As is always the case, I’m walking about two feet off the ground…my head packed with ideas, inspiration, and intimate memories.

The folks on the staircase are all the volunteers who covered all the infinite details to make this unconference the success it is.

Bruce Miles engaged in some silliness during the Sunday lunch…

All the attendees are gifted, special people.  In a niche corner of the entertainment business already populated by supportive, encouraging, creatives…THIS enclave of past, present and future Faffers sets the pace for us all, in terms of leadership, talent, and relationship-building.

I think I got around to everyone to touch base, but if I didn’t, my apologies. I’ve collected copious amounts of bizcards, and plan to follow-up with emails to many of you.

Among the best of the best in attendance is Doug Turkel, a thinking man’s Voice Actor, and an accomplished pro in ways I want to rise to when I grow up.  I couldn’t leave without snapping a shot of the two of us.

Those of you who touched my 48 hours in Ventura in a special way, please know that I am humbled by the gifts you give me with your acknowledgement of me as a fellow voice-actor.  There is no greater compliment for me.

If you didn’t attend this particular FaffCon…no worries, there will be others, in fact Faff5 is already announced: Charlotte, NC, October 12-15, 2012.

A number of us had to break away from the post-FaffCon goodbye mixer…to catch a plane, or make an appointment.  It’s always sad to see the instant attrition from the ranks of our close-knit group…but inevitable.  My wife and I drove through two solid hours of Southern California rain before reaching the high Mojave desert on the way back to Nevada.

As she took the wheel, and I dozed during a portion of the return drive, I smiled at the fleeting and drifting faces and memories of the weekend.  I count my blessings at times like this.  FaffCon4…like the other such unconferences I’ve attended, has once again grown my appreciation of the finer natures of voice-over colleagues.

You have graced me once again.

CourVO

In other words, you came to FaffCon4 to learn.  Let us learn from you, too!

The wisdom in that statement is understanding that you uniquely have the answer to someone else who has a unique question about voice overs.  Today many of those questions were answered.

As the freely-formed agenda began to take shape first thing Saturday morning, no topic area was left untouched.  Questions covered the spectrum:  agents, demos, auditions, software, hardware, audiobooks, time-saving and management techniques, union representation, on-camera work, and on and on and on.  Issues that weren’t covered in sessions were dealt with at lunch, or in the hallway.

Participants were encouraged to move about like a bee or a butterfly to flit from session to session as need be, to take advantage of all the shared knowledge, but clearly once in a room, it became hard to pull yourself away.

In one hour alone, I took in an AudioBook session being led by Tom Dheere,

…a mobile recording session led by Sean Caldwell,

….a “mining the internet” group led by Steve Cunningham, a USC professor,

…and a live-direction session held by booking agent Martha Mayakis of Talk Shop

Bob Souer’s “living room” talks occupied a comfy corner of the central area complete with customized “Bob Souer Storyteller” pillows (a surprise gift from Amy).   Volunteers and staff flitted about to make all the arrangements come true.  Door prizes capped off the closing general session…gifts from BSW, Audio-Technica, Harlan Hogan, VoiceBank, Dan Friedman, Doug Turkel, and other sponsors.

The most overheard comment:  “This day has gone so fast”!!!

Among the nuggets I gleaned:

1)  To follow-up with clients who’ve given you work, purchase $5 Starbucks gift-cards customized with your logo to show your appreciation.  Hand write onto the card:  “Thanks a latte!”
2)  Just because you’re tall, doesn’t mean you’re a basketball player (how to answer people with a good voice who want to get into VO).
3)  Cold-calling clients means doing research and homework.
4)  Constantly update your demos to the new trends, and the more niche demos you can legitimately claim, the better.
5)  Your voice is not what’s getting you work, your real personality is getting you the work;  be comfortable, assured and confident in yourself.
6)  Do I want to be with a huge “name” agency and never get work, or a smaller boutique agency that’s booking you regularly?
7)  Like the wood, oxygen, and a spark makes a fire;  you, your listener, and your product must combine to get you the job.
8)  Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up…keep a file to schedule it, take advantage of online and software tools to achieve it.
9)  You have two ears and one mouth, use them proportionately.
10)  Rejection is not personal.  Move on.

