I’ve been fortunate to be invited on a number of voiceover related podcasts and webcasts (because the ‘cooking show’ podcasts know I don’t really have that much to offer – as I am a Platinum Member of the Arby’s Best Customer Club).

So it was nice to have the VO Workshop invited on Tom Dheere’s “Ask Me Anything” webcast (part of his VO Strategist business) to discuss voice-over marketing.

Full disclosure, I was not his first choice for the show but his original guest had to cancel last minute. Glad to help out my friend of at least 10+ years just before airtime.

The show must go on! Indeed it did!

We spoke about marketing priorities for voice talents including databases, demos, websites and more. We also took questions from viewers of the live broadcast.

According to Tom, the show went very well. As the guest, I know hosts always say that but the response thus far has been very positive. I know I enjoyed myself.

Hope you enjoy it.

Tags: marketing, marketing podcast, voice over podcast, voice over training, voice over workshop, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover blog by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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This is the graphic I created and added this weekend to freshen up the content on VOWorkshop.com

Wait a minute…don’t ignore that headline about voiceover web pages because you KNOW you do it.

Everyone who has a website usually works really hard at the start to make sure the design and content are current and laid out well and pretty. Oh how hard we work on it!

Then…we ignore it for many months and even years. Don’t deny it, yes YOU do!

As usual, I will throw myself under the bus in this regard — but I know this isn’t just me.

During this weekend, I found myself cleaning up and adding some content to my main site, peterkoconnell.com (also found via audioconnell.com). I had new information to add to some website pages, some new posts that will be added automatically in a few weeks to the main site and blog etc.

But when I looked at the website interface on all my many voiceover web pages, I realized I had not updated page for the Voiceover Workshop (found via voworkshop.com) in years. Plural! As in more than 1, 2 or 3 years. I’m still teaching all the VO stuff to the VO peoples 😉 but I hadn’t touched the web page in far too long.

Did that information change much? No…but I know it is valuable to keep refreshing a web page’s information at least a little every year..and it’s not that hard.

So to the Voiceover Workshop page, I updated some text and added a fresh, colorful graphic…simple. Now I’m happy with the refreshed page and Google is even happier

Mr. “Marketing Guru” (not at all, really) ignored his own oft quoted advice. Ok, it’s humbling and it should be for me.

But now, you can learn from my…well, not really a mistake…from my omission or neglect.

Take a look at the active pages of YOUR voiceover web site. Make an appointment with yourself…set time aside.

Sometimes you will not have to change anything…but sometimes there are reasonable and useful changes in text, graphics, headlines, alt tags or keywords, etc, that you should make. It’s easy but necessary stuff to do to keep voice actor website information fresh for prospects, customers and Google!

My simple advice is don’t take website content updates for granted…try and schedule a 6 month or 12 month check-up with yourself. Be accountable to yourself.

Remember, in voiceover, your website is your store…and your store should be swept, dusted, vacuumed and/or mopped more than just every few years.

Tags: commentary, marketing, voice over training, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover blog by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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The noise that surrounds the voiceover industry…from drama with pay to plays, to an endless list of conferences to social media groups to various associations and awards programs is a bit overwhelming. It feel sometimes like the “business of voiceover” has evolved into the “business of the business of being in voiceover”.

Rightly or wrongly, I try and stay away from the noise because for me, it doesn’t add much to my business…but that’s me, your mileage may vary.

What I came across recently was something that actually brought a smile to my face as it seems to be focused on actually helping new voice talents (as opposed to just trying to sell them something).

SOVAS, the group that has produced the That’s Voiceover!™ Career Expo and Voice Arts Awards since about 2013 have joined with a fairly new VO association group called NAVA (National Association of Voice Actors) to create a new voiceover scholarship.

Despite its lengthy title, The NAVA Brad Venable Scholarship in Partnership with SOVAS promises its award will ensure that the recipient receives credible, effective, and relevant training that will further their opportunities for success as voice actors.

Of course, what caught my attention was the fact that it is named after everyone’s friend, voice actor Brad Venable, whose untimely death a few years ago stole this wonderful person from his family, friends and the voiceover industry.

What caught my attention was Brad’s name AND the word scholarship…it took me back to Faffcon when I got to call Brad about winning a scholarship to FaffCon…he won the Fauxditions (unofficial casting call) for The Price Is Right and got to go to FaffCon 2 as the prize! He was also part of MVO and did the Movember fundraiser with us too. Then, early VO Atlantas…the list goes one.

Many more memories brought back happy times while thinking about Brad.

I think Brad would be tickled about this scholarship. He loved helping others, as he had been helped.

So if you’re new to VO and you may need a leg up, check out THIS LINK, get all the details and register if it suits you.

Brad would welcome you with open arms.

Tags: auditioning, commentary, faffcon, fauxdition, VO Atlanta, voice actors, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover blog by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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It’s likely you know about my friend and fellow (award-winning) female voiceover talent Christi Bowen. You’ve likely heard her voice on spots and narrations for Adidas, Johnson & Johnson, SportsClips Haircuts and Ritz-Carlton (yes, she’s THAT versatile.)

While keeping her thriving voiceover business, Christi has initiated another venture: the Tennessee Voiceover Studio. Headquartered in Nashville (in the same building as media producer Filmhouse), Tennessee Voiceover Studios’ purpose is to provide quality training and guidance that allows TNVO students to use their creative gifts and build a rewarding career in voiceover.

