The VO Meter… Measuring Your Voice Over Progress.
Hi everybody, and welcome to episode 18 of The VO Meter.
Measuring Your Voice Over Progress.
We’ve got a great episode today. We have the coordinator and executive producer of the VO Atlanta Conference. That’s Gerald Griffith coming on in a few minutes.
But first, we have current events. So what have you been up to recently, Paul?
Well, I had my first audition for my new agent, and that was actually the first of three from last week. So that was pretty cool. All signs point to that being positive.
We’ll see if I actually book it. But sent that off and was pretty excited with the results. And so, you know how it goes.
You don’t hear right away. They collect them. I think the actual due date for the first one was today.
So who knows if it’s even been submitted. But then the agent will submit it to the client, hopefully, and along with other agencies that the client has reached out to, and then they’ll come back with an answer. So hopefully that’s me.
Hopefully I’ll have an answer by next episode.
Well, best of luck, man. I’m really happy that you got that new representation.
Thank you. And then I have my first book deal with find-a-way voices. That was just done today.
So that’s pretty exciting as well.
Very cool.
What’s going on with you?
For me, well, actually, I don’t know. It’s like I’ve had this lull period for a couple of months, just kind of doing my regular e-learning projects. And then I talked about you a little bit before.
I was finding myself kind of going through what I like to call VO ennui. You know, you’re just kind of going through the motions. And it was kind of like starting to become a job and less…
and just finding myself enjoying it less. But then I just kind of like I had some really cool coaching sessions. I kind of like I actually got or joined a Christina Melitsia’s toys, games and mobile app character class.
And that has just been like in just in the first session, I just had so much fun. And I just got some like really applicable feedback and implementable techniques for how to improve my performances. Like for example, I’m a big fan of lead in lines, or just kind of ad libs to make things sound more natural or to kind of warm your voice up before you get into a script.
And she just said, before each line, just go, wow, or dude, or whoa. And then it really like pumps your energy up and you get excited about what you’re about to read. So that was that’s very helpful when you’re reading boring, dry, e-learning corporate PowerPoint slides all the time.
So that was good. I actually got some new audiobook opportunities. I’m still working on a couple projects for Learning Ally.
They asked me to do a… I’m a little nervous because they asked me to try a Syrian accent for one of the books they’re doing. And so that’s a challenge for me.
I want to be respectful of the material, but still evocative of that kind of Middle Eastern accent.
So do you have resources to study that?
Yeah. They didn’t send me any audio references yet aside from… they did send me a sample of the official book that they’d like me to read.
One of my favorite resources for this is something called IDEA, or the International Dialects of English Archive. It’s run by Paul Meyer, who is a dialectician, linguistics coach, as well as an actor himself. So IDEA is a free resource, but he does also have some paid resources specifically for actors trying to work on accents for stage or voiceover.
So I highly recommend that. It’s the first place I recommend if you’re ever working on accents or dialects. And other than that, someone actually posted an audiobook for a German-Austrian accent in the GVA community group I’m in.
And so I was like, I can do the Germans. So I submitted for that again. This is for a book that was actually based during World War II, so kind of sensitive subject matter.
So you kind of have to put your actor’s cap on and be like, all right, again, you just want to be evocative of the accent, not like over the top or offensive or anything like that.
It’s quite a challenge you’re giving yourself going from Syrian to German and an Austrian combined? Or is it an Austrian…
I sent in the audition for the German Austrian, and then the woman was so impressed, she immediately sent me another audition, which not only had another… This one was great because I was just reading the book and it described a tour guide with flawless English, but with a slight Tyrolean accent. So in case you don’t know, Tyrolean is in southern Germany bordering Austria and Italy.
And so it’s got little hints of all three of those languages. So I’m like, and you want a slight accent?
So for those ones, you try and just kind of go… At least what I did was just try and go for a more European sound. I’ve spent some time in Germany.
I have many German friends. And usually, their English is amazing because they learn it from a very young age. But they do have that hints of almost British precision of enunciation when they talk.
And that’s just kind of like the staccato nature of German shining through. But it’s fun. I mean, it’s kind of what I needed was to just jump into a whole bunch of things head first and sink or swim, you know?
That’s pretty cool. Good luck. So, we will have Gerald Griffith, the executive producer of VO Atlanta, coming up soon.
