, and for the cost we had 7 care & share days to attend with three major lectures a year, the major lectures being filmed so if you were unable to attend you would be sent the DVD.
All days would need to be spread out fairly across the UK for both care & share days and lectures with possibly a lecturer doing two days when over, north and south or would this be overkill if they are being filmed?
Then we need to see what would the charge be for someone attending just a one off day who did not want to join the club?
We don't want to put people off attending the odd day, especially the newbies who may not want to join but we have to have a price where it's advantageous to join.
Please let me know your thoughts on this either on this thread or if you prefer send me a PM or email via one of my websites.
Thanks to those that have emailed me privately about the twisting club, definately some food for thought.
All comments and ideas are appreciated.
A balloon club would be a good Idea. And the click to website is also a good idea graham!
Just something similar to your care and share days but on a more regular basis?
I know I ALWAYS moan about it, but for me and I presume others too, location is key! If there was a balloon club in doncaster, i'd go every week if I could!
There are loads of magic clubs all round the UK, and these work!
Jordan
Sorry I can't find the portfolio button? Club is a good idea!
Quote from: "Dave"Sorry I can't find the portfolio button? Club is a good idea!
The portfolio/album button has not been added to the site yet Dave, any thoughts/idea's on how the club should run.
Pricing and location is the issues, I started a group called twisted air about 2 years ago which started out really well but ended up with me teaching basics to beginners, I now meet with a small group of 4 twisters where we share ideas.
The last 6 months have been a bit mental for me so we haven't got together but going to kick start it again in March.
We aim to improve are art and marketing.
I believe that once a club starts more will follow like the magic circle and all the local clubs.
To see the benefits you just need to see what the members of United Twisters can make.
Graham you already have the basics with the care and share days, the fee would depend on what each member would get from it?
Videos hmmm I can't see why not, from what I have heard they do in the magic circle, what do UT think of it?
How much are you thinking of charging?
This is all very flexible and just a starting point, if we had 7 care & share days, Banstead, Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Darlington and Bishops Stortford and then three major lecture days, Banstead, Birmingham and possibly Leeds/Darlington. The care and share days I would get a mystery lecturer and the days would run as known. We could possibly video the mystery lecturer at a care and share day and send out a DVD but not after each event as this would be cost prohibited but after a major lecture we could put perhaps 2 care and share lecturers doing a 1 hour lecture/session and a major lecture doing four 1 hour sessions, so 3 DVD's a year with 6 hours of material/lectures on.
We then have to decide costing for people to attend who do not want to join the club, the days need to be priced fairly but with a good advantage to join the club.
If we charged £99 and members got 3 DVD's and 10 balloon days free of charge and then for non members who we most certainly still want to encourage to come along as they are the stars of the future. A care and share day could possibly be £15/20 to attend and a major lecture £35/40. So making a total cost of £210/260, so £99 for the year with all the DVD's is a very competitive price.
It will take a while to build up membership but hopefully with really good named artistes coming over and the members can choose who we invite the membership hopefully will grow and with having sponsorship from Qualatex for the next two years this will help us build the club up so that it is financially possibly to achieve.
I have taken a chance with booking major lectures in the past, Ralph Dewey, Don Caldwell, Patricia Bunnell and numbers at these events has been poor due to the extra charge we need to make due to them flying in from America and I have lost money on all three so with a build up of members we will be able to book top names from the club funds and if anyone is unable to attend a day they will still receive a DVD.
Would very much like more thoughts from everyone and anyone about this, the idea is not to make an exclusive club where outsiders are not welcome, the idea of the club is to take our artform forward.
Some people are emailing me privately about this and a good question has come up about people overseas becoming members and so receiving DVD's.
Would those that have sent me a PM about the subject mind posting them onto the forum for discussion?
The DVD idea would be big positive move forward in my view.
When I attended lectures in the States I got a copy of the audio as well as the lecture notes.
Something which never happens here.
I would also like to know before booking to attend a lecture what is going to happen on the day.
There is a big reluctance for people travel up north or down south (especially with the current cost of gas) which however big the name would not help people to change their mind.
When you book a venue consider the parking.
The only venue that does have a problem with parking is Birmingham, but it's a nice venue and provides a nice sensible priced buffet when required and the hall charge is at a cost effective price. Some halls have quoted me £200 to hire for the day which is totally out of our price range when the days are free or a nominal £10.
Always happy to look at other venues if anyone has suggestions that would fit our needs.
Quote from: "Graham Lee"This is all very flexible and just a starting point, if we had 7 care & share days, Banstead, Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Darlington and Bishops Stortford and then three major lecture days, Banstead, Birmingham and possibly Leeds/Darlington. The care and share days I would get a mystery lecturer and the days would run as known. We could possibly video the mystery lecturer at a care and share day and send out a DVD but not after each event as this would be cost prohibited but after a major lecture we could put perhaps 2 care and share lecturers doing a 1 hour lecture/session and a major lecture doing four 1 hour sessions, so 3 DVD's a year with 6 hours of material/lectures on.
We then have to decide costing for people to attend who do not want to join the club, the days need to be priced fairly but with a good advantage to join the club.
If we charged £99 and members got 3 DVD's and 10 balloon days free of charge and then for non members who we most certainly still want to encourage to come along as they are the stars of the future. A care and share day could possibly be £15/20 to attend and a major lecture £35/40. So making a total cost of £210/260, so £99 for the year with all the DVD's is a very competitive price.
It will take a while to build up membership but hopefully with really good named artistes coming over and the members can choose who we invite the membership hopefully will grow and with having sponsorship from Qualatex for the next two years this will help us build the club up so that it is financially possibly to achieve.
I have taken a chance with booking major lectures in the past, Ralph Dewey, Don Caldwell, Patricia Bunnell and numbers at these events has been poor due to the extra charge we need to make due to them flying in from America and I have lost money on all three so with a build up of members we will be able to book top names from the club funds and if anyone is unable to attend a day they will still receive a DVD.
Would very much like more thoughts from everyone and anyone about this, the idea is not to make an exclusive club where outsiders are not welcome, the idea of the club is to take our artform forward.
I'm in -where do you want me to send the dosh !!!
Quote from: "fairby"I'm in -where do you want me to send the dosh !!!
In that case I must have priced it to low :lol:
You got me :D
I figured i will go to at least C&S @ Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham and at least 2 lectures Birmingham and leeds/darlington plus the DVDs so its got to be worth that !!!
:D
Sounds like a fantastic idea. I have got to say that since joining the forum I've been able to improve no end and am eternally grateful to all who post ideas and designs. I've been desperately trying to get through all on here but it's HUGE.....
I would certainly be interested and the price does seem too good to miss too. As Fairby said "Where do I sign up??"
I'm with Neil (Fairby) & KJ!
I'm thinking 'no brainer'... :)
--Neil
I too like the sound of it so far - I would be happy to pay the suggested price
I too am in!
When would it start?
I would like to suggest a new area on the forum for members too. To discuss what ever the member of the new twisting collective wish to.
Danny
Shall we start if from the David Brenion lecture on Wed 6th April?
I think the easier way is for everyone to pay £99 when they join this year and we will adjust payment next year depending when people joined and how many events they could have attented. This way the membership can run from Jan to December making it easy to plan for the year, if people join say March to March I would need to make sure that 10 days had been planned throughout each 12 month period rather than the straight Jan/Dec year. So when a new member joins say in Oct they still pay £99 but the next year payment for them may only be £30 depending how many days were planned for Nov/Dec.
To join via the website will be plus PayPal charges, so £105 or you can do a bank transfer or send a cheque for £99.
What shall we call the club and tag lines would be good,
Twist, Twist UK, Twist Together, Together, any other suggestions?
Tag line, "We Care, We Share", "Twist We Care, Together We Share", "Together we Care & Share", "I Care, Together We Share", any other suggestions?
I have an old tape video camcorder that I use to record my DVD's with, so I think it's time to get a more up to date disc/memory one that I'm happy to purchase myself without taking money from the club as I do ocassionally record DVD's for sale, I already have a tripod.
The plan is the three lecture day DVD's will not be edited, so no chapter sections or fancy cutting in and out, just a basic recording with all the noise and fun of people enjoying the day.
Any other thoughts or suggestions we need to think about and decide?
Hi Graham
I'd love it to start with David Brenion's Lecture if it would this be video'd?
As for the name -
Twist UK
UK Twisters,
Round the Bend Twisters,
Balloon Artists UK,
British Balloon Club.
British Balloon Twisting Club
Society of UK Twisters
British Association of Airtists
Tootle Pop
I think I'll stop there!
What do you think?
Danny
I think this a great idea and I wish I was living in the UK as I would be the first to join.... :(
Maybe when I move back...when that will be ...I dont know :?:
Nice suggestions, Danny.
I'll throw in 'United Airtwists' with a balloon lion as the logo (yes, I know the lion was MGM, not United Artists...) surrounded by the latin phrase 'cura et vomere' (latin for 'Care and Share' - just extending the 'Ars Gratia Artis' theme of MGM...) :mrgreen:
--Neil
nice ones Neil!
When I thought of the BBC I looked up the original BBC's motto "Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation" but I couldn't get my head around to to re-do it for twisting!
:shock:
Quote from: "Pinchtwist"I think this a great idea and I wish I was living in the UK as I would be the first to join.... :(
Maybe when I move back...when that will be ...I dont know :?:
Kenny you can join and get the benefits as the plan is to video the days and send to members.
I was going through the figures and think that possibly £99 eventually will be to cheap depending on membership numbers to run 10 days throughout the year, I was trying to work out what refund per event people would need if they joined halfway through the year. It could be £7.50 for a care & share day and £15.50 for a main lecture day.
I would think that £10 for a C/S day and £20 main lecture day would be more of an appropriate charge which would be £130 a year, if we all think this is to high a cost we could think about just having perhaps 8 days a year to keep the figure below £100.
For the next two years we have sponsorship from Qualatex for the care & share days which will help out while the club is building up membership, It would be nice for the club eventually to be self sufficient and pay it's own way.
So while we are trying to build the club up and due to Qualatex kindly putting up some sponsorship money I think £99 is the price to begin.
We do not want to put people off any of the days by charging excessively so as a suggestion for non members to come along shall we charge £15 for a care and share day and £35 for a main lecture which would be £210 making the club an attractive alternative, non members attending days would not get a DVD.
I think that all makes sense, Graham - the price is cheap for membership (since you're getting the DVDs even when you can't attend the days) and the 'pay on the day' policy is not so prohibitive as to put newcomers off attending the days either.
That's brilliant that Qualatex are sponsoring the care and share too for the next couple of years - personally I wouldn't think of using anything else.
It's a great idea to have a nationwide twisters club, and I can see nothing but benefits in becoming a member - many thanks for taking the time and trouble that you obviously have into getting this moving and looking like it's going to happen. :D
--Neil
Oh well as they say in for a penny, in for a pound. I have put details up about joining the club, http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk/produ ... 54-23.html (http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk/products/UK_Twister_Club_Membership-454-23.html)
Even though there are many things still to be decided, name, rules etc.
The cost on the site is £105 to take into account PayPal charges, if anyone would like to send a cheque or do a bank transfer it will be £99.
It would be nice if the main lecture day in Birmingham which will also double as "The David Grist Memorial Lecture" would also be our party day as it will be the most central one for people to attend. So if we go with this perhaps we can add a buffet lunch to this day, club funds permitting.
Another idea I had for the name etc was this
UK Balloon Jams - spreading the art
Or Spreading the knowledge
What do people think?
I can keep coming up with names but its no good unless people say what they think?
What say YOU?
We already have four members :D
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Hi Graham.
For me personally I would like to be there for the experience a DVD just would'nt cut it for me.
With buieness being very slow at the moment it's looking like I won't be able to join even for the DVD of the day!!
But when things pick up hopefully I may be able to join and attend the days....Just have to wait and see.
