Webinar | Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Do Yourself a Favor…

December 17, 2012 By CourVO Leave a Comment

…and spend attend Tom Dheere’s VoiceOverXtra webinar TONITE (12/18/12).

I know it’s short notice, but you can make it right?

Tom is a voice actor like the rest of us…but he’s a successful voice actor ‘cause he’s devised some of the best habits I’ve ever seen for a freelancer in getting new, and keeping steady business.

I’d known Tom several years before I attended his VOICE2012 seminar in 2012. I left the session astounded at the new information I’d gleaned. If you don’t come away with at least 5 new ideas for marketing and building your business, I’d be surprised.

Tom will give you ideas for good strategies, procedures, plans, and protocols in your daily business that will get you on track for a successful business…and then the metrics to measure your success.

He’ll share marketing systems that work…and how to execute them.

Click here to see the flyer, and to register: VOICE OVER MARKETING, STRATEGIES AND MEASURING SUCCESS.

As part of the price of admission, you’ll get a full recording of the webinar…so just sit back and listen and learn.

I get nothing for plugging this webinar, I just believe in Tom’s system…and I know you’ll get a lot out of it.

CourVO

Filed Under: Webinar Tagged With: Marketing, Tom Dheere, VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, Voiceovers, VoiceOverXtra, voices

On The Edge

May 17, 2012 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Time and time again I disavow being an expert on ANYTHING. I’m just uncomfortable with it. Maybe…maybe I’m an expert on me…and that’s about it.

I prefer to say I’m a student. I’m certainly a student of life and people and relationships. I have been for 59 years now.

But when people call me a Social Media “expert” or “guru”… I just cringe. There are thousands of people whose knowledge of Social Networks FAR surpasses my meager skills, and I’m not even sure THEY’RE comfortable being called experts. People like Brian Solis and Robert Scoble and Chris Brogan.

I don’t think my experience with New Media makes me even uniquely positioned to coach voice actors on FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn and so forth. The things you do to get clients as a freelance photographer, writer, plumber, or car salesman on social networks will work for you as a voice-actor too.

That is the lousiest build-up to a promotional announcement for an upcoming webinar I’ve ever seen. But at least you can say I’m honest.

Here’s what I will tell you if you sign-up for my Edge Studio Social Media Webinar this Saturday:

The over-arching mind-set you must have to create relationships, trust, and clients on Social Media.
What and how and when to Tweet.
Understanding FaceBook’s ever-changing interface.
Using LinkedIn’s powerful search functions.
Why you need to join groups on social media platforms.
Video. Video. Video.
Google Plus, and why you should care.
What is Pinterest?
Blogging successfully.

Just because I’m not an expert doesn’t mean I won’t talk A LOT about what I DO know. The above list of topics are but a framework for working through the broad, deep, and tall topic of Social Media. I’ll fill in lots of blanks, and work from a PowerPoint presentation that will outline all my thoughts.

We’ll leave plenty of time for questions and (hopefully) answers at the end. The whole thing is scheduled for Saturday, 5-19-12 9am PST / 10am Mountain / 11am Central / Noon Eastern. Again, you can see all the details and sign-up here: http://www.edgestudio.com/social-media-marketing-for-voice-over.

C Ya There!

CourVO

Filed Under: Social Media/Networking, Teleseminar, Training/Education, Webinar Tagged With: David Goldlberg, Edge Studio, social Media, Social Media/Networking, social networking, socialmediavo, VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover

Coffee with CourVO

May 16, 2012 By CourVO 2 Comments

Fellow VO Social Media geeks Terry Daniel and Trish Basanyi several weeks ago resurrected their highly-successful VO podcast series, and renamed it “Voice Over Cafe”.

I was lucky enough to be 3rd on their list of guests, and recorded with them the other day.

We talked a lot about World-Voices.org and the many issues surrounding it — namely the need for, and the help we’re getting in spades to establish a true VO Guild of voice actors and the standards we hope to be able to develop in technical criteria and codes of best practice for the voiceover community.

Here’s the link to our podcasat: http://epodcastnetwork.com/voice-over-cafe-episode-3/

Trish and Terry are both my partners in a presentation on the topic of Social Media at VOICE2012 at Disneyland next month. We’ll be covering an all-encompassing view of the top social networking platforms; what it takes to get noticed, and get jobs IN those networks.

Additionally, I’m hosting my own webinar on the topic of Social Media, Saturday 5/19/12 Noon PST for Edge Studio. Here’s the link to sign-up: http://www.edgestudio.com/social-media-marketing-for-voice-over.

CourVO

Filed Under: Podcasts, Teleseminar, VOICE 2012, Webinar Tagged With: podcast, social Media, social networking, terry danie, Trish Basanyi, VO, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover cafe

Warning: Blatant Plug

January 5, 2012 By CourVO Leave a Comment

If I didn’t have so much faith in John Florian and VoiceOverXtra webinars…
If I didn’t know Bettye Zoller like I do…

….I wouldn’t waste your time with this brief announcement.

