Strange – how many of you were drawn to that blog headline. 😉

But it’s a fact of life – virtual conferences have been around a while now.

It was a business that a friend of mine delved into and she seemed to enjoy it. I myself have never attended or I guess a better term is participated in a virtual conference.

It’s an intriguing idea so leave it to voice-over’s own Rupert Murdoch (aka John Florian) make the idea a reality for the voice-over community.

If you’re a plan ahead kinda gal or guy, you’ve got some time. Voice Over Virtual will take place September 18-19, 2013.

For all the details, you can check out Voice-Over Xtra’s blog post here

Tags: blogs, commentary, voice over training, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover blog by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I have been doing voice-over professionally since 1982. That’s not the admission of guilt.

In all that time, I have been to an Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor a grand total of once: to get my ears look at.

Never have I been to an ENT to get my throat and vocal folds looked at…that’s my admission of guilt.

Think about it for a moment…the key instrument upon which I rely for my income had never been in for a medically tune up. My microphones were better taken care of than my throat.

That’s stupid and that’s my fault.

Now, you don’t have to admit it, but I’m guessing you’ve been stupid too. When was the last time (if ever) you’ve been to an ENT to get checked out (especially a preventative exam)?

I was even pulled aside by my friend Sean Caldwell at FaffCon 5, who explained to me in no uncertain terms the dangers of ignoring throat and vocal health. That was months ago and yet I waited.

Stupid me.

Well I recently addressed my stupidity head-on…because I was forced to. If you’re skittish about unhappy endings, read on as this one turns out ok.

Here’s the brief back-story – I went down to my father-in-law’s house a few weeks ago for the Easter holiday. He has a cat and it turns out (and I knew this for a few years, having visited him before) I had developed an allergic reaction to cats (as an adult) in the form of asthma (albeit a minor but still uncomfortable form of asthma).

The subsequent significant coughing (even while on medication which I ordered up ahead of time in anticipation of my problem) left me significantly laryngitical for weeks (as my FaffCon Stand-up group can attest). That meant no voice-over work. None.

So after squeaking into the phone one day too many I decided I needed to see someone other than my talented general practitioner about my pressing vocal health challenge.

Problem was I didn’t really have a name of someone to meet with. So I called my friend Dan Lenard who was kind enough to share his ENT with me (since Dan and I live in the same area although we only see each other at FaffCons).

I met Dr. Joel Bernstein who began the appointment by condemning me for talking too loudly when I said hello to him and went on to discuss how I needed to rest my voice more when I wasn’t using it professionally, which I knew. I also let him know I have three small kids and use my loud voice sometimes to corral those feral cats. He didn’t really have an answer for that one. He just said that drugs like Modafinil, which are becoming increasingly popular, do have side effects to look out for.

So on to the heart of the exam- the throat scoping. This involves a little topical anesthetic through the nose…so that a camera tube can be put down there and the good doctor can see what’s up in the throat and vocal area. It’s a bit uncomfortable but it doesn’t hurt.

Well the good news is the exam showed my throat to be in perfect health and that there was no damage to my vocal chords and that I would be fine once my coughing and asthma symptoms subsided, which they have. I am back to voicing new projects without sounding like Harvey Fierstein.

So even though you didn’t ask for my advice, I hope you won’t be as stupid as I was…take this nudge as reason enough to contact an ENT in your area to get your voice-over money maker examined.

Tags: commentary, community, faffcon, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I’m pretty sure when I come to my senses, I’ll ask myself: why did I share THIS piece of information with voxmarketising readers when I can enjoy all the voice-over exposure with none of the competition?

But it’s Christmas time. So in that spirit….

Hey stupid! Yeah you! You don’t have a free listing on Production Hub, do you?

Why not!!!

First of all it’s free web exposure which is nice for brand SEO as well as links. Second, you could easily have people find you in the site’s pretty massive directory. Third….well hell….it’s FREE!!!!!

I’ve got a page on there…all nice and informative and it costs me nothing.

To be clear, I’ve got no deal going with Production Hub to get paid for this little blog commercial (NOW who’s stupid?!) so I don’t benefit from you doing this. But often times, when I search for voice talents in other cities where I don’t know anybody, Google results gives me a Production Hub city listing of voice talent.

