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 »

Here’s the thing – if you get Google Alerts or have an “ego search” in your blog reader, sometimes you can come across some very unique, odd, upsetting and just weird posts associated with your search.

I get lots of news from Ireland (as you might expect with my last name) including a bizarre murder story there (very sad) and tons of rugby information.

Another more recent example, the movie and TV actor Jerry O’Connell (no relation) is naked in a new movie called Piranha 3D (the title of which leads me to ask “were there so many unanswered questions in the first two movie installments, there needed to be a third? j/k)

I know this because for the past several days I have been getting pings that highlight “o’connell” (which is one of my search terms) followed closely in these announcements by the word “naked” (which again to be clear is NOT one of my search terms).

Evidently in this movie, Jerry O’Connell’s character’s man bits are shown getting eaten by a piranha. Which one of those images would you like erased from your brain first?

Except the man bits are not Jerry O’Connell’s but some CGI handy work. I know that won’t fully help with the erasure but oh well.

I have seen Jerry O’Connell in interviews and he seems like a very affable guy and I saw his lovely wife in an interview/parody on swimsuit models years ago in which she showed terrific comedic timing. So my thought is I’m fortunate to share some search with him as he doesn’t seem as wacked out as some of his peers may appear to be.

But my other thought is I wonder if he checks his searches and wonders who or what the heck audio’connell is? Probably not.

What about you…do get seaches back about famous people with your name?

Tags: commentary, peter o'connell, silliness, social media by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on to be clear – peter o’connell is NOT naked, jerry o’connell is…sort of…I guess

Sometimes a branding guy just can’t get enough of the different tools he can use to market his business. Some of it is critical and some of it is window dressing.

This is clearly and example of window dressing.

Even though most people seem to use tools like Tweet Deck to read their Twitter messages, some folks actually do look at a persons Twitter page. Some folks throw up nothing on that page for design, some use the way ugly generic art Twitter provides and some folks like me create custom stuff.

There are actually companies who design the custom pages for Twitter…its part of their business although I am guessing not a HUGE part of their business.

Well, I decided today it was time to update mine. I had made the page all O’Connell Communications like with the companies etc., but I decided that was a bit silly since everybody knew me on Twitter as audio’connell.

Twitter page design this morning

So I took the new business card design (one side of it anyway) and put it up on Twitter.

Twitter page design this afternoon

Obviously I like it but I’d be interested in your feedback.

What do you think? Do subtle, too garish? Just right?

Tags: advertising, o'connell communications, social media, twitter by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on tweaking twitter

If some group or organization wants to bring attention to a cause or event, the easiest way to do that is by celebrity endorsement.

If the famous person is well liked, chances of the group or organization’s “ask” being answered (donation, signature, whatever) are probably better.

Celebrities like to do this because many of them are big-hearted and like to help.

The challenge is so many celebrities are supporting so many causes, the message can fade pretty quickly.

To wit (don’t I sound ejukated) the Gulf Coast Oil Disaster – I’m sure there have been telethons and maybe a concert and I’ve been outta that loop (that’s the fade part I spoke about). Doesn’t mean I don’t care, it just means that their message (the event organizer’s message) didn’t resonate with me or get my attention. Theirs is a hard job.

But today I saw a YouTube video freezeframe (that still image that marks where a video screen is located) with Sandra Bullock holding up her index finger. That visual caught my eye and I watched. And I listened. And I thought you might want to too.

Theirs is a hard job – getting the message to everyone – but not an impossible job.

Tags: commentary, marketing, public service announcement, social media, video, youtube by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on the value of celebrity voices

Mary McKitrick, female voice talent extraordinaire (or whatever the German translation of extraordinaire is) has gone and done it.

She done went and set up herself a Facebook fan page just like all the utter idjits out there.

Well, y’all better commence to fanning her right quick.

(Note to self: less sugar at dinner)

Tags: facebook, marketing, social media by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
2 Comments »

With thanks to my friend Ralph Hass for the tip, Andy Boyns has been added to the blog roll.

I believe Andy was at VOICE 2010 and we didn’t get a chance to hang out and I’m sorry for that.

But at least you can read all his cool stuff like I now will.

Tags: blogroll, blogs, social media, voice 2010, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover blog by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on welcome andy boyns to the blog roll