My friend Sean Caldwell is known best as one of America’s premiere promo voice talents but he’s also pretty handy with a camera.

He was kind enough to share this shot of my friends and fellow voice-over talents Amy Snively and Lauren McCullough who, along with Dan Friedman and Natalie Stanfield Thomas (and about a billion other folks), put together Faff-events.

I am very blessed to be included with all these talented people.

Tags: commentary, Faff Camp, faffcamp, faffcon, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups // Comments Off on one of my favorite faffcamp pictures

Knowing that I would be in Pittsburgh, PA a few days after FaffCamp, I went on the web to see if the Pittsburgh Pirates were going to be playing a home game and it turned out they WERE home on Tuesday.

So when I saw Pittsburgian voice talent Bob Souer and his talented editor son Eric at FaffCamp, I asked if they wanted to join me for the game. They said they were already going and plans were set.

Rains came and went just before game time and we had a wonderful time: me, Eric, Bob and FaffCamp duck Daffy Gormon.

And the Bucs beat the Mariners 4-1. Great night thanks to Bob and Eric!

Tags: voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups // Comments Off on audio’connell in pittsburgh

I missed the very first FaffCon.

My magnificent third child was coming into the world and Mrs. audio’connell somehow felt it was more important that I not spend a weekend in Portland, OR lest my dear boy make an early entrance while I was three time zones away. My suggestion that she just hold her legs together during the trip was not accepted with grace. Need I reiterate, it was only a suggestion?!

Oh, that was also the time I found out I’m a bleeder.

So I remember that whole weekend thinking ‘I wonder what they’re doing now at FaffCon? I wonder who’s speaking? I wonder what they’re talking about?’ I was bummed even though I didn’t yet have (or fully understand) the FaffCon experience.

I made a promise to myself I would make it to the next FaffCon. After attending FaffCon 2 in Atlanta, I promised (save for something of immense importance) I would not miss another Faff-event.

As I sit here going through notes and business cards and memories, I am thinking of some of the posts of those who couldn’t go…who wanted to go but for all the right reasons (whatever they were) didn’t go. And as I began to type of my profound joy from everything and everyone at the FaffCamp event, I stopped. I really did.

I am profoundly grateful not only to everyone I spent time with, learned from and especially worked with on FaffCamp…but those feelings and opinions extend to each and everyone of the past FaffCon attendees as well. I wanted EACH of them to be at FaffCamp for their own professional and personal development but also for my own selfish reasons of wanting to be around and learn from greatness.

Yet, remembering my feelings about missing the 1st FaffCon, I don’t want to boast about the many things I took away from the event lest it make my fellow Faffers who attended in spirit feel badly, feel jealous or feel sad. That is NOT the spirit of FaffCon.

Each of you in abstentia need to know, as a matter of record, you were missed. That is not stuff and nonsense…I speak sincerely and from the heart.

Though nor do I (by way of this post) want to take away the euphoria of the other FaffCampians who ARE posting their joy and pictures and thanks….they can and they should because it’s all for the right reasons. They want to share their joy and I am enjoying it.

There are over 100 people to thank and I tried to tell them all yesterday (especially the sponsors). If we spoke, if I shook your hand, if you watched me present —if you shared any of your time with me at the event, thank you.

I thank our foundress Amy, my brother from another mother Dan, the ever- supportive and lead improviser Natalie and our dearest angel Lauren for leading this event to its very successful liftoff, execution and completion. “Tireless dedication” is an over used phrase in most descriptions…except this one.

And so I’ll end it there. If I name anyone else, I’ll stupidly forget someone unforgettable.

Call me if you want to hear my FaffCamp experience one-on one…I’ll gladly share my phenomenal experience.

Because, really, for those of you who understand a Faff-event, no description is really necessary and for those who haven’t, no description will suffice.

I hope…I mean really hope, I see you all in San Antonio. Thanks for being my friends.

Tags: Faff Camp, faffcamp, faffcon, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover meet-ups // 2 Comments »

I’m not sure if it’s true for every FaffCamper or FaffConite but for me, when I see a Faff-event coming up in my calendar, it becomes a goal…a kind of joyous finish line for some of my marketing plans (you know, a marketing plan…it’s that written document that you need to…oh never mind).

