As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!

No…wait.

As God as my witness, I had no idea that starting a blog all those years ago would result in 700 posts.

I like to write but that’s not the challenge; the challenge is if people will like to read.

Many of you do, catching this blog via subscribing to Voxmarketising through RSS or reading links on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. The comments, retweets and repostings really make me happy. Not egotistically happy but really because someone took the time to read about my thoughts on voice over, marketing or advertising and thought they were worthwhile enough to share with others.

That kind of endorsement and support cannot be quantified.

So whether you like the logo posts, or the Fauxditions, or the videos or the Faffcon stuff or more recently the National Voice Over Month stuff, I keep writing about those type of things and more going forward. None of that stuff existed when I started.

God only knows what lies ahead for this blog in the future. Boy, I hope its all good stuff!

Thank you.

Tags: advertising, blogs, branding, commentary, faffcon, fauxdition, logo design, marketing, National Voice Over Month, social media, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover blog by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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September is National Voice Over Month

Not to be too dramatic about it, but it’s about damn time.

Almost every group, organization and/or species has a week or month named in honor of them. Often times it sounds like a joke when you hear some of their names and so too may the impression here now for some, but it’s not.

My friend and fellow Voice Over Talent Dave Courvoisier kinda mentioned the idea in passing when he noticed in his blog about a week or so ago how many voice over activities were taking place in the month of September (more than usual, it seemed).

For example: Amy Snively’s Faffcon is taking place in Portland, Oregon on September 11 & 12th. Joan Baker’s New York City-based “That’s Voiceover” LINK is taking place on September 22nd. These events in addition to the usual voice over seminar suspects like Pat Fraley’s regional seminar in Buffalo, NY on September 25th & 26th mean that the summer slumber has been shaken off.

Then Dave sent me an email Saturday (yes, just this past Saturday) saying this National Voice Over Month idea was gnawing at him and what did I think.

I copied him, Amy Snively and Bob Souer on my answer (because I feel it’s always better to cause trouble in a group); my answer was that Dave’s idea for a National Voice Over Month was the right idea and that we could pull it off in four days…and now we are.

Somewhere in there, Voice Over Xtra!’s John Florian and Voice Talent and Social Media Tour De Force Terry Daniel I believe also got roped into this and I think there are many others who are contributing to this month long event as well. I hope you’ll take time to acknowledge all their efforts when you see them on-line on blogs, podcasts, videos or social media outlets like Twitter or Facebook etc.

Dave grabbed a domain and created a web site, Amy drew up a logo, I helped with some copy and we’re all still actively adding to the program – as a professional voice talent you are sincerely encouraged to participate in whatever manner you feel you want to…maybe comment on blogs, retweet NVOM announcements, or maybe create a Voice Over meetup in your city where all the voice talents get together for a visit.

One of the more interesting things to see was how Dave (the true driving force of this idea) called for a hastily called weekend vote on Saturday from the board of SOVOA to endorse and support September as National Voice Over Month; by Sunday it was passed. Brilliantly executed and kudos to the Board for the response time.

Our goal, I think, is simple and openly self-serving– share with as many people as possible what Voice Over Talents do, who they are and where they can be found. Yes, we are trying to create awareness among potential employers for every voice over professional in this industry but I think we’re also trying build on the credibility we’ve established in the wake of our collective professional works this far.

I’m proud of my very small part in all this because I believe strongly not only in the art and industry of Voice Over but also in the men, women and children who perform within it around the world. We are a talented bunch and it’s not a bad thing that we say that ever so briefly…maybe once a year.

Will you celebrate with us? Let me know how you’ll be a part of National Voice Over Month.

Tags: announcers, blogs, commentary, community, facebook, faffcon, internet, logo design, marketing, National Voice Over Month, social media, social networking, twitter, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
13 Comments »

Just caught this – Faffcon – the voiceover unconference taking place on September 11 & 12, 2010 in Portland, Oregon, now has a full line of official Faffcon tee-shirts, mugs, mouse pads – everything a professional voice talent needs to prove his or her worth!

