Kurt Medlin first began trying to make fireworks around age 10 (with the patient tolerance of his mother and the encouragement of his father!). An avid collector of fireworks books and publications, Kurt acquired copies of the classic texts by Weingart, Davis, and Lancaster by his late teens. Kurt joined the PGI in 1982 at age 22, attended his first PGI convention in 1983 and gave his first seminar at the 1986 PGI convention. Kurt worked his first public fireworks display in 1984. Kurt is a life member of both the PGI & WPA and a former board member of both organizations.
Kurt has given seminars at previous PGI conventions and WPA Winter Blast conventions on black powder rockets, tourbillions, girandolas, large bore candles, fountain and wheel construction, and traditional Italian shell building. In addition to hands-on firework making, Kurt is interested in fireworks history and collecting antiquarian fireworks literature.

John Steinberg, principal author of the PGI Shooters Certification course textbook is a licensed lead operator for 25 years. John serves on the NFPA SFX TC and is a principal member of the NFPA Technical Committee on Pyrotechnics, which writes NFPA-1123, NFPA-1124, and other documents and he will be happy to answer any code questions you may have. Contrary to a popular cultist belief, John is not an anarchist and, in fact, he takes his MSDS very seriously, and brushes after every meal.

Steve Majdali:
is a charter member of the WPA, a member of the PGI since 1984, and is an executive member of the Reaction Research Society (the oldest amateur rocketry organization in the USA). He has been published in several pyrotechnic newsletters as well as Pyrotechnica and American Fireworks News. Always willing to share, Steve has given seminars or demonstrations at every PGI convention attended so far (20 to date) and many more at Winter Blast. A licensed pyrotechnic operator for over twenty years in CA, Steve is a fabricator of pyrotechnic tooling, an amateur chemist, and a pyrotechnic consultant and educator. An electrical mechanic by trade and an inventor/tinkerer by nature, He is mostly self-taught in chemistry, fluid power systems, and writing. He has been a fireworks enthusiast since his youth and learned machining to further his research in pyrotechnics and rocketry.

Ben started his pyro career at an early age. As a boy, he saved his pennies throughout the year just to be able to visit the fireworks stands during that one great week in July. While in elementary school, he was exposed to the world of rocketry and began constructing sugar and BP rockets. This led to the experimentation and construction of other pyro devices. Ben currently owns and operates FireSmith Pyrotechnic Tooling. Through this enterprise, he has designed and currently manufactures over 150 different tools and machines used to construct a wide variety of pyro devices.