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Voiceover Conferences, Networking, and Finding Your Voice
52 Plays1 year ago
In this episode of the VO Bar podcast, Victoria, Will, and Al dive into voiceover conferences, sharing their candid experiences, insights, and a few laughs along the way. With their diverse backgrounds and locations—from the heart of Minnesota to the desert southwest, our hosts bring unique perspectives to the table. They discuss the pros and cons of events like SOVAS, VO Atlanta, and One Voice. The conversation is not just about the sessions and workshops; it's about the essence of these gatherings—the networking, the learning, and the sometimes daunting decision of whether to attend based on the fear of missing out (FOMO).
Listeners will find themselves nodding along as the hosts discuss the realities of conferences located inconveniently close to airports, the unexpected joys of meeting peers and mentors, and the glittering allure of award ceremonies. The episode is peppered with personal anecdotes, from the excitement of winning awards and the cost of claiming trophies to the humorous yet practical advice about networking etiquette (hint: don't approach casting directors in the restroom!).
Whether you're contemplating your first voiceover conference or you're a seasoned attendee weighing the benefits of your next event, this episode of the VO Bar is your companion. It's not just about raising the bar in your voiceover career; it's about finding your voice, making genuine connections, and sometimes, just enjoying a good laugh over a Havana staycation drink. So pull up a seat, bring your beverage, and let's navigate the bustling world of voiceover conferences together!
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Transcript
Playful Beginnings
00:00:00
Speaker
You're thinking of the Doppler effect. That's why a zebra passing at 50 miles an hour looks red, right? Is that the butterfly effect? I thought we were talking about like weather. Yeah, today we're talking about conferences. Welcome to the bar.
00:00:30
Speaker
Pull up a seat, let's get into it. Let's do it. Bring a beverage, you're gonna need it.
Why Attend Conferences?
00:00:36
Speaker
Are they worth it? Yes. Absolutely. Are they all worth it? Perhaps, we don't know. Some, probably more than others. And everybody's gonna have an opinion. Indeed. Yeah, I mean, what are you going for when you go to a conference? You gotta decide that first. Why are you going? Yep, what are you going to get out of it? You're going to network or you're going to actually learn something?
00:00:59
Speaker
Or are you going because of the FOMO? That's probably the worst reason to go. Wow. Right? But it happens. It is. Tell me it doesn't happen. That's the expensive reason. Absolutely. It's a very expensive reason. But I met folks at the last one who really just bought a ticket last minute because they were having that, oh my gosh, I'm missing out on something. I need to be there. Did they? Wow.
00:01:23
Speaker
Well, there's quite a few conferences, some bigger than others. But this spread out pretty far. I mean, there's one in Canada, from what I understand. Really? I don't think they're doing it anymore. VO North, I think stopped when the pandemic came. I think they stopped and they haven't started it again. They may at some point, but they haven't yet.
00:01:47
Speaker
which is unfortunate, because that would be the closest to us.
Personal Histories & Accents
00:01:50
Speaker
It really would. But I've been kicking around the idea of maybe starting one here, because there's nothing up here. Tell people where your here is. For those who don't know. People don't know where my here is? Well, I guess I don't sound like my here, do I? And neither does Al. No, you don't. Neither of you do. You've lost your here. Where's your there? I never had a here in my voice. I'm in central Minnesota. Al's in Duluth. Almost northern Minnesota, but I don't sound like it.
00:02:17
Speaker
No, you sound like down south. Kinda. Kinda. A little bit. And you're from New York, right? Yeah. I'm originally from the Midwest, right? Smackdown in the middle of the country, but yes, grew up in New York. I gave you the opening to use your accent. You did. I mean, for Long Island? Yeah, I married a Long Islander.
00:02:38
Speaker
Now we're talking. I married him for the accent. Maybe. And then some. And how he puts things. Mr. Johnson. How he puts things in a draw. In a draw. D-R-A-W. Draw. It's in the draw. So yeah, there's that. Phonetically correct. Exactly. But no, I'm actually living in the desert southwest. Not sure why, but not going to stay here for my whole life.