Christi and four associates do the teaching and training in their studio. If you need to simply record, you can do that too. And the web site is chalk full of helpful and insightful resources.

If you are anywhere near the area, I highly recommend you check it out.

Tags: voice over training, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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We’ve all had some weird things happen to us in 2020. Well the hits just keep on coming.

Four years ago, we packed up the O’Connell Conestoga Wagon and traveled from way up north in Buffalo, NY to the southern climes of Raleigh, NC.

Now, I’m moving back north….even MORE NORTH than Buffalo which is weird cause everyone used to tell me Buffalo was “the end of the line”. Bah!

This time I’m off to Toronto, Ontario, Canada…which is fine with me because my Grandmother was born there and we had a house in Fort Erie, Ontario for over 4 decades.

So Toronto it is.

Only for a weekend, though.

I’m not sure whether it was being housebound during COVID that impacted Tanya Buchanan’s thought process so much but she pinged me the other day and asked me to be a part V.O. North 2020, taking place October 16-18 in Toron….puter…screens. 😉

That’s a Canadian city you might not know about, Toronputerscreens….but that’s where you’ll find me for V.O. North 2020.

I will be a moderator for sessions where otherwise well meaning voiceover panelists, sharing their knowledge on a variety of topics, must endure me slinging questions at them on topics that may or may not have ANYTHING to do with voiceover. 😉 This is the kind of zaniness that takes place when you put me in charge.

I have not participated in V.O. North yet, so I am very excited to see how this will work.

Obviously, we would ALL prefer V.O. North take place in person in Toronto but something is better than nothing and V.O. North meeting promises to be something else…in a most wonderful way!

You do NOT need to be Canadian or even know a Canadian to participate….so sign up! V.O. North 2020 has waaaay more impressive presenters than me. Check them out.

I look forward to seeing and speaking with you there.

Tags: commentary, voice over training, voiceover advice, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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What’s your agenda when you attend a voice-over conference?

I think most people would answer – ‘whatever is on the agenda’ is on their agenda when attending a voice-over conference.

One assumes people look at what’s planned for a conference and decide based on that whether the event is worth attending.

That’s fine. I also think it’s lazy and unproductive. (Uh oh, here he goes again!)

Look, if you want to be led around by the nose by whatever is put in front of you in the banquet of conference classes, that’s OK.

It just seems to me that to get your true money’s worth out of a conference, you need to set personal objectives – to be achieved as a result of your attendance – that will help move your career further, no matter what stage you find yourself in your career.

I’ll give you a personal example.

Outside of FaffCon and FaffCamp, which remain my favorite professional voice-over events, I haven’t been to that many voice-over conferences. I’ve presented at some but I don’t attend that many.

Time is one reason but the bigger reason is I don’t feel the content at most VO conferences will add significantly to my current knowledge bank. That doesn’t mean I’m better or smarter or that the content isn’t good. It means I don’t feel like I’m the right audience for most VO conferences.

When you’ve worked in a business (any business) for 34 years, that’s going to happen. Someone with none of my experience, half of my experience or even more than my experience would likely see many VO conference agendas differently than I do. It’s a personal career decision.

But it is also true that after that much time, I’ve come to realize that I know how much I don’t know. And you CAN teach an old dog new tricks. The tricks had just better be spectacular.

The tricks at FaffCon and FaffCamp, because of the level of professional, experienced talent in attendance, have always been pretty spectacular and helped in my professional growth and development.

I am a newbie to VO Atlanta, which is now in its 3rd year. There are a significant number of folks new to the voice-over industry that will be in attendance and certainly some of VO Atlanta’s content is geared toward that audience. That’s cool.

Unique this year at VO Atlanta is the attendance of a great number of casting directors and voice over agents. This has piqued my interest.

It pleases me to already be working with many (but not all) of the agents at VO Atlanta including Erik Sheppard from Voice Talent Productions, Jeffrey Umberger from Umberger Agency and of course my agent and long time Toronto pal Tanya Buchanan from Ta-Da Voiceworks. I would like to at least meet a few of the agents and casting directors that I don’t yet know.

Further, there are a couple of sessions on Saturday (the day I’ll be there) that I would like to listen in on. Although I am not interested in the concept of X-sessions, which requires an additional fee for each session on top of the initial conference fee. Not judging, that’s just me.

Also, I’ll be in attendance at VO Atlanta with some of my fellow MVO: The Voice-Over Guys including Dan Friedman, Brad Venable, Jordan Reynolds and Dustin Ebaugh. That’s always fun!

Will there be Voxy Ladies there? Nah, ya can’t never find them anywhere. 😉 (ducking).

Finally, there are at least 25 of my longtime VO friends who will be in attendance, whose company I enjoy and who are always generous with their insights and advice.

Too, there are new friends to make at this new-to-me conference.

So not a lot of my objectives for VO Atlanta have anything to do with the agenda. But I do have specific objectives for my attendance.

My suggestion, if you are going to this or any other VO conference, is to think about what your goals and objectives are for attending…then think bigger – whatever that means to you.

You’re the student.

I hope this helps.

Tags: commentary, VO Atlanta, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover advice, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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