But first, we have a VO Meter shtick from Friend of the Show, Lauri Jo Daniels.
Hey, everybody, it’s time for the VO Meter shtick.
What did he say?
It’s time for the VO… Oh, nevermind.
The VO Meter shtick? Oh, got it.
Hi, I’m Lauri Jo Daniels. I’m an audiobook narrator, and I’m beginning to branch out into a few other areas of voiceover, but I’m still really new to this industry. Last September was the two-year anniversary of when I decided to actually pursue this as a career, and it also marks the month that I jumped in way over my head and did an audiobook when I really wasn’t ready to.
So I spent the last two years really focusing on learning everything I can and pretty much figuring out everything that I didn’t know that I didn’t know. Of all of the resources that I have discovered over this two-year journey, probably the most valuable resource to me has been attending Voice Over Atlanta. So I’ve now attended the last two years, and I was an ambassador both years.
That’s what Gerald calls the volunteer program for VO Atlanta. Both years, I was able to work registration, which was really amazing for someone brand new because I got to meet a ton of people coming in and registering. Even better was the fact that the first year, I had no clue who anybody was.
I’m terrible with names. So they’re coming through and I’m meeting people and talking to them and having a lot of fun. And then finding out later that someone was the voice of a cartoon my kids love or a promo I always hear or an audio book I listen to.
And I know I never would have gone up to those people had I known who they were because I would have felt really intimidated because they’re so much farther along in their career. Now, any of you who have been in the industry for a while know that that’s just a silly attitude to have because voiceover is probably the most supportive and friendly industry there is. But when I started out, I had no clue that this was a fact.
And even now I’m still pretty intimidated by some people, not because they aren’t friendly, but because I just admire them so much and I’m a bit of a fangirl. So I kind of make a fool of myself if I do try to introduce myself. So a lot of times I just avoid doing it.
Even though a lot of people think that I’m just super outgoing and not afraid of anything, I actually have a lot of anxiety and I’m really insecure when it comes to meeting new people. So there are some people that I won’t make that effort to go introduce myself to because I’m just too nervous. One of those people was Johnny Heller.
I had friended him on Facebook and followed his stuff and I just really admire him as a talent as well as a person. We’d never interacted with each other. We’d never met in person.
And he was at this last VO Atlanta. I really wanted to meet him, but I was really nervous. But on the very first night, as everyone was mingling and having hors d’oeuvres outside, Johnny approached me and introduced himself.
Since that time, I have coached with Johnny. He directed my audio book demo. I’ve attended a couple of workshops that he put together.
And we have had multiple chats. But I still get really giddy and kind of can’t believe it when I think about the fact that I can actually call Johnny Heller my friend. And even though there are plenty of other people in the voiceover industry that I still am in awe of, people that I know and that I can call my friend, but meeting Johnny at VO Atlanta is by far the best experience that I have had in my voiceover career.
And it’s not just the fact that I met Johnny. It’s the fact that he took that time to come find me and introduce himself to me and to talk to me about my career goals. And it changed the entire trajectory of my career because I was ready to throw in the towel until I attended VO Atlanta that year and met Johnny and got to talk more about my career and was reminded how supportive this community is and was given back some confidence that I had started to lose.
So thanks again to Lauri Jo for submitting that VO Meter shtick. She’s a wonderful person. I’ve met her at VO Atlanta and at MAVO before, and she’s one of my VO mamas.
I have several. Not VO sugar mamas, very different. But without further ado, let’s move on to our questionable gear purchase.
Okay, so I think it hasn’t been that long since the last questionable gear purchase, but that doesn’t ever stop me. So I picked up a new shotgun mic based on recommendations on VOBS from George Widom. I really need to stop watching that show during the equipment recommendations.
It’s an Audio-Technica AT4073B, sort of obscure mic, and he mentioned it as a really close match for the Sennheiser MKH416. He said it was so close that he recommended another talent, a client. I think he mentioned the name, but I don’t want to just in case she doesn’t want me to.
One of his clients who uses the 416 and bought this mic specifically to use on the road as a sound match. And George said it’s the closest he’s found as a match to the 416. That’s not a 416.
