VOICE2010 Victory

A smashing end to the VOICE2010 conference Saturday evening, but one that still leaves you saying, “…where did the time go?…”

Joe Cipriano hosted an incredible panel of the top Promo VO professionals in SoCal, including Stew Herrera, Ashton Smith, Rino Romano, Sylvia Villagran, and Scott Rummel.

Then, a poolside mixer occupied many of us for the rest of the afternoon until cocktails were served pre-banquet.

The picture and video-taking reached a fever-pitch today…most people realizing they had neglected to capture the moments or the people they’d hoped to earlier. I was no exception, especially in the moments before the banquet opened the doors.

I hope most people will post their VOICE2010 photo albums online.  I know I appeared in many pics, but did not always have my cam available to take the same opportunity.  James Alburger mentioned arranging for a repository of pics, but I’m not sure that’s going to be available at no cost.  His professional photographer, CC, was prolific and tops in getting pics, but I’m similarly unaware if those photos will be available freely.

Zurek at VU is beginning an album of his pics HERE.   I suspect John Florian at VoiceOverXtra may attempt a similar effort.

I’m posting about 500 pics I took at my new SocialMediaVO site HERE.  They’re displayed in an easy-to-use Flash Player interface.  I wasn’t everywhere, but I got a few good shots.

The evening included a fine meal, great company, and lively conversation.

The program kicked off with a nice summary of progress on the Don la Fontaine VO Lab from Joe Cipriano finishing with an appreciation of George Whittam for his tireless work on the facility, which is nearly done.

Following that, Zurek was called up to pass the torch for best VO community-building to VoiceOverXtra’s John Florian.  Yay John!  So deserving!

Next to take the stage was none other than voice-acting legend June Foray…the original voice of Rocky the Squirrel in the Rocky and Bullwinkle show.  June is 92, very sharp, and still working.  She was assisted by Bob Bergen who made it clear he thought it was an outrage that June had been snubbed by Sony pictures in their plans to produce a new Smurfs movie without even so much as asking June to appear in it.  June was also known to be the voice on The Smurfs as Jokey Smurf and Mother Nature.

Hence, I’ve already launched a FaceBook page to get a groundswell of support to prompt Sony to reconsider.  Click HERE to see the Smurf Justice for June Foray FaceBook page.

Finally, Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche of “Pinky and the Brain” rounded out the night to talk about their escapades — not only on that show, but on others, like Animaniacs.

Dancing and more talk all around the property brought the night to a close…hey, whadya expect… we’re all in the business of talking!

Most of the attendees planned to leave the next morning…many of them very early…so it’s understandable that they’d want to turn in early, but there was reluctance on everyone’s part to say goodbye.

I continue to add stuff to the SocialMediaVO.com website, so I hope people will visit in the weeks and months ahead, and take advantage of all the info Terry Daniel and I contributed to the site.

Let me offer a huge thanks to James and Penny for including me in the program again this year, and to all my colleagues who were so gracious in seeking me out in conversation during the event.

Once again, I’m sure there were people I did not get to talk to whom I will regret missing once I realize it.  My apologies. Ohers whom I promised to write, or with whom I exchanged business cards…please keep in contact.  Networking is THE primary advantage of conclaves like this.

CourVO