I think the plan is for membership to start from April with David Brenion being the first lecture, I have booked Shirley for the Darlington day but we never spoke about recording the session as the day was booked before any mention of a club.
Many thanks for the positive feedback about the club, as for names I rather like twist together made from balloons the t from twist and the t from together can be twisted around We Care and the last t from twist and the r from together could be twisted as well,
TWIST
We Care
TOGETHER
We Share
All central with twist together in one colour or multi and we care we share in one bold colour so it would also read we care, together we share.
All other suggestions are welcomed.
If someone had a few minutes and was good with photoshop perhaps we could get a mock up??
So Graham just to clarify.
The Shirley Ray lecture day won't be included in the Club membership? And therefore will not be video'd. Or is it included but won't be video'd?
Or do club membership benefits start in April with David Brenion, the Basic day and Tom Saeys and David's lecture will be video'd.
On the name front - Twist doesn't do it for me. Sorry Graham.
I booked Shirley before the idea of the club was mentioned so there was no mention to Shirley that the day would be filmed so it is unfair to move the goalposts after agreeing fees etc.
We could make the start date for March and have the Shirley Ray day included free for members but the lecture will not be filmed.
You have to pay the lecturer a bigger fee to have the day filmed.
The same with Tom, he was booked and fee agreed before the mention of the club, I'm hoping I can perhaps record one of the sessions but will not push for this if Tom would rather not have a portion of the day filmed.
I agree twist is not a fantastic name for people outside our industry to find a balloon related club via Google, but are we looking for that?
Balloon Art would be much better but Balloon Art Together does not have the ring to it as Twist Together,
It's a shame that it looks like just Danny and I are attempting to find a catchy name for the club.
Perhaps we could use the initials of twist?
Graham that sounds fine about the videoing and if Shirley Ray's day can be included in the club membership that would be fantastic too.
How about (first attempt mind!)
T Together
W We
I Insist on or Improve by
S Sharing
T Twisting
please feel free to improve!
At the risk of this turning into 'consensus by committee', I'm not sure that TWIST really works for me, sorry. I get 'United Twisters' for example, as it conveys a group of people aiming for the same goal (United) and what that goal is (Twisting), but TWIST doesn't really say anything to me...
Personally (despite my earlier post) and apologies to our friends over the pond - I feel 'twist' or 'twisters' is a bit American-ised. I think people in the UK and possibly Europe understand the term 'Balloon Modelling' to refer to what we do... Danny came up with some great suggestions which seem to have fallen on deaf keyboards. :?
In the grand scheme of things it's not really that big an issue, but thought (as per) I'd chuck in my tuppenceworth - well, it shows I care!
(Oh, and I've signed up for the club!) :D
--Neil
Quote from: "Graham Lee"It's a shame that it looks like just Danny and I are attempting to find a catchy name for the club.
There's been other contributions too... :oops:
--Neil
Sorry Neil, just re-read the thread.
Model Citizens of the UK Unite ??
Well thought we'd have a go too :)
I have already suggested this name to Graham, but he was not fantastically enthusiastic about, but I think it so good I would canvass the more thinking element of the forum :D
QUALITY TWISTERS, or QT for short,
cute Eh ??
Colin
I thought you suggested another name Colin? Perhaps I mis heard?
Other suggestions have been and I think some have been tongue in cheek;
Balloon Art UK
Balloon Art Together
Balloon Art Guild
Balloon Art Association
Balloon Art Brotherhood
Balloon Art Union
Balloon Art Committee
Caring Balloon Artists or CBA for short :lol:
Caring Union of National Twisters Society
Balloon Union Members
Twist-It Together Society
So a few more to think about.
QuoteCaring Union of National Twisters Society
Balloon Union Members
Twist-It Together Society
:D It's turned into 'Carry on Twisting'. All we need now is an 'oooOOHHHhh Matron!' from Graham and we're there! :?
--Neil
Quote from: "Neil Drummond"All we need now is an 'oooOOHHHhh Matron!' from Graham and we're there! :? --Neil
Just for you then Neil, 'oooOOHHHhh Matron!'
I had another thought... (just the one!)
what is a group of balloon artists called?
Danny
I have to have this advert finished by mid-day today and spelling etc is not a strong point so if anyone can spot anything please let me know, thanks.
As there is so much going on with dates and the club I thought a full page advert would help to promote all the events.
Quote from: "Danny the Idiot"I had another thought... (just the one!)
what is a group of balloon artists called?
Danny
Stretch the balloon dude goes with gathering as in a gathering of twisters and his days are called G.O.T.
Finally went with this advert after making a few changes,
I thought that Shirley Ray's class wasn't part of the club, but she's on the advert. Is that class now included in the club?
The twister club will be starting from April as agreed, it would be silly to have an advert for the twisting club alone and not advertise the lecture Shirley will be doing in March.
I have 6 members now for the club;
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Roger, 005
Neil, 006
Does anyone fancy beeing 007 ;)
I was chatting to Danny the other day and talking about all the other terms for club, brotherhood etc and said Guild had a nice tone to it and meaning,
so if Balloon Art Guild we could be BAG for short and this morning I thought if we called it "Twisted Balloon Art Guild" we could be known as T Bag :lol:
Would it also be possible to join if you don't live in the UK ;)
I was thinking about comming to one of the care&share days somethimes.
So if it isnt posible can you still come for one day?
Quote from: "Maikel"Would it also be possible to join if you don't live in the UK ;)
I was thinking about comming to one of the care&share days somethimes.
So if it isnt posible can you still come for one day?
Same here.. :mrgreen:
I was thinking about making it 99 Euros for those that would not be attending any lectures from abroad but would like a DVD of the three major events throughout the year.
If anyone then could make it to one of the events then they just pay the difference up to the £99 joining fee
That sounds like a fair deal.... Blimey, you could be going Europe-wide (or further) with this, Graham!! :D
(Can I get something on my avatar, 'bit-on-the-left' area that says 'Member No. 6'? - I'm proud of that!) :?
--Neil
Can you not add it to your tag line member number 6.
Martin gave me details about looking for someone to update the forum, http://www.peopleperhour.com/ (http://www.peopleperhour.com/)
I have put details up about what I would like added onto the forum and they will get back with a price so perhaps I can mention this to them to see if it is doable.
Good idea - I'll stick something on my signature in the meantime. (Hmm - I'm not sure I want to be searching on 'people per hour' on the internet - I could get a few fruity hits back!! :shock: ) It's like Roger with his balloon print thong thing all over again! :lol:
--Neil
Neil
I dont know about you number 6 but I am a free man :D :D
For those that don't know what I am on about. //http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4MfLXYdAPk
Ian this would be a idea for when you are twisting you could dress like him and have a large balloon behind you.
Number 5 (AKA Roger)
Back to naming the club, oh no not that again!!
I have been thinking about, The Balloon Artistes Guild. It sounds fairly posh and maybe have an air of authority for joe public and members can advertise they are members of the balloon artistes guild. The name will hopefully be looked upon favourably by both twisters and decorators and the initials spell out T. BAG which when I go abroad is mentioned quite a lot that we in the UK drink a lot of tea.
So any thoughts on this are appreciated before we have the official naming ceremony of the club.
Number 1 (AKA Graham Lee)
The only problem with using the abbreviation is for anyone who ever watched Prison Break T-Bag has a very different meaning!!!
Yes someone else did tell me about this, I'm guessing it's the same thing. Me being Mr Innocent had no idea though.
Someone has asked about a joint membership for husband/wife or partner, so was thinking that £169 seems a fair price?
Oh no, even MORE fruity hits if I google t-bag then... :oops: I think I'll live in blissful innocence....maybe...... ;)
--Neil
I am not a free man -- I am number 6...
We now have 10 members for the club;
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Roger, 005
Neil, 006
Dan, 007
Jason, 008
Ali, 009
Tony, 010
No.3 says "Hurrah!" ;)
No 8 seconds that!
Number 9 is a good number!
I was sold on the dvd idea.
The club concept is a fantastic one and we should support it if we can.
:D
Any update on the international members bit yet?
Thanks,
Michael
I think a price of £70 would be fair which is the same price as a couple joining, for this you would get sent the 3 DVD's from the star lecture days.
At this price you would not be able to attend the days in person but you could upgrade to the £99 at any time if there was a special someone you just had to come over for.
Can you tell that I'm making this up as we go along ;)
And then there were eleven :D We have our first overseas member of the club, David Tan from Singapore.
Make that a dozen members and add me as number 12 - will pay via your site tonight.
Cheers
Darren
Darren is now club member number 12 :D
Nooooooo! does that mean I'm number 13
Yes number 13, you will not be known as Dave but just by your number 13 :D
Thank you number 1
can club member just turn up at care and share days or do we still need to book
It would be nice if you could let me know so we can keep an eye on numbers.
I was just wondering in case of last minute decision eg: cancelled gig or something
I was looking to buy a new camcorder to record the days as my one is on tape and will only last for 60 mins.
I was looking at the Panasonic HDC SD60 it gets 9.5 out of 10 on the best buy reviews, not sure how long the 8,16, 32 GB memory cards record for so if anyone does know?
Just updated the list and added our newest member Frank all the way from Scotland.
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Roger, 005
Neil, 006
Dan, 007
Jason, 008
Ali, 009
Tony, 010
David Tan, 011
Darren, 012
Dave, 013
Frank Sweeney, 014
graham, I've sent a message to my brother-in-law over the camera will let u know what he says
Just been out and bought the new high definition camera to record the days, I did go for the Panasonic HDC SD60 as it got great reviews but is now discontinued, all the newer models did not get a great write up and were even more expensive. Have to get more memory cards as I only have a 4 gb which I've been told will record for about 2 hours in high definition or 6 hours standard.
After a fun day on Wed with David Brenion 5 people at teh day decided to join the club, the new list is,
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Roger, 005
Neil, 006
Dan, 007
Jason, 008
Ali, 009
Tony, 010
David Tan, 011
Darren, 012
Dave, 013
Frank Sweeney, 014
Amanda Smith, 015
Julie Hayward, 16
Olivia Post, 17
Ozzy D, 18
Russell Wells, 19
I have just added David Brenions DVD's to both websites, the cost is £25 each but with a special offer to club members of either £45 if picked up at a Care & Share day or with free shiping via the site, the shipping cost will be refunded via PayPal when ordered.
Just to keep everyone up to date with things, I'm hoping to see Lord G who does my DVD editing on Thursday/Friday to see if he can get the recording of the David Brenion lecture that is on my memory cards over onto a DVD. If all works out then I will need to send this off for duplication so would hope to have sorted by the end of the month and ready for the Bristol day for collection for those who will be attending and I will post the others out.
At the Banstead day Jay decided to join the group so we are now up to 20 members and I did get a phone call saying two more people may be joining pretty soon as well, so things are looking good for a club that is just two weeks old.
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Roger, 005
Neil, 006
Dan, 007
Jason, 008
Ali, 009
Tony, 010
David Tan, 011
Darren, 012
Dave, 013
Frank Sweeney, 014
Amanda Smith, 015
Julie Hayward, 16
Olivia Post, 17
Ozzy D, 18
Russell Wells, 19
Jay, 020
Could all club members please send me their address, phone number and full name for when I have to post out the DVD's.
Just back from seeing Lord G, he has taken the memory cards and will put onto a DVD master next week.
I have had a couple of people ask about joining so that they can get the 3 DVD's of the star lecture days but they do not want to attend any of the days in person.
I was thinking about charging £70 for this, has anyone got any thoughts about this?
Graham,
Personally I feel £70 for three DVDs is too cheap. If you look at the amount of balloon designs and ideas given away by David in his first lecture you are really undervaluing the content. I feel the club should be 'exclusive' for full members who should be encouraged to arrive at a few lectures as surely the main idea is to network and share ideas.
Just my thoughts...