Turns out, I am not a stranger to people who are total strangers to me.  Why?  This very blog.  Thank you for your patronage.  …And no, I can’t tell you how I do it all in a day…but I do, and it’s fun, and I learn something in the process.

My day ended with about 20 fellow SaVoa members at a funky little Italian restaurant on the beach.  The service was slow, the food was good, and nobody noticed…we were all talking.  This is a fun bunch, and I count myself lucky to be among them.

Sunday, Mercedes Rose, Trish Basanyi and I will conduct a session on Social Media, and how to use it to get jobs.

CourVO

That was the backdrop for an early-afternoon “whale-watching” boat outing off the coast of California.  We saw the Channel Islands, and oil drilling platforms, but no whales (although the guides went out of their way to tell us that, technically dolphins WERE whales, and yes, we DID see dolphins).

No matter, the boat was just backdrop for conversation.  Of course conversation.  We all talk for a living.

You may recognize some of the peeps in these pics.  I know about 2/3rds of them by first name, and the others I’m getting to know quickly.

A few of us were overtaken by the swells and lost our lunch.  But every single one who got green behind the gills was smiling later. 

After the boat was lunch in the park with In ‘n’ Out Burgers.  After that was the first formal meeting of the day.  Faffy herself (unconference founder Amy Snively) offered welcoming statements, encouragements, and basic rules.

She reminded us of our…well…our destiny here.  That despite doubts, ego, or perceived mission, we would find the REAL reason for our presence at FaffCon4.

The bigger group divided into three…sitting in a circle to quickly answer two simple questions:

A) What brought you here?
B) What do you hope will happen?

You might guess that the answers coalesced around some main themes:  a chance to learn, a opportunity to give, the desire to bask in community and relationship.

Some had specific goals in mind:  marketing, technology, time-management, business challenges.

The evening culminated in a session sponsored by VoiceBank (the main sponsoring presence of FaffCon).  VoiceBank’s VoiceRegistry Platimun members were asked to read to the live audience, and be critiqued on the spot by a member of a prominent Los Angeles-based talent agency.  The kind of feedback VO’s NEVER get on their auditions.

It may sound corny, but through it all, it’s the slaps on the back, the intimate conversations, the hallway musings that make this event.  Seeing Cliff Zellman (with me in this pic) makes me smile.  I talk to him on FaceBook, Twitter, and email.  Here, I can shake his hand, pose for a cheesy photo, and look him in the eye to ask how his family is doing.

My answers to the above questions:  That social media is foreplay…and that I came to Ventura to seal the deal.  That I take joy sharing in a community of like-minded souls.  And that I hoped to find inspiration (and maybe some marketing tips) along the way.

Watch for a summary Storify story on our collective tweets on Derek Chappell’s blog.

‘S’been a long long day…my thanks to my wife for driving here this morning.  I’m operating on about 3 hours sleep in the last 24…so it’s off to bed, so I can soak up as much as possible tomorrow.

Thanks fellow Faffers.

CourVO

That’s great, because I’m going there to see you…and you…and you…and you…

If you’re  not going, please watch for our posts on FaceBook and Twitter.  Follow the hashtag: #faffcon (duh)

I love social media for the immediacy it brings to communication in all its different forms.  Even though only a hundred voice actors out of possible thousands are attending FaffCon4, most of the rest can find out what’s going on scant minutes after it happens.

However, BEING there is preferable.  Social media is foreplay to the real deal:  meeting the person in the FaceBook avatar…shaking their hand…offering a hug…engaging in some person-to-person conversation.  ‘Nothing like it.  That’s great for a weekend…I’ll be walking 2 feet off the ground for a while after FaffCon in Ventura.  Then it’ll be back to distance-based communication.

