FAQ
What is the Academy?
The Academy is an annual gathering of holiday-centric people from all over the country. We come together to share, learn, and socialize with one another and every year things get bigger and better. Dozens of classes each year, vendor involvement, multiple classrooms, unique topics, and passionate instructors create an amazing environment for all of our attendees.
That sounds like a big event! How does it all come together each year?
Before the current Academy ends there are already plans under way for the following year. As planning progresses we make decisions that directly impact each person who could potentially attend. The total attendee experience is of the utmost importance during the planning of each Academy.
Who does all of the work?
The Academy volunteers give of their time freely to work together and ensure that each and every attendee comes away feeling as if they have learned something and that they have enjoyed their time at the event. They make it look easy, but the fact is that the Academy is a huge undertaking, with logistical nightmares that inevitably happen along the way. Every decision is made with one thought in mind: “How will this impact the attendee experience?”
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The team at Lone Star Holidays have been creating these events for years and have proven successful in each one. Chris Vyvial and Ryan Johnson, Directors for Lone Star Holidays, are bringing four years of large-scale Christmas event planning to the Academy once again and will be guiding the event through the planning and logistics. For 2012 they are bringing in experts from various holiday related groups to help elevate the experience at the Academy.
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The Board of Directors from Lone Star Holidays, led by President Jack Mayes, is building the “Christmas Classics” sessions. These will focus on everything Christmas related, from the very basics to the the most advanced topics. You will see some new topics as well as some returning topics (with new directions and/or instructors). Since 2008 the Lone Star Holidays team has produced top-notch education and 2012 will be no different.
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After the 2011 Lone Star Holidays Academy was completed we received a call from RJ at DIY Light Animation who had been planning a Florida based “DIY Expo”. After attending the Academy RJ decided that partnering with Lone Star Holidays made sense and approached us to see if we could work out the details. Always wanting to provide the best event out there, the team at Lone Star Holidays worked to make this happen and the DIY Expo became a piece of the 2012 Academy. RJ will be working with the DIY Light Animation staff to create the very best in DIY education for all of the attendees at the Academy in 2012.
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Light-O-Rama training has been requested time and time again. We have always covered the topic in detail but many people still want that all day, in-depth training. In 2012 we have coordinated with Drew Hickman of Holiday Technologies to provide their professional training for attendees. This add-on to the normal Academy registration will offer those who attend it to learn about sequencing from one of the recognized experts in the field and the official trainer for Light-O-Rama.
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The Halloween Development Committee for Lone Star Holidays, led by Mike Carr and Eric Kristiansen, is heading up the planning of this series of classes. Mike has worked to develop tracks for past Academy events and coordinated a large haunt for over 10 years. Eric Kristiansen is the founder of the Dallas/Fort Worth Friends of Halloween and brings many years of coordinating a large-scale residential haunt.