Location & Attendance
00:03:04
Speaker
So, conferences. So there's plenty of them out east, there's plenty of them down south, there's one out west, at least one out west. There's nothing in the middle or the north. Sometimes that's why people go to conferences because of their proximity to where they live, right? Versus maybe picking one. Is that the proximity effect? You're really good at that. You're thinking of the Doppler effect.
00:03:35
Speaker
That's why a zebra passing at 50 miles an hour looks red, right? Is that the butterfly effect? The Doppler effect is not just sound, it's visual too. So like a red car can look green. I thought we were talking about like weather. I thought we were talking about VO conferences. Here's your light 101. Oh, VO conferences, back to the subject.
The Focus on VO Conferences
00:03:56
Speaker
Back to the thing that we're here for in the podcast. If you're taking notes, start taking them now. Because we are raising the VO bar.
00:04:05
Speaker
Are we? Well, we're going to try. We're at least sitting at the VO bar. That's true. We're going to end up under the bar this time. Well, there's that. I can't feel my face. There was that. You know, we didn't have a drink of the show the last couple of episodes. We've got to make up for that.
00:04:21
Speaker
We do. We do. We need a two drink minimum for this. Well, let's start with the last conference we were all at. All right. Okay. Which is also the first conference we were all at together. That's true. Yeah. It was actually my first in-person. I had done. Was it? Yes. It was my first in-person conference. And so we're talking about Sovus. That's voiceover. That's voiceover. Society of Voice Arts and Sciences. That was my first in-person. I had done their online version.
00:04:51
Speaker
And because it was close to where I lived, I was able to drive there last year to Los Angeles. So that was a plus for me. And by last year, you mean 2020? Sorry. Yes, thank you. So 2022 was the first time. But I do realize that was a little bit of, what's that term? Lightning in a bottle or lightning at a jar? Tiger by the tail. Whiskey in a jar of. Oh, see, I like the whiskey thing. OK.
00:05:21
Speaker
But the idea that that particular conference offered a lot of amazing opportunities, but not necessarily equal for everybody attending. So I know that the experience I had was very different from any other attendee. And I think that's important to note, because I think there's other conferences that you guys have attended where
00:05:51
Speaker
You can actually get into an X session, which I think you guys can talk to that a little bit more than I can because I haven't been to that particular conference that offers those, where you can buy a ticket provided you get it in on time. Sova, that's a voiceover career expo. Not quite sure how you get into some of their extra events, like their speed dating event.
00:06:21
Speaker
Well, you audition for the CBS spotlight. Well, but even with the speed dating, you're auditioning by submitting your demo. Your demo, right. We don't know the vetting process or what's involved, but effectively, you're submitting yourself for consideration. And it was lovely. All three of us got into that this past year. Correct. Yes. In 2023, we all did. Yes. So that was a wonderful opportunity.
00:06:48
Speaker
However, we didn't see as many folks as we had hoped for.
00:06:54
Speaker
There were two people I really, really wanted to see. Because of the way the room was working and the pacing of things, it didn't quite work out that generously as it had in the past because of some hiccups that were during that session. But again, knowing- It was unfortunate. It was unfortunate, but the three of us, out of all of those folks that were there, each of us got an opportunity to go there. So that was definitely a big plus.
00:07:26
Speaker
It's a different type of conference. That one, yes, it's neat that often some of the speakers are roaming around and you can catch them in a hallway. Although, you have to be careful with that too. You don't want to be chatting up a casting director or an agent in the
00:07:48
Speaker
you know, ladies or men's room, that's really awkward. But the idea that they do kind of... You don't want to do that? No, Al. Stay out of their stall. Take that note. Take that note. Write that down. Stay out of their stall. Don't dry their hands for them. No, just no. Just big no. Wait till they're at lunch and then, you know... Sit at their table. Yes. Hey, you got a little something. Let me get that for you. No, but that is a different
00:08:17
Speaker
type of conference, like I've also been to vocation or eVocation, which is the online version of it. And that was completely different, totally different experience, as is I think One Voice and VO Atlanta. Right. Do you guys have any other experiences with other conferences outside of those that I mentioned? Yeah, which one? I don't. Isn't there one that's on a cruise?
