Project Details: Refer to Description & Script

I was talking to a talent in Live Chat this week, and was >asked the question, "How do you know what jobs are best to be selective with?". What I told this talent should be shared with everyone. I firmly believe from the script and project description alone, you are able to see the education, and experience level of your potential employer, if you read 'between the lines'. Taking a look back, one of the things I once did when I started at Voice123 was making projects look comprehensive. This was a mistake. I found out all I was doing was imposing my experience, and education on the project, but not that of the actual voice seeker.

Think of it this way, 'The way we write says a great deal about what we know and how we think, professionally.' If you see something written in a project description, and/or a script, that raises an eyebrow, chances are you just may know more than you think about the seeker behind the job posting. I have found that incorrect selected project parameters do not show seeker inexperience. It may very well be human error while using the Voice123 project posting form, which leads many times to projects being replaced.

I recommend to try this the next time you read the project details. Refer to the script provided, and the project description. Ask yourself these questions:

• Does this project description appear professionally written, and thorough?
• Can I professionally identify with the way he/she writes, and the references used?
• Is the script poorly spelled, as well as, the project description?
• Did the seeker write in capital letters, or use negative descriptions to get his/her point across?
• How many people is this person directly inviting vs. How many have they requested using SmartCast, and how many projects have they posted?
  

Here is why I tell you those questions are important:

• A project description not well-written, or thorough, may indicate someone is using the system for the first time, they are rushing, or they may not know what they want. The longer you work in this industry, the easier it is to know what to say to get what you need.
  
• The way a person writes, and the formal tones he/she uses, lets you know where a person may be from. Reading a description that triggers the inner voice, 'I know where this guy is coming from', is a good sign.
• A person who writes in a negative tone to get what he/she wants is actually displaying experience of some sort. This is a good thing because the person is telling you, 'I have heard auditions before, and I need something else.' There is a backdoor to opportunity in cases like this, BUT it does tell you that the seeker may have less patience than others.
• If a person requests SmartCast, and directly invites an equal amount of people, and has never posted a project before, you may be dealing with a 'talent search' more than a direct opportunity.
  

A final word about 'budgets', as I know that is a concern for everyone:

• The Internet online casting world is young. Working online involves a great deal of trust in someone or something you cannot see. This is why online companies do 'trial services'. I say this because, if you see that a script is professional, and so is the description, you may be dealing with a person who can turn into a long-time client, and that very budget you see is more of a 'guess-timate'. Once they get to know you, the job could turn into something much bigger. As well, working online internationally means dealing sometimes with what a buyer can afford in his/her country.
  

The key to all of this:

• When in doubt, refer back to the way the person writes a description and script.
  

Above all, I would like to close by saying, 'No rule is absolute.'

• For example, viral videos and social networking have become huge opportunities for exposure, compared to when I started when jobs posted for videos going straight to YouTube, usually meant it was a college student experimenting.Times change and there is an exception to every rule, but the exceptions are not the rules.
  

The more you know, the better you can make educated decisions that work most of the time. If you would like to ask me more about this topic, post a thread about it on Voice123 Premium Forums.

Thank you always!



Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog

Voice123 News: Demo Tagging Update

In recent weeks, Voice123 has received a few inquiries about the 'demo tagging' experiment, started last June 2008. We would like to share with you some updates:

• The demo tagging experiment is still going. We have the actual data from the demo tags, and we thank those who have been participating. If you have not done so, tagging demos is still possible. You can read how that works in a previous posting.
• This actual data will be used in the upcoming brand new search feature, which we are planning to release very soon. At that time, you will have the option to remove tags you dislike.
• Also, by tagging other talents' demos, you are eligible to win one of five free one-year Premium Subscriptions! We will officially announce the winners in April.
  

On a different topic, a couple of weeks ago Voice123 posted a forum thread about War Stories from one's first year in the business. Please take a look and add your own! We hope you enjoy, and maybe post some other topics of your own.

Thank you always!


Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog

Tips! Using the Voice123 Ranking System

Recently, I had posted a couple of projects for a producer in Los Angeles. She used the Voice123 ranking system, as the client. I believe sharing with you how I instructed her how to use it efficiently will better help those who post work on Voice123.

After you post a project on Voice123, and check your audition inbox. A screen comes up in front of you mentioning a 'ranking system'. Next to each audition, you see the following choices:

• Likely Hiring
• Considering
• Maybe
• Not likely
• Won't be considered at all

Here is an example of how I see it can be most effectively used:

4 Stars, Likely Hiring: Use this only if you talents in final consideration for your project, most likely after you have spoken with the client, and they have made their decisions.

3 Stars, Considering: Use this one to indicate those who you are seriously considering to be hired. Now, if you do not use them, there is no need to change to a lower ranking, simply because not everyone you want to hire is available, so you want to keep fresh in your mind, what your favorite auditions were.

2 Stars, Maybe: This one can be used when there is something you like about the audition, and want to still consider it, but it was not exactly what you were thinking of at the time. Sometimes, a talent will do something creative that makes a client think in the other direction.

1 Star, Not Likely: If the audition is completely off the mark for what you were expecting, and/or the submission led you to believe this person is not up for the job at all.

0 Stars, Won't Be Considered: Unfortunately, this happens. This is a good to use when there are submissions that offer no consideration whatsoever, due to the recording quality, and copy reading. If you enjoyed the copy reading and recording quality, but the client said, 'No thanks.', but you felt you want to hold onto the voice, do not use this ranking.

Important note: The rankings can be changed at anytime, so if you hire someone for a project using SmartCast, and you have not ranked them yet, it is helpful for the Voice123 talent community to use 'Likely Hiring'. If you need help using the ranking system, you can always contact us at customer service for assistance and we would be glad to help you! Finally, the ranking system is not used for private projects, in which you as a voice seeker, chose to invite talents directly from the search feature.

The ranking system is also very helpful when using the shared inbox because you can send auditions to a client in the order by which you have ranked them, as the person posting the job, or even doing the hiring. Try this for yourself, and see how easy it is, and find some great talent in the process.

Thank you again for using Voice123!


Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog

Susan G. Komen 'Race For The Cure 2009'

This information has been generously provided by Voice123 Talent, and American Women in Radio & TV Team Member , Rita Pardue, regarding a very serious topic that has affected almost everyone.

Voice123 is proud to assist in anyway possible, especially myself, the son of a breast cancer survivor.

"My mom is a survivor in the truest sense. Recently the Midwest was hard hit by the worst ice storm in many years. It wiped out power grids in portions of Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The Arkansas governor declared a state of emergency. My mom lives in a small town called Bull Shoals, Arkansas. She and her neighbors were without power for at least 10 days. My mom was taken by neighbors to a local shelter. During her stay at the shelter, there was a flu epidemic and the facility was quarantined. As Mom stood up to reach for her medication, she fell and hit her head. Quick-thinking shelter mates, called an ambulance to take her to the hospital. Recovering from her fall and dehydration, my two able brothers set out in their cars from Florida and California respectively. The hurricane-experienced brother from Florida came packing emergency supplies and food. The California brother brought backbone and moral support. My role—my hurricane-experienced brother stated that in an emergency, a person should only enter a disaster area in a self-sufficient manner, not a liability. I stayed behind wanting to help in some way.

As a media person, my way to help is by telling the story. I am grateful to my brothers for rallying to meet the need of helping our mother. I am grateful to the shelter volunteers, hospital staff and hard-working power crews who restored electricity to the area. Mom is back home and re-thinking her future plans to continue living in a beautiful, but isolated area.

In her honor, I am running in the up-coming Susan G. Komen 'Race for the Cure 2009', on March 15th, 2009. Please join in my support to honor, my mom, a breast cancer survivor who continues to survive no matter what life tosses her way."

If you wish, please go to this link to donate today! You can also find this posting on the Voice123 Premium Forums!

Thank you for reading!

Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog

Voice123 & Source Elements Announce Exclusive Offer!