Google does that (without an ad link). You’re not on that list.

Do you understand now?

No?

OK, never mind, nothing to see here, just ignore my blathering. Bye!

Tags: voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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You’ve seen me post about FaffCon which is a professional development event for about 100 working, professional voice-over talents who register for the now yearly event. Not everyone gets to go FaffCon because of its limited attendance and its attendant criteria. That made some folks both sad and frustrated…and that was not ever supposed to be an outcome of FaffCon.

So Amy Snivley conceived an event, different from FaffCon, but still allowing its focus of helping voice talents learn from and network with each other.

The gestational period is over – the new baby is born and her name is Faff Camp.

Now some of you are just going to click on the Faff Camp link to register. I understand that feeling completely and feel free to read all the detailed Faff Camp information in the web site link. Just understand that Faff Camp registration for the May 3-5, 2013 event is not open yet. But relax, there is NOT a 100 person limit to Faff Camp. And when I know about registration opening, I’ll spread the word. But there is a Faff Camp Facebook page (isn’t there a Facebook page for every darn thing?) where you can stay up to date on Faff Camp news.

So what IS Faff Camp?

Faff Camp 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 unlike FaffCon, most of the Faff Camp agenda is set in advance, which makes it possible for Faff Camp to welcome a larger group.

Plus Faff Camp incorporating some exciting new elements like Topic Tables, Birds of a Feather sessions, Adopt-a-Question, and Lightning Talks.

Also new to Faff Camp is a Table-Top Trade Show. Friday only, you’ll get to see cool gear up close, get answers from providers one-on-one, and see live demos of solutions in action. There will be content woven throughout the day on the expo floor.

Friday evening, a panel of top pros answer the question What Does it Really Take to Make it in Voice Over Right Now?

If you’ve always wanted to come to FaffCon, but haven’t been able to get in, Faff Camp is for you. If you’re a Frequent Faffer, come get your Faff fix to tide you over until FaffCon 6 (October 4-6, 2013 in San Antonio, Texas)! And since we’re not limited to 100 this time, we can make this the biggest Faffer reunion ever–everyone in one place at one time!

Tags: Faff Camp, faffcon, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I am quite literally stunned to realize that in two weeks I will be in Charlotte, NC with 100 fellow voice-over professionals attending FaffCon 5.

Five?!

Except for the first FaffCon, which I couldn’t attend without upsetting the then pregnant Mrs. audio’connell, I have attended every FaffCon (in Atlanta, Georgia, Hershey, Pennsylvania, Ventura Beach, California and now Charlotte, NC). The people I’ve met and the things I have learned have allowed me to grow my business and advance my way of thinking about voice over. I want to focus on that last part for a second.

The voice-over business is a very solitary business with most folks working in their home studios with occasional breaks to actually talk to clients on the phone (vs. only e-mailing each other, which happens too often for my liking) or the blessed trips to a local studio where somebody else does the work and you can focus on your performance (such bliss!)

But in that kind of insular environment, we as professional voice talents sometimes found ourselves with few peers through which we could share our business, performance or technological ideas. On a lot of our business stuff we were all making it up as we went along.

With the advent of chat rooms or in my case bulletin boards (like the infamous and invaluable VO-BB) new networks of professional voice talents were formed, initial emails were exchanged and in my case, meetings were scheduled between voice-over talents who could share, learn and develop all phases of their businesses together.

The natural evolution from these types of groups was a convention, which was first put together by my friend and fellow voice talent Frank Frederick…it was called VOICE and it took place in a hotel in Las Vegas I think in 2005, maybe 2006. The first (and only) VOICE I attended was in 2010. It was a nice networking event but I didn’t feel my professional education was significantly enhanced by it. I felt a lot of what was taught (with some exceptions) was very rudimentary (and I was one of the presenters so take that into account).

But I remember seeing my friend Amy Snively at that conference as well. This particular time we were on the trade show floor by a microphone display. She shared with me her disappointment about the content of the show as well. I can’t say I knew what she was thinking at the time but sometime after that on the VO-BB a discussion was held about a different kind of conference.

