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support really young artists

In spite of my slightly rebellious streak in which I should normally look askance at a mega corporation pretending to do good – I always support this effort because I believe in the opportunity it presents for the young artistic participants.

This year Google is once again hosting their Doodle 4 Google contest, where students at various grade levels create a Google Doodle (a stylized, artistic version of Google’s logo) based on a theme they decide on.

Every year these children and young adults amaze me with their abilities and ideas, especially because I have no talent in this area.

Public voting for regional finalists ends May 25, 2010 5:00 p.m., Pacific Time (PT). The national winner will be announced on May 26, 2010 at an awards ceremony in New York. The national winner’s doodle will appear on Google.com on May 27, 2010.

I always vote and I hope you will too while you take a moment to appreciate the worldly artistic talents of young people.

turns out I may be psychic

OK, so you remember the other day when I said sometimes things just pop into my head and I don’t know why and I wrote this blog post?

So yesterday, I am reading some blog posts and I come across this off TV Newser which says this September the networks are going to do another Stand Up 2 Cancer.

I swear on whatever you choose that I did NOT know this was coming when I wrote the blog post!

blogging live from voice 2010

That headline reminds me of Brent Musberger’s open when he worked for CBS Sports – “you are looking live at….” at the open of the NFL game of the week.

But the point of the headline is to let you know that John Florian’s Voice Over Xtra! WILL be blogging live from VOICE 2010 so you can follow all the action live. A nice benefit for folks who aren’t able to attend this year.

I will not be blogging live as my typing sux, suks…it’s not good.

I will be writing and EDITING some posts about the event, likely with a ton of pictures and maybe some video.

stand up 2 cancer

Stand Up 2 Cancer SU2C

Sometimes thoughts just randomly pop into my head for no reason.

One of them was “what ever happened to that ‘Stand Up 2 Cancer’ event they did a couple of years ago?”.

Well as I tickled the plastic keys (as opposed to the ivory keys which never sounds very good when I do it) I saw that the web site is still alive and kicking and even has a new PSA which I’d not yet seen.

Maybe we need to give this campaign a little blog love so if you not only a reader but a writer of blogs, feel free to push this along, tweet it or facebook it and let’s see if we can draw some attention and money towards this program.

Thanks.

voice actors & the internet – voice 2010 panel session

Moderator John Florian with panelists Peter K. O'Connell, Trish Basanyi, David Kaplan & Doug Turkel

Though I publicly warned him that this might be a bad idea and privately promised he could drop me from his panel at any time in favor of someone who could actually offer some valuable content, John Florian of Voice Over Xtra insists he still wants me to speak at VOICE 2010 in L.A. with him, Doug Turkel, Trish Basanyi, and David Kaplan.

John will also unveil the results of his extensive recent industry survey on how voice actors use the Internet at the beginning of this presentation as well.

Our panel on Friday, June 4th at 11 a.m. is entitled “Voice Actors & The Internet”. I am to talk about voice over marketing and the internet…and I’m supposed to cover that in 10 minutes. Factoring in the raucous ovations I’ll get from the crowd just for being there 😉 , that will leave me with 5 minutes. No sweat.

Point here is if ya ain’t yet made yer reservations for this shindig, the only one of its kind for our industry, you really should come and I mean that seriously, not just because I am a presenter. For networking, education and even business opportunities, you need to attend. You are really missing out, I think, if you don’t come. To register, click here.

a critical eye on your blog and mine

What happens when a leader questions himself?

Mitch Joel, who I have written about in this space before, is a social media thought leader. I didn’t say expert because I think the term “social media expert” has been watered down by schmoes trying to cash in with little in their credibility bank.

Mitch has loads of credibility because of his knowledge and passion for the subject of social media. So it was with some surprise that I and his other subscribers read one of his recent posts entitled “Five Reasons Why This Blog is a Failure“.

If you write a blog, this question is worthy of your consideration. In this case, someone who knows more about blogging and social media than you or me is asking this question of himself.

I hope you’ll read the wholepost but to summarizes, Mitch seems a bit obsessed with the Ad Age Power 150 which is a daily ranking of marketing blogs. Mitch is ranked #22 while his friend Chris Brogan is ranked #1. So Mitch asked his other friend Julien Smith (who has co-authored a book with Chris Brogan) about why Mitch’s blog isn’t as popular as Chris’ blog.

My point to Mitch in my comment (yes, I am one of those people that actually supports blogs by leaving comments…few people do that any more) was that we men have a problem worrying about size and who is bigger in many aspects of our lives and the answer matters very little to blogs.

To me, it’s not how many people read your blog but rather are the right people reading your blog.

Who is your audience? What do they need to know? How can you help them with your content? What do you want to accomplish by publishing your blog?

There is no Ad Age Power Ranking for Voice Over blogs so I’ll defer to our friend Google and the search term “voice over blog”. I’m ranked like 7th in a very small, niche category. Does that mean there are 6 more popular blogs than mine or does that mean I am a top 10 blogger? Is your glass half full or half empty?

For me, I write about what I am passionate about (voiceover, marketing and advertising) and most times I try and put forth stuff that will help or entertain readers.

Sometimes, selfishly, I write just to please myself.

But in either case I stay true to what I know (very well) about and what content pleases me. Hopefully that content will please my readers (I am grateful to have even the one subscriber – who may or may not be a family member, I dunno).

If it was just about the readers, this would be a newspaper and I’d sell ads. But it’s not and I don’t.

Still, I like Julien’s ideas and know that this blog (and probably yours) is a work in progress. How would you improve this blog? What changes would you suggest I make? What changes should you make in your blog?

All while staying true our (yours and mine) original focus.