UPDATE (May 9, 2006; 3:30 p.m. ET)— The web site Swiss Info is reporting that the United Nations will immediately resume aid flights to Myanmar and that one US Flight has been approved by the nations military government. Foreign aid workers are still restricted, though and I’m not clear how they plan to handle the issue of the government stealing UN relief supplies as reported earlier.

UPDATE (May 9, 2006; 12:00 p.m. ET)— NBC Nightly News senior producer Subrata De has posted two emails she has received from a friend of hers who has lived through the cyclone…you can read those emails here

UPDATE (May 9, 2006; 8:10 a.m. ET)— Thanks to my friend Joel Denver from All Access.com for this update via the Wall Street Journal:

May 9, 2008 –The United Nations said it would suspend all further aid shipments for survivors of last week’s devastating cyclone in Myanmar after the country’s ruling junta seized all aid material that had been flown in so far. The U.N.’s World Food Program “has no choice” but to suspend further shipments until the matter is resolved, WFP spokesman Paul Risley said. All “the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated,” he said, including 38 tons of high-energy biscuits.

The New York Times has its report here.

The UNICEF web site is still taking donations. My assumption is that at some point aid will be given and that funds will be needed. In the worst case, no funds donated will be able to be used in Myanmar BUT will be used to aid children when another international disaster strikes. The US Fund for UNICEF needs our financial support; let’s move forward and continue to promote this cause. Hopefully we’ll be ready to help Myanmar when allowed in.
————————————————————————————————————
ORIGINAL POST
Frustrating as it has been for all nations, including the United States, to immediately get food, water and medicine into the areas of Myanmar ravaged by the recent cyclone, the challenge of having to pay for all the needed relief in the weeks, months and maybe years to come is going to be even more of a headache.

Today UNICEF issued an emergency appeal for financial contributions to help pay for all that will be needed. UNICEF is working with Myanmar’s military government to coordinate relief efforts. It occurred to me that UNICEF will need to promote this fundraising appeal.

My personal experience with non-profits is they don’t always execute communication plans as fast as possible because of restrictions on manpower and money. I hope UNICEF proves me wrong and if they do get audio and video spots out on this appeal, ignore and delete what I am about to do.

I’m stepping in to what I assume will be UNICEF’s eventual communications plan for Myanmar fundraising without an invitation and without approval. Screw politics and procedures. I’m a broadcaster and this is the internet.

Let’s roll.

Attached are two public service announcements (PSA); one sixty seconds long, one thirty seconds long both explaining how to donate funds for the cyclone relief effort directly to UNICEF.

The scripts I wrote (also attached) were based on text lifted directly from the UNICEF web site dealing with the Myanmar relief effort.

audio’connell Voice Over Talent is not receiving any compensation for this, we don’t want any…nor are we looking for publicity for us.

We DO want publicity (and lots of it) for the PSA’s themselves and ask that if you directly know any radio station or television station program directors, internet radio stations or podcasters, please direct them here or email them the spots or scripts (if they want to record spots with their own voice talent, God bless ‘em!).

PSA’s don’t do any good if they don’t get played and if people don’t respond to the call to action. Please promote the availability of these spots within whatever professional network you are a part of and encourage their use to help raise money the people in Myanmar who have been so terribly distressed.

And if you could throw UNICEF a couple of bucks in the effort, that would be good too.

Please note in the comment section of media to whom you have sent this to or (if you’re the media) what outlet you are from.

Thanks for being a good person.

SIXTY SECOND UNICEF MYANMAR APPEAL PSA

Click (or right click)here to download the the :60 PSA!
Click (or right click)here to download the the PSA script!

THIRTY SECOND UNICEF MYANMAR APPEAL PSA

Click (or right click)here to download the the :30 PSA!
Click (or right click)here to download the the PSA script!

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Tags: public service announcement, tv, radio, commercials, commentary // 14 Comments »

Vox Daily has a very insightful story regarding union voice over work, voice over agents, how the field of play has changed and where it might be going.

Always a good read, Stephanie’s post today was especially informative.

Thanks for reading.

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Tags: voice talent, voices.com, blogs, voiceover blog, voiceover advice, commentary // 1 Comment »

Even if your tolerance on the social networking scale is low, you’ve likely heard of and may have even set up a free account with LinkedIn.

If you do have a LinkedIn profile, I hope you’ll take a moment to include me in your network.

Should you need to know more about LinkedIn or how to take better advantage of it as a tool, here are some valuable resources.