And I don’t necessarily think the 416 is the best on my voice. I’ve had a, I think I’ve mentioned on the show, a 415 in here, which was almost the same mic, but a precursor to it and only runs on 12 volt power. And it wasn’t the best fit for my booth.
But I’ve really grown to be a big fanboy of Audio-Technica products. And I know, Sean, you’ve used those in the past as well. And it being a Japanese company, you’re a big fan.
So I’m kind of sticking to those and decided to take George’s recommendation and get this mic. I’m not using it right now because I have it mostly for promo and commercial work. And this is the podcast slash audio book mic, but I really like it so far.
I’ve only done a few test reads and I’m sick right now. So that may be accentuating the bass in my voice. So it’s hard for me to tell.
I’m gonna give it a few weeks.
Yeah, I was actually gonna say, I don’t think you’d sound bad, but…
But I like it so far and it’s really forgiving, which the MKH416 and also an NTG3, which I’ve tried in here, aren’t necessarily. They pick up a lot of mouth clicks on my voice and nasal sound. And this new one, the 4073B seems to help eliminate that.
Yeah, and that’s a common misconception, just kind of the way that they market that mic. And it’s easy to fall into that, because these are originally used for film and distance recording and stuff like that. So it’s like they got that laser-like focus and stuff like that.
But if you’re in that narrow pickup pattern, it’s super sensitive. So you still have to address it like any other high-quality microphone. But I’m curious, what was the price point on that mic, if you don’t mind?
Let’s see, I think retail is $5.99. I picked this up for a little under $300 from Poland, of all places. We’re just talking about World War II, curiously enough.
And this was shipped from Poland, a used model. But it seems to be in great shape. I don’t see any scratches or dents and no indication it had any smoke inhalation in the diaphragm.
It seems to be in really good shape.
Well, I’m just glad that you’re able to still save so much, even with the international shipping. That’s great.
Well, I wasn’t including shipping. Sorry, I did pay $25 for shipping. So $3.25 total.
That’s nothing. I spent over $100 when shipping my Audient ID22 from Britain to Japan. And then that didn’t even turn out to be my permanent interface.
So there you go.
So that’s actually it for me, believe it or not. Have you made any purchases this week?
No, I’ve been super good. And I feel bad because I’ve been contributing to all of these. I mean, like, don’t get me wrong.
I’m still gear-lusting after so many different things. And, but I did want to touch on a couple of things because it’s like, so many people are, I’ve seen again and again, like a lot of people asking for what’s an ideal microphone. And the truth is, nowadays you don’t like, especially if you’re starting out, don’t go for like a TLM 103 or a 416, like immediately get something in the 150 to $300 range.
You’ll be fine. And actually one of, I was talking with Julie Williams, who we had on the podcast a while ago. She actually sold her 103, her Neumann TLM 103, a supposed industry standard for an AT 4040, which is about a $300 mic.
You could probably find it for less on Reverb or eBay. And it’s just nice and clear and quiet. And it’s actually a lot of female voice talent use it and been very happy with it.
So don’t feel like that, I mean, we talked about it before, but there is a point of diminishing returns on your investment. So if you don’t have $1,000 to spend on a mic, don’t. Get a decent one for $200 or $300.
And if you want recommendations on those, we have a whole episode about it. It’s episode two.
Yeah, that’s now up to over 450 downloads. It’s our most popular episode.
Awesome, awesome. Cause people keep asking this question.
Yeah.
But so some of the things that I’m lusting after, we are talking about travel rigs and stuff like that. I’ve actually, I currently don’t have a USB mic and I’ve been kind of looking back into it because I do lead a lot of workouts and I do a lot of videos and stuff like that. It would be nice just to have something to plug in to my laptop and like a little less elaborate setup.
And so a couple of options that I’m looking for right now were the iRig Pro, which is kind of a USB, it’s a USB, iOS and Android microphone. It’s one of the only ones I know that’s native Android functioning. And I like that because you could just plug it into an iPad or an iPhone and you’re off to the races.
Only problem is that iRig, not all of their products are really well reviewed. Some people have complained about them crapping out after a while. Another one that I was looking at is the Sennheiser MK4 Digital.
And I was really excited. Or what was that?
Senn had it.
You tried it?
Oh yeah, I had one here. What?
You didn’t tell me.
Oh, sorry. You said the digital.