Voice123 has partnered with the creators of Source Connect to offer Voice123 Premium Subscribers a great recording tool at a discounted price!

Voice123 and Source Elements has worked out a deal to offer an exclusive opportunity for Voice123 Premium Subscribers. To learn more about joining the Group Buy of Source-Connect, please contact Voice123's Customer Support.

Source-Connect is the most affordable and widely used IP codec on the market today. As a stand-alone application or as a plug-in for your favorite DAW, Source-Connect is used daily by professionals like Joe Cipriano. Source-Connect makes it easy to do real-time remote voice sessions with your clients. With broadcast quality audio and the ability to bridge to ISDN via EdNet, Digifon and many other bridge providers, Source-Connect will open your market up and allow greater flexibility for your sessions and clients.

Save as much as $200 on Source-Connect by joining this group buy. Spread the word! The more Premium Subscribers that join in, the closer we all are to the possible savings of $200. This group buy is limited to 200 members only and only available until the end of March. One purchase per member. Source-Connect is regularly priced at $395.

If you are not Premium Subscriber yet and want to learn about this and all the benefits of becoming Premium, take a look at this link.

We hope you can take advantage of this offer!

Cheers!

Juan Salcedo
General Manager

New Voice123 Customer Service Hours!

Voice123 is happy to announce that beginning March 2, 2009, we will be extending the live chat and customer service shift two more hours for voice over talents, to assist those affected by a delay in response due to their timezone. Our new hours of customer service for talents will now be from 9am to 8pm EST, Monday to Friday. We sincerely look forward to being here to serve you.

Now, comes the experiment to get more jobs posted on Voice123...

For the month of March, I will be working in the voice seekers department for approving projects and auditions, from the hours of 12am to 9am, Monday to Friday. We simply want and need more jobs posted globally on Voice123, and we know in the past many possible clients have dealt with a timezone delay, which led us to not being able to approve projects as quickly as needed.

I do wish to state that we are doing this for the month of March 2009, for now. However, if this proves to be successful on an international level, we will do our best to increase the hours, so that there will always be work available on Voice123, no matter where you are or what timezone you live in.

I personally invite anyone in Australia, Europe, and Asia, to begin posting jobs for voice talents during the month of March. We will be there for you, and we hope you will enjoy using Voice123. This is all a step in the right direction towards providing the best service to everyone on Voice123.

Thank you always!


Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog

First Year 'War Stories' in Voice Overs

The first year of being a voice over talent is a memorable one for everyone, be it now, or many years ago. There are always those little 'things' that happen that leave you feeling at the time, 'Wow! I will never do that again.' Through our email campaign last week for 'What Would You Like to Know', a talent had requested, that she wished to know what others went through in their first year.

We posted the question on the Voice123 Premium Forums, and we wish to share a couple of stories from successful talents on Voice123, still in their voice over careers today, despite some unfortunate first-year mishaps; proof one should never quit! We hope you enjoy, and you can read the stories or post your own!

Special thanks this week to Michelle Falzon and John M. Thomas for their generous contributions of their stories:

"I was working my first day alone, on the air. I was scared to death. I was making my top of the hour announcements, short little show intros, thinking "Yeah, I got this radio stuff down perfect!" About 3 hours into my shift, the operations manager calls. I answer. He says only four words..."TURN THE MIC AROUND!". I had been talking into the WRONG end side of the microphone for three hours. Ooops." - Michelle Falzon

"...the station caught fire while I was on the air... with the firemen at the door screaming for me to get out... I dug out The Doors "Light My Fire" cued it up and beat it out of there... it was the last thing heard as the station burned to the ground!" - John M. Thomas

Thank you for reading!


Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog

Choosing Voice123 Talents Can Be Hard!

It is said that, 'Being negative is much easier than being positive, because positive beliefs require great efforts to maintain.' I witnessed this first-hand last week when I posted a project looking for voice overs for our upcoming SmartSearch feature. It left me feeling positive that Voice123 talents know what they are doing. One of the obvious difficulties I had is that I know many of you, and I started to understand immediately that this would be difficult because no one likes to tell someone they respect, 'Not this time'.