Sorry I thought the idea of creating and joining the club was to give an option of going to the care and share days or not and receiving the DVD of the day whether or not you attend.. am I wrong in this thinking?
Personally I think the price is well worth just the DVD's (I know you have not had my money to join yet!!) but I dont see the need for a discount if you decide you are not going to any of the days, I cant attend many of them
If you paid the discounted rate and then found you could or wanted to attend one of the days, would you then not have to pay the full priceof attending? and that would then take you back to the membership price.. would membership then be upgraded because then if you decided to go to another day you woul dbe paying more than the rate if you paid to go again..
Understand those outside the country, I also understand those that work fulltime elsewherehaving to book holidays to attend the days . But those of us who are self employed and earn our living from balloons also have to take time off from our business to attend. Its far simpler for you to manage if you have just one price suits all, than complecate things with a range of prices for different benefits surely.
Sorry accountant in me talking my twopenneth, but it could get complicated, off to work now
Pam
xx
My thoughts are that to join the club its £99. Its a very reasonable amount. If you cannot make the days for whatever reasons then you will get the three DVD's per year - which as Pam has said already is good value for three DVD's that will teach you usable stuff to impress clients. I don't think there should be a reduction, except if a couple joins and only one set of DVD's/postage is saved.
There are additional benefits emerging for being a club member like the discount on David Brenion's DVDs that Graham has offered. Perhaps there will be more of these!
Personally having paid the money its now an incentive to try and get to as many days as possible bearing in mind work comittments and travel costs. Even the basics day last week, I learnt some excellent usable models in the real world (thank you No's 1 & 2.)
Those are my thoughts!
Danny ;)
I agree - I think the price should stay at £99. It is a reasonable price
I am in discussions with someone to do some work on the forum, the www button and portfolio/gallery button underneath every post so you can click on every members details quickly without going into the profile page.
Also better security so we can put the auto join back onto the site which will hopefully get the membership rising a bit quicker.
Another couple of ideas bouncing around are to have only one section of the forum, probably balloon chit chat available to non members, then they would need to join to see the rest of the forum. The search facility to also be made that you have to be a member to use it. All thoughts appreciated and if anyone has some ideas of what to add to make the site better please let me know.
I will just mention that I'm not keen on the suggestion of having a Balloon Artistes Guild only section on the forum as this may lead to a them and us situation which I would not feel comfortable about and also the idea of only having one section available on the forum to non members is so we get more members joining which then would get more people actively involved with the site, it is not the first step of putting a charge onto the site to view. The forum will always be free to view.
Sounds good to me... agree with all you say Graham..
I think you will find that those that join the guild will be more active members of the forum also and if they want to talk private will go to the Club zone section you already have available.
also naggged him to send you money
Pam
xx
Thanks for all the input on the club and reduced rates for people not attending, I agree that with over 12 hours of instructions on the three DVD's this is an excellent price, I was being swayed to offer the £70 reduced price but have decided the club is more than just three DVD's, it's also for social networking and the ideas shared for promoting and advertising yourself at the days and a way to promote our balloon art in a positive way to joe public.
We then have the added bonus of club discounts, the offer at the moment is for the two David Breninn DVD's, you can either have for £45 at the days, saving £5 or I will send with free shipping at the full price of £50.
The next club offer is free shipping in the UK for the McPump one stroke floor pump, which is a saving of £12, at this rate I reckon if anyone takes up all the offers over the year then membership could work out to be free.
Just to respond to a point Pam made. Just because you have paid for the guild (as I have), doesn't mean you automatically have access to the club zone (as I haven't). I don't get a lot of time on the forum and so haven't yet got the 50 posts which allow me access (although nearly there)
just want to make sure that people don't think that paying for the guild gives you access to the club zone automatically.
We have a new member for the club, Ian Smiggles :D
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Roger, 005
Neil, 006
Dan, 007
Jason, 008
Ali, 009
Tony, 010
David Tan, 011
Darren, 012
Dave, 013
Frank Sweeney, 014
Amanda Smith, 015
Julie Hayward, 016
Olivia Post, 017
Ozzy D, 018
Russell Wells, 019
Jay, 020
Ian, 021
Just an update on the DVD to be sent out after the David Brenion lecture. I will be picking up the master copy this afternoon and then this needs to be sent off to get the copies for the members, hoping to post out at the end of the month.
Just picked up the master copy and Jimmy has done a mock up for the club DVD.
I'm just watching the master copy, 40 mins down and 3 hours 21 mins to go. It took Lord G over 22 hours to download the 24 gb memory card to DVD.
It's a little squeeky but with over 20 people twisting along and the front row are waving the balloons around in shot now and again but as a first try I think it's more than acceptable.
The next one we will move the front row back a little so that they are not in shot and possibly mic up the lecturer and put the PA system just underneath the camera, this may help the sound?
Finished looking at the DVD, apart from the buzzer in the toilet going all day and children playing in the next hall in the late afternoon session which you can just about hear I'm fairly pleased with the outcome for DVD 1. Will be sending it off to Jimmy in the morning to get it copied, have decided to get 36 done, hoping to get a few new members.
I can't wait - it all looks good, and I'm very excited! :)
Hi Graham
Thanks for all your efforts with this. I am really looking forward to this DVD and hope I can work out how to make the elephant!
Hold a spot- I haven't read through all of the rules and FAQs yet, but I'm intrigued. Looks like something I want to be a part of!
Quote from: "Scott Tripp"Hold a spot- I haven't read through all of the rules and FAQs yet, but I'm intrigued. Looks like something I want to be a part of!
It's such a new club that we are making the rules up as we go along :D
The DVD's are all finished and in the post to me today :D So with Royal Mail I should get them for the Summer Holidays :lol:
Ooh getting excited too now. :-)
All the DVD's have arrived :D Not sure when I will be able to post out, hopefully Friday.
We were meant to be driving up to Thelma's this morning but are onto plan B as she has had to go out this morning so Lyn and I have just bagged up all the DVD's and I'm off to the post office to post out The Balloon Artistes Guild's very first DVD :D
All posted but I did go for the cheap and cheerful 2nd class so hopefully Friday/Sat they should arrive.
Graham this is very exciting news. I find that 2nd and 1st class is delivered the same so hopefully it will arrive tomorrow. I need that elephant!
Waiting in anticipation!!!! :mrgreen:
Can't wait :) and I was there! :D
Did anyone receive their DVD today? Sometimes 2nd class post impresses but not for me. Let's hope it comes tomorrow so I can enjoy it over the bank holiday weekend.
Quote from: "nippy99"Did anyone receive their DVD today? Sometimes 2nd class post impresses but not for me. Let's hope it comes tomorrow so I can enjoy it over the bank holiday weekend.
Not Yet arrrghhhh!
Got mine today and watching it all looking good to me so far.
Got mine this morning - have had a look through
Great work Graham - really happy with the way it looks and am so glad to be a BAG member now.
look forward to more in the future
I received my one today. I will be watching it tonight.
Got mine to :)
Got mine thank you :mrgreen:
I got mine too
;)
Graham,
Thank you soooo much for the DVD. It is fantastic and considering this is the first filmed event I think the results are excellent. The picture is very clear and it is easy to follow along with the instructions. I went straight to the section i wanted and finally made my elephant! Now off to the shop to buy some coloured feathers. I will post a photo later.
I've already had £99 worth of value...
Got it this afternoon all good so far, what a great reminder of the day watched 15 mins so far and remembered more than I forgot. ;)
just got to see the DVD really impressed with the quality and sound you did a great job great little camcorder you got there Graham
Quote from: "Tony Twist"just got to see the DVD really impressed with the quality and sound you did a great job great little camcorder you got there Graham
I bought it specially to film the days, it got 9.5 out of ten in reports and they stopped making it after 10 months so it was difficult to source but the write ups were so impressive.
I might try to mic the lecturer up and have the PA underneath the camera unit so that we get less squeeking although I have not got a lapel mic and the PA would be one more
thing to pack to and from the days so perhaps just leave things as they are.
just leave as it is it fine audio was very clear
Graham, I would leave things just the way they are. The audio was excellent and the picture quality very clear. I even managed to follow along and make the elephant....
[attachment=1:3gum3yco][/attachment]elephant-front.JPG[/attachment:3gum3yco]
[attachment=0:3gum3yco][/attachment]elephant-side.JPG[/attachment:3gum3yco]
I was not sure as we were all at the day, it would be interesting to see how someone that was not present found the audio and if it was adequate to follow along with.
I got my DVD yesterday :D , but haven't had a chance to view it yet. That's tonight's mission!
I'll give you an honest review on the sound etc
--Neil
I've got about half way through the DVD so far and I agree that the quality is excellent. I didn't have any problems with the sound and following along when David was giving the instructions, but I did have to rewind a couple of times the asides and discussions (the permanent / dry wipe marker discussion, for example), as it was difficult to make it all out on first view/listen.
All in all through, it's a brilliant first DVD Graham, and I don't think you need to change anything. For the price, the quality and production is outstanding!
I'd urge anyone thinking about signing up to the club to really do so.
--Neil
We have a new club member all the way from Jersey :D Royston has joined.
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Roger, 005
Neil, 006
Dan, 007
Jason, 008
Ali, 009
Tony, 010
David Tan, 011
Darren, 012
Dave, 013
Frank Sweeney, 014
Amanda Smith, 015
Julie Hayward, 016
Olivia Post, 017
Ozzy D, 018
Russell Wells, 019
Jay, 020
Ian, 021
Royston, 022
We have our first couple membership, Pam and Paul have joined.
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Roger, 005
Neil, 006
Dan, 007
Jason, 008
Ali, 009
Tony, 010
David Tan, 011
Darren, 012
Dave, 013
Frank Sweeney, 014
Amanda Smith, 015
Julie Hayward, 016
Olivia Post, 017
Ozzy D, 018
Russell Wells, 019
Jay, 020
Ian, 021
Royston, 022
Pam Pearce, 023
Paul pearce, 024
Pleased to say we have four new members form the Manchester day; Neil, Martin, Dov and Emma so the list keeps growing :D
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Roger, 005
Neil, 006
Dan, 007
Jason, 008
Ali, 009
Tony, 010
David Tan, 011
Darren, 012
Dave, 013
Frank Sweeney, 014
Amanda Smith, 015
Julie Hayward, 016
Olivia Post, 017
Ozzy D, 018
Russell Wells, 019
Jay, 020
Ian, 021
Royston, 022
Pam Pearce, 023
Paul pearce, 024
Neil Fairbrother, 025
Martin Bennett, 026
Dov Citron, 027
Emma, 028
Wow this is becoming popular!!! :D
We have had two new members join today :D Margaret Brown and Rachel Murphy
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Roger, 005
Neil, 006
Dan, 007
Jason, 008
Ali, 009
Tony, 010
David Tan, 011
Darren, 012
Dave, 013
Frank Sweeney, 014
Amanda Smith, 015
Julie Hayward, 016
Olivia Post, 017
Ozzy D, 018
Russell Wells, 019
Jay, 020
Ian, 021
Royston, 022
Pam Pearce, 023
Paul pearce, 024
Neil Fairbrother, 025
Martin Bennett, 026
Dov Citron, 027
Emma, 028
Margaret, 029
Rachel, 030
Whoo Hooo!
30 people - congratulations Graham. :)
I forgot to mention that we had a new member join the Guild at the memorial lecture, so welcome to Dave Kallos member 31.