00:08:43
Speaker
There is, yep, there's one that's on a VO cruise. Is that new this year or did they do that before? No, they've done it before. They stopped for COVID, of course, but it's been back. I wasn't aware of that until this year. I think they did it in 2023, doing it again in 2024. I haven't been. So this is the only one I've been to so well. I think I want to just go cruise.
00:09:13
Speaker
You know, I think, you know, we should probably all take a chance to talk about our experiences because our experiences at the same conference were certainly not the same. Right. So the first time at Sova's, or that's voiceover, I suppose, I didn't get picked for any of the other things. So, you know, the highlight of that experience for me was connecting with people
00:09:38
Speaker
you two and some of the other folks that we'd done some workshops with in person, just online. And so getting to connect with them in person and whatnot. But the actual programming didn't really do a whole lot for me.
00:09:57
Speaker
Now, my experience may be different than most people because my background as a developer, the conferences that I'm used to are very different, right? They're, they're very technical and, you know, just about every presentation will be some kind of teachable moment or something that I can take and use in my career.
00:10:22
Speaker
Whereas I didn't feel like that was the case for any of the programming. Except for when we were listening to the podcasting. Except for the podcast thing, which we looked at each other and went, hey, we should do a podcast. And here we are finally a year later. 13 months later. Miracles happen. Yeah. But, you know, I sat through most of the sessions in 2022, the first time I was there. And, you know, I just kind of had a general feeling of meh, it's a thing.
00:10:51
Speaker
It's not really my thing, but it was nice to hang out with some people.
Networking vs Content
00:10:56
Speaker
I think if you're going to go, probably the biggest highlight of that conference in particular is going to be networking with people more so than
00:11:08
Speaker
the programming because there's no like teachable, take this nugget of info and go use it and further your career. It's a series of panels of people talking about a given topic to each other in front of you for the better part of an hour and then maybe taking about five minutes of questions, which tend to be occupied by the same people over and over. Seems like. Well, we're voice talent. We'd like to be heard. That's true. Some more than others.
00:11:36
Speaker
But it is true. It seems like it's more talking at you versus kind of bringing you into the conversation or having more of a, I was going to actually use the word Lincoln Discourse or discussion. Yeah. And this past year I had maybe a little bit better experience partially because I got into the speed dating, although I was disappointed with how it played out because I felt like I should have gotten to see a lot more people than I did, you know, but it is what it is. And a lot of people didn't get in the room. So.
00:12:04
Speaker
There's that. That's what I hear. Um, I don't know how we got picked. Yeah. No idea. No, I mean, other than we're just awesome, but still, but I also got to connect with some people in person again and went and had breakfast near the beach and walked on the beach. And I went to finally got to have a meal and hang out in person with my coach who I worked with for over a year beforehand had never met in person before.
00:12:27
Speaker
And so, yeah, it was good for lots of reasons that weren't necessarily because of the conference. But I was lucky enough to attend as Victoria's plus one because she won the scholarship last year. And so she had tickets for this year and invited me. So I paid for my hotel and my flight and my food and the bar. I was going to say and the bar and the bar and the Havana staycation, which is good.
00:12:53
Speaker
That can be the drink of the show for the past three and for all of them. It's a wonderful drink. Where was that? I forget the name of the bar.
00:13:04
Speaker
trucksters or trucksters? That's it, trucksters. It was right next door to Paco's Tacos. I remember that. It was. It was. Who can forget Paco's Tacos? Right there near LAX. One of them was enough. I got through one, ordered a second. I don't know why I ordered a second. I got through one, ordered the second. He's like, I can't feel my face. Two sips into the second.
00:13:24
Speaker
My face is a little numb. That's how good the first one was. He doesn't know why he ordered the second one. Because it tastes so good. Because it was so good. Dana is so strong. Very good. Yes. Now I'm looking over the, since this was the conference that we all went to, like I haven't been to VO Atlanta or
00:13:43
Speaker
any of the others. I'm looking over at the schedule and my take on it is it touches as examples of opportunities in the business, not necessarily everything I was interested in. They had things on mastering mocap. That's not my thing. So I think
00:14:04
Speaker
Could it use more of the accession examples? Absolutely. Because if you find something you want to do, you want to learn more. This was set up more as a open table introduction to different things. Which I think we agree it's more as a beginner thought pattern.
