the audio'connell YouTube page

I am not a pioneer on most things, including social media. I like to see where things are going, if they are going to build up a big enough head of steam and then decide to join in.

It was that way for me with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and now with YouTube where I have create my own page and produced my first video. Why?

Well, my college degree is in Radio/Television communication and I did own a video production company for six years so this is not totally unfamiliar territory. But I wasn’t sure on many fronts if I wanted to dip my toe in the video waters via social media.

Two things changed that.

One was when Jeff Kafer said he wanted to produce a video of the VO-BB voice talents recreating “The Night Before Christmas”. I didn’t have any of the tools needed at the time or a clue about the new way video worked but I decided to plod through it (embrace change etc., blah, blah). My finished work for that piece wasn’t stellar and Jeff had to tweak it a lot to make it presentable but it put me in to a more “I can do it” frame of mind. So thank you Jeff for that.

Next was the technology. I tried a Logitech camera for the VO-BB video but I thought it wasn’t sharp enough (or maybe the dullness was a result of the talent within my lens). Then I attended an Ad Club of Buffalo presentation featuring Kodak’s Chief Blogger, the very kind and knowledgeable Jennifer Cisney. Part of her presentation, not surprisingly included mention of some Kodak products including their Zi8 portable video camera. At the same time Steve Garfield, who I had met briefly some years ago at Podcamp Boston, published his new book (which I bought) on video and spoke highly of that same camera which had an input for external audio (which most cameras don’t have and which was something of importance to me). At $200 I figured I could make an educated mistake.

Calling around to some friends for editing tools advice and with my own trail and error (as is the way we all seem to learn, technologically, these days) I was ready to make my mistakes more publicly.

I am quite sure that after I do this for a while, I’ll look back at this video in disgust for its poor quality in any number of areas but for now, it’s not the worst thing I’ve seen and hopefully the content is a bit different.

I hope you’ll subscribe to my YouTube page and lets enjoy this ride together. Thanks.

Tags: commentary, facebook, linkedin, social media, tv, twitter, voice talent, voiceover, youtube by peter o'connell voiceover
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OK, look, for all the nice comments people make about my business’ marketing and what I know about marketing (and thank you) I did miss the boat on a Facebook fan page for the Voice Over Entrance Exam as previously noted.

Worse than that, I kind of forgot about the page entirely which is strictly a marketing no-no. Even worse than that, I almost admitted all of that in a blog post which is completely verboten.

So yesterday I check the page and see that there are 55 fans of the Voice Over Entrance Exam’s Facebook book page. The last time I looked I remember like, 5. And sadly I was quite thrilled with that number, even given the fact that 1 of those fans was the author.

For those of you playing the home game, that would be an increase of over 1,000,000,000,000 percent or 15 terabytes; not that I like to brag because I’m supposedly an introvert, according to Myers and Briggs (who also make very nice engines).

So thank you to all of you that pitied me by becoming a fan of an e-book that came out in May 2009 and which inaugurated a Facebook fan page about, ooooo, a month ago. I may have missed the Facebook fan page boat but I appreciate you throwing me a life ring.

Tags: commentary, facebook, marketing, voice over entrance exam, voiceover advice by peter o'connell voiceover
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The reason I ask this question is that I just enjoyed a nice three day weekend, pretty much away from the computer. This AM, opening up my Google reader, I see over 900 blog posts and over fifty of them are in the voiceover category.

What is it we think we all have to say? And I include me in there too.

It’s a vicious circle, mind you. You should have a blog to be an active participant in social media (and SEO/SEM) and everybody has the right to share whatever they like. Equally true, we can all subscribe and unsubscribe to any blog at any time (except this blog, you can check in anytime you like, but you can never leave).

With all this content, what are we all contributing to? And how many people are not just reading (Feedburner +) but understanding? Are we communicating or are we just spewing? Because more important to social media than the tool (a blog) is the content…saying something of relevance.

A blog writer has to assume that their posts resonate with someone if they have even one subscriber (and by the way, not for nothing, I mean it when I say thank you for subscribing). But when I think about 900 posts over three days multiplied times content on radio, television, newspaper, Facebook et al multiplied times international content….my head literally spins a bit.

Today I will hit “mark all as read” on my Google Reader very often and likely erase some quality content that I cannot make room for. I must move on.

Am I simply oversubscribed or overwhelmed? Have these thoughts ever occurred to you? How do you deal with all this communication, all this noise? Do you tune in more or totally tune out? Any tricks you care to share?

Tags: blogs, commentary, facebook, google, internet, newspapers, technology by peter o'connell voiceover
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So you may recall that in the spring, I wrote The Voice Over Entrance Exam, a free e-book about whether or not a career in voice over might be the right way to go for someone. I’ve enjoyed hundreds of downloads and a lot of gracious and passionate comments that I sincerely appreciate.

Along the way, I’ve heard about these Facebook “fan” pages, where people who follow you on Facebook can become a sort of virtual groupie (with much less traveling and certainly much less in the way of expectations).

Now I could see no purpose to have something about that about myself for about a billion reasons…but I got to thinking that I should set it up for The Voice Over Entrance Exam. Everybody really liked it. So let’s keep the communication channel opened via a fan page.

Now The Voice Over Entrance Exam has a fan page on Facebook. I hope very sincerely you’ll become a fan.

