Who's going to the FP Convention in CT in Jan 2012?

I signed up....deciding on my paid night classes now. Anyone else going?

I am going too. It'll be my first so I am super excited!

See you there, Kelly! It will be my first FP convention; gone to a few clown camps and conventions before.

Where can I find the info on this?

gcarey2121 wrote:Where can I find the info on this?

Yeah! what she said!

I'll try to post it here (hope I'm not vilolating any forum policy!)
http://www.chitchattheclown.com/Convention.html

I am still trying to decide. I love a lot of the instructors that will be there but I didn't have the best time last year. I made some great friends despite the bad experiences I had. I may just go to the Clown Jamboree in Mystic CT Jan 25-29. Marcela will be there along with lots of others in different disciplines. Plus, I have to save up for Twist and Shout in AZ in February!

I may consider going to this since they will not be having Fabbulas this year. I have yet to do this one. I prefer the larger conventions but did have a nice time at Fabbulas last year. Met quite a few froum members.

Anyone who attended last year do you know if many children attend this? I would be bringing my daughter obviously for the balloon classes, but it would be nice if there were others her age as well to hang out with.

Conn is only about 2 - 2.5 hours from Jersey so easy enough to drive to but we're talking pulling the kid out of school for 2 days after just coming back from Christmas break.

I think i need a little more feedback from some of those who have gone previously.

flopsie, could you PM me to let me know what I'm getting myself into? LOL

Honestly Pinky, if anything close to what happened last year happens this year... I can only imagine the craziness that would follow! LoL I hope lessons were learned and things will be better. Last year there was sooo much drama and so many little misunderstandings gone wrong (including a page of rules that friends of the organizers sometimes enforced while they broke the rules themselves). Despite that, the teachers are really great and the convention is smaller so class size is rather personal. You can benefit from any learning opportunity and make the most of any situation. It's a nice way to meet lots of people at once. Hopefully the weather will be better and maybe I'll see you there.

Tamara, I'm not sure about children but your sweet daughter is mature enough to handle the classes. The very best thing about last year was there were so few twisters when I was there that I felt like I was getting semi-private lessons. Plus I got to make friends with Simply Shonna Flannigan and learned so much from her and the other twisters. It's weird because I think Kim Hatch or one of her friends has a very bad allergy to latex so we had to be careful about where we could twist balloons.

I met some nice people this weekend who are from that area in CT and they said that even if it does snow, the folks up there know how to deal with it so it shouldn't be a problem (unless we get a blizzard, God forbid). I am trying to imagine "rules" at a FP convention, and I can't wrap my brain around it. Are we required to use a certain brush? LOL

It was a blizzard last year and once the road crews could keep up with it, the roads were fine. (There are a couple threads from last year here) The rules were a full page of things like you couldn't save seats in classes, you couldn't bring paints to class, and rules involving photo taking. I missed a big opportunity at Pashurs class because I didn't bring my paints, but he allowed and encouraged students to paint while he observed. Also, I showed up early to attend a class and one of the organizers had five seats in the front saved for her and her friends. Not a big deal because the classes were fairly small, just didn't understand why have rules like that if they didn't follow them. Really the people I hung out with made it worth the travel and hassle. I had fun and learned a lot, no regrets. You will definitely love the dealers room, it was nicely stocked and like I said, so many great people will be there. Nora Susko had so many great tips and tricks and it was great to meet Roberta Mandella after learning from her book. Enjoy all the fun activities too!

ooooh. yuck! should I not bother packing all my stuff to bring up there? I can't really learn by just watching. Plus, I'll forget what I learned by the time I get home, if I can't practice it and commit it to muscle memory. Oh well, live and learn. I do hope to see you there! I'll be coming from NC

No Pinky,
The convention rooms are small and space is limited. You don't want to bring your whole kit. 1) because you won't use it all, so why lug it around, 2) because you're sharing a table with 3 or 4 other people and even though this year some classes are being extended to allow for painting, you have to be considerate of the amount of space your stuff take up, and 3)Did I meneiton the limted space? I just bring one of my jewelers cases full of paint (fits in a backpack) for jams and a couple teaser palettes for inclass painting, that way my footprint remains small.

Allegedly, they had a problem the year before with people getting up VERY early in the morning and reserving spaces in the classrooms then going off for breakfast and what not. I agree that, while I was happy to see the sheet of rules, I would've been happier to see them enforced universally. If you mentioned it on your critique flopsie, I'm sure Kim will address it.

As for the rules about photography, there have been so many complaints at multiple conventions about people taking step-by-step photos and posting them online for the public, people actually slowing a class down while fiddling with their cameras, people blocking other class goers in theri pursuit of the perfect shot and people actually getting in the instructors way while painting or blinding him/her with their flash. The take your pictures from your seat, adhere to the instructor's preference about when pictures can be taken and waiting for the models to line the hallway for pictures of the final product rules help move things along faster and it lets other people from other classes get a chance to look at the work that was done.
I didn't have a problem with the camera rule especially not after Fabulaas where I had a lot of my pictures interupted by a BUTT that would suddenly appear when I snapped the shutter or the constant barrage of shutter clicks and flashes all throughout the classes.

Tamara,
This convention isn't like Fabulaas in that there aren't classes geared towards kids and they aren't given anythng specific to do unless they've been lined up as models. I know that some of the kids of the local painters wold hang out and watch movies in the lobby at night but there wasn't a distinct "kid" presence as there was in Philly.

I'll be there with bells on...again!