So, to be fair, I closed my eyes and just listened, not looking at names. This made it even harder because now, after posting a project in which I stated what I wanted, I was hearing things that made me think that maybe voice talents knew what would sound better, even more than what I had originally thought would work.

That simple fact alone... told me that we have an amazingly competitive batch of talents on Voice123. I subscribe to the belief that 'you can only sell what you know how to sell best', and that 'the best salesperson convinces the buyer that they are insane for not wanting to buy from him/her', by being dedicated and committed through a passion to what they believe in. Yet, that belief can only be enforced after one learns exactly 'what works' and 'what does not work'. Each person, having his or her own product to sell, be it 'voice' or something else, has to find that 'zone'.

I listened to 163 auditions, and all the best one's I felt that were 'in the zone' had the following attractive attributes to them:

• They read the copy as I had requested with real and conversational tones.

• The reading gave me a bit of themselves 'in the moment of the reading', not an impersonation of someone in the moment.

• Honestly, the sound quality on ALL OF THE AUDITIONS was excellent, whether it was a dry read or not. I did say that I was fine with people adding music because I would need a producer.

• When I expressed interest, those talents did not 'leave me hanging', and got back to me immediately.

• The remarks were very friendly. Granted, this may be my preference, but I prefer 'friendly' in an anonymous environment. I always hold the door open for people, as I believe positive action enforces positive behavior and sets a standard for others to follow.
  

All in all, it was not easy, because I knew I would be telling people I know could do the job in a flash, that I could not use them this time, and it seemed to come straight down to a business decision as to 'how the project would play out'.

I did, however, and from a talent's point of view this is important to know, get a collection of talents that I hope to use again for other projects, like this one, and their efforts were surely not wasted on me. In fact, you should never feel that doing your best is a waste of time. People notice it, even if they don't say anything, and they are quicker to pass around your name because of your dedication to quality.

I will let you know who was selected very soon. I think I surprised myself with how this worked out. As for those who submitted, and were not chosen, THANK YOU! I will surely hold onto you for the future!

Post Projects! Enjoy Voice123 Technology!

Last week, I posted a project on Voice123 to find voices for a new search feature that we currently have in development. The project received a great response! I tell you this because there is so much behind Voice123 technology, that knowing 'how to post a project', and 'what to do after', can make finding a voice over talent-producer, quick and easy.

First, check out my posting, where I specifically needed a broad range of talents. Your needs may indeed be very different, but you will see how important the project description, script, and parameters are to getting a response: New Search Feature Project.

Second, once you begin listening to auditions, you will have the opportunity to 'rank' people, which can take place even after you have hired someone, as well. It is helpful to leave a ranking for talents, especially if you have hired them.

Third, I have heard job posters say they want the client to listen to the auditions, unbiased by budget quotes, names, company logos from Voice123, etc. That can be done! Look at this shared inbox link, which has been set up to only show talents names and demos!

Fourth, posting a project is very easy! Give it a try once more, if you have not had the chance to try any of our new technology the last time you had posted a project.

Finally, the Voice123 staff is here to help you! Come by live chat, call, or write us, and we will gladly assist you!

Thanks for your time! We hope this helps you with your next project!


Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog

Voice123 News: Inauguration & Forums

In the spirit of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration in the US, we share with you one more time the forum thread from The Political Impersonation Contest, held on Voice123 last fall. Over the next four years, we hope that all of them find work using their creative impersonations and styles.

On the subject, this week, the founders of Voice123 and myself made a somewhat last minute, late night decision to drive from New York City down to Washington D.C., which we posted about here. We hope you can take a look. It was amazing to be there.

Voice123 is always looking for ideas to write about, so that we may assist those who wish to post jobs for voice talents, and help voice talents develop their voice over careers. If you are posting a job, a coach helping out your students, and/or a voice talent, with something you wish to contribute that will be a positive influence on the voice industry, please post a thread about it and tell us!

Thank you always!


Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog