I’m talking about voice over marketing and the internet and here’s where my new friend Susan McCollom comes in.
Today I received an email from LinkedIn saying “Susan McCollom has indicated you are a Colleague at Voice 2010”. In her message Susan said:
HI Peter,
I just wanted to introduce myself and connect with you (albeit through cyberland) before the big event begins!! I’m looking forward to meeting you and getting to know you and your work through the course of the conference.
– Susan McCollom
And I of course accepted the invitation.
Folks, there can be no simpler example of how easy it is to market yourself on the internet than the professional exchange that Susan and I had.
There can be no better example of how to prepare for a conference and get in touch with people you WANT to me than what Susan did here. Sure, their will be tons of connections after the show…but to do it before shows her excellent ability to plan and prepare for the show. She will be getting the most for her money, I’m guessing.
I’m looking forward to meeting Susan. Who is looking forward to meeting you?
I cannot remember if this is the third or fourth time I’ve attended the RAF’s Freelance Creative Expo but I am always glad I do it. While its only an hour away, my schedule is a too hectic to benefit from an RAF membership and it is my loss because they are clearly a membership filled with talented, nice people by whom I am always genuinely welcomed each year. Thanks to the committee members who put on this year’s event.
Why the Buffalo Ad Club can wrap themselves around such an annual event locally is a mystery to me. What an amazing friend raiser.
Which leads to a great surprise I enjoyed at last night’s show…through the throngs can this person with a name tag that said “voice over talent”…it was my on-line VO pal Leslie Diamond.
Male Voice Talent Peter K. O'Connell and Female Voice Talent Leslie Diamond
She had never been to the Expo before and decided to check it out, not knowing I’d be there. I invited her to hang out at my booth/table so she could meet and introduce herself to some of the folks I was meeting. Having lived in Rochester for a while, I think Leslie got pleasantly reacquainted with some great contacts.
Thanks Leslie and thanks RAF for making this year’s show terrific.
Voice Talents Peter K. O'Connell, Karen Commins & Craig Crumpton in Atlanta
Enjoyed over a week-long visit with my family for Easter break in Atlanta – grandparents, cousins and in-laws, oh my! It was (it can now be revealed) the location of my “undisclosed location“.
Having now returned today, I enjoyed the great camaraderie and stories of new and old voice over friends at dinner at the Olive Garden Monday evening.
Karen Commins and her very nice husband Drew stopped sorting socks (long running joke there) just long enough to join me with tremendous stories about their life together and Karen’s very successful career. Also stopping by for a longer visit than when I was here last year was the triple threat (film actor – singer – voice actor) Craig Crumpton whose stories about his participation about the upcoming Robert Redford-directed “The Conspirator” kept the conversation going on into the parking lot! Great stuff!
These voice over meet-ups always leave me so proud of the people whom I call peers. They also fill me with hope for the enormous talent within the voice over industry. I am sincerely grateful for the time Drew, Karen and Craig shared with me.
John Florian is usually a pretty savvy, smart guy. But I think he may have lost his mind. Either that or absolutely everyone else on the planet said no.
John pinged me last week to invite me to be on a panel he is moderating at VOICE 2010, June 2-5 in LaLa Land.
Trish Basanyi (who I had the pleasure of meeting at the NYC Voice Over Mixer) will be on the panel with me along with David Kaplan.
Our plan as panelists, I have decided here without consulting either Trish or David, will be to have a pre-meeting confab with John and us at the most expensive, trendy, posh restaurant in LA (on John’s dime of course, he’s rollin’ in it).
This way, when I open my mouth to speak at the conference and the audience realizes I have nothing to say and my voice over career promptly ends of the spot, I will at least have had one last good meal.
Voice Over Talents Rowell Gorman, Debra Stamp & Peter K. O'Connell
The nice thing about travel (yes there are a few nice things) is heading in to warmer climates during the winter. Raleigh, NC isn’t Bermuda but it’s a very nice spot and it was my destination yesterday and today.
As always, I try and summon the voice over troops in the area, this time breakfasting with Rowell Gorman(the Imaginator) and Debra Stamp (who lived and worked in Buffalo for a long time and now lives in Raleigh).
Rowell is an in-demand character voice actor as well as announcer and Deb is a very well respected narration and commercial voice across the country. Both do terrific on-camera work as well.
It was an all too short visit but terrific to hear about the great work they are both doing including Rowell’s work on the North Carolina lottery as Mr. Monopoly and his voice work for the well known area drug chain Kerr Drug.
My thanks to both of them for spending part of their morning with me.