00:14:30
Speaker
someone who doesn't know a genre they're going for. Or if they've heard of it, they don't know anything about it. I would agree. It did seem like they were kind of, they kind of gave you that overview, like that high level view of what MoCap is and audio description and some of all these little bits and pieces. And I think for
00:14:54
Speaker
those who are more experienced, well, you know, Al, you're already like, yeah, that's not my thing. So there may have been a session or two that you're like, you know what? It's not my thing. For me, I have zero interest in doing medical narration. I have to do way too much studying about pronunciation. Even so, I'm comfortable doing it. And I get chosen a lot and I've done a lot of demos for a lot of pharmaceutical stuff.
00:15:23
Speaker
And you say all the time, all the time, all the time. But I mean, I've, I've, I've done that, but I don't like it. So I'm like, I don't need to sit there and like, I don't even know how to say half the drug names sometimes. Like I just, I don't, it's too much. Sure. So, you know, but they did have sessions on all these different types of things, just like you pointed out, but it did seem like it's a very, um,
00:15:51
Speaker
kind of elementary view. Yes. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. But things like the Pandora, the Pandora panel was I really enjoyed. And I think from that standpoint, I think because it's so high level overview and it's it's a little taste. Yeah, it's tailored to more beginner talent, I suppose, or people who are even not voiceover yet, but thinking about it.
00:16:16
Speaker
But it's also a little bit disappointing from that standpoint, right? Because you're paying several hundred dollars to go sit in a room and have people talk in front of you about things that you might go, oh, well, that's interesting. Maybe I'll look into that. But then there's no opportunity for you to go actually learn about that. Whereas some of the other conferences, like you mentioned earlier, have accessions or side programs where, yes, it costs extra, or in some cases, it doesn't cost extra.
00:16:43
Speaker
but there's a small group that breaks out and has very focused learning for several hours on a particular topic of interest.
Enhancing Conferences
00:16:53
Speaker
And even as a new person, or maybe even especially as a new person, I think there's incredible value there that that's voiceover is missing simply because they don't do it. And really there's no reason they couldn't, they just don't currently. You're right, you could definitely run two
00:17:13
Speaker
opportunities at the same time. While you're giving these 10,000 foot views, run your ex sessions or specialty sessions for smaller classes for in-depth training. Right. Yeah. And then go ahead and charge more for it if you need to. Sure. Right. Because people, it's been proven people will pay to do a workshop or get that FaceTime with these panelists. Absolutely.
00:17:38
Speaker
Well, I'll tell you some of the things, and we'll get to this later, but some of the things that I've done at Vio Atlanta and One Voice were absolutely worth the extra cost. Because how else am I going to get three hours of time with, you know, 10 other people in front of a casting director from Disney?
00:17:57
Speaker
Right. And not for nothing, they did have that at that's voiceover. They did have, but we don't know how they chose those folks. I think it was also, they submitted a demo in order to be selected, but it was only a few of them. Well, and again, it's like, and it wasn't exactly that. So there were the DreamWorks thing you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. I think they picked four may have been six. I don't remember, but it wasn't a small group workshop. Really. They were on stage.
00:18:24
Speaker
in front of everybody, which is an entirely different dynamic. That's a very different dynamic, yes. And that's not, a lot of people won't do well with that, right? Because a lot of people do voiceover because they're introverted. They don't want to be in front of a lot of people. You know the CBS audition spotlight? I did not want to be on the stage. I'm good not being selected. I said that over and over again because I didn't want to audition in front of all of my peers and
00:18:53
Speaker
an agent from a major agency and- It's stressful. I would not perform my best in that particular environment. It's different if I'm going into a room and it's just them, which you do in that first callback session. It's just them. A lot of people get very jumped up nerves just going in there for that. But out of 1,800 people, you made the top 40. Yes. Very nice.
