OK, not to criticize the founders of Blog Day 2008 but I only found out about it today by reading another blog. And picking the Sunday of Labor Day weekend would not have been my first choice from a publicity perspective.

OK I guess I did criticize but I’m done now being Mr. Cranky Pants.

So the concept is thus:

BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors.
With the goal in mind, on this day every blogger will post a recommendation of 5 new blogs. This way, all blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, previously unknown blogs.

So here are 5 blogs (in no special order) that I would recommend you check out from my personal RSS list of over 150 blogs on my Google Reader about voiceover, marketing, advertising, broadcasting and other crap (woe to you who should think all those categories fall under “crap”).

1. Trafcom News I can’t articulate to you how bright and talented I think Donna Pappacosta is personally but trust me when I say she is and when you want some generally interesting insight into print, new media (great podcasting stuff) and face-to-face communications, this blog from her business, Trafalgar Communications, is a worthy read.

2. The Daily Nightly this is the blog of NBC Nightly News anchor and managing editor Brian Williams who I first noticed as a top notch talk show host guest on late night talk shows. Bright, articulate and yet still knowledgeable about world and domestic issues. His writing style is something I appreciate and his content is insightful. Other NBC News folks contribute but Brian’s posts are the ones I most like to read.

3. NewscastStudio Blog Well, to enjoy this blog you have to be an admitted behind the scenes of broadcast news geek like me who loves reading about new news sets and graphics and promotion of news (local and national). You get to see the creation of sets (before and after) of stations and networks around the country. The only salvation in my public revelation of this (my) particular geeky trait is that if there is a blog about this, I can’t be the only geek around.

4. Copyblogger To quote its author Brian Clark: “What’s the missing ingredient that prevents most people from succeeding online? Copywriting skills. Content drives the Internet, and using the right words in the right way will determine not only how well your site converts visitors into sales, but also how well you rank in search engines and how many links you get.” Exactly. Every little thing he writes about will not directly pertain to your internet or marketing strategies but enough of it will to make it a read worth your time and subscription.

5. Brand New – It’s pretty evident to anyone who knows me I’m kind of a logo design slut. The creative, the methodology, the evolution and the final product is something I find very fun. And the fact that there is usually millions of someone else’s dollars riding on its success just adds to my fun. It’s logos before and after with some often funny critiques along the way.

A final note- you’ll notice not one voice over blog on my list. You’ll also notice a plethora of links in column on the right of this post to darn near every voice over blog that I am aware of…a list that’s posted 24/7/365; not just on August 31st.

Enjoy the reads.

Tags: blogs, commentary, logo design, marketing, marketing podcast, NBC News, podcasting, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
2 Comments »

If you look to the front page of the audio’connell Voice Over Talent web site, next to the title “audio’connell breaking news” you’ll see that popular orange RSS icon. I put it there at a cost of thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours but this is what I am willing to do for you, my valued readers.

Ahem, well, maybe it cost me a little less than that but Mother always said to me it’s the thought that counts and my Father always said hyperbole sells.

Ahem, well, while Mother may have said that “thought” thing my Father never got really hyper about anything…a very calm man, he.

The point is when we publish a new press release, if you have subscribed to that news feed, you can receive it right away. For those of you still unclear on the whole RSS thing, note the “what’s this?” link next to the RSS icon, which gives you the lowdown on RSS.

Now some of you are subscribers to voxmarketising (and thank you again for that) and you’ll notice that we also reprint these media releases here (in more of a social media release-like format). You too can subscribe to the news feed (as they are separate feeds) or just read the releases on the blog as we will continue to post them here too.

We now return to our regularly scheduled blog, already in progress….

Tags: audio'connell voice over talent, blogs, commentary, internet, technology by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
2 Comments »

This post is for:

• Anyone who has every attended a trade show for any business so you’ll know why they may be changing drastically or going away entirely (so your sales, networking and educational opportunities may start to evaporate)
• Anyone who has ever exhibited at a trade show so you’ll know your dissatisfaction was and is not singular (so your marketing and sales plan will change and the thumpings you’ve received from your CFO on expenses may have to finally be heeded)
• Anyone who is in the trade show industry so you’ll know why you may be losing your job and who is responsible (in many cases, you may be part of the problem and if its not you, you know who it is)

THE GOOD AND BAD
Trade shows (like the recent VOICES, or SXSW or CES – The Consumer Electronics Show and hundreds more) are extremely valuable to exhibitors and attendees alike for networking, education, new product roll out, sales, client retention and hospitality among a myriad of positives.

Trade shows are also now more than ever ridiculously expensive to produce, travel to and exhibit in because of costs like hotels, food and beverage, exhibit hall and union fees as just a few of the myriad of prohibitive negatives.

I have personally produced, from the exhibitor side of things, many tradeshows from small 100 person gatherings to exhibits in the top 10 biggest trade shows in the country. The negatives are starting to significantly outweigh the positives for exhibitors and this valuable and worthwhile marketing channel is in trouble.

And this pending change, this economically mandated evolution if you will, will impact your business no matter what it is and no matter whether you are an exhibitor, an attendee or a show producer.