In fact it’s ME…I’m the biggest questions mark in Monday, January 9th’s Webinar on VoiceOverXtra entitled A New You in the New Year. ;-}

Between the veteran wisdom of Zoller, and my quirky mix of Social Media exploration, you will get — if nothing else — in that hour-and-a-half teleseminarm– a wonderful stir-fry of brainstorming that will have you rethinking some old ideas for your VO business, and maybe even inspire you with some new ones.

Bettye will present from her vast knowledge of marketing, agency-representation, coaching, and foreign, as well as long-format opportunities.

Then I’ll present with a number of new Social Media trends and techniques, some recent technological advances, and even a couple of predictions for developments in the new year.

For the rest of the 90-minute session (and maybe even over a little)…we’ll field questions. Anything’s fair game.

Because of my evening schedule as a news anchor, we’re getting started at 1pm PST / 4pm EST. The cost is $44, and you’ll get a complete copy of the entire session when you’re done.

I’ve put a lot of research into the elements I’m presenting, and I think you will walk away with tangible strategies.

Thanks, and ‘hope to see you there on Monday, the 9th.

CourVO

Clipped from: archive.constantcontact.com (share this clip)

Filed Under: Teleseminar, Webinar Tagged With: Bettye Zoller, John Florian, social Media, VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, VoiceOverXtra, VoiceOverXtra.com, voices, voicesvoices.com

At the risk…

August 23, 2011 By CourVO 2 Comments

…of threatening the limits of your patience, let me just beat the drum ONE. MORE. TIME for Wednesday’s 3rd & final portion of the “Super Socials” series of webinars hosted by VoiceOverXtra.

Before you slide that mouse up to click on your next website, let me just offer up a quick “teaser” tidbit of info — a tiny taste of a morsel of information to show you what you will be hearing for AN ENTIRE HOUR during the webinar loosely titled: “Everything Else” in Social Media…meaning: NOT FaceBook or Twitter.

There’s other social media besides FaceBook and Twitter???!!! Ho-Boy…is there! Ever hear of LinkedIn? YouTube? Google Plus? Skype? Blogging?

OK…TWO tidbits:

TIDBIT #1 How to post your demos on your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is much stronger than FaceBook or Twitter in many ways. I’ll show you a few.

TIDBIT #2 Why Google Plus is better than Skype for video conferencing. This is Google’s 3rd atttempt at a successful Social Networking platform, and it’s got Mark Zuckerburg looking over his shoulder. I’ll tell you why.

HONORABLE MENTION TIDBIT Many of you already use Skype for an easy phone-patch. I’ll be going over that, but I’ll also show you how to set-up Skype with your own phone number, so people on a land-line or cell phone can call you on Skype. The other party does not need to have Skype.

Like I said…there’s much more…pluse we’ll be interviewing the founder and sustainer of VoiceOverUniverse (VU) “Zurek” right off the top of the hour…

Again, here’s the link to sign-up. It’s Wednesday, August 24th, 2011 Noon PST / 3pm EST.

C ya there!

CourVO

Filed Under: Webinar Tagged With: blogging, G+, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Skpe, social Media, social networking, VO, voice, voice actiing, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, VoiceOverXtra, voices, Webinar, YouTube

Expert vs. Student

August 22, 2011 By CourVO 6 Comments

Which one are you?

Oh, you’re an expert?…you know absolutely everything there was, is, and will be about your specialty! Wow!

You could write the definitive textbook, and speak off-the-cuff at virtually any venue on the subject for which you’re an expert?
Furthermore: you obviously feel comfortable with people calling you an expert. (BTW, I’m treating the word “guru” synomously, here).
You unabashedly accept speaking engagements, paychecks, and invitations to do teleseminars, webinars, and write books in your area of expertise.

I’m being sarcastic and cynical here to make a point.

Later this week, I’ll be contributing my part to a 3-part webinar on the value of social media for voice actors. I am no expert. I doubt there are ANY experts in social media, although many like to say they are, in promotional materials.

I more like to think I’m a STUDENT of social media. It teaches me. In fact, to my way of thinking there is one immutable word that stands between expert and student.

HUMILITY.

Sometimes I like to think I’m an expert, and then I get blindsided, T-boned, or undercut by someone or something from out in left field that shows me how little I really DO know. Ever had that happen? Uh-huh. ‘Thought so.

So if you are so wonderful that you’ve actually paid money to hear what Terry Daniel, Trish Basanyi and Dave Courvoisier have to say about what they THINK they know about Social Media…then it is my responsibility to do all in my power to tell you all that social media has TAUGHT me.

But expert? Huh-uh. Student.

CourVO

More info on the webinar at VoiceOverXtra

Filed Under: Ruminations, Webinar Tagged With: VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, voices

Next Up….

August 18, 2011 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Terry & Trish in better times

‘Hope you were able to catch Terry Daniel‘s webinar on FaceBook for VO’s last night on VoiceOverXtra’s “Super Socials” series.