In that thread, FaffCon was born. Now we are five.

Monday night I had dinner in Toronto with voice talent Jodi Krangle, a FaffCon veteran. Thursday night I had dinner with Kelly Klemolin in Green Bay, who will be attending her first FaffCon in Charlotte.

They will be roommates during FaffCon 5. Knowing both Kelly and Jodi as long as I have, I am certain their professional connection will last a long time and their likely friendship even longer.

And they have two people to thank – D.B. Cooper and her idea for the VO-BB, giving us voice talents a safe place to gather and share ideas; and Amy Snively, who’s idea for FaffCon shared on the VO-BB has built an event unlike any in our industry.

For five, I think “we” are a pretty amazing kid.

Tags: commentary, faffcon, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Today’s 5 Questions for a Professional Voice Over Talent are answered by Donna Postel, a professional voice-over talent based in St Louis, MO.

1. The beginning: When did you know you wanted to be a voiceover talent; how did your career begin (please include what year it started) and then when did your passion for voiceover develop into something professional?

I had just dropped out of college — actually, I told myself I was transferring to a school more in line with my goal of being an international star of stage and screen, but the truth was that I didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I grew up. One day a friend asked me to go with him to check out the Broadcast Center, a trade school in St Louis that promised to make its students into the world’s best deejays and news talkers. Fearing a scam, and knowing my friend was incredibly gullible, I accompanied him to save him from ruin.

As we sat there and listened to the owner and some the teachers talk about the program, a lightbulb lit up for me — this is something I can do, and do very very well. I signed up for the course (my friend did not).

One night, the owner’s son, a hot-shot big-time voiceover talent in New York, did a mini master class for us. He spoke a bit, answered some questions, and — lightbulb #2. From that night on, I knew I wanted to be a voice talent too.

The first job offer I accepted in radio was a position as production manager — I was going to be the copywriter, producer, and commercial/promo voice for KFRU in Columbia MO. Another radio job brought me back to the St Louis area, and I spent the next few years as a drive time personality, news reporter, interviewer and whatever else the stations needed.

I still loved theatre, and found the time to do a couple of plays a year as well. A fellow actor in the St Louis company I played with was creative director of a local ad agency, and as soon as I left radio (within days actually) an agent called me with a booking for one of that dear man’s clients, a department store.

Since that day 30 years ago (where did the time go?) I have sometimes given more energy to being a mom than running a voiceover business. There were a couple of years when I was lured back into radio, but commercials and corporate narration and on-camera spokesperson work was always there for me, and I have been extremely fortunate to have been able to support my family while being home when my kids got home from school.

This year I’ve finally been able to launch my audiobook career, and I can’t get over how much I love it.

2. What is the one thing you know now that you wish someone had told you when you first started out in voiceover?

I wish I’d actually listened to all the wonderful advice I was getting from so many generous people, but was too busy trying to appear like I already had all the answers to accept.

3. What do you see as the biggest professional or personal obstacle you face that impacts your voiceover business and how are you working to overcome it?

When your business is your voice, your factory will always have an inventory of exactly ONE. My deeply ingrained DIY mindset has kept me from seeking the assistance that would help me serve more clients. I really need to start using outside editors more (but at the same time I really enjoy editing)!

4. What personal trait or professional tool has helped you succeed the most in your career so far?

Curiosity. I LOVE learning new things, and every project has opened my eyes to something.
Commitment. In performance, I am totally committed to the moment – the emotion – in the text.
Availability. I’m always available to do whatever it takes to make my client’s life easier.
I show up! My tools are ready to go (i.e., my voice is warmed up and ready).
And apparently I have a really reliable internal timecode – I can adjust my read by the frame, if that’s what’s needed.

5. In your development as a voice over performer, who has been the one particular individual or what has been the one piece of performance advice (maybe a key performance trick, etc.) that you felt has had the most impact on your actual voice over performance and why?

Oscar Wilde said it. “Be yourself – everybody else is taken.”

Tags: 5 Questions for a Professional Voice Over Talent, 5Q:VO, commentary, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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