Anthony who attended the Memorial lecture has now joined the club :D
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Roger, 005
Neil, 006
Dan, 007
Jason, 008
Ali, 009
Tony, 010
David Tan, 011
Darren, 012
Dave, 013
Frank Sweeney, 014
Amanda Smith, 015
Julie Hayward, 016
Olivia Post, 017
Ozzy D, 018
Russell Wells, 019
Jay, 020
Ian, 021
Royston, 022
Pam Pearce, 023
Paul pearce, 024
Neil Fairbrother, 025
Martin Bennett, 026
Dov Citron, 027
Emma, 028
Margaret, 029
Rachel, 030
Dave Kallos, 031
Anthony Gillard, 032
I think this club idea is great. People who join get to come and see people like Dennis and Ken Stillman and the like without breaking the bank and if they cant attend still get to see the workshop. I could not make the first part of Dannis' workshop due to a booking so I will benefit from the dvd of the workshop. That is great. Even just attending the care and share days its nice to pay once and be able to come along to as many as I like. I guess it works out good for Graham too because he used to have to take a risk when he invited a special guest over as the air fair and lecture fee would have had to be paid for no matter how few people attended. Now the worry has been taken away and we can enjoy the appearance of some first class balloon artists we otherwise would not have been able to see. I am looking forward to seeing Ken who is a great guy as well as a great twister with great loud shirts. :D
Since recording the days I have 3 small memory cards 4, 8 and 16gb for the HD camera that I purchased for the events, those that come to the days know I have to keep changing them about and they always run out at the wrong time. I decided to buy the largest 32gb available which should record a straight 5 hours which will be plenty of time with some to spare should we run over slightly. On amazon the one I wanted was £71 so of I go to ebay and there were two auctions of the correct make finishing tonight and I got lucky and won with a winning bid of £26.55
so a bit of a result there :D
At the next day it's just hit the button and away we go............hopefully!
More good news, I just bought another 32gb memory card from ebay and this one was even cheaper, just £20.50 for an item that shoudl be £71 and it's brand new never been opened. Well that is what they say.
:D The first hard disk I bought for my computer was a "mammoth" 450Mb drive - way more than enough to last a lifetime, surely... :? Cost me £250!!
The times they are a changing, as they say!
--Neil
I still have a book that I got with a Sinclair zx81 'A hundred things to do with 1k :D
I keep forgetting to mention that I have made Lord Geffery an honourable member of the club as he has been converting the disk's from the camcorder onto a master DVD and doing some editing of graphics etc, so Geoff is member number 033.
Welcome no.33!
Praise be to the Lord, for all His good work! :D
(Blimey - we'll be challenging the United Twisters in terms of membership soon - who'd have thunk it?!?!)
Thanks again to Graham for making all of this happen and to everyone who has committed and taken out membership. Those that haven't -- please read through the thread and see what you'll be missing!
--Neil
That's the least that no.33 deserves. The last DVD was so well done.
been watching the david bennion lecture from teh TBAG membership DVD... it was a really good lecture with useful back pack balloon designs, well worth the membership just to get the DVD's... My grandson loved being a butterfly and Gaston the ladybird...
Pam
xxx
Just an update on how the DVD is coming along, the master copy is being made at the moment but we have to wait then as the person who makes up all the copies for me is away working on a cruise and I'm not sure when he is back. He went off and did four cruises in July and early Aug then came back for a week and went off again on another cruise. I was hoping to have them for the Twistina lecture in Birmingham on the 7th Sept but that looks like it will not happen now.
I have been advertising a care & share day in Bishops Stortford in Oct but I'm thinking about not running the day as we have to have 10 days for the guild and we have with Twistina next week six days completed. Then with Ken in Nov taking us up to eight days, this will leave us two more days in the new year for Jan/Feb/March so taking the club to it's first year conclusion. If I run the day in Oct we will only have one day next year till April or we would need to start the club from an earlier month.
Any suggestions or thoughts?
Selfishly I am all for a Bishop's Stortford day because it is the closest one to me but then again I am easy so I will go with the flow.
Does that mean the day's with Ken have been confirmed? Just wondering about booking into travel lodge and being the tight person I am looking to save a few pennies by getting in early :)
No Ken is still not confirmed, he is on a tour of the USA at the moment, I have sent an email and I'm waiting for a reply.
We have to organise things for the UK date and the Dutch twister group as well.
We had two new members join us at the Twistina lecture yesterday :D
Phil 034
Dennis Dillinger 035
Just of to pick up the master copy from the Dennis Hogers lecture from Lord G which I can then send away to get copied for everyone.
Fingers crossed by the end of the month everyone should get T. Bag Vol 2.
I'm working away this weekend in Southend so spent last night and this morning looking at the master copy to check everything on the DVD is OK'ish.
So far so good, looked at two hours with over two hours still to view, hoping to get the DVD's sent out to everyone by the end of the month.
Just finished watching the master copy all the way through, seems like it came out OK again so pleased with that. Will send this off to get all the copies done for the members.
It's all confirmed :D Ken Stillman will be in the UK to lecture on Wed 16th Nov, this is part of a two day special event.
Booking details for Ken; http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk/catal ... -23-1.html (http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk/catalog/Care_Share_Days-23-1.html)
Please book ASAP as we are having an early bird special and the price will be going up, both days are free to Balloon Artiste Guild Members.
Great see you there
Woo Hoo! :D I'm a definite for both days - there will be a spare seat in my car coming up from the Midlands if anyone wants a lift - any suggestions for a suitable hotel?
I picked up the new BAG 2 DVD, the memorial lecture with Dennis Hogers while at Southport so Lyn and I will be sending them out this week to everyone.
We also had a new member join while in Southport, so welcome to Rod number 036.
Apologies it's been a while but the person who makes them up for me has been away working on the cruises for July and Aug.
Lyn has labelled all the envelopes and the DVD's will be sent out this afternnon so look out for the new DVD coming through your letterbox very shortly :D
I just posted them all out.
Thanks Graham, looking forward to watching this one again
My DVD arrived today!
I got my DVD too! thanks Graham & Lyn!
:)
Got mine today. Looking forward to watching it as I wasn't able to go. Thank you Graham.
thanks Graham/Lynn :-D
Graham/Lynn - thanks so much for your efforts. I've watch some parts and it looks great. I can't help looking at that pink monster thing in the background that we didn't quite have the time to cover... Grrrrrr....
Can't wait for the next one :-)
Great Video and what an amusing guy, sorry I missed the day.
Has anyone watched the Denis Hogers DVD? Does it look OK or is your copy a bit blurry?
If anyone did not attend the day were you able to follow along or was the videoing too far away.
I think we need to shoot the next day a lot closer so that the models and twists are clearer to those that were unable to attend the days.
Apologies if it was difficult to follow along with the DVD but this is a bit of a learning curve and I hope to improve the next DVD.
I have seen some DVD's and when they zoom into a close up the person lecturing is onto the next bubble and two sections then get lost in the zoom in and out so that is why I went for the camera stationery. I'm happy to put a members only section up on the forum for BAG members but just for clarification of what went on at the days. This would not be a them and us section. We could put a step by step for one or two items but not the whole DVD as this would take me months.
Hi Graham
The DVD is just fine. Most of the time (as with all DVDs) I rarely watch it. What I mean is most of the time i just listen to the instructions and glance at the screen for quick visual check. The main thing is this DVD does the job.
We have a new club member, Julie Trafford who I believe is Emma's auntie. So a big warm welcome to our little band of club members.
The upto date list is;
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Roger, 005
Neil, 006
Dan, 007
Jason, 008
Ali, 009
Tony, 010
David Tan, 011
Darren, 012
Dave, 013
Frank Sweeney, 014
Amanda Smith, 015
Julie Hayward, 016
Olivia Post, 017
Ozzy D, 018
Russell Wells, 019
Jay, 020
Ian, 021
Royston, 022
Pam Pearce, 023
Paul pearce, 024
Neil Fairbrother, 025
Martin Bennett, 026
Dov Citron, 027
Emma, 028
Margaret, 029
Rachel, 030
Dave Kallos, 031
Anthony Gillard, 032
Lord Geoffery, 033
Phil Walker, 034
Dennis Dillinger, 035
Rod Hammond, 036
Julie Trafford, 037
We have a new member 038, Sarah Russell aka balloonytoons on the forum. Welcome to the ever growing band of Balloon Artistes Guild members.
I think it's time to get a logo for the guild sorted out, any suggestions or shall we run a competition with a years free membership up for grabs if your idea is used.
Goodness the new members keep rolling in, so welcome to Joyce Sugden who is member 039.
I am very pleased to say we are now up to 40 members for the club, wow :D
So welcome to our latest member Rhian Beynon
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Roger, 005
Neil, 006
Dan, 007
Jason, 008
Ali, 009
Tony, 010
David Tan, 011
Darren, 012
Dave, 013
Frank Sweeney, 014
Amanda Smith, 015
Julie Hayward, 016
Olivia Post, 017
Ozzy D, 018
Russell Wells, 019
Jay, 020
Ian, 021
Royston, 022
Pam Pearce, 023
Paul pearce, 024
Neil Fairbrother, 025
Martin Bennett, 026
Dov Citron, 027
Emma, 028
Margaret, 029
Rachel, 030
Dave Kallos, 031
Anthony Gillard, 032
Lord Geoffery, 033
Phil Walker, 034
Dennis Dillinger, 035
Rod Hammond, 036
Julie Trafford, 037
Sarah Russell, 038
Joyce Sugden, 039
Rhian Beynon, 040
I have a new master copy of the Dennis Hogers DVD, thanks Lord Geoffery. I will be sending a new copy to Singapore with the next club DVD which will be Ken Stillman on Wed. As everyone else seems Ok with the quality I will not get any more copied. So last chance to let me know the quality of your DVD is not up to scratch.
Apologies Graham I missed your earlier question about the last DVD.
I would like the new version please. The one I have is blurry, not sure if it was due to the shooting or the encoding?
Thanks for getting it re-done.
Martin.
Hi Martin, I will post it to you when we do the Ken Stillman DVD.
and me graham, thanks :D
Very pleased to say that we had three new members join at Leeds,
041, Steve Benton
042, Adrian Hurley
043, Anthony Sean Davies
so a warm welcome to you all.
Graham: This may have been covered somewhere else, but I'll be darned if I can find it. How do I join and what's the cost? I'd like to join mainly to support the site, but if you could summarize the the benefits of joining that would be helpful.
Thanks!
Regards,
Chris
The cost is £99 a year and you get to attend 7 care & share days and 3 star lecture days, the star lecture days are put onto a DVD and sent out to you so even if you are unable to attend the days you get over 12 hours of instructional material on the DVD's.
Had a quick turnaround with the latest DVD for club members, I have the master copy ready for duplication already. Ken does go out of shot, well his hands do a couple of times but nothing too bad, the only slight problem is that you can hear the ones who were standing at the back of the room talking all the way through the lecture on the recording which does make it a little difficult at times to hear what Ken is saying. We will sort this out for next time and perhaps mic the lecturer up with a small lapel microphone and put the PA system underneath the camera, hopefully this will work? Anyone a little technical have any thoughts about this or a better idea?
This might seem a bit of an odd thought and none of us are getting any younger but I was wondering what would happen to the club and forum if anything should happen and I did kick the bucket so to speak.
Perhaps we need to put some things in place so that others would be able to carry them both on in such an event, that is if there are any who would like to help out just in case.
I feel OK at the moment but you never can tell what is around the corner and it's better to make plans while you can.
OK, to those who have sent a PM. I am fine, nothing to worry about. Life has been a little traumatic lately as my mum died a few weeks ago, actually the day before the Bishops Stortford care & share day and a good friend has only been given a very short amount of time to live as he has cancer. So you do start thinking about things and that is why I put the above post up. I need to get things sorted so that everything is kept going, that is all.
Hi Graham
So sorry to hear your news. It is very true that the older we all get, events around you make you think. That's why I am grateful for each and every day. I don't know how you managed to stay so happy at the Bishop's Stortford day with that news.
There is no way this forum or the club would be allowed to vanish in the same way you have kept David's memory alive I like to think we would do the same for you.
Perhaps you need to nominate someone or a group of people to take over the forums in this eventually and make a forum 'will' or whatever the equivalent is.
Besides, you will outlive us all!
