NABAS – the National Association of Balloon Artists and Suppliers – is delighted to announce the appointment of Peggy Butland and John Preston from the Great British Balloon Company as joint head of training.
With a combined 60 years in the industry, the dynamic pair have been in the balloon business together since 1996, when Peggy placed an ad in a magazine asking for help with a big event at Wembley. Since then they have provided training and development to balloon artists and companies from around the world; spending six months of the year training around Italy, holding a three-day convention in Dubai and decorating Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s 80th birthday.
As the new heads of training, Peggy and John bring with them the commitment and passion of two people truly invested in moving the association and the industry forward, as they look to help those earlier in their career.
The pair recognise the opportunities which come from being a member of the association and would like to see NABAS training accessible to all in the UK balloon industry, with a strong emphasis on quality of courses and instructors. They will be exploring new ways of ensuring that courses reach all in the profession, including the addition of online learning and retraining instructors to be able to deliver courses locally to all across the UK.
“It’s important to have an association that is happy to train and share ideas,” said John. “It’s not just about providing prescribed courses, but encouraging attendees to think about the profit margins, the logistics and how the product can be adapted to meet different requirements. Most importantly, the quality and professionalism of the training is the priority.”
“The balloon industry does need an independent association,” said Peggy. “NABAS has been putting on beautiful events and instructors should be at that event, to build pride in the training available and build pride in NABAS members.”
“To be successful in the balloon industry now, you need to do something completely different, use your head and find something new,” continued John. “A lot of training is very prescriptive, but whenever we do a class we always create sellable things. We want to get people thinking and encourage innovation and smart business decisions.”
John and Peggy will be announcing new training initiatives and opportunities in the coming months. NABAS welcomes their incredible wealth of experience and expertise and is looking forward to the training opportunities they will unlock for members and the industry.
