Voice 2007 in Vegas?

Debbie Munro · **Voice Talent** Joined: 02 Sep 2003 Posts: 12

Okay, I have to say that I LOVE this blog stuff, but man I wish I had the time to join you guys everyday...this could get addicting

Can't wait to meet you all

All my best
Deb Munro

Diane Maggipinto · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 25

I've returned from Vegas and you're right: I learned nothing.

Actually, it was one of the best experiences of my life, and the conference sessions weren't bad either. Laughing

Getting together with like-minded folks who toil as I do has done wonders for my soul and allowed me to get moving forward! I certainly can be a skeptic, but when it comes to training and coaching for a craft, I hope I can make good decisions as to where I spend my money. This was a good place to drop some coin. And I won $50 at the slots. Woot.

Amy Snively · **Voice Talent** Joined: 04 Jul 2005 Posts: 1028

I'm so glad I went! I have never felt more fired up about my VO business! I have returned with increased focus and solid plans on how to take my career to the next level.

And I met some of the coolest people I have ever met in my entire life (and I know some very, very cool people!). It was so hard to say good bye! It may well have been the most fun week of my life so far!

Big love to all my new buddies, especially to the most awesome roommate ever-- Diane! Promise me we'll room together next year, too!

Diane Maggipinto · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 25

Honestly, Amy, I rarely make promises, but on this one, you GOT IT!

We'll have to figure out a plan to get more sleep, though, eh? And all a y'alls can make of that what you will. BFD.

Wink

Lynne Alston · **Voice Talent** Joined: 20 Oct 2006 Posts: 743

Wow, what an experience, so much information and not enough brain to store it all! I definitely came away with useful applicable tips and ideas to move forward in this profession, not forgetting on the spot direction from Rodney Saulsberry. The company was exhilarating, thanks for the fun times my friends, look forward to seeing you all next year.

Tom Greenlee · **Voice Talent** Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 945

it would have helped if I read this topic first before starting another topic in General chat. But Lynne, Amy, Diane, Mel and on and on....finer women you'll never meet! Awesome!

Debbie Munro · **Voice Talent** Joined: 02 Sep 2003 Posts: 12

In case you missed it, I posted this in another area
I see everyone is excited to hear about Vegas...so I am honored to be one of the first to let you know a ton of details. I'm sure that James Alburger/Penny Abshire/Frank Fredrick will have their own postings soon, but we hope they are resting from the full past three months they've had.

First off we opened with the most amazing talents of Rodney Saulsberry www.rodneysaulsberry.com as he gave away wonderful Lush-cious (those that attended will get that one) advice to boost our trailer/promo career. He was amazing...we then were fortunate enough to hear from Frank Fredrick regarding LOVE NOTES. He caused tons of chatter and involvement and each table Branded themselves and truly understood what branding was all about...finding your identity and making it easy to know what you do...he has so much more to teach us and we are forever greatful that he got together with James Alburger and Penny Abshire www.voiceacting.com to host this most amazing event....

We were honored to be taught about self evaluation through the amazing talents of Connie Terwilliger www.voiceover-talent.com. This is something every one of you would have found useful. Finding the realism of where you are at and what your next steps need to be...then it was topped off with presentations from Voice 123, voices-com, AFTRA was even there and that was truly amazing...., gifts and door prizes a plenty, a tribute to the great Lennie Wienrib . Many don't know who he is, but his amazing daughter Linda is also in the industry as are her two children...3 generations of voice talent...check him out online, he did more than you realize and was a great talent. Passed away 2006, and Voice International put on an amazing tribute. We were more than informed about the world wide web through voice talent and computer wizard (websites and more) Chris Wagner www.chriswagner.tv, this was an extremely valuable session for many and got everyone talking, then the great MJ LALLO, voice/casting/director and has the most amazing characters, she taught us about animation, www.creatingvoices.com (the original creating Voices owner...I have creatingvoices.ca and will soon be changing that), we were more than entertained and educated by DB Cooper, www.vo-bb.com (you should all be members of this amazing message board) She guided us through amazing visuals and excercises into the world of Video Game Voicing, then who could forget the amazing presence of Bettye Zoller as she took us through Audio Books. She has a very unique approach that is very witty and really got through to a lot of people, The second evening was capped off with the GREAT PAT FRALEY...he shared some of his unique tricks in his new book/cd 56 Tricks Smuggled out of Hollywood (a must for all) Voice generously gave us all a pair of his signature shades and he was greated with honors...truly amazing...and we were so lucky to have him. His wife Renee was very sick and in hospital but the energy in that room brought her home...she's now home safe and sound and we thank Pat for making such a sacrifice to be there for us as well. Truly generous people in this industry.