I will be looking into ways to keep the forum and club up and running and will also need to find out about keeping both websites online stores working and an income coming in for those
I leave behind, blimey this is getting a bit morbid :lol: but they are things that should be sorted as well as a will.
Onto brighter subjects, the master copy from Ken Stillman is off to the duplication centre tomorrow, it took a while to find someone who could do dual layer DVD's at a price I could afford for the club. Hoping to get them back by the end of next week and so out to everyone before Xmas.
The Ken Stillman BAG 3 DVD's have just arrived, I had to get them copied elsewhere than normal due to the dual layering aspect. The quality of the printing looks good and I just had a very quick run through of the DVD itself and things look OK. I will check section four as on the master this did have a few jumpy bits. A word of warning that as the day went on the room did get darker as the lighting was a little poor which does show up on the DVD but you can still see what Ken is making and explaining.
We will try and post these all out on Monday.
Thanks for the fast turnaround Graham - something to enjoy on Christmas Day!
Here they are all ready to go, well nearly, Lyn has to address them.
Good news, we will be posting these out tomorrow to everyone, fingers crossed you get them for Xmas.
I got mine today! Bag 3
Thanks you Graham, Lynn and all involved in editing, duplication etc.
cheers
Danny
GOT MINE:-D IN TIME FOR XMAS HAD A QUICK LOOK ALL SEEMS TO BE OK THANKS GRAHAM N LYNN ALL THE BEST
DD
Got mine, thanks Graham
Got mine, I can't wait to find the time to watch it :0)
We are just about to give the go ahead for some updates to be made to the forum,
Tapatalk app integration
Gallery mod for forum members
www. mod for forum members
Javascript anti spam device
Advice on how to lock down the threads to non members
External Links opening in a new window/tab
The tapatalk is an app for the iphone/android devices so that you can view and upload pictures directly
Gallery and WWW buttons will appear at the bottom of every post so people can view your website and portfolio pages instantly
The java anti spam is just for me so that I do not keep having to delete 50 spammers a day from joining the site
External new window is so that people are not directed away from the site when they click onto a link posted
And the last option, lock down the threads, that I'm not 100% sure about is making the forum viewable for members only.
We would have the balloon chit chat section viewable to everyone and then to view the rest of the forum it's members only.
Comments welcome on pro's and con's of this. I was thinking that all those who lurk would join the site and once members it's only a short step then to posting and joining in. Normally we have 2/3 members and then anything up to 20 non members viewing the site. Would the 20 non members join the site or would we miss out and the viewing numbers fall, at the moment the non members are not contributing to the site and I'm looking for a way to pull them into our little family.
Is there anything else we should think about adding to the forum for it to be more user friendly?????
Hi Graham,
would it be possible so that when you upload a photo to the forum there is no need to resize the photo? Whether its uploaded from a smart phone or via the computer, it would be great to have this facility (if its possible!).
I agree about the membership seeing everything and restricted viewing for non-members, it would be nice to entice them (non-members) with photos of that particular months competition winning photo too, for example.
The other stuff sounds great!
cheers
Danny ;)
I have put the question to the technical people Danny, that would save me hours especially when at a convention trying to keep up with things.
I was also looking into making the forum an active forum and giving new members seven days to make there first post. I have been looking at some of the early members with no posts from 2008/9, some registered on the forum and have not been back since.
Any thoughts?
Well it seems that it is possible to have an added section put onto the forum so that there is no need to re-size the pictures. If this is so and works it will save everyone and especially myself quite a lot of time so thanks for asking Danny.
I have just given the go ahead for all the work to start so things could be a changing anytime soon.
Whoo hoo!
Now I have no excuse for not posting photos!
Thanks Graham, this site is going to be EVEN better!
Danny :)
I think these steps sound great.
Will the site be down at all while the work is going ahead?
He is working all the changes off line on a copy of the site and then everything will be loaded onto the site in one go, I think.
So hopefully the forum will not be off line and no one will notice anything.
That sounds great.
This is what I was thinking of posting out to all members who have never posted onto the forum;
Hello,
We are making the balloon forum; www.balloonchat.co.uk (http://www.balloonchat.co.uk)
which you are a member off but as yet you have not posted an active members forum in a few weeks.
We are hoping you may like to join in on the forum and perhaps post now and again.
The how I got started thread may be a good one to start with?
start-twisting-entertaining.html
If you are unsure how to post please ask as I'm more than happy to help out.
Should we change the wording?
To make it clearer -
We are making the balloon forum www.balloonchat.co.uk (http://www.balloonchat.co.uk) an active members forum in a few weeks time. We have noticed you are a member but have yet to post. We are hoping you may like to join in on the forum and perhaps post now and again. The "how I got started" thread may be a good one to begin with? start-twisting-entertaining.html
I think this reads a bit better.
;)
Thanks Danny :)
I think the "Javascript anti spam device" has been added to the site today as only four people have tried to join and all look genuine. I normally have about 12/15 an hour trying to join.
I bought, at Zalando.
edited by GLAdmin
The www button on each post has now been activated, so if you do have a website then please update your profile page and then anyone viewing the forum will be able to click straight through to your promotional material on your website. Will have a look about having a picture slide show but I think this will have to wait till next time when I have work done on the forum
as I have spent enough pennies this time around.
When you click on a link from a post on the forum the link will now open in a new window so now not taking you away from the site, another thing down a few more still to go.
The work may all be finished by the end of the week, I have been told that the site will need to be down for a while for some of the updates to become live.
Wow it's all happening really quickly.
Hi Graham,
I assume that this means we don't have to have the link to our web sites in our signatures
You can if you like Kevin but I have been informed that if you have the link in your signature or you do type it after every post you make Google does not recognise this anymore and it does not help in your Google ranking.
Quote from: Graham LeeThe www button on each post has now been activated, so if you do have a website then please update your profile page and then anyone viewing the forum will be able to click straight through to your promotional material on your website
Graham am I being thick could you explain a bit more up date what (update your profile page)
Hi Dennis
Yes, if you're logged in, and you select the UserCP button (just under the Balloon Chat banner) it takes you to your Control Panel. From there you can select 'profile' and then update the 'website' field with your website address. You need to stick the protocol in front of the address though (ie, you need to type it as http://www.youraddress.com)
Hope this helps
--Neil
thanks Neal that's the way I have it in so doesn't need updating:-D
Looks like you are all sorted Dennis, anyone who already has their website on the profile page as described by Neil will automatically be picked up. If you have a website and it's not on the profile page if you add it then those browsing the forum can click straight through to your website and it may get you some more work.
I have just gone through the first 5 pages of the members list and have sent this out to those who have yet to post, a lot of the members joined and have never been back to look at the site so I may jog a few memories.
Hello,
We are making the balloon forum www.balloonchat.co.uk (http://www.balloonchat.co.uk) an active members forum in a few weeks time. We have noticed you are a member but have yet to post.
We are hoping you may like to join in on the forum and perhaps post now and again. The "how I got started" thread may be a good one to begin with?
start-twisting-entertaining.html (http://balloonchat.co.uk/start-twisting-entertaining.html)
The idea of the active forum is to encourage people to come on board and share in this exciting art form that we have,
We hope to hear from you soon as we are a very friendly bunch with balloon days happening all over the UK.
All details are on the event section, events-balloon-magic-etc.html (http://balloonchat.co.uk/events-balloon-magic-etc.html)
Graham Lee
Quote from: "Graham Lee"Well it seems that it is possible to have an added section put onto the forum so that there is no need to re-size the pictures. If this is so and works it will save everyone and especially myself quite a lot of time so thanks for asking Danny.
I have just given the go ahead for all the work to start so things could be a changing anytime soon.
That will certainly encourage me to post a lot more, I hate resizing photos!
All the updates to the forum will be loaded on tomorrow morning so the site may be down for a while. Any pictures posted today may also be lost, apologies but I have just been informed of this. Hoping all goes OK but there may be a few teething problems. You will be able to load pictures from an iphone or similar but unfortunately the app to do this will cost £1.99. Everyone will have a gallery/portfolio page and if things work out OK there will be no need to re-size any pictures as the forum will do it automatically. There has been some issues getting this working and we are not sure what size the pictures will eventually look. Possibly 480 wide which we think will be a reasonable size to view but with the option to click on the photo to enlarge. We will probably find out in the morning so fingers crossed for a smooth change over.
On behalf of the users/punters - many thanks for taking all the time and trouble of doing this, Graham - I'm sure it is (or will be) much appreciated by us all. ;)
--Neil
I forgot to metion that at the Banstead day we had two new members join the club, so a big war welcome to you both :D
44, Ade Bamigbade
45, Kevin Steadman
All the updates are now complete, we do need to change the permissions for the album button but the site does not need to go off line for this.
If anyone would like to add the album button to your posts then you will need to do this at the moment via the User CP button, hoping to change
this so that it just appears on everyone's posts like the WWW button but I need a little tuition first so that we can sort this out.
To add your album button to your posts go to User CP,
Then down the left hand side of the page click gallery,
Click Manage Personal Albums
Then on the right side of the page click on create personal album and your album button will come up on your posts.
Hoping to alter this if possible so that there is an album button on all members posts automatically, getting some tuition tomorrow.
The app required for the Iphone/android to load directly from your mobile device to the forum is Tapatalk which costs £1.99.
The last thing being sorted in the gallery is when you click on the image, at the moment this pops up in a new blank image,
we are hoping this will come up in a pop up over the gallery page eventually to keep it all looking nice and within the forum.
I have just found the mass email button on the site after my little tutorial this afternoon, so was going to send this out in one go rather than individually;
Hello,
We just wanted to keep everyone informed of a few changes and updates to the forum. We have added a few extras over the past few days, album and website buttons so that whoever is viewing the forum can see your work and website advertising material, even to non members. More security so that the auto join facility has been loaded back onto the site. If you click on a link this will now open in a new window so not taking people away from the forum and you can now load pictures from mobile devices with "Tapatalk" that is now usable with the forum and there is no need to resize pictures as we have added software so that the forum now does this automatically.
We are making the balloon forum http://www.balloonchat.co.uk (http://www.balloonchat.co.uk) an active member's forum in a few weeks time. We have noticed that there are a lot of members who have still to post, some have been members for nearly 4 years and view the site regularly but as yet have not joined in. We are hoping they may like to join in on the forum and perhaps post now and again. The "how I got started" thread may be a good one to begin with?
start-twisting-entertaining.html
If anyone has forgotten their username/password or just needs a little guidance on how to use the forum then please just drop me a line and I'm very happy to help out,
graham@balloonchat.co.uk
The idea of the active forum is to encourage people to come on board and share in this exciting art form that we have,
We hope to hear from everyone soon as we are a very friendly bunch with balloon days happening all over the UK.
All details are on the event section,
events-balloon-magic-etc.html
P.S. Apologies if you are receiving this email for a second time but I have just found the mass email button on the forum to send to everyone in one go.
Sometimes life is so much easier than one thinks.
Graham Lee
We have had a major problem with the forum when the extra work was being carried out over the last couple of days the forum picture links all got corrupted and have had to be redone.
He was working on this all day,
I am not sure if things are fixed as my internet has been down for two days and it takes over 5mins for every page to load up and it's driving me nutty, still these things are sent to try us.
I have been informed that all the pictures posted in the last 4 days will all have to be uploaded again so if anyone has put pictures onto the forum lately could you please add them again to the site for completeness, many thanks.
Looks like my internet is back and up to speed, if anyone is looking around the forum and finds any posts with a broken link where a picture should be could you please send me the link to it so that we can get them sorted, thank you.
It looks like the majority of the pictures on the site have been sorted and things are again viewable.
The forum pictures got corrupted and then the back up system pictures also got corrupted, we back up the forum on my computer and then an external hard drive and also the hosting company make a back up every night as well. So although this seems like a belt and braces operation it certainly got us out of trouble and was well worth having all this in place.