THE FACTS FROM SOMEONE WHO KNOWS
Direct your attention, if you will to a blog post by Tim Bourquin, who owns TNC New Media, a company that produces multiple trade shows each year.

The post offers a fairly naked behind the scenes view of the problems with the trade show industry. You should read the whole thing. He’s saying exhibitors and attendees can spend their marketing dollars elsewhere and will. That is a smack on the back of the head of the trade show industry from one of its benefactors.

WHETHER AT THE RAMADA OR THE PEPSI CENTER = MONEY
Convention Centers are going to be in trouble if they don’t change their ways, trade unions and non-union workers in these facilities are going to be out of job if they don’t significantly adjust their attitudes and convention dependent hotels and vendors are going lose more money than they could ever have possibly imagined.

Trade shows as we know them WILL change. The internet has given people the knowledge that bigger is not always better. That centralization (having one big industry convention) is effective only to a point and that “point” will be determined by cost. That threshold, Bourquin’s blog post and my experience tells me, is now cracking.

Is it the end of the world? No.

But the evolution, in my opinion, will be drastic. So what’s it to you? If you don’t think the trade show industry touches your personal business, industry and global economies like a largely mutated octopus, you are not paying attention.

Tags: advertising, blogs, commentary, internet, marketing by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on poor business practices – a view from the top

You’ll remember my request for your participation and this blog’s participation in Blog Action Day 2007.

Over 20,000 people participated and it moved the message of the environment forward within the social media sphere and within mainstream media as well. Thanks for helping!

On October 15, 2008, we’ll talk about poverty and more than 20,000 people (I think) will again move the message to the fore.

If you blog, you need to participate by clicking here.

If you just read (and that’s cool too) tell your friends about it.

If you’re willing to promote it on your web site, grab some graphics here.

Here’s why:

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Thanks for reading.

If you really like this post (of course we hope you do), please feel free to bookmark and or promote it by clicking the buttons below on your preferred services.

Tags: blog action day, blogs, commentary, community, public service announcement, social media by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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While I am sure I am late to this wordsmith party (that which I will henceforth describe) I must note that while I think I am always late on these kinds of things, most of the world is a lot later than me so I hope you enjoy this.

I read (or more often scan) blogs and RSS feeds for many reasons with the primary one being my desire to learn new things.

And while learning about new marketing techniques, voice over opportunities and advertising campaigns are great fun, sometimes it’s the writing or a word that gives my day the wonderful epiphany we all seek (or at least should seek).

Today I was reading the Lifehacker blog, subtitled tech tips, tricks and downloads for getting things done. Gina Trapani was writing about email innovation you might want to know about (both still in beta and available now at a store or web site near you).

What caught my attention was this sentence regarding the dreaded and often unavailable “undo” button for emails we immediately regret sending.

At one time or another, all of us have hit the Send button and immediately regretted it. While Gmail offers a nice (and unusual) “Undo” option for most email actions—like labeling messages or archiving them—there’s no Undo once you’ve sent a message. What would be super-useful for those facepalm moments after you’ve sent a regrettable email is the ability to take it back.

The facepalm moment. Immediately I knew what it was but I had never heard it called that. I loved it. But I also knew such a great phrase must have caught on somewhere.

It did. Yes, that’s a site called facepalm.org featuring famous pictures of the dreaded facepalm. There are 530,000 references on Google for facepalm. This will be 530,001

Glad I could contribute.

Thanks for reading.

If you really like this post (of course we hope you do), please feel free to bookmark and or promote it by clicking the buttons below on your preferred services.

Tags: blogs, commentary, google, internet, marketing, peter o'connell, silliness, technology, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
2 Comments »

Everybody’s favorite voice coach Pat Fraley is in town this weekend courtesy of Toni Silveri’s All Coast Talent (of which I am proud and founding represented voice talent). Pat was in a couple of years ago to do a character voice seminar which I attended; he did an updated version today which I didn’t attend, though I will be in attendance on Sunday for his audio book class.

But three who did attend the character voice workshop today are some of my favorite folks from north of the border. I stopped by the seminar on their lunch break today to visit with them.

Elaine Singer and I first met at the first Podcamp Toronto a few years ago and I was very pleased to hear she caught wind of my announcement of the seminar from this blog and reserved her space. While not exclusive to her voice over talents, Elaine explained to me how she was looking to increase her Herbrew-based voice work. She enjoys it quite a bit and it occurs to me know I’ll have to have her send me her demo for the International Voice Talents page.

David and Stephanie Ciccarelli drove in from south of Toronto, London, Ontario to be exact, taking in Pat’s class and sharing some of their insight on the voice over world gained from their business, Voices.com. David and I spent a good bit of time reviewing some of the proposed changes they’ve alluded to on line at Voices.com, which I assume will result in the usual impassioned debate. From what he told me, I think they make sense but I’ll let David and Stephanie unveil it to the masses. Wonderful folks, the Ciccarellis.

I’ll post later how things went at the Fraley audio book class.

UPDATE: Here’s my Fraley review

Thanks for reading.

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Tags: announcers, blogs, commentary, international voice talents, peter o'connell, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover blog, voiceover meet-ups, voices.com by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
2 Comments »