BAPIA News Summer 2014 Summer 2014 | Page 9

Associate BAPIA member, Raquel Reynolds, CBA, of Funky Balloons in Dublin, Ireland not only achieved a Gold Award for her Delivery Bouquet, she also took 3rd place! We asked Raquel about her WBC 2014 experience. “ Only a small part of me wanted to enter a competition. Most of all, I was worried that taking part would involve too much preparation, too much stress and too much potential for disaster. However, I had entered ‘for-fun’ competitions in the jam sessions in Dallas 2012. I also had the experience of doing the CBA assessment, twice, in fact, because it didn’t go so well for me the first time! It was my husband who thought I should enter an official competition even though he didn’t give me much of a chance: “Listen, you’re not going to win. Just don’t embarrass yourself. Or Ireland.” He talked me into it and then left me for football on TV. The deadline to submit a design plan came very quickly and I wasn’t ready. No suitable ideas were suggesting themselves. With a bit of good luck, I spotted Rachel Allen’s new balloon designs while flicking through a Qualatex brochure looking for something to show a client. Although I had already seen and liked them before, it suddenly hit me that I could work with one of them as a competition design. Spouse had no ideas himself but he wanted to show his obvious enthusiasm and confidence: “I’m not sure it’s very creative. But you can see if you are any good under competition pressure.” Encouraged by this support, I made the first of my planned series of prototypes based on one of Rachel Allen’s new balloons. I gave her a name, ‘Sara’, so I could customise the delivery bouquet with stick-on letters. I was generally happy with the result apart from several details which I could sort out in Sara version 2. For the moment, Sara v1 was enough to meet pre-competition requirements for WBC competition registration so it was back to the daily bread and butter of balloon business. I kept the design in my reception to show customers and tell them about the competition. (They loved the design but most of them were astounded there is such a thing as the WBC!). In no time at all I was on the plane to Denver without having actually completed a Sara v2. Competition Day came and the clock started ticking. I felt excited and nervous at the same time. I was worried about finishing in time and looking around I could see other people doing really wonderful things and I began to feel even more pressure. My immediate neighbours in the competition were Valter Saladino from Italy and a girl from China. They were very friendly and that helped to be able to relax in a focused sort of way. When the clock timed out, I was quite happy to have done a good job but I never really believed I would win a prize as the other entries were so good. Popping into my head were things I forgot to do as part of my design. Damn, I forgot to put a flower in her hair! (Note to self: make a to-do list of special touches and techniques for the next time.) The Gala dinner and prize-giving ceremony came. I was excited and happy but had no expectations of winning. They called out my name. I had won third-prize. For a moment, I couldn’t stand up I felt so shocked and scared. I somehow made my way to collect my prize. It was like a dream. I had also won a gold achievement award for a high score. It really felt lovely to be recognised in this way. Valter, who had been competing beside me won second prize in our competition and came first in columns! Raquel Reynolds, CBA ” BAPIA would like to congratulate all those who took part in the competitions and for flying the flag on behalf of GB! Would you like more information on BAPIA or want to join? Membership is only £160 per year and includes many benefits such as Public, Products & Employers Liability Insurance cover, Legal Insurance cover and a Welcome Pack, along with many other benefits. To find out more or to join simply go to www.bapiaonline.com or you can call us on 0208 123 1746 or e-mail to [email protected] Raquel Reynolds, CBA, with her Rachel Allen-themed design.