Last November, a bunch of us voice-over talents got together to protest shaving. And we raised money doing it!

During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo’s, these men raise vital awareness and funds for men’s health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives.

THIS IS MY FUND RAISING PAGE (was that bold enough for you?) If you can afford it, I’d be grateful for any donation.

At this point, our team includes our captain Jeffrey Kafer, Justin Barrett, Anthony Gettig and Dan Lenard who, it should be noted, will just be blatantly cheating if he doesn’t shave his mustache on November 1st (but we’re OK if he doesn’t shave it).

Speaking of cheating, the rules say we’re only supposed to grow mustaches but I always grow a goatee because I look ridiculous in a mustache. They still take my money…funny how that works 😉 .

If you are a professional male voice-over talent, you are welcome to join our team. Just register and then pick our team from the choices.

If you are female voice over talent or not in voice over and just want to donate, PLEASE DO.

We don’t care which one of us you donate to or you can donate just to the team. But let’s be honest, donate to me because I’m the coolest. Or hairiest. Or something-est.

Tags: commentary, movember, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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As the Faffter glow dimmed ever so slightly this past week, I had the chance to fan the FaffCon embers with a visit to Pittsburgh via Ohio (yes it was THAT kind of week) and dinner with the Souers.

Actually, there was probably no better group than Bob Souer and his family (sadly without their North Carolina family member Karen who was missed at our dinner) to review FaffCon with, as the entire clan was at the event helping out.

Cinda had some church activities to dash off to so we missed her for the picture and Brian wanted to take the picture above but my thanks to all of them (man, those Souer men are TALL) for joining me for a very special night with a very special group of friends.

Tags: commentary, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Are you plagued by those little business oriented tasks that you never get around to even after months or years?

You know, the simple stuff that for whatever reason never seems to get accomplished?

Well, you probably don’t have that problem but I do.

Or in one instance, I can now say, I DID have that problem but now I can check it off my list.

When Mrs. audio’connell and I have purchased new cars, we’ve always agreed that the dealership did NOT get to put their logoed license plate frame or logoed sticker on our cars. It’s only because the dealership wouldn’t pay our $15,000 advertising fee (we go lots of cool places in our cars and our bumpers are seen by all the beautiful and influential people). We thought $15K a very reasonable rate considering it was a one time fee that would cover the life of the car. We even offered to let them take it off invoice.

And yet, no takers.

So our cars are un-dealerized. But I respected the value of that ad space/real estate and I vowed one day, I would claim that space for my own.

I think we bought our last car three years ago so how am I doing on THAT to-do list?!

Well under the category of better late than never, Da’s car now has a lovely etched (high falutin’!) customized license plate frame.

No, we didn’t pay the extra fee for a customized plate (that feels like giving away money to NY State) and no, we will do whatever it takes to AVOID New York State’s fugly orange and blue 1970’s color license plates.

But I like the simple and subtle message on the new plate frame that may not get everyone’s attention…just that special someone, with a voice-over need and a checkbook.

Tags: advertising, branding, commentary, marketing, voice talent, voiceover 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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What was started by Dave Courvoisier two years ago as National Voice Over Awareness Month has grown into VOAT (pronounced “vote”).

VOAToday reminds me that I want to put another Buffalo Niagara or Western New York Voice-Over Meetup together this month. We shouldn’t need an excuse to do it but if VOAT provides one, well, that’s good enough for me. National Voice Over Awareness Month spurred me to put one together in 2010 so we’re about due.

Here’s the formal announcement from Dave:
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NEWS Release

Voice Over Awareness Today Returns For 2012
VOAT builds on the success of 2011’s innovations

LAS VEGAS, NV, Sept 1, 2012: Voice actor, Blogger, TV News Anchor, and Social Media advocate Dave Courvoisier announces a September promotion to help build an informational database that benefits voice actors everywhere, while encouraging a sense of community and providing a fun program offering valuable prizes.

By lending a “VOAT” to a specially-designed website, voice-actors can contribute to a shared informational resource based on their answers to weekly questions. Doing so automatically puts their name in the running for some handsome weekly prizes specifically designed for voice actors.

VOAT in 2012 — building on last year’s success — plays off the ‘VOTE’ homonym by asking voice actors globally to ‘VOAT’ on 4 different issues impacting voice actors — one for each week of the month. The ‘VOAT’ consists of an answer to a “question of the week”. ‘VOATing’ in this manner allows the website visitor to be eligible for specific voiceover-targeted prizes provided by well-respected voiceover equipment, service, and client-seeking providers.

As an example, the question being asked of visitors to the site during the first week of September will be:
What does your recording studio look like? Provide a picture and a brief description, history, or special features of which you’re proud.

People responding, are required only to provide their name, and an answer (email is required to be eligible for the prize). No data is collected on the visitors for marketing purposes. The site also allows respondents to upload a picture or soundfile to accompany their comment if they wish.