00:19:23
Speaker
I don't want to kind of like sidestep that because I think that's absolutely an important thing. I didn't know that was in front of everybody like that. I thought they went into a little room. Oh, that's a totally different experience. You didn't know because it was happening during speed dating. At the end of our speed dating session, there were a couple of people that had to leave. And then we were talking outside the room while it was finishing. So it was over by the time we were done.
00:19:48
Speaker
with what we were doing. But yeah, so Al, what else do you have about that's voiceover? Or were you done? A lot of awards, Vanguard Award, Legacy Award, all worthy things. But at the same time, they still could have doubled up on activities. I think something was missing. I enjoyed it. I'll go back. It was my second live and I did the online during COVID. But
00:20:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's due for an upgrade. Yeah, I think it would benefit from something more opportunity. And what's really interesting is how a lot of these conferences, and this is not just one conference, the ones that are in person, way too close to airports for voice actors. Oh, God. Yeah, they're all like, they are all of them. So inaccessible. It's convenient for the conference.
00:20:44
Speaker
Getting two, yes, but if you've got to do any auditions whatsoever. Yes.
00:20:50
Speaker
If you bring your road gig, prepare. You're going to audition between planes. Yes. After you've turned off any air or heating units. That was the nice thing about Burbank is they don't have flights at night. I think it was after 10 p.m. There were no more flights. But you also... We were at the bar the whole time, though, so... Well, there's the bar. Wasn't aware. We had an amazing bartender, too. I like to say him point that out. That didn't close at 10.30?
00:21:18
Speaker
You can't call yourself a bar and then close it 1030 on a Friday and Saturday. It's like, wow. OK. And and because of the location, there wasn't another place to go nearby. Right. So again, too close to an airport.
Sovus Awards: Costs & Prestige
00:21:34
Speaker
Right. It was just not accessible. So right. Now, the other the other big thing about that particular conference, though, is the associated awards. Right.
00:21:47
Speaker
because Sovas has an award show and it is very glitzy. And it is very not inexpensive to submit or to attend. And once you win, also. Also not inexpensive if you want the statue. Are you getting the statue, Al? I am getting the statue. Are you? All right. Yeah, I am. This may be the only thing that I ever get recognized for.
00:22:13
Speaker
That's not true. I've recognized you before. We recognize you. Well, that's true. I recognize you right now. I mean, cha. Some guy thought I was Wolfman Jack. He didn't recognize me.
00:22:27
Speaker
But yeah, I am. I mean, yes, there is that added expense. To me, that was an experience. I love the regular experience. The whole thing was an experience. And I just we've talked about it on previous podcasts, where this is a business where you rarely find or rarely get that response you're looking for. Good job. Yes, this is what we didn't hire you, but this is what you're doing. This was a moment. And yeah, I'm going to I'm going to live in it a little bit.
00:22:58
Speaker
Absolutely, and you should. You should. Talk about glitzy. I don't know what was glitzier. That ballroom or your shoes? My disco ball shoes? They were amazing. What can I say? Quite good. I'm a clothes whore. What can I say? I still want to win one.
00:23:17
Speaker
And I mean, I think there is value in that it is the validation. I would definitely attend an awards gala again, should I have the opportunity be nominated again. Because that was fun. I mean, okay, even going into the ladies room at the Beverly Hilton, I was like, oh my God, Meryl Streep has probably like peed in this stall. There was something cool about that. Or like, you know.
00:23:47
Speaker
But it's the whole idea that just weeks after that event, the Golden Globes was going to be held there again. So I mean, there's this history and it's the glitz and the glamour, and that was absolutely awesome. You're going to pay to go, but I can also say the meal that was served,
00:24:05
Speaker
It was quite good. It was much better than I thought it would be. I thought it was going to be like the rubber chicken dinner. It was chicken, but it was really well done and not like well done, overly cooked kind of. It was done the way it should be because again, it's Beverly Hilton and considering how much each ticket was to attend, you know, and it was really, it was nice. It was really, really well done.