Not for the egotism of it but rather to avoid sheer humiliation. Sort of like hosting a party and having nobody show up. Or writing a blog post to ask people to join your fan page.

Let’s be clear: you’d be becoming a fan of the book, not the author so your reputation won’t be that tainted .

See, all the while I was creating this thing, I’m thinking to myself two things: this all seems very self-aggrandized and I should have set it up when the book came out (likely a marketing miss – see, everybody makes them!)

So if you could help me avoid self-inflected humiliation and come to my Facebook “party”, I’d be grateful.

I hope I didn’t make too much food!

Tags: commentary, facebook, voice over entrance exam by peter o'connell voiceover
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Professional voice talents Peter O'Connell & Kelly Klemolin

Tuesday I was in Packerland, WI, also know as Titletown (most outsiders know it as Green Bay) for a quick in/out meeting. So I pinged that fact and saw a note back on Facebook from female voice talent Kelly Klemolin who I hadn’t met before and who lives only 30 minutes away near Appleton, WI.

We were able to set up a lunch at the Titletown Brewing Co., and I got to hear all about her voice over career and her business. Super nice lady and very talented. Kelly was very generous to share her time and great stories with me.

Kelly then introduced me to Carl Romey who is basically THE voice of Green Bay (pipes so deep, seismologists in Green Bay have to call him occasionally to see if he’s recording or there’s actually an earth quake). His studio was very nearby our lunch place. Great set up and a very kind man indeed.

None of this planned and all of it because of my social media status updates. That’s just one type of opportunity that social media offers business people who know how to use it.

Tags: commentary, facebook, peter o'connell, social networking, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover meet-ups by peter o'connell voiceover
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While the voice over trip to New York City was a bust a few weeks ago because of weather (what are ya gonna do?) the non-voice over trip to Miami had some wonderful voice over highlights.

I had brief hopes Sunday of connecting with voice talent Mike Elmore (winner of the Unofficial Jimmy Fallon Announcer Faux-ditions) while in Miami. Mike caught my arrival update in Miami off of Facebook. Alas he had familial commitments that precluded that connection and I fully understand; hopefully next time.

Caryn Clark and Kara Edwards were also going to try and come over from the Tampa side of the state but that didn’t work out either and would have been a crazy drive just to see me.

Male Voice Talent Doug Turkel - Unnouncer

Monday night I was able to grab dinner with the Unnouncer, Doug Turkel. I really feel sorry for waiters who wait on the two of us when we’re at dinner cause it’s hard for them to take our order. We’ve got so much to talk about between voice over, social media, new equipment, family and other stuff, the wait staff can’t get a word in edge wise. Doug is such a great friend and peer, I always feel fortunate to spend time learning from him.

And, he said making his segue, one of the things I learned from Doug at our dinner was that he had done as he said he was going to last time we visited. He started up a Voice Over Master Mind Group in Miami.

What’s that you ask?

Well, a brief and incomplete answer is it’s a concentrated networking, education and quasi-support group for voice talent. The idea came to Doug from his brother (the same brother who helped Doug coin the Unnouncer moniker) who formed a very successful Master Mind Group for his connections (though his group his less industry based and more C-Level in its focus.

The monthly Voice Over Master Mind Group that Doug formed allows participating voice talents to talk about all aspects of their business. For example, each person starts out by talking about a recent success and a recent challenge or miss they experienced in their business – this offers a great way to share in the wins and help give ideas and insights into how misses might be avoided next time….all in a totally professionally supportive way.

The group then focuses on a topic they had agreed upon at the last meeting; this way they can look up some helpful information on the voice over related topic to share at the meeting to keep the discussion moving and credible. Tuesday’s topic was the always, thrilling, exciting and dicey topic of voice talent rates. It was truly insightful to have an honest roundtable about rates, how to deal with clients on rates, how to have some spine when dealing with them on rates and how people make use (or don’t make use) of pay-to-play sites.

The other great thing about this meeting is that each person speaks about something they want to accomplish in their careers by the next meeting and the group holds them accountable…that is huge! When we are accountable, we execute and the members of the Miami Voice Over Master Mind Group each gets’er done!

The icing on this already delicious cake (oh, and yes there actually WAS cake at the meeting, as if you thought it couldn’t get any better) was that I got to meet some talented and truly nice people – peers in the voice over profession.

Female Voice Talent Mindy Baer

In addition to the aforementioned Unnouncer, also in attendance was Miami morning radio legend and now full time voice over talent Mindy Baer

Female Voice Talents and On-Camera Talents Mary Chamberlain and Jackie Bales

Jackie Bales a former news anchor and now a lovely on-camera spokesperson and voice talent; the equally beautiful on-camera talent and voice actor Mary Chamberlain

Male Voice Talent Doug Turkel and Female Voice Talent Lisa Lupari

The Voice Babe – Lisa Lupari-what a terrific branding moniker that is! That brand name says it all!

Male Voice Talent Zurek

The fast rising voice star Zurek – he of Voiceover Universe, new SBV client, video seminar pal of Joe Cipriano, promo voice for BET and the voice of a new national spot for Sports Illustrated.

It was a real treat to be invited in on this group’s very special meeting and I think it’s a terrific idea for other voice talents in other markets to create something similar to build their network, their educational resources and possibly save their sanity by getting out of the sound booth once and a while.

Tags: announcers, commentary, facebook, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover meet-ups by peter o'connell voiceover
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