Some pictures from the past four days may be missing so if you have posted a picture recently could you have a look to see if it's still showing and if not could you please load it again onto the forum, hopefully this is then panic over!
I have just sent a mass email out to every member on the forum, well I think I have as I have never used this section of the forum before.
Could one or two let me know if you have an email from the forum just so that I know that I have hit the right buttons.
yes Graham - I received the mailout from you.
:)
I got it thanks.
Oh no Graham has discovered a new toy, :D duck every one
just kidding, Graham it will be a great tool
Colin
We have just had the first renewel for the club :D Hopefully the first of many.
As the site is getting a bit busier I have asked a couple of people to help out in the admin department, so apart from the usual suspects we have now got,
Darren, Nippy99 and Kevin, Phoenix helping out and keeping an eye on things.
So thanks to both for agreeing to help us out, although I am hoping we all plod along as usual and there is nothing for you to do.
Just updating the membership list as we are hoping that the BAG will get a little mention in a trade publication and one of the questions was how many members does the club have, we are up to 45. Membership renewal is also upon us from 1st April, a few have already joined to 2013 and we are keeping our fingers crossed that everyone re-joins.
Graham Lee, 001
Thelma Levett, 002
Danny The Idiot, 003
Natalie, 004
Roger, 005
Neil, 006
Dan, 007
Jason, 008
Ali, 009
Tony, 010
David Tan, 011
Darren, 012
Dave, 013
Frank Sweeney, 014
Amanda Smith, 015
Julie Hayward, 016
Olivia Post, 017
Ozzy D, 018
Russell Wells, 019
Jay, 020
Ian, 021
Royston, 022
Pam Pearce, 023
Paul pearce, 024
Neil Fairbrother, 025
Martin Bennett, 026
Dov Citron, 027
Emma, 028
Margaret, 029
Rachel, 030
Dave Kallos, 031
Anthony Gillard, 032
Lord Geoffery, 033
Phil Walker, 034
Dennis Dillinger, 035
Rod Hammond, 036
Julie Trafford, 037
Sarah Russell, 038
Joyce Sugden, 039
Rhian Beynon, 040
Steve Benton, 041
Adrian Hurley, 042
Anthony Davies, 043
Ade Bamigbabe, 044
Kevin Steadman, 045
We need to book a lecturer for the Sept/Oct super two day event date in Banstead, any suggestions who you would like to see.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the idea of making 85% of the forum viewable to members only, I was thinking of leaving, balloon chit chat, events and instructions viewable to guests as well and then the rest of the forum to members only. I was thinking of perhaps giving it a month trial run and then checking on the numbers etc to see how it goes. The idea is to try and tempt more to join and then they are half way to hopefully posting and joining in.
DANGER :D I have now just worked out how to make the forum invisible to guests, I was thinking of making, Instructions, events and maybe balloon chit chat viewable to all and then the rest of the site just viewable to members. Just for a trial period to see how it goes. Any suggestions? Good or bad?
As it is a trial why not give it a try.. nothing to lose.
Just another word of warning than any member that has joined from Jan has four weeks to put their first post up onto the forum, I will be starting to delete members who joined in Jan this year and are still to post, so please join in. We are a friendly bunch who are all trying to improve our art.
Aims of the Balloon Artistes Guild, I thought it may be a good idea to put down what the actual goals of the club are. Perhaps something short and precise or even to the point.
Any suggestions apart from promoting our art in a positive manner to the whole wide world, would that sum it up? Maybe not, I think a few bullet points would be good, suggestions please.
Aims of the Balloon Artists Guild:
1) To improve balloon art standards
2) To promote ongoing training for balloon artists
3) To promote the exchange of ideas & techniques relating to balloon art
4) To have fun
5) To have cream cakes
:)
a) To raise awareness of balloon artistry to the public.
b) To freely and fairly exchange ideas & techniques relating to balloon art (i.e. don't be selfish and take take take)
c) To recommend TBAG members for unfulfilled gigs and business opportunities through an online information library of TBAG members
d) Put the interests of balloon art before personal gain and help others progress on their balloon adventure.
e) To have fun
f) To have £5 pizza on Tuesdays
g) To find bigger chocolate puddings
h) To have cakes.
I think some people are not taking this topic seriously, :D
a) To raise awareness of balloon artistry to the public.
b) To freely and fairly exchange ideas & techniques relating to balloon art (i.e. don't be selfish and take take take)
c) To recommend TBAG members for unfulfilled gigs and business opportunities through an online information library of TBAG members
d) Put the interests of balloon art before personal gain and help others progress on their balloon adventure.
e) To have fun
f) To have £5 pizza on Tuesdays
g) To find bigger chocolate puddings
h) To have cakes.
I) To raise awareness of the local gym after all those pizza, bigger chocolate puddings, cakes, and for our Scottish jam fans Irn-Bru.
(I for one dont know were it is)
The majority of the site has been members only now for 2 weeks, has anyone noticed any change?
Shall we keep it as it is?
Make the whole site members only?
Or turn it back to everyone can view?
Numbers wise there has been a drop off of about 7.5% on actual hits and 20% unique visitors but that is from guests who are unable to post.
We had the most ever users online yesterday with 56 people looking in at 1.54am.
I'm happy with it like this, Graham, with the restricted access. The only thing I find is that when I log in using my iPhone (logging in to the full site, rather than the TapaTalk app) I seem to get kicked out randomly, even when I've checked the 'Log me on automatically each visit' button. But it's not a time thing; I can log in, hit 'View Active Topics' and immediately get chucked out again... Very odd. :x
Quote from: "Graham Lee"We had the most ever users online yesterday with 56 people looking in at 1.54am.
I'm guessing the majority at that time would be members in the States?!?! ;)
--Neil
Looks like we now have the November lecture in Banstead all sorted with Ed Chee coming over from the USA, tha date will be Wed Nov 7th.
Just have to book flights before confirming all the details.
This is the list of members for this year, so far,
Graham Lee
Thelma Levett
Neil Drummond
Darren Atkins
Amanda Smith
Julie Hayward
Emma Mitchell Dale
David Kallos
Lord Geoffery
Julie Trafford
Sarah Russell
Joyce Sugden
Rhian Benyon
Steve Benton
Anthony Sean Davies
Ade Bamigbade
Kevin Steadman
So that is 17 members with I believe two re-joining in Leeds next week at the two day Super Event with Colin Myleas and Shirley Ray.
For more details and to book, http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk/catal ... -23-1.html (http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk/catalog/Care_Share_Days-23-1.html)
The numbers are creeping back up, Adie and Royston have now re-joined :D
We are now up to 26 members for the coming year, we had eight new members join/pay at Leeds. Any overseas forum members or guests can join the club and will receive 3 DVD's from the star lecture days with a minimum of 4 hours tuition on every DVD. This year we have Colin Myles and Shirley Ray, Patrick van de Ven and Ed Chee.
Graham Lee
Thelma Levett
Neil Drummond
Darren Atkins
Amanda Smith
Julie Hayward
Emma Mitchell Dale
David Kallos
Lord Geoffery
Julie Trafford
Sarah Russell
Joyce Sugden
Rhian Benyon
Steve Benton
Anthony Sean Davies
Ade Bamigbade
Kevin Steadman
Royston South
Adrian Hurley
Daniel Catt
Dave Hickory
Olivia Post
Tom Nowrie
Trudi Patient
Richard Smith
Shirley Ray
Anthony Gillard from Balloon man show has just re-joined :D The numbers are very slowly creeping up again.
After a couple of hospital stays I'm up and running again and itching to get back into it so I'll rejoin soon - Neil I get the same problem with staying logged in on my Android phone
Quote from: "Smiggle"After a couple of hospital stays I'm up and running again
Hope you are feeling better now Ian and things are getting back to normal for you.
David Tan from Singapore has just rejoined :D
Lord G has the memory cards from the day and is putting the master copy together for us so maybe the middle of May we will be able to ship the out.
Graham Lee
Thelma Levett
Neil Drummond
Darren Atkins
Amanda Smith
Julie Hayward
Emma Mitchell Dale
David Kallos
Lord Geoffery
Julie Trafford
Sarah Russell
Joyce Sugden
Rhian Benyon
Steve Benton
Anthony Sean Davies
Ade Bamigbade
Kevin Steadman
Royston South
Adrian Hurley
Daniel Catt
Dave Hickory
Olivia Post
Tom Nowrie
Trudi Patient
Richard Smith
Shirley Ray
Anthony Gillard
David Tan
And our newest and a brand new member is Julian Dorrell. That makes 29 members so far for this year.
Was it 43 members last year? If so that's over a 25% drop in members. Come on guys - you know it makes sense to sign up ;)
We are now up to 33 members with Russell rejoining and then at the Bristol day we had three new faces,
Pete Watts
Rob Rumming Pain
Kerry Thomas
I have a small side bet with Thelma about how many members we will have by the end of the year, for me to win we need to get to the magic number of 50, so 17 to go.
too bad I lived to far to join.
I would love see you all in person someday.
But When I plan A trip to England I will try to do it during a care and share day.
You can join, we have oversea's members, you get the 3 DVD's that are filmed at the star lecture day with 4 hours of tuition on every DVD for just £99.
I know graham i will think about it
Am I the only one who is having problems with tapatalk??
Mine says I need to re-purchase and when I try I'm unable, very odd.
The message I get says...
"Cannot connect to forum - this forum is restricting access from Tapatalk or the installed Tapatalk plugin is not working. Please contact your forum administrator"
Graham it may be worth mentioning it to your web guy next time you exchange emails.
Mine still working fine with taptalk
Mine too
My one is now working
I have just received the master copy from the Shirley Ray and Colin Myles day back in April. I will send them off to be duplicated and then posted out as soon as I can.
I am off to Latvia next week so there may be a little delay.
I have had a super quick look through both master copies as Geoff did a single layer 4gb disc and a double layer 8gb disc. We have opted for the dual layer as the quality is noticable a lot better although they do cost a few more pennies to produce. Geoff has kindly edited a lot of the back and forward getting balloons etc out of the master copy so it runs a lot smoother for those viewing for the first time and who were not at the day. I will be sending the master off tomorrow to be copied, the artwork is being done for me this week as well so hopefully we will be sending these out in the middle of June time.
We will be going for a different format of filming with the next star lecture day which is Patrick van de Ven, we used to film everything as the whole day was all hands on. We will get the lecturer to run through what will be made in the first and third session in the morning and afternoon with everyone just watching and not hands on and then the hands on sections 2 and 4
will not be filmed at either time during the day.
This will make the DVD a little shorter in length time wise and also save Geoff a lot of editing and we may be able to have the good quality on just a single layer DVD.
Any questions? If so fire away.
We have a new BAG member :D Welcome to Richard Rosson aka, Rubber Richie. Not sure if Richard is a forum member yet?
Goodness it's like a bus, you wait a while and then two turn up together. We have another new club member :D
Frank Dwan, Frankie Balloon, so welcome to the club.
BAG 4 DVD's Shirley Ray & Colin Myles have been dispatched to me and will be arriving tomorrow, we are off to the Leamington day of magic on Wed so will try and post them out Thursday/Friday as long as they are all OK.
I've just rejoined too!
Phew - glad to be back in the Balloon Club. :)
This is our up to date membership list, hopefully Lyn and I have not missed anyone off. If we have please get in touch ASAP.
We are sending the DVD's out today and tomorrow.
Graham Lee
Thelma Levett
Neil Drummond
Darren Atkins
Amanda Smith
Julie Hayward
Emma Mitchell Dale
David Kallos
Lord Geoffery
Julie Trafford
Sarah Russell
Joyce Sugden
Rhian Benyon
Steve Benton
Anthony Sean Davies
Ade Bamigbade
Kevin Steadman
Royston South
Adrian Hurley
Daniel Catt
Dave Hickory
Olivia Post
Tom Nowrie
Trudi Patient
Richard Smith
Shirley Ray
Anthony Gillard
David Tan
Julian Dorrell.