00:24:33
Speaker
So I enjoy going to events like that. And as far as paying for the trophy or that, my rationale, Hollywood Walk of Fame, that costs those people. They pay for that star. And they pay for the maintenance of it. That's not given. Yeah, it's $60,000 for the star and then like $20,000 a year or something. Yeah. Right.
00:24:54
Speaker
However, I would say based on the amount of entries they receive, once you find out you're nominated, how does that not play into the statuette that you receive? I don't know.
00:25:06
Speaker
Although I know that same thing with the Emmys, you can self-nominate for those as well. It's a whole thing, I get it. But I guess it's just when you configure the cost of the ticket to go, your nomination, you had to pay to submit. Submit, yep. And then you pay if you win. But I think, didn't you get a winner pin? I did, I did. I just opened a GoFundMe to pay for everything. There you go, perfect.
00:25:35
Speaker
I sent it out to my fan club and my mom, you sent $2. Hey, go mom. I'm good there. All right. All right. See, I would go to the awards again if I were nominated. Yes. I would not if I'm not, you know, not that I don't support everybody who is, but it's a lot of money and it's right before Christmas. So it's not the most convenient time of year.
00:26:00
Speaker
And it's awfully long. Telling you what, if we're in it next year, if we happen to get lucky enough to get in it next year and it happens to be in New York, I'm there, baby. Why would we get in for our podcast? For a podcast, what? I know, right? Well then, we better step up our game. We better raise the bar. Better raise that bar. So tell me about the awards with, is it one voice where you don't pay? Yeah.
00:26:28
Speaker
Yeah. How does that work? I mean, do they have a ceremony and all of that too? So you pay to go. Okay. But you don't pay to submit. You can submit, I think it's up to 12 things. Okay. Holy smoke. That's a lot. Yeah. And there's, I don't know, 30 categories maybe. Is there a podcast category? There might be. I don't remember. Hey, all right. I mean, I wasn't podcasting at the time, so I don't know. Look at you now, Will. Why? Look at me now. I could win all the things.
00:26:58
Speaker
Yeah, I forget what the ticket price was, but it was less than Sovas was. Okay, but it wasn't at the Beverly Hilton, just gonna say. No, it was at the hotel. And how many people were there? A couple hundred. It was full. They sold out. Okay. But yeah, you don't pay to submit. If you win, you don't pay for the trophy and you get it right then and there. It's a nice little, you know, I think it's glass. Ooh. A little carved thing. It's cool looking.
00:27:25
Speaker
Is it already printed out with the winner name or do you have to get that later? I think it's already ready to go. Okay. So somebody knows ahead of time. Somebody knows, but here's the other thing about it that's cool is they keep, unlike Sovast, where they announce all the judges online.
00:27:41
Speaker
You have no idea who the judges are. I mean, you could probably guess because I'm sure it's some of the same people every year, but they don't announce it. They keep it secret who the judges are until after. And the people judging are not told who anyone is either. So the material that they're judging is all anonymous.
00:27:59
Speaker
Oh, interesting. Okay. That's cool. You know, it's all as up and up as it can be. It's a blind taste test. And I'm given to understand that they actually lose money on that event every year because basically what you're paying for is the three-course dinner and, you know, they just need the cost of the awards and the room and stuff. Okay. So, yeah. Does VO Atlanta do awards or no? No.
00:28:26
Speaker
No, they don't. They're the ones that do the ex-sessions though, which are the... They do ex-sessions. Well, so, and okay, so One Voice also has, I don't remember what they call them, but they also have little side programs as well, and not all of them cost extra.
00:28:42
Speaker
So some do, but then they also opened up and they limit how many you can do. I think it's one, one of the free ones that you can do. But they open it up at a given time and day and you go sign up for the one you want. That wasn't strictly policed though. There were things where people were, whoever was teaching was like, yeah, come on in. Who cares?
00:29:04
Speaker
So nice. Okay. Okay. Kind of good, but not especially if you're an attendee and you need to be there. That's one thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so you had to have the lanyard to get into the space, right? You have to have at least bought a ticket to the conference, but the free, the free room, it was only a free one.