As you know from past blog posts, I had a plan to redesign my business cards. I’d decided that FaffCamp would be the perfect deadline to have these cards ready…not really for the Campers, many of whom I’ve known forever, but for the Monday AFTER FaffCamp, so I’d be ready with the renewed marketing vigor that FaffCamp will imbue within me. The response of the recipients of these cards will be the true test of their efficacy…but I gots me a plan for that!

Branding-wise, I wanted to put a greater emphasis on the “Friendly, Neighborhood Voice-Over Talent” positioning that I created. audio’connell Voice Over Talent is still very much around but this freshening of my personal brand felt accurate from a variety of marketing perspectives; among peers and clients, the branding is getting positive reviews.

So I toyed around with some graphical ideas for the positioning and hit upon a look that I believed conveyed the feel of what I was trying to communicate while still staying true to the family branding equity that audio’connell has established for all these years. I’d focus more on audio’connell’s secondary logo mark (the “a.o.” as I call it) versus the full microphone logo to tie in with the positioning statement and new word mark.

Now in the world of business cards, I have a reputation to uphold (can you see how puffed out my chest is getting –no, it’s not some kind of allergic reaction)…after all, I get calls from clients and friends asking me for help with THEIR business card designs, so mine had better be pretty unique.

I liked the word mark design because it was minimalist (unlike my personality) but on a business card, that same quality that I prefer might just kinda sit there. While wondering (like, for months) what I was going to do to make this card stand out, I got my answer while recording at a studio in Toronto.

I committed a robbery in broad daylight AND in another country, no less.

Right there in the studio’s card holder on the reception desk: thick, heavy plastic card stock for a business card. Full color, two sided. Oh yeah.

The message via these cards to the creative community that I serve (agencies, production houses) is subtle, tactile and memorable. And it tells my story.

We talk about look and feel when we talk about design – I think (and maybe egotistically) these cards have a creative, professional and friendly look to them but their feel is substantial, durable and dependable. It’s a lot to ask from a card – but I believe it gets my branding and personal message across well.

Communication though is NOT in the transmission, it’s in the reception. You are welcome to give you pro or con opinion here on the new cards…but just know that I’ve got a lot of these new cards so if you hate them, you’re going to have to hate them for a while. ☺

Tags: advertising, branding, commentary, faffcamp, faffcon, logo design, marketing, voice talent, voiceover // 1 Comment »

For those who don’t know, explainer videos (also sometimes called video demos) are usually 1-3 minute videos that creatively tell the story of a product or service or even a story. There are many kinds…here’s an example of an explainer video I narrated for a DVD series which presented information about the Catholic Catechism in a friendly and creative way.

There are tons of talented production companies churning out amazing stories for products and services of all kinds. It’s an entertaining way of engaging a consumer.

Well, it’s supposed to be entertaining.

Problem is, just like in almost every facet of business, there are businesses out there who try and take crazy and short-sighted shortcuts on things like explainer videos with cheesy graphics and homegrown narration.

Yup, business owners narrate these videos themselves or have some family member narrate their explainer video, further diluting the possibility of any one watching the video past the first 10 seconds. It’s like watching a train wreck.

So here are my unsolicited tips for a valuable explainer video.

First, on an explainer video – visuals are the key…if they aren’t awesome, your production is in trouble. Visuals are job one.

Second, you don’t absolutely need a voice talent for a successful explainer video…but your visuals better tell a very, very, very good story…and you should look into a custom music bed too if you’re not going to use a voice talent.

Third, and I know I appear biased but I’ll take the risk, don’t do the narration for your explainer video in-house. Hire a voice-over professional (there are only a few thousand out there…see, I’m not just hawking my wares).

Great visuals and a great story teller will make your explainer video engaging and memorable. And that there’s the whole ballgame.

Tags: animation, commentary, explainer videos, narrations, video // Comments Off on voice-over puts the “explain” in explainer videos

The trouble with having strangers use your iphone to take pictures is they might not know how to use the iphone camera…or any camera for that matter. Such was the case with the above picture from an otherwise terrific evening.

With fellow Faffers Seattle-area voice talents Corey Snow, Jeffrey Kafer and Scott Burns, I enjoyed the opportunity to introduce my them to my other Seattle-area voice-over talent friend Grace Regis Bennett when we all got together for dinner.

The restaurant had spectacular views of the Olympic mountains which made up for their not spectacular wait staff. The laughs were plentiful and Grace joined in liked she’d know these boys forever…which I hope now she will because they are not only all great voice talents but great people as well.

Thanks to all four of them for joining me.

Tags: commentary, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups // Comments Off on audio’connell in puget sound