138. Big Balloon Build Debrief & Retreat Announcement

In this episode I'm sharing all the details about what it was like to host The Big Balloon Build in my hometown. If you're not familiar, it's an organization started by Stuart Davies who used to do these builds in his own community in Wales. I was actually only the third person in the United States to host one since it's become an international event!    It's just like it sounds, a big (let's be honest... huge) build, where we used over 120,000 balloons and had over 70 artists from around the world come in to make it happen. After the build is completed, it's turned over to a charity for fundraising. I'm so proud to say we raised over $110,000 and received over 2000 pounds of food donations at my build!   But it wasn't without a ton of work! If you're considering hosting, or even just going to participate, I have a few behind the scenes notes on some of the things I'm glad I prepared for and some things I wish I had prepared for. Things like: the length of the planning process partnerships you'll need to create with a venue, a sponsor and a charity balancing the workload with the charity prep time and space just before the start of the build my actual duties as the host during the build managing the chaos of food Was it worth it? Long story short... yes, but I do think you need to prepare for what kind of outcomes are realistic, what might not be and what you, as a host, actually want to accomplish or gain from hosting.   And now that my duties with The Big Balloon Build are through, it's confirmed for me that I should finally host the retreat I've been thinking about for over a year!   I'm so, so excited to announce that registration is open for the first ever Glow Retreat, a women's retreat for balloon business owners! This all-inclusive event will take place in Lake Geneva, WI, from August 7-10, 2023, and is limited to the first 12 participants.   It's actually a balloon-free event where instead of building, we'll be focusing on implementing the strategies of my favorite book, The Pumpkin Plan. From figuring out your area of innovation, to finding your "pumpkin" clients, to creating an actual plan of what to do following the retreat... we'll be bouncing ideas off each other to strategize and set goals over good food and with gorgeous scenery.   My favorite part of any convention or event I attend is always getting to know people and creating relationships through conversation, and that is exactly what I'm hoping for for all of the retreat attendees! Full schedule of events and info can be found at the link below!         RESOURCES MENTIONED: The Glow Retreat 50% off your 1st year of 17hats / 17hats Bootcamp Balloon Suite Havin' A Party Wholesale (save 5% with code BRIGHT... new code!) Balloon Boss Summit & BalloonCoach.com   ____________________________   Support the show / join the book club 50 Ideas for Email Marketing | Join the Bright Balloon email list planner | courses | templates @thebrightballoon The Bright Balloon on YouTube