Peter K. O’Connell hosting a marketing session at FaffCamp 2015 (Photo Courtesy of Brad Venable)

I have been fortunate to have been included in a great many FaffCons and FaffCamps. These are unconferences and conferences for voice-over talent and they are among the most revered voice-over events by anyone who has ever attended one.

Full disclosure, I am on the FaffCamp and FaffCon committees because I believe so strongly in them. Also because I am so small, conference producer Amy Snively hardly notices I’m there.

At this FaffCamp, I offered a marketing planning presentation on Saturday and Sunday. Though the presentation was meant to be informative and somewhat light-hearted, I noticed a couple of things in both groups that I believe are universal among voice-over business owners.

Maybe you’ll see yourself in some of this. I certainly see myself in some of it.

Making a point or just scaring his audience, Voice-Over Talent Peter K. O’Connell makes a point during his FaffCamp 2015 presentation (Photo Courtesy of Sean Caldwell)

1. Most voice-over business owners generally don’t like the business part of the voice-over business. In no way am I saying they don’t do it well but they don’t like it much. I think they like it less than most business owners.

2. Though they themselves are a key part of the marketing food chain with the service they provide, voice-over talents do not like doing marketing much. It overwhelms them and intimidates them for the same reason I think it intimidates most small business owners: “where do I start?!” syndrome.

3. Which leads me to the universal acknowledgement by almost all of my session participants that they each suffer in varying degrees from the malady “Paralysis by Analysis”. The non-medical marketing definition is “I don’t know what to do first so I won’t do anything.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: The author also sometimes suffers from this malady.)

4. Most voice-over people are pretty smart and strong and even though sometimes paralyzed by the fear of marketing, they understand that they have to do and when led a little bit, they can take the reins and run with a marketing plan. That takes guts and strength to jump into something even when you’re not fully sure what you’re supposed to be doing

I post this not so much for the FaffCampers who attended my presentations (and thank you for doing that) but for other voice talents who couldn’t make it to San Antonio. I want you to be reminded that you are not alone in your business challenges and that rather than have it be a mountain, operational and marketing challenges can be only a bump in the road to your ultimate business success.

Just remember to believe in yourself and your abilities…even those abilities you don’t think you have.

Tags: commentary, Faff Camp, faffcamp, faffcon, marketing, voice talent, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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FaffCamp is March 19-22, 2015 in San Antonio, Texas

FaffCamp is coming to San Antonio, Texas March 19-22 this year. If you’re already attending, I look forward to seeing you there as I will be there as an attendee and a presenter.

Registration information is here.

If you work in voice-over, you are invited to attend…like right here, now, this is your invitation. That knocking sound you hear is opportunity.

For those uninitiated, FaffCamp is a peer-to-peer professional development conference for working voiceover pros (not just voice talents, voice actors, and narrators, but all pros who do work related to voice overs). It’s participant driven and highly interactive, just like its sister event FaffCon.

But at FaffCamp much of the agenda is set in advance, which makes it possible for Faff Camp to welcome a larger group.

Plus, there are cool things we do only at Faff Camp, like Topic Tables, Adopt-a-Question, and Lightning Talks! And since we have two tracks, Starting Smart and Working Pro, we welcome voice talents at ALL career stages.

I don’t have an ownership stake in FaffCamp or FaffCon but I am on the organizing committee and have been for many years, because I believe in it.

This is FaffCamp producer Amy Snively, associate producer Lauren McCullough and Peter K. O’Connell (me), “the sponsorship guy” at FaffCamp 2013

FaffCamp and FaffCon have directly helped my voice-over business and here’s how I think it can help yours:

1. FaffCamp presents interactive and expert advice on performance, technology and business management from vetted industry leaders. All of this information is specifically tailored to the voice-over business because the people presenting it are working in the voice-over business

2. FaffCamp is like Voice-Over College. FaffCamp brings together a whole lot professionally and financially successful voice-over talents. Many of these folks are past Faffers who have both learned a lot and shared a lot at Faff events. Bottom line: walking and talking between sessions, at meals and in other social times is basically like going to Voice-Over College. If you have questions – the answers are likely at FaffCamp.

3. You’re surrounded by people who understand you. Either you are today or want to be someone who sits in a booth all day and talks to him/herself. You’re not normal and neither are FaffCamp attendees, cause we do the same thing. We understand the professional and personal challenges of being a performer, a small business owner and bread winner. You got questions? Very likely we’ve got experienced answers and the meter is NOT running.

One last piece of advice: Go.

Tags: announcers, commentary, Faff Camp, faffcamp, faffcon, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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FaffCon 7 ‘Faffers’ Getting Ready for the Big Event!

Hi there!

I think I am supposed to be sad because I’m not attending FaffCon 7. I’m not sad, maybe a very tiny bit wistful but that’s about all the negative emotion I can muster.

I have a very important birthday party to attend and I am more excited about that than sorry to not see you all. FaffCon has never been about one person anyway – it’s about the group…the wonderful group of past Faffers and new Faffers coming together to create a brand new experience.

I am so filled with excitement for each one of you…I see your social media posts and I feel your joy at coming together again for the professional renewal this event brings. The opportunity to talk at length with your fellow voice-over professionals. They get it. They get you.

And the learning. Oh the wonderful things you will learn at every step during the weekend.

Breathe deep.

Stop, look, listen and observe.

