Interview with Ashley Davidson, social media manager from Voices.com on the upcoming Voice World conference to be held in Toronto, Canada on May 4th.
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Constantino:
Well, it is a countdown for Voice World, the voice acting conference to be held early May in Toronto, Canada. What is the response, so far, of voice talents around the world? Do you expect many visitors?
Ashley:
Yes, we are very, very excited about this. This is actually our first conference that we are hosting. It is called Voice World Toronto and it is the voice over industry’s premier conference. It is being held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is on Saturday, May 4th, 2013. We are having a lot of positive feedback in regards to the conference. Anytime that you can basically get out of the studio or in your home recording studio and. You just voice over friends. It is just a great opportunity for people to get out of the studio to mix and mingle with like-minded talent. Then meet industry experts and coaches. You can learn some new tricks to the VO trade and to learn from the pros and the top coaches that are in the industry right now. We are getting a lot of wonderful feedback and a lot of people will be coming from all sorts of different locations. Because it is in Toronto we thought that we primarily target the Ontario demographic but we are actually very surprised at how many people are coming from North America. We have people coming from Europe, from South America and from Australia too. There are no boundaries when it comes to voice over conferences.
Constantino:
In our blog we wrote that Toronto is a chance to meet face-to-face voice over royalty. What can we expect from their presence, these very famous voice talents?
Ashley:
Well, Our keynote is Pat Fraley and he is a man of 4,000 voices. He is actually based in Los Angeles and He is one of North America’s top voice-over coaches. We have Ellen-Ray Hennessy. She is an award winning director, actress and producer and also a voice talent herself. She will be teaming up with Deb Munro and she is an international voice talent and coach that’s actually based in Vancouver. We have David Ciccarelli which is the co-founder and CEO of Voices.com that’s going to be speaking. We have the owner of Edge Studio which is based in New York City – David Goldberg. We do have our break-out sessions going on which is an opportunity for the voice talents to kind of pick and choose what sessions they would like to attend based on their level of experience and based on their interests in voice overs. We have Sunday Muse which is an author of voice talent and coach in Toronto. Dave McRae, he is known as the Voice Man. He is located in Toronto. Wayne Young, audio producer and then Dan Lenard, the home studio master. We also have Stephanie Ciccarelli which is the co-founder of voices.com and also the author of Voice Acting for Dummies Book.
Constantino:
Well, this is an English-speaking only kind of event. Do you have other languages, French, being the language of Canada or Spanish, the other main language in the Americas? Do you also have talents present from those languages or other European languages?
Ashley:
I do know that there are some French and Spanish-speaking talents that are going to be attending the conference. The speakers are all English, coaches or talents themselves. But I always say that you can definitely learn the same principles from the speakers and actually translate that to whatever type of voice overs you are doing whether it is French voice overs or Spanish voice overs or character animation or radio commercials. I find that the backbone between voice overs is still consistent and it is still the same for learning how to run your business. And then it is basically up to you to decide how you want to translate that information to the type of voice overs that you do because I am sure you know there are so many types of voice overs that are out there and we cannot just cater to one type because we would miss that opportunity to have everyone attend and have everyone learn from the same principles.
Constantino:
Absolutely. Most of these talents are top notch, well-paid artists, how can they be useful for the average voice talent that struggles to get hired after an audition?
Ashley:
Right. Well that seems like a common tale. And basically the theme of the conference we wanted to create for Voice World is: A World of Opportunities. That is the theme of the conference and there is really few things in life that bring more satisfaction and joy than taking part in the creation of your own business.So with the theme, the speakers are kind of touching on the topics of how to create your own opportunities and how to succeed in business with kind of that entrepreneurial spirit at the heart of the conference. Voice World guest are going to give industry resources, cutting edge tools, proven strategies that will help you as a voice talent open doors that you may only really have dreamed of. With each speaker, we’re going to be keeping them in line with the theme which is to create a world of opportunities for yourself as a business but also for you as a voice over talent.