The digital one.
So sorry. Nevermind.
We both actually use the analog version of that mic. And that’s another really good one for like around two or $300, depending on where you get it. And it means some people even call it the Neumann TLM 101, just because it’s kind of like their entry level.
And some people even like it more than the 103, just because it’s a little bit flatter and doesn’t have the harsh high end that the 103 has been known for. So Sennheiser actually are teamed up with Apogee Electronics to create the sort of internal interface inside the MK4. So that tends to be the biggest concern with USB mics is that they don’t have decent preamps and stuff like that inside.
But I mean, Apogee’s kind of a purveyor and at the forefront of that technology. So that’s a pretty exciting partnership. The only problem, though, is for a travel mic, it’s not very ideal because it’s just like a large studio condenser.
You need a shock mount for it. It’s super sensitive. But yeah, I don’t think it would be an ideal travel microphone just because it is a large diaphragm condenser.
It’s got an open pattern. It’s convenient to plug into a phone or an iPad, but it’s super sensitive. And I don’t think it would fare well in a hotel room with vacuums in the hallway and refrigerators in the hotel room and stuff like that.
But then, I was just watching a video from George Whitham, one of his old NAMM videos, and this microphone company out of Nashville called MicTech, who’s kind of famous for having their own signature sound and having great microphones at affordable prices. They released something called the MicTech ProCast Mio, M-I-O. And it’s kind of like an Apogee mic slash Blue Yeti killer, because it’s got, like the Blue Yeti, it’s got zero latency headphone monitoring, it’s got a USB out and an analog out, an XLR out, and you can actually record to two different sources.
So you could have one hooked, or like the USB hooked up to one laptop, and then the analog hooked up to an audio interface hooked up to another laptop or whatever. So that’d be cool backups for that. And the main reason that I was excited about this is its pickup pattern.
It’s actually got a, what’s it, a super cardioid pattern, just like the 416 or something like that, which is ideal because it does cut down on ambient sounds. So I don’t know, I think I’m going to drop some hints, and maybe that might be a good stocking stuffer for yours, truly. But one last thing that we want to try that’s a little bit different is I feel terrible pressuring Paul to buy new stuff for this segment, but we want to prove that.
It’s true, he twists my arm every time.
But you’re keeping it alive, Paul, and I really appreciate your sacrifice. But we actually want to open up questionable gear purchases to our listeners. So do you have a questionable gear purchase that you’d like to share?
Or something you bought that was a disaster?
Something you bought that was a disaster? Why don’t you write us a story or even send us an audio clip, maybe even using that questionable piece of gear? Go ahead and just send us a comment on the VO Meter Facebook page.
You can also hit Paul or I up, send us a direct message on Facebook, or you can send me an email at.
Sean.vo.com Regularly scheduled segments. Without further ado, let’s take it to the Bodago Call room for our interview with Gerald Griffith.
Hi, everybody. We are joining you from Bodago Call right now with the coordinator and executive producer of the sixth annual voiceover conference, VO Atlanta, Gerald Griffith. How are you doing, sir?
I’m doing great. How about yourself?
Wonderful. I’m so glad you could join us today.
Welcome, Gerald. So, Gerald, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got involved with voiceover or what drew you to the voiceover community.
Well, I actually, like many people, was looking for an opportunity to do something. I had always had an interest in public speaking and things of that nature. And so having been someone working from home and responsible for getting my kids off and things like that, I wanted to maintain some flexibility and somehow came across the idea of doing a voiceover and took a class, an intro to voiceover class some time ago.
And that’s how I initially got involved. And then a short time later, I decided to start a meetup group because I didn’t know a lot of people here in the Atlanta area. And that meetup group eventually grew to a size where people had an interest in doing training and things like that.
And so once we started doing that, I ended up spending so much time doing training and coordinating training that I had to make a decision. Am I going to coordinate sessions and training or am I going to try to continue learning more about voiceover and having some time in the booth auditioning and working on technique? And since my background has been more in planning and logistics and coordinating things, I decided to stick with the planning side of it.
And things have just kind of evolved from there.
That’s awesome. So our next episode actually is going to be about Meetup Groups specifically. Can you tell us if that was an in-person group or was it virtual or a combination of both?