Value of Specialized Workshops
00:29:25
Speaker
I think that I, that I'm thinking of, but there was a free one where it was supposed to be limited to 12, but then there were a couple of people that came in and they were like, yeah, sure. Come on. Whatever. I don't care. So.
00:29:35
Speaker
But they had, I want to say probably about four or five different rooms of the main program that was happening all at the same time.
00:29:48
Speaker
So that's kind of one, so that's kind of a big difference too, instead of just one room that kind of changes out speakers every hour or whatever. This was several different rooms. Like you had to pick and choose, which is kind of nice because you could look at going, medical narration, I'm out, oh, audio books. Right, so you don't lose an hour.
00:30:09
Speaker
Right. Right. So there's something else going on that, you know, and then there's the downside, like, oh, I want to go to both of these things. But, you know, you want to go to two things at once. Obviously you can't, but there's video replay, which was included in the ticket. So that's cool. That's nice. And View Atlanta was the same way. So View Atlanta is kind of the same deal, but much larger. There's, I don't know how many rooms going on, what, 12?
00:30:33
Speaker
15? I don't know. All different programs. And the cool thing about them is there are several different tracks. So there's like an audio book track where there's programming on audio books the whole time. Okay. You Atlanta has a kids program. So two of the four days you can have your kid in the kids program and they'll learn how to do voiceover as a kid. And then they've got the X sessions, which, you know, they're 200 bucks a piece, I think.
00:31:03
Speaker
And again, it's a small group, like 12 people, and it'll be with like a casting director or a coach or whatever on a particular topic.
00:31:17
Speaker
So it's kind of like going to like a group coaching session or a workout. Yeah, it is a workshop on a particular topic that is actually useful. That is exactly the kind of stuff I was talking about. Like that's what I want out of conference. And see it, I would say that's more of an intermediary to professional level. Because if you think if, you know, people who are just dabbling to see like, right, do I like it? It's going to be a lot of extra money and a lot of extra time for something that if you don't even have a demo,
00:31:48
Speaker
Sure. In the extra sessions. Absolutely. But with the main ticket going to all the other stuff, there's something for everybody at all levels. That's nice. That is definitely something that Sovast could use to their benefit for more of a draw.
Business of VO Conferences
00:32:06
Speaker
Absolutely. Not that there weren't a lot of people there, but it's definitely something that would be enticing to more people.
00:32:13
Speaker
I think across the board, there's always room for improvement for all of them. I mean, one of the ones that I've attended almost religiously and I'm a little disappointed I'm not doing the Costa Rica vocation this year just because of time wise, I did Cancun last year. I was doing their online programs previously and I learned so much about the business as far as creating a spreadsheet.
00:32:39
Speaker
learning about, oh, do I want an LLC or do I want an S Corp or am I not ready for that yet? And then the sharing of documents in terms of like somebody already set up this really easy, a little bit like voice overview, which is maybe another podcast.
00:32:53
Speaker
in terms of like CRM and stuff like that. Yeah, absolutely. We can have her on. She would be happy to talk about it all day long. Oh, that would be wonderful. We should do that for sure. Because I think it's important to understand this is a business. And that is really a conference about the business aspect of voiceover. It's very interactive. A lot of times people go up there and say, please interrupt me.
00:33:16
Speaker
and they do, but the idea that it's more like we're here to teach and we're here for you to learn and for you to be networking not with just one another because there's so many events going on, but it's just really helpful. It just happened to be in Cancun, which is really nice because my family sat by the pool and enjoyed that while I was having breakfast with an amazing casting director.
00:33:42
Speaker
And something that's outside of voiceover, to be honest, you can sit there and talk about other things. There's so much in the way of basics that you don't even think about. You could pick up at one of these sidebar meetings or sidebar classes.
00:33:59
Speaker
the basic sending out emails, subject lines, just the little things that anyone in the business could always use a refresher on. Because either it's something you don't know how to do, or it's something that you've done so many times that it's wrong.
