Fantastic FaffCon

Doug Turkel makes a point about branding

You truly do run out of superlatives to explain the value of the fluid exchange of golden ideas at VO’s first “un”conference…FaffCon,  taking place this weekend in Portland, OR.

Huddled into a couple of small conference rooms at the Hyatt Place Portland, roughly 50 attendees freely shared concepts and advice on everything across a wide panoply of topics that concern any voice actor earnestly seeking and keeping work.  Agents, unions, leads, clients, equipment, software, cold calls, warm calls, social media, marketing, branding and more…much more.

Bob Souer watches Pam Tierney make a video during a session

Led by a volunteer facilitator, each session Saturday led to open discussion from all attending…chiming in freely with comments, suggestions, experience or valuable wisdom.

This quickly became a tight-knit group…before, during and after-session moments extended conversations sparked during the meetings.  The free exchange of what some might consider trade secrets or proven techniques were offered-up without a second thought.  Camaraderie held the greater sway over competiton.

Connie Terwilliger was explaining the new Word2Wav Ver. 3.0 in one room, while Ed Bednarzik revealed his inside information of how he landed a lucrative Dairy Gold contract.  All the while, Amy Snively is leading a discussion next-door on the finer points of improv.  No matter where you land (and there’s plenty of people sidling between the three sessions WHILE they’re ongoing), you catch “gold nuggets” of information.

Lunch is provided, after which the pace picks up with 4 vigorous afternoon hour-long slots to follow the morning’s 2 hour-long grouped sessions.

Voice Actor Justin Barrett takes it all in.

Mercedes Rose led a spirited roundhouse discussion that began with her recounting how she runs a full-time 15-yr-old voice over business from a small town not far from Portland while raising 3 children.  Her advice:  make your own opportunities: “…create your own jobs rather than compete for them…”

The hour passes in a flash when virtually everyone in the room contributes to a wide-ranging discussion that includes unions, payment options, agents, initiatives, entrepreneurship and much much more.

Dan Nachtrab modestly leads a discussion about the “sweet spot”, or how to realize the different niches in VO “where you really suck.”

Bruce Miles brought copy and called-up pairs or single performers to deliver brief lines while he directed (with the help of Edge Studio coach Randye  Kay) and gave constructive criticism where appropriate.

Amanda Fellows & Liz de Nesnera react to a funny comment

The afternoon finishes with a group picture…moments of summary, sharing “golden nuggets”, and a discussion of plans for the morning.

Break for supper.  More involved conversations…impromptu and rapidly-forming-and-disintegrating groups share stream-of-consciousness topics.  It never seems to stop…becoming hard to distinguish between the sessions, and the breaks…the schedule and the ad-libs.

You could engage in a decade of voice-over work, and not get the concentration of information shared here in two days.

More tomorrow!

James Alburger & Dave Courvoisier playing with an iPhone4

CourVO