Never before in the history of voice acting has there been the kind of close-knit community we see today.  Many of us like to say we work in isolation.  That’s true, but I sense that most of us hanker for association, and now the social networks offer that in spades…or not.  You don’t have to be sociable, but I don’t see a downside other than a rare spark-up over political preferences.

So the occasional pop of a meet-up like FaffCon gives relationship legitimacy and intimacy…but social media…even the phone and text, give it legs…endurance.  I’m much better when I work among, with, for, and at the request of others.  Humans are meant for association.  Sure, I like my man-cave once in a while, but when I work in a community of like-minded peers, I’m inspired to be better and to give more.

BTW, if you are going to be monitoring news from FaffCon — aside from the #FaffCon hashtag on Twitter, watch for notices from Derek Chappell, who will be providing Storify summaries of the tweets and FB posts.

Thursday, I pack!

CourVO

Because they shared, we will all learn and grow.

I’ve been keeping track of tweets and FaceBook posts coming from many of the attendees, and you can find that on Storify.

I’m also sending out a personal request to any and all FaffCon attendees to visit the VOAToday.com site and offer just ONE “nugget” of information you learned in one of the sessions, that you’d be willing to share with the rest of us.

I don’t have any prize lined-up yet…we’ll see…but just do it out of the goodness of your heart, OK?  Let’s see how much info we can collect that will uplift the  whole business of voice-acting.

CourVO

Today, about a-hundred FaffCon3 attendees begin arriving in Hershey, Pennsylvania for the third “unconference”…a voice-over event like no other!

Among the attendees at FaffCon are Anthony Gettig, voice actor, and winner of the Week-3 VOAToday prize package.  He wins a lifelong subscription to Voice123.com!…and a 10-ft mic cable compliments of SweetWater.

See the complete announcement of the winners of the week-3 VOAToday.com promotion.

If, like me, you are not able to attend FaffCon3, just set up a Twitter search in your favorite Twitter app (Seesmic, Tweetdeck) for the word “Faffcon”, and watch the info roll in.  I’m hoping most of the FaffCon attendees will be marking their posts with the #FaffCon hashtag, which will make it easier to track the info. Watch for blog posts, too on VoiceOverXtra, Bob Souer’s Blog, Rowell Gormon’s blog and others.

This should be one of the most edifying FaffCon sessions… 100 attending.  To see a whole list, and find out more about Faffcon in general, visit the FaffCon website.

Also, be ready for the announcement of the NEXT FaffCon.  FaffCon founder and sustainer, Amy Snively, I’m sure, has thought that far ahead.

Finally, FaffCon attendees are encouraged to visit the VOAToday site when you return home to share ONE NUGGET you learned at the unconference.  That will wrap-up the VOAToday promotion for September.  The final week’s winner will be announced next Friday, the 30th of September.

VO rocks!

CourVO

If you’re there for FaffCon3, and you’ve never been to a FaffCon before, you’re walking in unawares too….but you’ll walk out two feet off the ground.

Family commitments are preventing me from attending FaffCon for the first time…and I feel like I’ve lost my best friend.

Regular attendees know what I’m talking about.  Amy Snively has founded and ably sustained a great idea:  The VO “unconference”.  The camaraderie you absorb in attending various ad-hoc, and arbitrarily-concocted sessions is never forgotten.  As my friend Liz de Nesnera said after the original FaffCon in Portland, OR:  “All the FaffCon sessions are like the juicy hallway conversations you have at more formal conferences”!!

Since Amy has come to accept a second career as event organizer, she leaves no stone unturned in seeing to the finer details.  Most all that you expect, and the things you DON’T expect will all be present to enhance the experience, thanks to Amy.

Although I’ll be absent, I’ve contributed to the unconference in a way that I hope contributes to the fun.