“All the responses will be listed in a thread-like format for all to see on the website, creating a collective knowledge-base that will benefit the entire community of voiceover artists,” adds Courvoisier, “each week a new question, new comments, a new set of prizes, and a new winner.”

Prizes for the month-long event are generous.

High-profile businesses readily recognized by voice actors everywhere are contributing substantive prizes, including for instance, a free year’s premium annual membership to Voices.com, an annual subscription to Voice123.com for both male and female, a choice of demo or consulting services from Edge Studio in NYC. In addition, John Florian of VoiceOverXtra, is offering a free pass to an upcoming webinar, and Cliff Zellman, Founder and Organizer of the Dallas Voice Acting Meet Up Group (DVA) is contributing gift certificates from an online equipment site. EWABS’ George Whittam & Dan Lenard, and the Voice Acting Academy are also contributing. This is not a complete listing of prizes. We’re also pleased to announce that Harlan Hogan’s Voice Over Essentials.com is donating a new 3rd generation Porta-Booth Pro audio studio…just now being released!

Sponsors include: Voices.com, Voice123.com, Bodalgo, World-Voices Organization, Harlan Hogan’s Voice Over Essentials.com, VoiceOverXtra.com, The Dallas Voice Acting Meet Up Group (DVA), Bettye Zoller, The Voice Acting Academy, EWABS, and Edge Studio, Julie Williams, Deb Munro, and Bob Bergen.

“Voice actors are an extremely supportive, encouraging and giving people. Many of them have enabled and sustained my VO career, and this is an attempt to celebrate the generous nature of the business, while helping to inform and create a community of like-minded peers,” adds Courvoisier.

The site will become “live” on Labor Day, Monday, September 3, 2012.

http://www.VOAToday.com

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN:
“In 2010, the NVOAM (National Voice Over Appreciation Month) event struck a chord with voice actors everywhere who agreed it was time to celebrate the profession of voice acting,” notes Dave Courvoisier. “With very little foreknowledge, hundreds of voice artists around the world responded with enthusiasm to the month-long ‘appreciation’. A central website (http://www.nationalvoiceovermonth.com) collected the support of voice talent, showcased a series of collaborative Public Service Announcements, and kept a running and busy calendar of voiceover happenings in September.” The VOAToday event is a direct result of this early foray into online VO community-building.
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Tags: commentary, National Voice Over Month, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I suppose if you’re passionate about your work, you can find examples of it everywhere. Like plumbers see good or bad plumbing when they’re just in a friend’s house or CPAs might see examples of good or bad financial reporting someplace other than their own offices.

Since my thing is voice-over, here are two things I’ve noticed since this past weekend.

1. Carnival Barkers Love Their Own Voice

I took the audio’connellettes to the big county fair this weekend, our first time going as a family (Mrs. audio’connell stayed home with baby audio’connellette because he naps and she hates fairs – a lot).

I hadn’t been to a big fair in a while but I noticed something unique when I attended the famous Pig Races that my neighbor told me I should attend. The owner/operator of the Pig Races (in which the winning swine wins an Oreo cookie — so I completely understood these oinkers desire to win) also served as MC.

He didn’t say his name was Ron Radio but there is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks this guy does not have a radio background. I’m talking full-on “but enough about how great I think I sound, tell me how great YOU think I sound” puke voice on a PA with volume loud enough to be heard for miles.

Now given it’s a busy and loud fair, I get the volume thing and the patter thing – it’s a business and I respect it; in no way do I mean to demean the hard work that goes into working traveling fairs. But I paid my fee to be entertained and I was, having a good chuckle listening to all the men and women who, in my opinion, found a way to use their old radio voice in a new way. More power to them.

2. Some pilots sound like an obscene phone caller on the in-flight PA

So you know I travel a fair amount and I hear lots of in-flight announcements. There are two distinct groups of pilots in this world, those who love the microphone and those who are still baffled by its purpose.

The ones who love the microphone thank passengers for flying with them incessantly, give passengers 30,000 foot tours of what’s on the left side of the plane and what’s on the right side of the plane (besides the wings and engines – hopefully) and they do all this on an overly loud PA while I and most of the other passengers are trying to rest. Oy, shut up already!

But at least you can understand them.

I was flying to Detroit this week and a pilot got on the PA a couple of times and each time it sounded like he grunted or exhaled briefly (there may have been a vowel mixed in there) and that was it. But I think he actually thought he said something that was understandable.

It was not.

I chuckled for a moment at his unintelligibility but then thought to myself – what if this plane ran into trouble and this guy had to give emergency instructions to the passengers?’ If he’s telling me something important but it sounds like grunts and heavy breathing, I’ve got problems -oh yeah and so do these other people.

It’s obviously most important that these pilots know how to fly well but can’t we spend an hour on public communication for these flyboys too?

I’d take Captain Chatty over First Officer Mumble Mouth any day.

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