Sunday arrives quickly.

Absorb.

Have fun.

Say thank you alot. And mean it.

I know you will.

I won’t be there to share my annual reminder so I’ll end this happy send off with this reminder: FaffCon is not only a wonderful place to learn, it’s THE safest place for you to share new ideas, try new performance techniques or ask dumb questions that you don’t realize may be just that.

No worries.

FaffCon is your safe place if you happen to fall down because every Faffer is a pillow for you. They will confidently catch you, if needed, as you try new things, as you learn things you didn’t know and develop talents you didn’t think were within you. And you must be a pillow for them too.

FaffCon is unparalleled in that way (and many other ways too).

Failure is not even an option, simply because…you are there. What a gift!

Until next time…enjoy.

Best always,
-Peter

Tags: commentary, faffcon by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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A meeting on the Buffalo, NY Voice-Over Meetup group (from l-r) Robert W. Taylor, Leslie Diamond, Dan Lenard, Chris Nichter, Peter K. O’Connell, Jen Deyo, Fred Filbrich, Randye Kaye and Glad Faith Klassen

Voice-over talents are a closeted bunch.

Meaning whether in our homes or studios, we spend a lot of time in booths (closets) churning out voice stuff.

It’s great but who do you bounce business, technical or performance ideas off of if you work by yourself? Where are your checks and balances coming from?

It was 2009 when my friend and fellow voice-talent (the lovely and talented) Doug Turkel invited me out to his Voice-Over Mastermind Group in Miami, FL. So I hoped in my private jet that afternoon and join Doug and his pals for what was my first official meet-up group. As with most things Doug, it was terrific.

From that moment forward, I wanted to start some kind of group like that in Buffalo, NY.

But Mrs. audio’connell and I had a child. And another. And another. A bunch of FaffCons later, I still didn’t start my meet-up group. Then finally, after attending a voice-over class that just wasn’t filling my needs, I did what all good leaders do to get things done.

I delegated.

See, I was not going to be able to organize a meet-up group with my family and professional commitments. I’m the guy that had always put this stuff together but this time it wasn’t going to happen and I knew it. But it didn’t mean stuff couldn’t happen. With the advent of FaffCon, more Buffalo voice talents attended together, we realized the power of what we could do and we all wanted to do it.

So I contacted local voice talents and fellow Faffers Dan Lenard and Leslie Diamond and said “help”.

Leslie offered up her house, Dan made some calls, we shared notes on who to invite (lots of people) and in August 2013, we held our first meet-up. I think 5 people showed up. I was stunned there weren’t more with so many talents around.

What I came to understand was that these were the committed ones, the ones who wanted to try. And our monthly meetings have been going on since. And growing!

Our troupe now includes: Robert W. Taylor, >Leslie Diamond, Dan Lenard, Chris Nichter, Jen Deyo, Fred Filbrich and Glad Faith Klassen.

To be clear, this meet-up is not like my traveling lunch dinner tours that Bob Souer and I have made famous over the years.

The Buffalo Voice-Over Meetup Group created our own agenda: reviewing successes, talking about challenges, picking a specific industry related topic and everyone just sharing info. Sometimes one of us volunteers to talk about a subject we know a little more about. We take notes….and we work on scripts. We group direct and one on one direct.

And we remember that we are not alone. Our families may sometimes question our career choices but in a meet-up, we are among those who get it. Meet-up members understand the incurable disease of voice-over performance. And for just those few hours every month, you get to talk shop where nobody looks at you funny. Usually.

They are fragile eco-systems, these voice-over meet-up groups, because they live and die by the quality of the talent (performance and business-wise) in the group. It should be a group, not something led by one individual. Plus people come and go…the success of every meeting is not guaranteed. Which is why everyone who is in an on-going, effective and most importantly interactive meetup group should be very thankful. I know I am.

Tags: buffalo, commentary, community, faffcon, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Voice-Over Talents Dan Hurst, Matt Wiewel, Andy Barnett and Peter K. O’Connell in Kansas City, Kansas

Well Toto, here’s another state you can cross off your bucket list! Welcome to Kansas City, Kansas – home to some of the best BBQ and voice-over talents around.

Tonight I got to visit with my long time pal, fellow Faffer and Voice-Over Swami Dan Hurst and he brought along another fellow Faffer and recent full-time voice-over talent THE Andy Barnett as well as “There’s a Matt for That” and Faffer to-be (if he has his way) Matt Wiewel.

It was over three hours of stories so no, I won’t try and play that all back for you. But a massively great and well-behaved time was had by all and I am so appreciative that Dan, Andy and Matt took time out of their evening to hang out with me. Thanks guys!

Tags: commentary, faffcon, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I know it’s not yet July 4th but registration starts this weekend for FaffCon 6 in San Antonio, TX October 4-6. 2013.

Many of you know I volunteer as the Sponsorship Liaison for FaffCon which is a fancy term for Sponsorship Sales Guy.

I like doing it mostly because of how important FaffCon is to my voice-over career.

For those of you who want to know about FaffCon’s sponsorship opportunities, you can feel free to email me or call me and I’ll send you the info or you can check out the web site.

In answer to your next question, yes sponsors get to register early (open registration begins on Saturday at noon ET, sponsors get to register Friday (6/28)) and yes, FaffCon WILL sell out very quickly (it was sold out in about 7 hours last time).

I hope I get to see you there.

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