The MOM and DAD of voice over and the biggest tie between all of us voicers coming together James Alburger and Penny Abshire took us through the skills in character development and the psychology behind reading your scripts (or in fact NOT reading them) 3 hours with the top two insructors...they gave solid information that everyone could apply...offering us tons of information and products to jump start our career, not to mention getting together with Frank Fredrick to create history...the next one will be more than amazing and you'll be lucky to attend as I'm more than sure it will sell out. Gregory Best www.gregorybest.com taught us extremely valuable and needed information regarding negotiation, so as you can see the line up covered many perspectives of the industry and was more than worth your money. The book alone that we took home was overwhelming with top notch scripts, tips, strategies, contacts, connections and more. Of course who could forget the FUNNIEST SHOW ON THE PLANET for voicers, the talented and generous Bob Bergen (voice of Porky Pig and Tweety) It was a full audience and one of the best he's ever had. He had us all in stiches and he was REALLY sick and probably shouldn't have performed, yet he did anyway for all of us. True dedication. www.bobbergen.com His show will be live for you to see as well in LA so go to his site for info so you don't miss out on this amazing and educational show. If you're a voicer and in the area, I recommend it highly. To top the event off (as if that wasn't all enough) AFTRA donated the most amazing talents of Don Lafontaine. He came to our event and entertained and awed us. We are all in shock to have actually met the man that created THE TRAILER...THE GOD of voice....he also brought his agent Vanessa Williams who gave us insight into the LA market. WOW. That was just overwhelming to have had this opportunity and we're so thankful to Don, Aftra and Vanessa for bringing this to this tremendous event.

We topped it off with a vendor section that offered amazing products including all the presenters and their many books and materials, workshops etc. Voice 123 (the most amazing team, what a treat to meet each of them...they were an extremely strong presence), voices-com and even though these are competitors, these two teams were greatful to meet each other and very supportive....voices-com did an amazing job making a name and giving Canada a voice....they offered IPOD shuffles to several of the participants (there were TONS of door prizes, including the grand prize over 10,000 value, LIFETIME coaching with the great Bob Bergen (what a guy), Vox Tools, a terrific new program aimed at making us full time voice talent able to focus on voice, while they do all the book keeping, tracking and invoicing through their monthly service www.voxtools.com, one of the highlight vendors, AFTRA, 101 ways to....(an amazing lady by the name of Raleigh Pinsky - author of several amazing books including 101 ways to promote yourself and more www.promoteyourself.com. Then of course yours truly, representing the Canadian side (but I don't teach Canadian, I'm just based there) Debbie Munro - one of the top VO coaches in North America (at least that's what they tell me). I was there as a vendor and panel guest for our Sat. Q & A section. I was able to promote the CD-Rom Workshop MIC & ME (Making Interesting Choices) a fabulous way to learn the craft and see if you really want it or to enhance skills you already posess from the comfort of home. As well MIC & ME Voice Biz Handbook.

So as you can hear this was an amazing event. The panel guest even better with an agent from Las Vegas willing to hear our demos, an amazing talent from Britian, Michael Rhys www.michaelrhys.com, an amazing rep for AFTRA, James and Penny, Frank, Connie, Bob, gregory best, Micael, myself and I forgot to mention our amazing MC from Vegas Dave Courvoisier www.courvo.com and so much more.

The most dedicated and hard working staff, many of which were voice talent themselves such as Judy Steidi, C.W. Powers, Denise Chamberlain, Bobbin Beam, Tom Greenlee, Martha Kahn, Barbara Kilbourn, Ven Kilbourn, Merlen Merlyn, Barry Trussle, Steve Miner, Robert Santos, Carlos Spann and Erik Ho...WOW, you guys were just amazing what you helped put together. We thank all of you who put together on this as this was more than ANYONE expected.

Then of course the overwhelmingly funny, creative, talented, fun, energetic and insane group of voice talent....many cried as they left, as I think we all created a very strong bond and group that allowed us to be ourselves without insecurity. Where we didn't have to hold back (like we do at home as we overwhelm our family with our crazy and wacky personalities (multiples of them for some of us) I couldn't believe the first night...everyone was out mingling, no one was shy and many friendships, connections, bonds and more came out of this tremendous event.