Well, it definitely started off as an in-person group. It was all about the chance for people to get together and start meeting each other. And I wish I could tell you it was still as active as it had been at that point.
But it’s been more or less a lot of focus has shifted toward the conference itself. And it’s not as active in person as it is at this point as it was in the past. But it was a great thing and it’s still grown.
It’s about 800 to 900 people that are officially a part of that meeting group. And I keep them updated with things related to the conference or any other activities here in the Atlanta area that may be of use to them.
Very cool. So I’ve had the pleasure of joining at least two of your wonderful VO Atlanta conferences. Can you tell us a little bit of how the conference has grown and changed over the years?
Wow, sure. The first year’s conference was, as you might imagine, anytime you’re stepping out to do something for the first time, it can be a little nerve wracking and make you a little nervous and wonder how it’s all going to work out. But I do feel fortunate in the sense that I was able to talk to other people in the industry, other coaches and trainers and people who had their own events, and they were willing to give bits and pieces of advice.
They weren’t going to try to help you clone what they were doing, but they were willing to encourage and be supportive in that way to let you know that you weren’t by yourself and that you could do this. And so, it started out that first year. Pat Fraley was my initial keynote, and I was very thankful of, and had a great crew come out.
And I remember that first year, we had about 125 people attend, and I had one person from Bermuda, and I was so pumped up. I was like, oh my God, somebody’s coming from, you know, there’s water in between them and the conference, and they’re still coming. And that was year one, and, you know, one of the things I remember mostly about it was I was walking the entire time.
I literally lost 10 pounds in one week. I don’t know if I slept at all that weekend, but there was a lot of walking going on, and here we are, you know, this year having been year five, we had attendees from 44 different states in the US and 13 different countries outside of the US. Yeah, we were just shy of 600 people this year.
Wow. My goodness. So, this is something that’s a little bit near and dear to my heart because I’ve personally benefited from it.
One of the things that really makes VO Atlanta unique is your scholarship program. So, could you tell people a little bit about that and the different scholarship options you have?
Sure. I’ve been doing the scholarship program since probably the third year, second or third year of the conference. And I do that in conjunction with Anne Gengouza and the VO Peeps program.
And we make it possible for at least two to three people to come out to the conference and be a part of it. You know, the criteria is pretty straightforward. You know, people, they write something, they tell us about themselves and their situation, maybe where they are, where they’re trying to go.
And we also give them a little small script, just, you know, from a performance standpoint, to see where they are. And then there are a team of judges that Anne coordinates to go over and review everything, and they select a winner out of that. I’m not involved in the judging, although I do listen to the entries and everything.
But I can tell you that they’re just some amazing people that enter, and some of the stories, you know, they’ll have you laughing, they’ll have you crying, they’ll have, you know, sometimes feeling very empathetic toward people, and just other times feeling so excited about where people are and what they’re trying to do. And it’s just an exciting program to have. And we do an international, we do a national, and then we offer a youth scholarship as well.
That’s fantastic, so good.
Well, that’s great. It’s just an amazing opportunity you offer people. I know it’s changed the lives of all the winners in profound ways.
But aside from the scholarship, can you tell us other ways people can get involved in the conference?
Well, aside from coming as a regular attendee, we do have an ambassador program where people exchange some time for a discounted registration. So there’s an entry process for that, where they can apply and tell us what areas they want to help out with. We do have a very few volunteers who help out throughout the entire conference duration during their time there.
And those are probably the categories as far as how someone could come outside of the regular attendee process.
So I’m a little bit familiar with the ambassador program. Can you talk a little bit about how that might benefit somebody, or I guess allay some of the fears someone might have about being an ambassador and not being able to maybe enjoy the rest or participate in the rest of the conference like they thought they might be able to? Or is that not an issue?
Well, I think it depends on where people are coming from with it. You know, naturally, there’s a trade-off. There’s a time commitment.
But depending on where a person is and their thinking about coming, there are roles that actually would allow them to be an ambassador and not miss a single minute of the conference. Particularly if they’re in the Atlanta area and they want to help with, say, the load-in where we’re setting everything up or maybe the breakdown where we’re breaking everything down on Sunday. So in those cases, their time commitment is before and after the conference, not during the conference.