Pete Watts
Rob Rumming Pain
Kerry Thomas
Russell Wells
Richard Rosson
Frank Dwan
Danny Schlesinger
We posted the majority of the DVD's out yesterday, have three left to do but checking new members postal address's so that we do not send to the wrong place.
This is the last one to go, notice how I have hidden the address.
I can't wait for tomorrow - more balloons to make :-)
Rachel and I are missing off the list
Oops :oops: Will post your one out.
Thanks Graham, looking forward to it
We sent the last of the DVD's out today and also the replacement for Darren's faulty one, fingers crossed Darren that you are the one and only.
Graham, new DVD works a treat - THANK YOU.
We have another new member, Joanne Power :D Welcome to the club which is growing very slowly.
The new up to date list with Jason, Rachel, Joanne added. Our newest member Jamie Crutcher will be at Birmingham so please make him welcome.
Mind you we always do :)
Graham Lee
Thelma Levett
Neil Drummond
Darren Atkins
Amanda Smith
Julie Hayward
Emma Mitchell Dale
David Kallos
Lord Geoffery
Julie Trafford
Sarah Russell
Joyce Sugden
Rhian Benyon
Steve Benton
Anthony Sean Davies
Ade Bamigbade
Kevin Steadman
Royston South
Adrian Hurley
Daniel Catt
Dave Hickory
Olivia Post
Tom Nowrie
Trudi Patient
Richard Smith
Shirley Ray
Anthony Gillard
David Tan
Julian Dorrell.
Pete Watts
Rob Rumming Pain
Kerry Thomas
Russell Wells
Richard Rosson
Frank Dwan
Danny Schlesinger
Jason Murphy
Rachel Murphy
Joanne Power
Jamie Crutcher
I make that 40 members :D :D
I can resist no longer, You can add me to the list I have just joined!
This week at the memorial lecture four more people joined the club,
Bez Pitcher
David Crofts
Barbara Roll
Tony Maidment
With Christine that now makes 45 and two more have also promised to join, so an excellent two day star lecture and a few more members :D :D
Sonia Payne and Roger Daws have now joined so the latest list with 47 members, this is the most we have ever had :D
Just three more and I win £10 from Thelma, I said I would have 50 members before the end of the year, so fingers crossed.
If we do get 50 members I will spend the £10 on lottery tickets and donate some to the BAG funds.
Graham Lee
Thelma Levett
Neil Drummond
Darren Atkins
Amanda Smith
Julie Hayward
Emma Mitchell Dale
David Kallos
Lord Geoffery
Julie Trafford
Sarah Russell
Joyce Sugden
Rhian Benyon
Steve Benton
Anthony Sean Davies
Ade Bamigbade
Kevin Steadman
Royston South
Adrian Hurley
Daniel Catt
Dave Hickory
Olivia Post
Tom Nowrie
Trudi Patient
Richard Smith
Shirley Ray
Anthony Gillard
David Tan
Julian Dorrell.
Pete Watts
Rob Rumming Pain
Kerry Thomas
Russell Wells
Richard Rosson
Frank Dwan
Danny Schlesinger
Jason Murphy
Rachel Murphy
Joanne Power
Jamie Crutcher
Bez Pitcher
David Crofts
Barbara Roll
Tony Maidment
Christine Belcher
Roger Daws
Sonia Payne
Very happy to be on board :)
Sonia x
The memory card is all downloaded and Lord G is now editing Patick's day for us, the wheels are in motion.
We have had a few (4) Shirley Ray & Colin Myles DVD's that would not play, I think we have sent out new ones and I am just about to get in touch the the duplication centre to get these replaced, if anyone is still to view this DVD please can you have a look ASAP so I know how many to ask for, thanks.
We had a couple of spammers today, it's been a while but they have now both been deleted. If you missed it one was for cheap flights and the other laptops etc.
I have been updating all the pages on both websites today as we have to sort things out for VAT etc etc, freshening up the care & share pages and the UK twister club as well so making the balloon artiste's guild a little more prominent so maybe a little more google friendly as new members are still most welcome. I have a big meeting on Thursday with Qualatex about sponsorship as the current deal ends at the end of the year.
Good luck with the Qualatex meeting. If you need some supporting letters / statements for members explaining the value of the days and the benefits for Qualatex let us know!
Hi Darren, I had not thought about that but yes I suppose it would be something else to discuss and others may bring up a topic and a different angle about the days than I look at.
So if anyone would like to email over a letter/statement that would be great, the meeting is Thurday morning.
I've done mine ;-)
I've sent mine too! ;)
Definitely sending one over tonight when I get on the laptop. I have only been to one day after twisting for a very short time and joined the club straight away. The club and the amazing people have made a huge difference to my twisting in a very short space in time and that can only mean one thing. I'm churning through more balloons. A very worthwhile investment for qualatex therefore!!
If anyone has tried to join the forum and I have not activated your account or even sent me an email over the past two days you may have noticed I have been slow to reply, this is because my main email address is playing up and I am unable to get my emails on my computer. I can get into the back of the system but it is a little difficult, hoping things get fixed tomorrw.
Good luck today with the Qualatex meeting. Fingers crossed for you :) hope all goes well!
Good luck today with the Qualatex meeting. Fingers crossed for you :) hope all goes well!
Yes good luck Graham. Let us know how it goes if you are able to
Shall I say talks are ongoing which is a positive thing, so fingers crossed.
The BAG DVD for Patrick va de Ven at the memorial lecture is being edited and worked on, thought I'd just mention it incase anyone thought we had forgotten about it.
Just a little reminder that we are an active forum so new members have 4 weeks to put their first post up,
If I have deleted you and you would like to join in then please get in touch and I will re-activate your account.
I have the master copy from the Patrick van de Ven lecture in July, will go through it tomorrow and then send it off to be copied. Hope to have them out before kidology on the 11th Sept.
Many thanks to Lord G for all his hard work in making the DVD look better than it actually was, amazing what a few buttons on a computer can do.
The latest DVD is on it's way to be copied, hoping to get it back by the end of next week so can post them out before Kidology.
This is the latest list although I'm sure someone else has just joined a few weeks back and I have forgotten, please check to see you are on the list and if not then get in touch, thanks.
Graham Lee
Thelma Levett
Neil Drummond
Darren Atkins
Amanda Smith
Julie Hayward
Emma Mitchell Dale
David Kallos
Lord Geoffery
Julie Trafford
Sarah Russell
Joyce Sugden
Rhian Benyon
Steve Benton
Anthony Sean Davies
Ade Bamigbade
Kevin Steadman
Royston South
Adrian Hurley
Daniel Catt
Dave Hickory
Olivia Post
Tom Nowrie
Trudi Patient
Richard Smith
Shirley Ray
Anthony Gillard
David Tan
Julian Dorrell.
Pete Watts
Rob Rumming Pain
Kerry Thomas
Russell Wells
Richard Rosson
Frank Dwan
Danny Schlesinger
Jason Murphy
Rachel Murphy
Joanne Power
Jamie Crutcher
Bez Pitcher
David Crofts
Barbara Roll
Tony Maidment
Christine Belcher
Roger Daws
Sonia Payne
Blimey I just counted and make that 47 members.
Just found the latest member, Gavin Armstrong. Welcome to the club Gavin, hope you enjoy.
I've sent a PM
Oooo can't wait for the DVD!!! Have fun at kidiology all those who are going :)
Apologies for the slight delay getting the last BAG DVD out, it is all ready at the duplication centre but Jimmy who does the artwork for us has had a problem with his laptop, the artwork is done and on a disc but for some reason he could not email it to me. I am picking it up tomorrow at Kidology and then will need to work out how to email to the duplication centre so fingers crossed we get these out at the end of next week.
I have the artwork for the new DVD, BAG 5, Hoping to send this off tomorrow to the duplication centre and get the DVD's out by the end of next week.
The artwork has been sent off and the DVD's are being made at the duplication centre, will not be long now.................hopefully.
There has been another slight delay as the duplication centre want the artwork sent as CMYK and there I was expecting them delivered tomorrow.
I have no idea what CMYK is so have sent as a jpeg and gif. Hoping these will be OK, if not can someone explain what CMYK is?
I have the artwork on a DVD.
I'm no expert on printing matters, but if you are using photoshop I reckon you can sort this out thusly:
Open your artwork in the best quality you have available
Go to the menu bar at the top
select Edit/Convert to Profile
In the box that pops up theres a menu thingy called Destination Space
choose "Working CMYK - SWOP (coated), 20%, GCR, Medium"
(this should be near the top of the list)
Hit "OK"
Save your file.
If you aren't using photoshop then you may have to do something like Image/Mode/CMYK
Or post it over to me and I'll do my best
CMYK stands for Cyan Magenta Yellow Key
//http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMYK_color_model
David, Thnaks for that, saved as photoshop default 4 CMYK. Just sending it over, hopefully that will sort it out.
I've done the dreaded cull again, just deleted some 20/25 members who have not posted between 4/6 weeks.
If you would like me to activate your account again then you do need to post and join in as we are an active forum site. Thanks.
Guess what arrived today? We will be sending them ASAP, hopefully arriving by Monday.
And here they are :D
Wow up to 5 already :o . I'll be keeping an eye out for the postie this week :)
Here they are now already to go, off to the Post Office.
Oooo very excited can't wait for the postman!
I got mine Graham - thank you very much.
I had a quick check through and it all seems to be working. :)
Yes thanks Graham - received my today. Can you tell me when i will receive day 2 of the lecture? :lol:
Am supposed to be doing my expenses and numerous other paperwork items that need finishing by the end of the week but instead I am in balloon heaven watching my BAG video!!!!! Thanks Graham for sending out - Its fantastic! If anyone is sitting on the fence regarding joining - the videos alone are worth the money without the actual days. Can't wait for the November care and share days!
Sonia x
If anyone has tried to join the forum in the past 5 days, sorry I have not activated your accounts yet but I have been away working at a magic convention in Great Yarmouth.
Will sort them out tomorrow for you.
Graham - you can always delegate that task next time you go away :-)
I sent a mass email out last night with details about the Manchester day next week and the Sutton two day event with Ed Chee on the 1st/2nd Nov.
I did mention we are offering discounted rates for BAG membership till the end of the year, the options are to pay the full fee £120 and to get all three DVD's that are in the BAG collection this year,
1, Colin Myles/Shirley Ray
2, Patrick Van de Ven
3, Ed Chee
and you can attend the five days that are left on membership till the end of Marh. Or option two is,
Pay £60, attend the remaining five days for this year and get DVD 3, Ed Chee
I am trying to get three more members by the end of the year to win by bet with Thelma that we would have 50 members by the end of 2012.
The bet was taken the early part of last year, it is only for £10 but if I do win I will buy some lottery tickets and donate some if not all the winnings to the club.
Quote from: "nippy99"Graham - you can always delegate that task next time you go away :-)
Sorry Darren, I missed this post, not sure if you can activate accounts. You would think I would know being as someone once said the keeper of the site.
Just a reminder that new forum members have up to 4 weeks to put up their first post otherwise we do de-activate your account.
We try to make this an active forum :D
The latest up to date membership list, we had two new members joing on Wed at Manchester, Lindsey Atherton and Lucy Gratton.
So by adding these onto the list we now have ..... members :) :D :D
Graham Lee
Thelma Levett
Neil Drummond
Darren Atkins
Amanda Smith
Julie Hayward
Emma Mitchell Dale
David Kallos
Lord Geoffery
Julie Trafford
Sarah Russell
Joyce Sugden
Rhian Benyon
Steve Benton
Anthony Sean Davies
Ade Bamigbade
Kevin Steadman
Royston South
Adrian Hurley
Daniel Catt
Dave Hickory
Olivia Post
Tom Nowrie
Trudi Patient
Richard Smith
Shirley Ray
Anthony Gillard
David Tan
Julian Dorrell.