If that isn't enough, I can tell you that we are on the verge of something REALLY HUGE that will erupt in the voice over Community. In my opinion, if you don't get on board now, you won't be one of the Veterans...once more gets out about this the competition will get tougher and the events bigger...so quit procrastinating guys and join us in our journey. This is what makes us happy and ALL presenters/talent had two true things in common: They all had nightmares and trials in the beginning and THEY ALL ABSOLUTELY LOVE WHAT THEY DO!

James/Penny/Frank....>THANK YOU for making MANY dreams come true.

Sign up for 2008 (*if you can get in) as it's going to be a big one...of course we'll have to wait to register, till they come down from the overwhelming event themselves. 202 registered talent all with the same testimonials I'm sure. Lot's of things to work out and rearrange, but what they did in the short time they did it has truly made history. Any of us that were there were LUCKY to be a part of HISTORY.

Keep at it...if you need help many of us are available. Contact me anytime for more www.debsvoice.com (formerly www.creatingvoices.ca)

See you soon!

I wrote too much to proof this so I hope I got it right. I have to catch up on my work that I missed. WOW. Will be teaching in London England, France (working on this as we speak), and Toronto Ontario with a few other things ahead....this was an amazing event....for all of us.

Sign up for my newsletter for more...just email me to register

All my best
Deb Munro
My Voice, Your Way!
info@debsvoice.com
www.debsvoice.com

Tom Greenlee · **Voice Talent** Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 945

Don't feel bad Deb....I made a whole new post in General Chit Chat too before reading this one.....lol....was awesome meeting you....and you're so damned cute.....lol

Robert Jadah · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 2627

Welcome back, Voice 2007 pilgrims.
Even though we certainly missed you around here, I'm not sure we're glad you're back.
After all, armed with all that knowledge, you're now bound to run the table here....

But the fun-folk were obviously in Vegas.

Voice On!

Diane Maggipinto · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 25

Philip Banks · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Jun 2003 Posts: 404

There appears to be a great deal of "I'm trying to justify attendance" and "I'm trying to justify non-attendance". It's always good to see healthy debate.

I was contacted by one of the organisers and asked if I would be one of the speakers. A quick calculation put the cost to me at around $5,000 and for that I would need to see a considerable financial return and was unable to determine how that was possible so I politlely declined the invitation.

There were lots of people attending VOICE I would have loved the opportunity to meet but the thought of visiting Las Vegas, spending 40 hours or so in presentations/seminars and the same amount of time travelling made me decide this wasn't for me.

Although light on detail, probably because the people who attended are still getting their thoughts straight, I have heard no bad reports from VOICE. 200+ people had a good time and took something away with them because they wanted to go in the first place.

Amy Snively · **Voice Talent** Joined: 04 Jul 2005 Posts: 1028

Philip-- I just have to ask, 'cause the curiosity is killing me. Did you intend that post to be as condescending as it comes off, or was it unintentional? Or perhaps I'm misinterpreting?

I don't see how people sharing that they had a blast at the conference can be construed as "I'm trying to justify attendance."

I had a wonderful, wonderful time. I will make more money with the tips that I picked up. The best part of the conference was making new friends and meeting 'old' friends in person.

I am not trying to justify anything. It's very plain. I had a great week. Full stop.

Philip Banks · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Jun 2003 Posts: 404

Just a personality thing. What was written took into account mine and what you read was influenced by yours. Posting on forums such as this results in disjointed dialogue and people drawing conclusions about total strangers. Never would I intentionally write anything to cause offence.

Thank you for justifying your justification you may now consider yourself fully justified. Of course I still run the risk of being pounced upon for daring to suggest I was considered as a speaker (where's that BS meter when you need it)and you are SO in trouble for having a good time when you were supposed to be studying!

Here in the UK every year they hold something called Vox. For the most part those attending are people who make radio commercials, they are voices, copywriters and producers. I've attended every year for the past 4 years. People arrive on a Saturday afternoon and go home after breakfast on Sunday. A little bit of business, a lot of fun including dinner and dancing ... may be a small sip of sherry or two. Why do am I telling you this? Because it's my sure fire way of bringing any thread to a dead stop. Mention something British. Very Happy

Frank Frederick · **Voice Seeker** Joined: 29 Dec 2006 Posts: 142

Sure, sure Phillip. You are just justifying how you chose not to come to VOICE when I invited you. Your justification was the expense, I understand your choice. I also know how much you wanted to come and join in the foray - even if it was Canadian, Japaneese, Brazilian, French, Danish (not the pastry), and of course American. We forgive you Brits, now come and join us at the next VOICE in 2008.

Did someone mention British?

Frank Frederick
"The Voice" tm

Amy Snively · **Voice Talent** Joined: 04 Jul 2005 Posts: 1028