So it just depends on their availability and other factors that may factor into that. But there are other roles. It’s an eight-hour commitment for an ambassador, and we generally split it up into four-hour blocks.
So when they go through and review the options, it’ll give them a general description of what the possible roles are. And we try to work around that as much as possible.
Yeah, and I’ll offer up my own experience. I was a volunteer last year, and felt like I in no way missed out on anything that I wanted to do. I’ll say that you, as a executive producer, are more than gracious with allowing people to, like you said, get what they want out of it and still be able to participate.
So I thank you for that, and I’m sure most of the ambassadors would agree that they still got what they wanted out of the conference while still being able to help and feel like they were part of the team.
Right. Now we don’t run it like a… You know, it’s not a fast food restaurant or something like that.
It’s time for my smoke break, Gerald.
We want everyone to have a good time. And I mean, there are obviously things we have to get done, and there are schedules involved. But if you think about it, if you were assigned to work the door, at a particular session, and check for badges and things like that, once that session starts, we, you know, if you’re not involved in something outside of that, we encourage you to just go in, sit down at the back of the room, you know, so that you’re near the door, and watch the session, you know?
You know, observe it and be a part of it, to the extent you can. And then toward the end, you know, you wrap up your time there and you move on to the next thing. So we don’t try to say, well, how many seconds we can, you know, use you or keep you active.
We really want you to be a part of the conference as well. Because outside of that eight-hour commitment, you are a regular attendee. You’re able to participate in everything, sign up for anything, be in the contest or whatever else.
You just have that time commitment. That’s it.
Very cool. So I know this year you started a new program called VO Intensive. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Ah, VO Intensity. Yes. VO Intensity is a bit of an extension of our X-Session program that we do at the conference.
And the big difference there was that X-Sessions at the conference are three hours, which is a good amount of time. But for some, they want a chance to really, really go even beyond what you can do in a three-hour block. And so, I created this concept of VO Intensity where we have a select handful of trainers that come out.
And we did it at the same hotel where the conference will be in classroom settings. And it’s a full-day program, except you have the option of one presenter one day, one coach one day, and one coach on a separate day. So, for instance, this year, you know, you might spend a day doing commercial stuff with Mary Lynn, Wisner, but you might spend the next day working with Dave Fennoy in gaming.
And you have a full day of at least six hours worth of training with each of them. And so there’s much more intense focus on the workshop learning part of it. Whereas at conference, there’s the workshop, there are panels, there are breakouts, there are social, there are karaoke, there’s reception, there’s party stuff going on.
Intensity is really focused on training. It’s about the intense learning experience. And they’re just different in that regard.
Absolutely. And I love that idea of the more narrow focus, because I mean, your X sessions, if you like, just to explain to our viewers or our listeners a little bit, the X sessions are ones that you pay an additional fee to join, like Gerald said, they can be a two or three hour workshop setting. And it can be a little bit difficult to try and coordinate that along with all the other great activities, all the breakout sessions, which are included in your registration as part of your schedule.
So I love that you kind of added some time before and at the end of the conference to really give people that undivided focused attention.
Yeah, we actually have a few X sessions that are actually going to be pre-conference. We started it this year in 2017, and then in 2018 we’ll have, I believe, six sessions that’ll take place early on Thursday, the official start of the conference on the first of March. There are about six sessions that take place because we actually have a lot of people who come in on Wednesday, believe it or not.
In fact, there are so many people on Wednesday that I had to look at my watch when I walked through the lobby because there were so many people standing around for the conference. And I was like, did I miss something? And oh, it was Wednesday night.
People figured out the secret that Wednesday is the best party night.
Shh.
Yeah, because you’re going to be too exhausted for the rest of it to party, that’s for sure.
But yeah, so a lot of people do come in on Wednesday, which means they’re there on Thursday. And for those people who want to squeeze in a workshop early so that they’re not missing any of the breakouts or panels, they’re able to take them then. Or if they want to do the full day type training, we’ll be doing VO Intensity.
And I believe it’ll be in mid to late July in 2018.
Cool, cool. So a bit more of a sentimental question, I guess. You have so many great moments and events that happened during VO Atlanta.
I’m just curious what some of your fondest memories from the conference have been.
I’ll give you a couple. I’m a big fan of seeing just community come together and people have a good time. I come from a big family.
I’m the last of 11 kids.
Wow.
Was always around a lot of people when it was always a big thing for us. And so when I’m at the conference, I’ll walk around, say, during lunchtime, and I just see people connecting and enjoying themselves and having a good time and really connecting at a personal level. Sure, there’s that initial inclination to talk about voice over and things like that, and that’s great.
But then you start to see people talking about, where are you from? Where’d you grow up? Where did you go to school?
Do you have kids? Other things that just connect them at a very personal level. And that, I think, is one of the things that makes the conference so meaningful for people, is that it goes beyond just what you do, and it really opens the door to people connecting at the who you are level.
And so that’s a big thing for me. I often walk in the room, in the back of a room, and I’ll just stand there for a little while, and just soak in the fact that people are here having a good time, and that they’re learning, and that they’re engaging with each other. And then as a parent, my favorite moment is actually, you know, being able to involve my kids in an event.
My son’s 10, and half of his life, he’s been attending the conference, so. That was a little interesting with that. But as they’ve gotten older, you know, to know that they’ve literally had a chance to meet people from all around the world at the conference.
And people throughout the year, they’ll see me posting about them in Facebook and things like that. And so it’s a little odd sometimes, because people have seen so many things about them that when they’re at the conference, they’ll walk up to them and say, hey, Camille, hey, Grant. You know, they’ll start referencing things that they’ve done.
And of course, my kids are looking at them like, who is this person? But I think anytime, you know, as a parent, when you can do something and involve your kids in it, and see them learning and developing and growing and having a chance to meet people that are doing positive things. And I think that is a really, you know, thing I consider to be a blessing and I’m appreciative to have that opportunity.
Absolutely. And I’m sure whether or not they pursue voiceover as they get older, they’ll look back on this and very fondly and just be like, wow, that was so cool of my dad to involve me like that.
I hope. I hope that’s the story. I hope it’s not, man, he drag us out of this thing every year.
VO Atlanta again?
I think for them partly, it’s like they get to eat hotel food or just go swimming or something like that in March type of thing. And it’s interesting because in next year, we have a youth program on Saturday during the conference. So March 3rd is a youth day with Lin-Anne Zager for next year.
And so the kids attend that, but I’m actually going to bring them out of school one day and bring them down to the conference on, I think that Thursday night that the conference kicks off and let them spend the entire weekend there. And so my kids in conjunction with a few other select ones, we’re actually gonna have a youth ambassador program where on that Friday, we’ll get them involved with helping out with some activities, mostly just again to let them have a chance to meet other people in the community, participate in some other things before they spend the whole day on Saturday with the youth program.
Well, Gerald, you mentioned the personal relationships and I can certainly attest to that. I was recently talking to a coach with whom I’m going to start doing some sessions. And the reason I contacted this particular coach is because I spent so much time with them at VO Atlanta 2017.
And I said, because we spent so much time together, I feel like you know me better than almost any other person I could contact right now. So, who else would I call to do coaching with next? And it’s really going to benefit both me and my career.
So, I thank you again for the way you’ve set up the conference and just the attitude that you engender with it.
Well, I appreciate that. A lot of it has to do with the mindset people come with, quite frankly, and in most people’s defense, a lot of times when people go to something that’s networking related, it’s a very short activity. It may just be two hours, it may be an hour and a half.
So, the time they have to actually network and truly network, I mean, not just give them somebody a card or something, but to actually connect in some meaningful way is very short. But VO Atlanta is not a two-hour experience, or a three, or a four, or an eight, it’s several days. And so, I think it takes away that need for people to feel like I’ve got to jump in front of the line, I’ve got to climb over someone, I’ve got to follow someone to the bathroom to get in front of them.
You don’t have to do that. In fact, it’s very, very highly discouraged for people to behave in that fashion. And I think it does just create that space where people can connect.
And I try to add things to the conference as well. We have a conference app that we’ll be using in 2018 where people who are attending the conference will be able to create their profile within the app, and they can actually load their demos within it in their profile. So when someone looks at your profile, if you want to put a picture there, you can put a picture.
If you don’t, that’s fine. If you want to put links to your website, to your Twitter, Facebook, whatever, but then you can upload your voice over demos right inside the app. So, you know, I’ll just use Mary Lynn as an example.