Pete Watts
Rob Rumming Pain
Kerry Thomas
Russell Wells
Richard Rosson
Frank Dwan
Danny Schlesinger
Jason Murphy
Rachel Murphy
Joanne Power
Jamie Crutcher
Bez Pitcher
David Crofts
Barbara Roll
Tony Maidment
Christine Belcher
Roger Daws
Sonia Payne
Gavin Armstrong
Lindsey Atherton
Lucy Gratton
Congratulations Graham! :D
I am just putting all members emails onto one list so that I can email everyone from the club in one go. We need to discuss the best way forward for the club and what we would like it to achieve. At the moment we do not have sponsorship past the Ed Chee dates in November for next year so need to take that into account as well. There will be an email to members hopefully dropping into your inbox later today.
Oh the excitement, we had a spammer today trying to sell houses in Nottingham. All deleted and banned, excitement over for the day.
Quote from: "Graham Lee"I am just putting all members emails onto one list so that I can email everyone from the club in one go. We need to discuss the best way forward for the club and what we would like it to achieve. At the moment we do not have sponsorship past the Ed Chee dates in November for next year so need to take that into account as well. There will be an email to members hopefully dropping into your inbox later today.
Just checked my inbox but didn't get an email?
I was adding a lot of pictures to the B is for thread last night, looking through all my picture folders does take a while and I stil have 5 more folders to look through.
I'm just off to do the email now.
Apologies if anyone got a message from "rachele" asking if they were single and had a girlfriend. I have just deleted the account,
if anyone is upset at not getting this PM then let me know and I will send you one :D :lol:
Apologies to all forum members if you have had a PM from Miss.Zabrina. I have deleted them but I think you may have all got some spam.
I thought I was in luck! :-)
Jordan
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
We had two new Balloon Artistes Guild members join at the lecture last week, Lee Harrington, Tess Cartwright and then yesterday Andrea Cheville joined who was at the David Grist Memorial Lecture and she lives in America. So now we have? Not sure how many members, will need to have a count. So welcome to the club :D
I have just done another cull of members who have never posted, please note you do get between 4/5 weeks to post and we all like to think we are a very friendly bunch.
If I have de-activated your account then please just send us an email and I will re-register you onto the forum, but please post ASAP. Thanks.
Just to keep everyone updated, I have the master copy of the Ed Chee day on DVD now, just got to view it and then send it off to the duplication centre to be copied.
Thanks to Lord Geoffery for all his hard work in sorting this all out, appreciated.
Just watched 1hr 20 mins and all is OK so far, just 2hr 15 mins to go. On the DVD there is,
Chapter 1, Intro
Chapter 2, Twisting Techniques
Chapter 3, Hero Body, Two balloon
Chapter 4, Hero Body, Four balloon
Chapter 5, Chihuahua (Chiwawa)
Chapter 6, Rose
Chapter 7, Christmas Tree
Chapter 8, Panda
Chapter 9, Rainbow Hat
Chapter 10, Hello Kitty
Chapter 11, Elephant
Chapter 12, Spiral Hat
Chapter 13, Grinch Hat
Chapter 14, Dog
Chapter 15, Head Structure
Chapter 16, Armadillo
Chapter 17, One for the Girls (Princess)
Chapter 18, Hair Styles
Chapter 19, Dora
The master DVD looks OK, there is a spelling mistake but hey ho we can all live with that, I dont suppose anyone would have noticed if I had not have mentioned it.
I'm sending it off to the duplication service tomorrow so maybe we will have them out before the New Year with luck and a strong wind.
Just finished watching all of the Ed Chee DVD, wow it is very good. If you just made Dora it is worth getting just for that one model alone and then there are another 18 designs as well.
A must reason to join the Balloon artistes Guild as the DVD is only available to club members.
The master DVD has been posted out to the duplication centre, just waiting for the artwork and then we are all systems go.
Are any club members able to do the artwork for the DVD's we produce? It would save a few pennies every year and there are only three a year to do.
Quote from: "Graham Lee"The master DVD has been posted out to the duplication centre, just waiting for the artwork and then we are all systems go.
Are any club members able to do the artwork for the DVD's we produce? It would save a few pennies every year and there are only three a year to do.
Just sent u a message Graham x
I'm ok on design in photoshop. I can have a go at something if you email me images of what you want on it and necessary text. If you dont like it shan't be offended. Ive do a few designs for friends business's and they were happy enough My email is cjkimber@gmail.com
Thanks Chris for the offer, Sonia has agreed to meet me after Xmas and show me how do the the artwork and to use photoshop. This way I can then sort it out myself.
Not to worry, can you reply a link with info about the balloon artists guild. Would appreciate more info on it.
http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk/pages ... _club.html (http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk/pages/uk_twister_club.html)
forum-balloon-club-idea-t3447.html?hilit=club (http://balloonchat.co.uk/forum-balloon-club-idea-t3447.html?hilit=club) forum
That was a surprise, yesterday we had a new all time amount of people viewing the site, it was 77 in May of this year well yesterday we had 85 people looking at the site all at the same time.
If you look at the forum page it is right at the bottom on the left hand side.
Another odd thing was the fewest people looked at the forum yesterday but they must have all viewed at a similar time, there were 160 people looking at the site yesterday when we normally get around the 300 unique views a day.
I forgot to mention yesterday that the artwork for BAG dvd 6 has now been sent off so we are just waiting on the duplication centre and then the ED Chee DVD will be winging it's way to all members. If you are not a member and would like a full set of this years DVD's,
then just join the balloon artistes Guild for last year at just £120 to receive all three fantastic and informative DVD's.
Shirley Ray and Colin Myles, DVD 4
Partick van de Ven, DVD 5
Ed Chee DVD 6
We have a new club member Mike Andreshak, he is a member on the site as well, shakfx. So welcome to the balloon artistes guild, not sure how many members we now have?
I had a slight problem again with the artwork for the BAG Ed Chee Vol 6, all sorted now but held us up for a few days.
Hopefully when I have a lesson or two on photoshop I will be able to do the artwork myself and things will run a little smoother.
I will have the DVD's on Tuesday next week so will try to post out ASAP so everyone has them for the weekend.
All the envelopes Lyn addressed and sorted out last night so when theDVD's arrive tomorrow we are hoping to get them out the same day.
I make it that we have 54 members now :D :D
The DVD's arrived this afternoon and only spent two hours here and then all packed off over the UK, USA and Singapore.
Wait by your front door as they will be arriving soon, I only sent second class to save a few pennies.
I forgot to mention we had a new Bag member join at Bishops Stortford until the end of March, so welcome to Alicea Sillitoe.
hoping they and everyone else will re-join again for year three of "The Balloon Artistes Guild" as you never know what is just around the corner.
For this years entertainment at the Care & Share balloon days we have booked so far for this year,
Bishops Stortford, Roger Daws, Darren
Leeds, Shirley Ray
Birmingham, Deco day, Pam & Paul Pearce
Birmingham, "David Grist Memorial Lecture" Antonio Becares Rodriguez
"Let's Improve Our Art"
I think Darren was the first to mention about a monthly standing order/direct debit fee to tempt a few new BAG members to join and I have had a couple ask about this as well.
I'm a little reluctant as it would mean one more thing for me to do but then if it would help the club to grow one has to weigh up all the options.
Any thoughts?
If you set it up similar to Ken Stillman's balloonclick, it shouldn't be too much headache. People simply sign up for an automatic credit each month through PayPal, and you're done.
I know it's mostly psychological, but $10/month sounds like less than $120/year. You may get people who are willing to pay $10/month who wouldn't be able/willing to pay the $120/year.
One last thing, highly recommend that you sticky the thread that spells out what BAG or create a new one and sticky it to the top of the forum. Most people who are just jumping onto this forum don't know what BAG is, how it works, what you get if you live in another country, etc. and don't know where to look for the answer. If you have a sticky thread at the top of the forum, it may cut down on some of the confusion.
Yes it was me who suggested the monthly payment plan and I think it would work well but I do have concerns about Graham having to do the administration. Traditional direct debit would only work for UK residents or those who have a UK bank account, so paypal is the only way to include everyone.
Personally for this to work I feel it is fair to have two price levels; for example, £120 for those pay upfront and £135 for those who pay over 12 months (to cover paypal fees etc - need to work out exact charges so Graham does miss out.)
For the TBAG year running from 1st April 2013 to 31st March, payments should on or before the 1st of each month. Every member signs up with Graham and includes their email address and if a separate paypal account is created just for TBAG, then it is a simple method of just ticking off the payments each month.
It is simple for any member to setup an automatic payment plan at any chosen day of the month to match their own payday etc.
I feel this would encourage more people to join especially those who feel the lump sum is a little bit harder to swallow.
It looks like we will have in place a pay monthly scheme via PayPal. Darren, Nippy99 has agreed to be the accounts manager for this :D
We are just working things out and coming up with a price, PayPal charges will have to be taken into account but we are hoping it encourages more people to join.
Graham/Darren
If this would to be set up I would join no problem. 135 seems more than reasonable so Graham is no left short. As I said to you on the balloon care and share day I pay monthly to balloon click and I don't even notice its going:-) £12 per month would be 144 and that sounds pretty reasonable also to me.
On a separate note I am thinking about joining for the rest of the year just to get the DVDs. I know this would be 120 so am curious, is there lots of good stuff tutorial wise on them.
Thanks
Rob
We are trying to set up a PayPal account for monthly payments and would like an email address such as www.tbag (http://www.tbag) has gone
BalloonArtistsGuild.co.uk is still available!
:D
theballoonartistesguild is also available, I was looking to see if we could get a shorter catchier name?
t-bag.org.uk is available
There was a little confusion at the last day in Bishops Stortford so I will be sending out this letter when people book onto the days from now on.
Is there anything else I should mention?
"CARE & SHARE" BALLOON FUN DAYS
Many thanks for booking onto the "Care & Share" balloon day course/workshop. We do hope you have a fun time attending and
learning from the day?
Here are hopefully a few useful tips to make the day go better for you.
Things to bring,
Camera, Pump, Cup, Bin Bag, Basic Balloons
As the days are exceptional value for money we do ask those attending to bring with them some basic balloon supplies and a pump.
There is not too much of a problem if you do not have any as we do sell product on the day at wholesale prices.
We supply tea, coffee and biscuits during the day but if you would like to bring along a cream cake or two that is greatly appreciated.
If you have never twisted before we do suggest you find a basic balloon modelling DVD to view and to try to make a few items from the instructions as this will help you greatly at the days. You will already be on the first rung of the ladder rather than starting from the bottom. There are also plenty of free instructions for you to view and try on the balloon forum, details below.
We also go out after for a meal locally, all are most welcome.
More details about the day can be viewed on the balloon forum,
http://www.balloonchat.co.uk (http://www.balloonchat.co.uk)
If you do need any balloon supplies our website shop is,
http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk (http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk)
We also run "The Balloon Artistes Guild"
For the yearly fee of £120 you can attend all 10 Care & Share days including the 3 "Star Lecture" days. Included in the price you receive
3 DVD's from the star lecture days that are recorded so if you are unable to make the days you can still catch up on all that is new in the twisting world. More details, http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk/pages ... _club.html (http://www.balloonartwholesale.co.uk/pages/uk_twister_club.html)
I have just purchased, theballoonartistesguild.co.uk and tbaguk.co.uk
I am now up to owning 21 domain names.
I'm looking to see who to bring over for the star lecture day Oct/Nov time, anyone have some suggestions? We do need to work with Untited Twisters on this so we split the air fare.
Antonio is booked for June 2013 and then we also need someone for March 2014 next year.
What about the chap who just got best newcomer is pascal Grooten. I would love to see David brenion but I know he spoke 2 years ago. What about Beating?
How about Daniel McCullough?