Wishing Everyone a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous 2020!

With Christmas and the holiday festivities already over, it's now time to focus on the exciting New Year that lays ahead! 

I don't know about you, but this year has literally flown by! Spring Fair 2019 seems like an eternity ago! Now, I'm surprised to find myself working on the 2020 window display designs, as well as planning some exciting new design classes that I will be teaching in 2020! 

Did you make any New Years resolutions? Maybe 2020 is the year that we need to be kinder to ourselves. Let's start the new decade with a positive frame of mind, and try and live our lives to the full! 

 

I would like to end this year by taking the opportunity to thank all those who help me with the Very Best ™️ Balloon Blog! To the lovely Lexi who ensures that my posts are coherent and grammatically correct, and to everyone who has contributed some amazing content to blogposts over this year! I have been writing the blog since 2011, and am excited to see that it still remains one of the top ballooning resources, with views reaching over 2 million this year! 

I know that 2020 will be another fabulous year for ballooning education! Some truly sensational events and classes are being offered around the globe, and I hope that I get the opportunity to meet up with some of you then! 

Happy New Year!

Sue
www.suebowler.com
#suebowler

It's Time to Say Goodbye to 2018 and Hello to 2019!

On this New Year's Eve, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a superb January, a dazzling February, a peaceful March, an anxiety free April, a sensational May, and Joy that keeps going from June to November, and then round off with a fizz-popping December!

Thank you all for continuing to support the Very Best Balloon Blog, and for all the lovely messages that I received throughout the year - It is very gratifying to know the blog is helpful and inspiring many of you! I am very much looking forward to writing the Very Best Balloon Blog next year, and would welcome any ideas or suggested topics that you would like me to cover - just drop me a message at suebowlercba@gmail.com.

I would also like to say a huge thank you to some of this year's amazing contributors and guest bloggers! They have all very generously given their time to inspire and help others in the balloon industry! To check out some of their posts, just click on their name!

Connie Iden-Monds, CBA, Party Animals in Nashville, Tennesse, USA.

Sara and Mike Harris, both CBAs of For Every Occasion in Rhyl, UK.

Barry Revell, CBA, of Lightitup Balloons in Perth, Australia.

Avital and Nir Schechter, CBA's of Baloney Nir in Katzrin, Israel.

Jackie Ochitwa, CBA, of With a Twist Balloon Creations in Alberta, Canada.

Ruti Grodkinsky, CBA, of Designed by Ruti - Balloon Decor Israel.

Luc Bertrand, CBA, of Waw Balloons in Vichte, Belgium.

Jill Shortreed, CBA, of Charleston Balloon Company in Mount Pleasant, SC, USA.

Chris Adamo, CBA, of Balloons Online in Sydney, Australia.

Stuart Davies, CBA, of Beyond Balloons in South Wales, U.K.

Michelle Severino, CBA, of Party Splendour in Peakhurst, NSW.

Caity Byrne, CBA of All About balloons in Washington, D.C., USA.

Tina Giunta, CBA, of Shivoo Balloons in Melbourne, Australia.

Zoe Adams-Jones, CBA, of Jaz Trading in Queensland, Australia.

Toñy Moncada, CBA of Globofiesta, in Elche, Alicante, Spain.

And of course a huge thank you to Qualatex^® who sponsor the blog! 

I believe that we will have a few challenges in 2019, but if we work together we should be able to overcome many of these and grow and prosper for many years to come! 

Wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year and looking forward to seeing you next year! 

Happy Ballooning!

Sue

www.suebowler.com

#suebowler

So what can we expect in 2017?

Firstly, I would like to wish you all a very happy New Year! 

New Year's design by Jose Luthman, CBA and Sue Bowler, CBA

2016, saw the fourth fabulous World Balloon Convention and wow, what an amazing convention that was! More than 900 delegates representing 58 countries came together in the fabulous city of New Orleans. The World Balloon Convention is a truly fantastic event offering so many wonderful opportunities to learn new skills and great techniques, share ideas, and make some amazing new friends and contacts. Most importantly, it gives the biggest injection of passion, energy, and excitement that lasts many months after the event and the opportunity to bring new life to your business. Although it might seem early, you have more than a year to start saving for WBC 2018, which will take place March 14 -18 in San Diego, CA, USA. 

WBC - "Mardi Gras" Costume Party
Photograph by Jani Blocker.

So what can we expect in 2017? There will be many exciting opportunities to attend events, classes, and training. I believe that we never stop learning. There is always a great new technique or marketing tip that helps us to significantly increase sales! Even after 26 years, I can honestly say that I am still learning and truly want to learn more! It's very easy to believe that we know enough, but to help us to stand out against our competitors and make us the best, we should make training and learning a big part of our development agenda. Training is not just about learning how to make new designs. It helps you to understand how to price your work for profit and offers some vital business skills, too.

For many, traveling to events can be difficult. With that in mind, the 2017 Qualatex World Tour will be on the road and visiting many locations around the world! This will give balloons artists many opportunities to attend some truly fantastic classes with an all-star line up of instructors teaching an action-packed day filled with fabulous designs, business skills, and much more! To find out all the locations and dates click HERE

Are you ready for 2015?

Firstly may I take this opportunity to wish you a very happy, healthy and of course prosperous 2015!

I expect like me you are wondering where 2014 went? Every year seems to pass me by so much quicker than the previous one!

My 2014 ended in style as I was given the opportunity to create New Year's Eve decor for one of London's top hotels! Designing decor for an elegant venue has it's challenges. For me it was important to enhance the venue's charming function rooms without taking anything away from it's very famous characteristics. And after 3 days of preparation and installation, I was extremely happy with the end results!

The elegance of Starpoints truly complimented this stunning function room.

Now it's time to turn our attentions to 2015 and all the opportunities that it can bring us. It's time to get planning and organised so we maximise each and every opportunity that comes our way!

We can all get started by preparing for our seasonal campaigns, Valentines Day is merely a few weeks away, closely followed by Easter and then there is the wedding season and communions too! It's never too early to start planning especially if you are looking to promote your company for corporate events, Halloween, Christmas and New Years planning starts early in the corporate world so don't miss out!

I am very excited about 2015, my year kicks off with a trip to Israel for a 3 day event from 18th - 20th January with the very talented Pieter van Engen at Balloonland in Jerusalem, swiftly followed by Spring Fair at the beginning of February which is one of Europe's largest trade fairs where I have the honour to design, create and install the 'inspiring' window displays for Pioneer Europe plus I will be demonstrating some exciting new designs and sharing some of my window display tips on the Qualatex stand and The Stage on Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd February.

Education is a very important part of any businesses growth and development, so look out for Qualatex classes and events in your area. And don't forget to start planning and saving for the World Balloon Convention in 2016, don't underestimate the power of attending this convention, not only will it stimulate and excite you, it will help you to gain new skills and knowledge and of course grow your business!

And finally, I look forward to another year of writing new blogs covering a whole host of topics from reviewing new products, creating new step by step recipes, discussing business issues, event coverage and featured artists throughout the year plus anything else that I think will interest, inspire or help you!

Let's make 2015 a fabulous ballooning year!

Sue 
www.suebowler.com

Happy New Year from the Very Best Balloon Blog!

I am looking forward to seeing you next year!