By David R. Hope AIFD, AAF
I became a member of AIFD in 1978. AIFD had a big membership drive that year to increase national membership. As it had started in California, the vast majority of members were from there. However, there was a growing group of members in the South. During this membership drive applicants presented all their work in a portfolio of photographs, with no on-site testing. I was doing a lot of shows in Southern states, working alongside such AIFD members as Teresa Riddle AIFD, Michael Polychrones AIFD, Jim Treadaway AIFD, Haskell Eargle AIFD, and several others. I was told by several that I should apply. Both Thomas Powell AIFD and I did so and were accepted.
Our first Symposium was the 1978 Millbrae (San Francisco) Symposium. It was a mind boggling, exciting experience! We arrived a day early and walked around the hotel. We walked into a room and there was Jef Hackbarth AIFD moving tables around. When he asked if we were there for AIFD, he immediately put us to work! We were suddenly in the workroom, meeting and sometimes assisting the designers! We met President Rocky Pollitz AIFD and Membership Chair Jan Bjurstrom AIFD, plus other soon-to-be-great-friends such as; Frankie Shelton AIFD, Eulalah Overmeyer AIFD, Phil Rulloda AIFD, Bill Taylor AIFD and Ralph Null AIFD (and so many more).
The programs were outstanding. I can’t tell you what he did, but I remember that Bill Taylor AIFD was so at ease on stage, both entertaining and educational. For final night Richard Calhoun created floral headdresses and costumes which were so stunning. Six months later, he and I were designers at the Florafax National Convention in Las Vegas. Richard asked Thomas and I to assist him. We learned so much back stage that we later did our own headdress shows on the East Coast.
AIFD® and Symposium honestly changed my life. Life-long friends are the greatest reward. I remember doing events and weddings and asking “What would we be designing if we hadn’t gone to Symposium this year?”It has been so rewarding to have the opportunity to teach and share experiences with other high caliber designers, and to help AIFD grow and change through my work on the National Board and the Foundation. These are some of the rewards that grew out of my first Symposium!