Some of the Voice Over Talents on the roster of Voice Talent Productions
If you count the smiles handshakes, hugs and flashbulbs from this weekend’s New York City Voice Over Mixer – there is no way to call it anything except a great success. One of my agents, Erik Sheppard from Voice Talent Productions, put this together for the 2nd time and it was a lot of fun. Knowing how these things work, specific thanks should go to Lindsay Reiss and September Day Leach for what I am sure was a lion’s share of the work.
And best wishes to Erik and Lindsay on their impending nuptials…engaged before the event, Lindsay was actually surprised by Erik at the mixer with the actual ring.
You know a party is going to be good when you close a club in the city and have to cap the guest list. I think we were at about 250 people for the event. It was packed.
Some of the members of the VO-BB.com - photo courtesy of VoiceChasers.com
There were two great joys attending this event (which I almost didn’t go to as daughter started a 24 hour bug on the way with the family to drop Da off at the airport…she’s perfectly fine now): seeing all my VO-BB friends many of which I know in real life but some of whom I had only known for years virtually; and then getting to meet so many familiar and new voice talents from around the country and around the world.
New York’s weather was not even in the vicinity of perfect as it poured rained with alternating snow most of the early evening (it was yucky). But that didn’t stop these voice talents from getting to their appointed destination. And as always with any good trip, there fun stories along the way.
The VO-BB gang, lead by the talented and generous D.B. Cooper, decided late Friday on line that we would have a pre-mixer get together at a place called Boca Chica on 1st Street in the village, near the mixer at 5:00 p.m. AT 4:50 p.m. while I am in a cab to the event, D.B. calls me to tell me the restaurant doesn’t open until 5:30 p.m. I figure, it’s NYC so there WILL be a bar nearby and I’ll make my way over to the restaurant at 5:30. D.b. also asked me to advise anyone at the restaurant of the same issue.
Voice Talent Lee Gordon (I swear it's him)
Well I got to my destination and standing outside -in the rain- in front of a bar right next to Boca Chica is my friend Lee Gordon, whom I promptly ordered out of the rain and into the bar he stood in front of, which was dry, warm and deserted. We had a very nice visit and were quickly joined by a fellow VO-BB Tony Impieri.
Voice Talent Tony Impieri
At 5:30, my good friend Doug Turkel pinged me to say that he, Bob Souer, Dave Courvoisier and Anthony Mendez had smashed the door down at Boca Chica to get seated and indeed when Lee, Tony and I made our way next door, the staff had to unlock the door for us. From that point on, I think the noise level in New York City hit a record high cause nobody shut up…we’re voice talkers for goodness sake, what could you expect.
Voice Talents Melissa Exelberth, Anthony Mendez and Peter K. O'Connell
This will sound a bit like a Mouseketeers roll-call but at the restaurant in addition to us seven guys were also D.b. Cooper (with her talented husband Dewitt Hardy) Mary McKitrick, Moe Egan, Liz deNesnera, Melissa Exelberth, Elaine Singer, Mandy Nelson, Pam Tierney (all lovely and talented), as well as John Florian from Voice Over Xtra. Likely getting the award for furthest traveled (England and Scotland no less) were Elisa Canas and Philip Banks (a terrific table mate – great insight). Truth be told, I think many folks on the VO-BB registered once Philip announced he was coming over because we all hold him in high esteem and has been a virtual friend for so long.
Voice Talents Bob Souer and Pam Tierney try to figure out which camera to look at (that was a pleasant challenge for everyone all night long)
The O'Boys with Courvo- THE Patrick O'Connor, Dave Courvoisier and Peter K. O'Connell
Voice Talents Pam Tierney and Peter K. O'Connell
Voice Talents Peter K. O'Connell & Philip Banks - it was about 2:00 a.m. UK time for Philip when we took this picture but he was standing tall (which compared to me is relatively easy)
Voice talents Dave Courvoisier, Peter K. O'Connell and Elaine Singer
Voice Talents Peter K. O'Connell and the great Bobbi Owens
I thought I could summon the stamina of my youth but by 11:00 p.m. I was back at my sister-in-law’s apartment in my bed to catch some sleep before the car service arrived early Sunday. A terrific trip with new and old friends whose kindness and professionalism I cherish greatly. Thanks everyone.
P.S. The best looking man in voiceover, Dave Courvoisier, proved his talents expand beyond his voice talent abilities with an animoto slide show featuring a montage of many other pictures from the New York City Voice Over Mixer. Great job Dave, thanks.
P.P.S. I’ve now come across what I believe is the definitive compilation of pictures from the New York City Voice Over Mixer running over 8 minutes so it’s possible if you aren’t in one of these pictures…you were too busy taking pictures of other people to pose for one of your own.
