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OK gang, fun idea time!

As this blog is about voice over (vox), marketing (market) and advertising (tising) I thought we should have some summer fun here and combine all three into a voice talent business card gallery.

Simply email me a decent quality jpeg picture of your business card (front and back if you print on both sides) and we’ll show them here. Email peter (insert the at sign) audio’connell dot com and I’ll post all entries. Maybe we’ll have a card beauty contest and pick a winner…we’ll see first what kinda legs this idea has.

By the way, I’m not a pro at sizing these cards and images to fit the blog so some cards will be bigger and some will be smaller but size does not equal talent…at least in this effort.

Here’s mine to kick things off:

Tags: advertising, blogs, branding, commentary, community, logo design, marketing, radio, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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A couple of quick notes for a Tuesday grabbed from the e-mail bin.

A listener in Denver , Colorado writes:

Dear Peter:

Just thought I’d drop you a line to let you know that my Big Fish Weekly updates are back! I’ve just posted a brand new demo. Check it out here: www.bigfishworldwide.com

Reasons to consider Big Fish Weekly…

-It’s format specific (AC, CHR, Country, and Rock) -One license required per cluster (access to all 4 formats) -Over 2,000 listener audio clips -Prefab sweepers -Custom voice over upon request -Creative idea starters -Updated weekly
-$29.99 per month, or $329.99 per year

Your pal,

Little Ian Sturgeon

Thanks Ian for writing and for your email you’ll receive a copy of Match Game ’75 – The Home Edition.

Another listener, this time from a completely foreign country – Canada – writes:

Dear Mr. O’Connell:

It’s been a very cold winter and prospects for heat this summer are looking kinda bleak so I’m going to go on a voice over cruise in the fall where us voice over passengers may all read some practice scripts on the first day but I’m pretty sure we’ll all be rip roaring drunk on the Lido deck for the rest of the trip.

But between now and then I’ll also be doing some non-drinking voice classes and I hope you can come:

Edmonton, AB – June 13/14th – There is still room!
Calgary, AB – June 27/28th There is still room! (early bird price in effect till June 15th)
Philadelphia, PA – August 29/30th (early bird price in effect till Aug 15th)
Vancouver, BC – Sept 12/13th (early bird price in effect till Sept 1st)
Dallas, TX – Oct 17/18th (early bird price in effect till Oct 1st)
Toronto, ON – Nov 6/7th (early bird price in effect till Oct 25th)

Learn more at www.MicnMe.com
Register with Brad at: workshops@MicnMe.com
Call: 604-459-5559 for more info

Your pal,
Lil’ Debbie Munroe

Aw Deb, you’re sweet to invite me but with the new border crossing rules, I’d have to have a passport chip implanted in my skull to get into Canada and that sound like it would hurt. But thanks for asking and for your letter you’ll receive seasons 1 &2 of The Love Boat on DVD.

Tags: commentary, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I was thinking yesterday I should write a blog post only because I hadn’t in a while and I’m sure someone is keeping score and if I don’t write something I’ll get blogger’s demerits or something.

Assuming such things exist.

Anyway my idea was to write about how public relations’ companies often pitch bloggers about their clients’ products or services in hope that they will write about them on their presumably popular blog. These rock-star bloggers often complain (well “bitch” is the proper term for all the whining I read) about how these pitches are often impersonal and dull. The bloggers have a point – personalization while time consuming often pays great dividends.

But then I realized I am not a rock star blogger. I don’t think I even know any rock stars although I did have a nice conversation a few years ago with the Goo-Goo Dolls Robby Takac (who by the way has great pipes for voice over and has done some VO work). Tangent aside, I don’t get pitched a lot. So then I thought why should I write about it?

Then lo and behold I get an email today from Mahmoud Taji in Cairo, Egypt who asked if I might take a moment to review and write about his new site Taji’s Voice Over Directory. Well that seems simple enough.

The site is hosted through the voiceover-casting.com site but Mahmoud is not directly involved with that site. Mahmoud’s pages contain an ever-growing list (about 140 listings as of this writing) of voice over casting resources from around the globe including voice talents, agents and resource sites. It’s a very nice collection and I believe he welcomes submissions so check it out.

As for his pitch, it could not have been more personalized and pleasant in his approach. The kind of introduction/request that I assume most PR folks are not making to other bloggers on a daily basis.

The morale of this story then is if you have an idea for a blog post but are not sure what to do with it, wait 24 hours or so…the blog fairies may drop a little bloggers magic on you to help you finish your post.

Tags: blogs, commentary, marketing, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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“The handsomest man in voice over”, Dave Courvoisier has finally answered my grown-up Christmas wish and updated the look and feel of his blog. If you’ve not yet subscribed, don’t admit that publicly but immediately rectify the situation by subscribing to his blog now.

I steal many blog ideas from Dave (and Bob Souer (“The nicest man in voice over”)) so you’ll always find rich content on voice over, social media and gadgets on Dave’s blog all on an easier to read and faster to load page.

For those of you wondering, I’ve been voted “The shortest man in voice over”. And I’ll take whatever lame kudos I can.

Tags: announcers, blogs, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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OK, so going back to the week before Memorial Day when the blog pooped out, I was planning on posting this the same night as I attended my first MCA-I meeting. Yes I am on the International Board of Directors and I had never been to an actual chapter meeting as I am the sole member in Buffalo, NY.

No, Connie Terwilliger, I will not be forming a chapter in Buffalo as I have quite enough to do already with my own businesses and two small children.

So I went to the Central Carolina MCA-I meeting and had a blast. Tom Morse and his leadership team really have their act together and it was a very fun meeting screening some short films that members had recently produced.

Even better on the voice over side of things, at the meeting were Wade Holloway and Jamee T. Perkins (pictured with me above) & Deb Stamp who lives in Raleigh, NC now but made her home and started her broadcasting career in Western New York.

Thanks everybody for a terrific evening.

Tags: commentary, mca-i, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Today I came across another valuable article from my Google Alerts. If there are topics of interest to you professionally or personally, I hope you take advantage of this free service.

This Google Alert came under the term voice over and it let me to an article in Animation World Magazine, part of the Animation News Network. The article, written by animation casting director Mark Simon, discussed how he has started to use video cameras (computer cameras) via Skype as part of his ISDN sessions with animation voice actors. It was entitled “Seeing Voice-Overs”.

If this doesn’t start happening in a lot more ISDN sessions for animation, commercials or anything else, I’d be really surprised. A great idea and article from Mark.

Tags: animation, character voices, commentary, isdn, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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