Some of the designs are destined to be classics. Check them out here.

Tags: commentary, faffcon, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
2 Comments »

Maybe I should be more specific.

Two weeks until the end of the world for voice talents who want to enjoy the amazing discount on the FIRST EVER voice over unconference: Faffcon.

Two full days of voice over learning, growing, troubleshooting, connecting, and faffing about for just $149–how awesome is that?

Sure, you can always go next year– but dontcha want to be one of the cool kids who was there at the very first one?

If your not sure what it’s all about, I’ll refer you to this post I wrote about Faffcon a while back. I hope you’ll attend.

Tags: commentary, faffcon, social networking, voice actors, voice casting, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
6 Comments »

I am going to introduce you to an entirely new conference (or more properly unconference) for experienced voice over talent.

It’s called Faffcon.

Yes, I am serious, that’s the name and if you want to know all about it in detail, visit here.

I am a contributor to this event – in knowledge only and do not benefit financially at all from it. I am also a full proponent of it and if you can, I think you should attend Faffcon. If you are one of the first 25 to register for the first Faffcon in Portland, Oregon on September 11-12, 2010, you will save $25 on the already amazingly low registration fee.

If I may be so egotistically bombastic (why would today be any different, right?) as to quote myself from the Faffcon FAQ page, I shall describe Faffcon thusly:

What is FaffCon?

FaffCon is an unconference for established voice over talents who encourage each other to actively learn, teach and share performance and business experiences for the benefit of everyone in attendance.

It’s an informal yet informative conclave of some of the brightest minds and talents that voice over has to offer where voice actors learn through conversations with each other.

Topics covered at FaffCon will be decided on by the participants – sometimes there will be discussion leaders who have more experience on a particular subject who help lead a discussion and sometimes there will simply be a best practices discussion where everybody is welcome to chime in. The group will decide. –Peter K. O’Connell

DIFFERENTIATORS
There are some key points of difference for this conference that I think you should know about. Further, you should know that these differences do NOT make Faffcon more or less important (or better or worse) than any other conference. It’s a big world.

First of all, it’s an unconference – which means the structure is looser (but not non-existent) compared to standard conferences.

Because it’s an unconference, it also means that the conference will only be as strong as the people who attend because it is the attendees who most often are the presenters and each presentation will be very interactive and extremely participatory. If you’ve been to one of the more famous unconferences (a bar camp, podcamp or product camp), Faffcon will be ALOT like that.

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

The second point of difference is that Faffcon is for experienced voice talent only. If not so much explained, this point certainly needs to be discussed so I’ll offer my two cents.

People who are just starting out in voice over begin (as we all did) with little or no knowledge about performance techniques and styles, technology, marketing or business issues that are so critical to a voice over business. My example would be the difference between getting a high school diploma and getting your Masters degree. People in a Masters program don’t belittle or denigrate the learning that goes on in high school – it’s the necessary step everyone has taken. BUT the teaching, conversations and learning at the Masters level would make a high school student’s head spin.

Or to clarify even better, I will turn to the founder of Faffcon who I think clears it up fairly nicely:

“Are you currently getting paid spendable money by real customers for actual voiceover work? (Not podcasting on your webcam mic, not announcing bakery specials at the market, not DJing an internet radio station.) Do you have a professional voiceover demo and a website? Yes? Good. Come on over!” —Amy Snively

This will be the first in what will likely be a series of Faffcons versus it just being a once a year event, I think. If it goes the way I think it will, other cities will create regional Faffcons or maybe event state Faffcons (just for travel sake I’m guessing – but also not to the exclusion of anyone from around the world who might want to come to, say, Faffcon Oshkosh). But that’s getting waaaay ahead of things – let’s get through the first Faffcon.

I hope you will be a part of it.

What are your thoughts about Faffcon?

Tags: faffcon by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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