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Conference 2003 Report

How can Patty & Mark top it?  That was the general thought after the 5th Annual S.M.I.L.E. Conference on November 21 to 23, 2003 in Phoenix, Arizona.

 About the Conference

The Conference Began on Thursday night with an invitation to all out of town attendees and the locals to meet, have dinner and share some fun times.  There were several silly games after dinner, followed by a marathon Joke Telling Festival!  Bick-a-Beek!

The next day we started out at ASU Downtown.  Conference Chairs Mark Ruffennach and Patty Meagher welcomed everyone.  Patty, Carrie Abts, and Debbie Henry get everyone going with some silly clown antics!

Jerry Quarles showed a fantastic slide show on the history of S.M.I.L.E.!  He also showed the incredible Historical Book that remained at the Conference for attendees to look at all weekend long!

Director of Historical Hysteria Jerry Quarles shows the Historical Book to attendees!

Then in a double session, attendees either learned about make up from Patty, Debbie and Wild Bill Schulte or they learned about Fire Safety Magic with Keith Ramsay from Washington State.

Left: Tim La Porte gets a new face in the make-up class.

Right: Keith Ramsay and his new Axtell Dragon shows us how to use Ventriloquism and safety!

In the afternoon, we traveled to the Pappus School for a show by Scooter and his 3rd grade teacher - Mrs. Kibbles.   This was a great time to see how a school show is presented. 

Scooter & Mrs. Kibbles during the Wilting Flower Warm-Up

entertaining and educating the kids!

We returned to the APS Building where Bruce Wall and Patty presented on skit development.  This was followed by the annual "3 Ring Safety Circus" featuring Juggling by Keith Ramsay, Walk Around Magic by Scott Reed, and Balloon Sculpturing with Patty and Wild Bill.

Left: Debbie Huffman from Louisiana demonstrates her new found

abilities - taught by Keith Ramsay - to juggle 11 balls in the air at one time!

Right: Patty & the Participants in the balloon sculpting class show off their new hats.

Then it was time for our Lead Instructor Dave Mitchell to teach us about Safety Magic.  His presentation was great because it blended commercial magic with safety messages. 

Dave Mitchell (Center) shows Jerry and another attendee that

"You Win Or Loose By the Way You Choose!"

The next day, we began with Lead Instructor Terry Ricketts all time favorite class "Magic Mania".  This was followed by Dave Mitchell teaching about puppetry. 

Left: S.M.I.L.E. Member Mary Jeffries is truly amazed at the paper ladder

that she and Wild Bill Shulte made at Terry Rickett's Magic Mania class.

Right: Terry shows off his "Mickey Mouse ears" that he can make from a handkerchief.

In the afternoon, attendees had a choice between "Finding Your Character" with Terry or "The 3M's" with Mark Ruffennach and Scott Reed.  Dave presented on Professional Magic and then Justin Ricketts showed us how to make props. 

Next on the schedule everyone got into clown costumes and took the annual photo.  Individuals could also get photos taken by the photographer. 

The 2003 Conference Attendees who clowned up (Photo by Bruce Wall)

While roaming through the courtyard of the Arizona Center, the clowns met up with some of the staff of Hooters and they all posed for a photo.

Several of the staff of the restaurant Hooters pose with the

S.M.I.L.E. Clowns in the Courtyard of the Arizona Center.

That night was the Open Mic with several impressive skits by the attendees and hosted by Dave Mitchell.  It was followed by a safety magic show by Dave.

     Left: Tammy & Jolene from Louisiana and Kerry from Canada

show everyone how to Stop, Drop & Role at the Open Mic

Right: Dave Mitchell turned Terry La Pore into a

"Human Puppet" during the instructor show.

The following day on Sunday, we saw Dave Mitchell's Silly Magic class followed by the Annual meeting and the awarding of the Billy Awards.  The Billy's are awarded to the best article written in the S.M.I.L.E. Newsletter "Put a S.M.I.L.E. On Your Face" as voted by the members of the organization.  Here are the winners of the 2003 Billy Awards:

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Check out these other Conference reports:

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Last modified: August 15, 2008.