Constantino:
And then working either in events like Voice World in Toronto or using social media is key for voice talents to become known. However, I have the impression that networking happens within a close community of voice talents, talents talking to talents but not necessarily networking with those who bring the jobs, the voice seekers, the clients, why is that?
Ashley:
Well, I just find that the voice talent community is such a heart-warming and welcoming and accepting community that really I have never seen out there aspect of the entertainment industry. I think there is something slightly different with voice talent and it is the fact that you are really not in a face-to-face manner with most of your clients. You are mostly kind of tucked away in either in your basement or home recording studio or closet doing jobs for clients that you may never have the chance to meet. There is something to be said with helping each other because, really, when you get into this, You are kind of blind when get into voiceovers. You do not know how to start; you do not know where to start. I find that the community is really helping each other because I always really feel that you are not in direct competition with anybody because you are your own, you are your own voice, and nobody else sounds like you. The community has always been such a wonderful resource for people that are looking to get started. There is something to be said when you actually get to meet some of your voice over friends because if a client comes to a voice talent and they say I need this voice and you cannot produce that for them, well there is always the gift of referrals. That is where the networking comes into play. I have seen this time and time again where a friend will refer another voice talent friend because they know they got the perfect voice for the job that client is looking for. So the word of mouth referral definitely comes into play with the voice talent community.
Constantino:
From the perspective of voice talents, what advice you would give to optimize to improve their chances of landing jobs?
Ashley:
The thing that impresses clients the most is the speed. If you can audition to jobs as soon as they come in then you will have the opportunity to be heard first. There is also the opportunity to maximize your profile with SEO by adding lots of descriptive keywords. The online demos are very different from how you originally have a demo. The traditional means of having a demo has seven or six spots on it and it is kind of a collection of all you can do. But to the online world, we recommend splitting up all those demos and creating a separate demo for each one of those spots that is shorter in length and is more narrowed down to the category and niche of the type of voice over that you are doing. So instead of creating a demo that has a radio, a narration, a character all in one demo, create a demo of all your characters, create a demo that is all for radios, create a demo that is all for your narration because that is the way that you optimize the search engine. Unfortunately audio is not searchable online, text is. So you can have a great sounding demo but if you do not have a text behind to support the audio, then it would not be found online. So using keywords is really helpful to be found by those particular clients. You want to make sure you have a great head shot. It is what the client will see that is aside your profiles. You want that is very appealing and professional looking and just catches the attention of the client.
Constantino:
Very useful tips from Ashley Davidson, social media manager form voices.com. Thanks very much for this interview.
ABOUT VOICEOVER WORLD:
VoiceWorld, the industry’s premier conference, being held in Toronto in 2013, is an immersive experience focused on engaging voice actors from across Canada and the United States. Connect with amazing, influential people who can change your life through courses in artistic development, business and technology preparing you for success in the exciting world of voice acting. A breath of fresh air, VoiceWorld sets out to invigorate and intensify your love for the art of voice acting as never before with an action plan for you to take your business to the next level.
The goal of the conference – to inspire those who are just getting started and renew the passion of seasoned professionals. A breath of fresh air, VoiceWorld sets out to invigorate and intensify your love for the art of voice acting as never before with an action plan for you to take your business to the next level. Prepare to be educated, equipped and empowered!
VoiceWorld Toronto Speakers
• Pat Fraley – Man of Four Thousand Voices, CESD
• Elley-Ray Hennessy – Award-winning actress
• Deb Munro – International Voice-over Talent and Coach
• David Ciccarelli – Co-Founder and CEO of Voices.com
• David Goldberg – Owner of Edge Studio
• Dan Lenard – The Home Studio Master
• Sunday Muse – Voice-over Artist, Author and Coach
• Dave McRae – The Voice Mann
• Stephanie Ciccarelli – Author of Voice Acting for Dummies
• Wayne Young – Audio Producer and Mixing Enginee
10 Reasons To Attend VoiceWorld Toronto:
http://www.voiceworldtoronto.
Tickets are limited. Purchase your full conference pass by visiting, http://voiceworldtoronto2013.