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!
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want to join?
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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.