00:34:20
Speaker
Not getting you noticed. So many times. But can I honestly say for all of the conferences, I do feel like it's a safe space for all voice actors. I really feel like our community, no matter what level you're at, I really do feel like we lift each other up. I know that sounds really cheesy, but it's true. I've met folks like yourself as well as other people at the conference that I just really, there's a lot of times I'm getting
00:34:49
Speaker
casting notifications, not me. I'll send it to somebody else who I know that that's their thing. That is invaluable. That experience, I have to say, has been my personal experience with meeting folks at the conferences no matter what the venue. So that's really helpful. But again, there's always room for improvement for all of them.
00:35:13
Speaker
With everything else, I think that we'll talk about on this podcast, it's a lot about finding what's right for you, finding what's right for where you are in your journey because it's so different for all of us. And yeah, I mean, find out how other people have, you know, what did they get from going to a previous conference?
00:35:31
Speaker
Like just the way you talk about One Voice, Will, it's like Envio Atlanta. I'd like to go. I wish I had more time because this coming year, I'm only doing one conference and possibly an award ceremony if that happens later in the year. But the conference, it's not exactly a conference.
00:35:49
Speaker
Um, it's more of a very small group. Yeah. So I'm doing that one too. Yeah, I know. It's crazy. It was, it was really one of those. Hmm. But again, it depends on where you are in the journey,
Choosing the Right Conference
00:36:03
Speaker
right? I feel like that's where we are and where we need to go with our journey is this really small group, really like hyper focused.
00:36:15
Speaker
on not just the business end of it, but also that networking opportunity and really figuring out like, what can we do to really take it to the next level? What refinements do we need to do and either the auditioning process or how to reach out to certain
00:36:32
Speaker
agents, casting directors, things like that, industry folks. How do we raise the bar? How do we raise the bar? That is definitely not for the faint of heart. You don't want to say, gee, I want to, you know, my people at church say I have a good voice. I think I'll drop
00:36:48
Speaker
X amount of dollars and do this. You paid for my booth. You have to be at a point where you're ready to raise your VO bar. Or crazy. Or that. A combination of both. I think it's, you know, that particular opportunity is one that I didn't want to pass up and I felt like, you know what, if I'm going to do it, now's the time.
00:37:16
Speaker
And I will probably, if I'm honest, it's probably the only time I will do something like that, only because of where I am in the journey. I don't, I would like to, at some point, be invited to, as a speaker at some of these conferences, versus always being the attendee. I'd like to be the speaker, so.
00:37:41
Speaker
Maybe we can do a podcast there. Yes. See a live podcast of what's happening. Yes. Take questions from the audience. We can absolutely do a podcast from, say, VO Atlanta or One Voice, but, you know, you two would have to come. So there's that. I would like to say that I think it ain't gonna be this year. That I know for sure it cannot be this year.
00:38:05
Speaker
But that's okay because our podcast has so many interesting topics that hopefully next year it'll be raising that bar. It's got legs. Listen to you. I know. My beverages are empty over here. I need a staycation, a Havana staycation.
00:38:26
Speaker
It is time for last call. Ooh, go for it, Al. When you get the opportunity, grab any information you can. Enjoy the moment. Nice.
00:38:36
Speaker
I would say if you're only going to go to one conference, VO Atlanta is probably the one because there's so many different things happening there and so many different people that you have the opportunity to meet because it's so much larger than all the others. That's not for everybody. Smaller is better for some people, in which case I hear great things about Mavo. I've never been, so I can't comment firsthand. But if you're, I would say if you're only going to do one, VO Atlanta is the one.
00:39:03
Speaker
I thought it was Mavo, but you know, that's my European-ness speaking. Mavo, darling. For our last call, I would say that I think you need to find out what's right for you. Just a little bit of what you've both said. So check them out, see what they offer. But you know, if one of them happens to be closer, do that.
00:39:25
Speaker
Or if it's online, just to get an idea, try that. Make sure you don't ruin your budget and don't go to all of them. Just try to fit in what works for you. But definitely take advantage of the networking opportunities, even if it's just with other voice actors, because there's a lot to be said about that. Absolutely. Yeah. Cool. Thanks. We'll see you next time.