TWO THINGS:

1)  For all you who enjoy tweeting from the unconference, please remember to use the #FAFFCON tag.  I hope to compile the messages later for people to benefit from.

2)  When you get back, please consider visiting my VOAToday.com site and sharing just one “nugget” you learned from someone else at FaffCon3, so others can learn, too.

Enjoy!

CourVO

Either that, or you’ve attended FaffCon (the original) or Faffcon2, Electric Boogaloo.  In which case I’ve met you, ’cause I’m a FaffCon groupie, and have attended both.

Now FaffCon The Third is under construction.  It’ll take place in Hershey, PA, and yes, the festivities include a tour of the Chocolate Factory.

As before, the founding, binding, organizing and faffing force behind FaffCon is the inimitable Amy Snively.   Amy has become quite adept at this, her second career of event coordinator.  While the UN-conference clearly belongs to the attendees, Amy is the able facilitator and conscience of the event.

The format is free-form.  It’s not like any other voice over conference you’ve ever attended.  It’s rather impromptu, improvised, participatory, innovative, invigorating, and…oh yeah…lots of fun.

I’m not going to ramble on too much here about FaffCon.  It’s an idea whose time has come for our business, and each one seems to get better than the last.  Please visit the official site:  http://www.faffcon.com and get all the details, pics, schedules, facts, and answers.

No, I haven’t signed-up yet, but I will.  I always do.

See you there?

CourVO

As exciting as the first VO unconference was in Portland OR…I think this one has even higher expectations attached — probably because word got around about how great was Faffcon (the first).

Because February is an important ratings period on the TV news calendar…I won’t be leaving for George until AFTER the 11 o’clock news on Friday night…hopping a red-eye to a Houston layover, and arriving at Hartsfield International around 10:45.  (Who needs sleep anyway…I can sleep when I’m dead, right?)

I wish I could be there for the CNN tour…the early arrivals…smiles, backslaps, and Friday night over cocktails.  But I guess there’s something to be said for being a welcome late arrival, too.

Expect lots of tweets, FaceBook status reports, and blogs to surface in the next few days.  I’ll be doing my best to lay down some tidbits here and there, and blogging from my iPhone and iPad.  Just create a search right now on your Twitter interface (TweetDeck, Seesmic, etc) for #Faffcon.

You can probably expect to see lots of smiling faces and poses from the attendees before, during, and after the event…if you’re not coming.  Know that you are missed.  If you ARE coming…take copious notes before I get there, OK?

CourVO

The time is upon us.

You are going…right?

Stop waffling…go the FaffCon.com site and register now.  Sure, you’ve missed out on lower incentive registration pricing…but it doesn’t matter.  You’ll walk away thinking you would’ve gladly paid twice that for what you got.

Now…there’s only been one FaffCon so far…and those few of us in attendance will tell you of the career-changing information shared, the intense networking available, and the new friends we  made.  But, one unconference hardly a tradition makes.  Everyone prepares differently for such things, so below is my humble list of suggested physical and spiritual baggage you may want to bring (or leave behind).

1) comfortable, casual clothes…favorite shoes…and clean underwear  :)

2) a digital camera, battery charger, extra SD card

3) an open mind

4) maybe something to write with, but more likely, something to record the sessions on, maybe even a video cam

5) your mobile DAW set-up, extra cords, power cables, pop-filter?, mic stand

6) cash for tipping the cabbie, buying CourVO a sandwich, or bribing Amy to mention your name

7) insatiable hunger to listen, learn, contribute

8) No-Doz… you can sleep when you die

9) Your Business Cards…lots of ‘em…and anything else promotional you want to give away

10) Ideas.  Session topics YOU may be able to lead.  You’ll be surprised how easy it is.

Honorable mention:  Laptop, iPad, iPhone, Android, or similar device to tweet, FaceBook and Social Media with.

There.  That’s easy, isn’t it?

C ya there!

CourVO