If she were looking for someone for something, and she was like, hey, I’m going to the conference, maybe I can find someone, she can go right within the app and filter down on certain criteria and listen to people who’ve loaded their demos right inside the app. So it’s almost like, yes, there’s the conference, which is already a good opportunity in and of itself. But now, because I’m leveraging technology with that, it’s almost like its own opportunity for you to really be heard by a lot of people.
Multiple times. That’s wonderful.
Yes, yes. And so I’m really excited about that. And it just takes that whole pressure off of someone saying, hey, can you listen to my demo?
Can you listen to my demo? There’ll be a lot of people listening to your demos.
I was going to say you’re actually seguing perfectly to our last question. What else is in the works for the future of VO Atlanta or VO Intensity?
Well, one of the things I’m trying to do with it and moving in that direction is we’ll continue to define our various programs. So we have audio book, animation, gaming. So we’ll continue to increase or help those areas mature so that when someone’s coming and they’re really focused on a particular area, that they can get a full conference experience, even if they just focused on that particular area.
So, you know, audio books, for instance. If all you wanted to do was audio books, because that’s all you cared about, I want to make sure there’s enough content within that program for you to still realize a meaningful conference experience. And so we’ll continue to do that.
I’m continuing to work with agents and directors and producers and get a lot of their feedback about what goes into the conference, what’s meaningful, what’s needed, what do people need to know. And that’s one of the things I talk to them about is, what do you wish talent knew about? And then how do we convert that into meaningful training and exercises so that when they come to the conference, they walk away knowing that, hey, maybe that approach I was gonna take is a wrong one.
Maybe that demo I thought I was gonna produce, I need to rethink. Maybe that training that I have been putting off, I need to go ahead and get. Because I find that talent in general are motivated to do good and to move forward with their careers.
In many cases, unfortunately, they just don’t have accurate information about what they should be focused on. And so, I hope to continue to develop that type of thing where people do leave the conference with a really good game plan and really good information from highly qualified and respected sources so that they can continue to build their careers.
Wonderful. Well, I can’t thank you enough, Gerald. I mean, VO Atlanta is certainly one of the best voiceover conferences out there right now.
And for people who are interested and want to find out more or even register for the conference, where do they go?
VOAtlanta.me.
Awesome. Thank you.
Thank you. I appreciate you. Thanks for the time.
Gerald, thanks so much. Sean and I will both be attending this year the sixth annual VO Atlanta Conference. And we will see you in just 100 days, right?
You posted the countdown today.
The day is 100 days.
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.
Hard to believe, but it’s even more exciting because I know it’s closer.
It’s scary. You know, breaking three digits is like this psychological thing. It’s like as long as I have three digits to work with, I’m good.
I feel like I’ve got more time.
But when it goes to 99, it’s whoo.
I hear that. We’ll keep up the good work, and we will see you on March 1st.
Yes. Well, I think I’ll see you a day before that.
Well, that’s true, but I didn’t want to let everybody know that. They’ll all want me to buy them a beer. Thanks again, Gerald.
Have a great day, sir. Thank you so much.
You too.
Thanks again to Gerald Griffith, the coordinator and executive producer of the VO Atlanta Conference. If you’ve never been to VO Atlanta, or if you’ve never been to a Voice Over Conference, I highly recommend it. There’s something for everything there.
It’s not just for beginners. Honestly, I’ve made friends and connections that are going to last a lifetime. I’ve made friends and mentors.
I’ve even gotten an agent or two. It’s just so great not to be able to work or to meet people who all share the same passion for Voice Over that you do.
If you come this year, you’ll be able to come meet us.
And you can meet us. Say hi. We won’t bite you.
Hard.
Hello, 90s.
But yeah, it’s a wonderful event. And if you can make it in your budget to attend, I highly recommend it. Once again, if you’re interested or want to register, the website is VOAtlanta.me.
Once again, that’s VOAtlanta.me. I’m Sean Daeley with my co-host Paul Stefano for the VO Meter.
Measuring Your Voice Over Progress.
Have a wonderful holiday season. And take it easy, guys.
Happy holidays, everybody.
Thanks for listening to the VO Meter, Measuring Your Voice Over Progress. To follow along, please visit www.vometer.com. Come on.