Tonite, Trish Basanyi takes the stage, and she’ll be sharing some great tips for finding work using Twitter.

Then, next Wednesday, I’ll be bringing up the rear, talking about YouTube, LinkedIn, Google +, Blogging, and I’ll be interviewing Zurek live. He’s the founder/sustainer of the highly popular Voice Over online community VU, or VoiceOverUniverse.

There’s still all the time in the world to sign-up, and if you are a SaVoa member, please tell John Florian at the VoiceOverXtra site, and you’re eligible for some SaVoa promotional materials as an extra incentive.

Click here to see all the details of the 3-part “Super Socials” webinar series.

I, for one, am so lookingn forwrard to Trish’s webinar tonite. Not only does she have more Twitter followers than any VO I know, but she knows how to make hay out of her contacts. If you’re like a lot of people, and Twitter has you scratching your head, then this webinar is for you.

CourVO

Filed Under: Webinar Tagged With: FaceBook, John Florian, social Media, social networking, super socials, Terry Daniel, Trish Basanyi, Twitter, VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, VoiceOverXtra, Webinar

Face-to-Face

August 16, 2011 By CourVO Leave a Comment

For the forseeable future, FaceBook is the 800 lb. Gorilla of Social Media.

Even the most cantankerous naysayer has to pay homage to Mark Zukerberg’s creation if they want to keep up with trends…and keeping up with trends could mean the difference between an enterprising, innovative voice acting business or one that feels a little more “left behind” with passing time.

For this reason, VoiceOverXtra‘s 3-part “Super Socials” webinar series puts FaceBook right out front. Furthermore, this topic gets treatment from the guy who bends FaceBook to his will: Terry Daniel.

Terry may not have ALL the answers, but he’s so doggone good at covering the essentials, the ever-changing rules, and the savvy VO uses of FaceBook, that you’ll wonder why you don’t spend more time there (like Terry does!).

Monday, Trish Basanyi (who will oversee Part II on Twitter, Thursday, August 18th), Terry, I, and John Florian (VoiceOverXtra’s founder) had a skull session to go over the final “Super Socials” details. I got a glance at Terry’s presentation and I gotta tell you, it’s a doozie! You’ll find out how and why to set up a FaceBook business page, how to post your demo’s on FaceBook, and he’ll share a long list of absolute “do’s” and “don’t's” of FaceBook etiquette. And that’s just for starters!

Each of our sessions run an hour-long with an additional half-hour of Q & A. If the questions run long and involved, we might even go over that!

Terry will show you how to make FaceBook work in favor of your VO business. We hope you’ll consider signing up for the entire 3-part webinar…or any one part.

See the “Super Socials” sign-up and information page here.

CourVO

Filed Under: Social Media/Networking, Webinar Tagged With: FaceBook, John Florian, social Media, social networking, super socials, Terry Daniel, Trish Basanyi, VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, VoiceOverXtra, voices

A Dab of EWABS

March 28, 2011 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Appropriately, I was busy gutting my own home studio when the second EWABS show aired Sunday on U-Stream. I’d just decided my converted walk-in closet had too many add-on, jury-rigged tweaks for even ME to bear, so I took everything out….threw away a bunch of stuff, dusted, vacuumed, re-wired, repositioned, and 7 hours later, I had…like…a new studio!

But apparently because of my absence, the show exceeded all expectations, and with the expert duo of George Whittam and Dan Lenard, that’s saying a lot!

For some reason, only the 2nd-half of East West Audio Body Shop is available on U-Stream… but it’s a half-hour of goldedn Q & A by the EWABS Ewoks…be sure to take a listen.

Or if you want to revisit the inaugural EWABS show from the 20th…it’s in segments…just type in EWABS on the U-Stream home-page, and you’ll see all the pertinent links.

My previous blog articles on EWABS:

http://www.courvo.biz/2011/03/the-ewoks-of-ewabs.html

http://www.courvo.biz/2011/03/ewabs-launch-success.html

CourVO

Filed Under: Home studio, Webinar Tagged With: Dan Lenard, EWABS, George Whittam, VO, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, VoiceOverXtra

EWABS Launch Success

March 21, 2011 By CourVO 1 Comment

My congratulations to Dan Lenard and Georg Whittam for successfully launching their first EWABS live show.

EWABS stands for East West Audio Body Shop. For more on the basics of this new show, valuable links, and something about the founders, see my blog The Ewoks of EWABS.

The guys weathered several blank-outs of the signal, but if you can look beyond some inaugural glitches, the show, the concept, the experts, and the give ‘n’ take was all above expectations…and expectations were high, so that’s saying a lot. George surmounted considerable technical challenges to get both guys on live on U-Stream at the same time…but that’s what George does.

In typical mobile style, I began watching the show on my iPhone4 UStream app while I was out for Sunday walk, and finished-up when I got home, watching on my desktop PC.

To see a replay of the show, go to EWABS on U-Stream.

Nice going George and Dan…everyone wants to see you succeed in the future with more shows of this quality.

CourVO