Christopher S. Penn on Using Linked In to Build Your Personal Network

Jan Visser on 3 Reasons LinkedIn Won’t Help You Sell

Linked Intelligence on 100+ Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn

Jill Konrath’s e-book “Can LinkedIn Increase Your Sales?”

For those of you unfamiliar with LinkedIn, it is an online, primarily business-based social networking hub - you create your personal profile with employment history, education and you start “linking” to people on the site that you know.

It’s that last part, “people on the site that you know” that frustrates me a bit.

When it comes to social situations, I err on the side of being outgoing. I introduce myself and ask question about other people’s lives, businesses etc. because I am interested.

If it’s a business networking situation, I want to know if there’s an opportunity for a business networking opportunity…in EITHER direction…I’m always willing to help a quality concept with connections even if there’s no business in it for me.

But I will dive head first into a group of people with whom I am unfamiliar. In fact, I prefer it.

LinkedIn pretty much wants you to stay with people you know, getting introduced to new folks only via the people you already know. They feel a lead like that will be more effective and less obnoxious than going in cold.

I agree with all of that…to a point.

Far be it from me to want to be seen as a spammer or someone who wants to connect with everybody on LinkedIn. I want only quality connections but sometimes the only way into that quality connection is the direct way.

Some folks don’t like that direct way, they are shy or private or reserved or suspicious or too darn busy to be dealing with strangers. I respect and honor their right to be one, some or all of those things and it’s not my desire to break down that wall if that’s not what the recipient wants.

My intent doesn’t always translate on the internet. LinkedIn got mad at me once a while back for my direct way as some people said they didn’t know me. Yes, I said, that was my point but the system is set up to honor the subtler approach. I try and be more respectful of the system even though I know there are many people who are direct like me (that’s how they’ve gotten thousands of connections…I don’t want that).

If you’ve ever participated in a social media meet up, which is like a networking event only with people who are all involved in one particular channel of social media, you know how valuable the connections you make there can be. You start the event knowing a few people from your network maybe but leave knowing 10. It is a welcoming environment in the very way social media should always be. But my way is not always the right way nor is it for everyone. I get that.

It just seems that there should be a way for LinkedIn participants who are open to more direct connections to indicate that in their profile so that the shy or private or reserved or suspicious or too darn busy folks aren’t bothered by the rest of us who want to make direct and quality connections.

That all said, I think LinkedIn is a great tool.

Thanks for reading.

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Tags: social media, social networking, peter o'connell, commentary // Add Comment »

I know the Smartest Man in the World and his name is Saul Colt. I know he is the Smartest Man in the World because he had a business card that said he was.

Well, that was good enough for me.

I met him about a year ago at a Geek Dinner in Toronto along with Eden Spodek (she of Podcamp Toronto 2008 fame, among her many credits) and we had a very enjoyable time. I follow them both on Twitter and I subscribe to Saul’s blog.

Today Saul had a blog post about a bad experience he had at a movie theatre over the weekend when he went to see Iron Man (which is getting some great buzz). He posted about everything except the name of the movie chain that was responsible (note that) for the problem and dealt with it ineffectually (note that too).

I posted a response as such to the post (though I respect his choice and it is his to make) and noted that blogs are the new complaint letter. Why?

We end users (are we “customers” any more in the digital age?) can spend hours pouring over just the right prose to convey our anger, displeasure and frustration over a problem we encountered from a company and couldn’t properly get resolved. We send it off, throwing our letter in to the mail box or pressing our email “send” key with just the right touch of righteous indignation, knowing we’ll get our desired outcome.

We don’t, usually.

While many companies have a complaint department and some may actually resolve an issue satisfactorily, in my experience many more companies don’t have a complaint or customer service department as much as they have a form letter or pleasant but helpless voice department.

An example. This past Thanksgiving Day, I flew AirTran Airlines to Atlanta…a direct flight from Buffalo. I took the 6:45 a.m. flight so I could get down there to enjoy that day and next few days with my family.

I won’t bore you with the details (certainly AirTran didn’t care) but because they failed to safely maintain the plane I flew, I left Buffalo at 2:00 p.m. and got to my destination at 4:00 p.m. Their response from start to finish was poor, even after I wrote them multiple, spiffy complaint letters. I got a form back. It’s the second time AirTran has screwed me. I avoid that airline whenever possible and flinch when I have to fly them.

There are many schools of thought about outing companies on blogs or complaining about customer service - ranging from effectiveness or usefulness to how it reflects on the blogger (am I now just a big whiner?) Well, if I am seen as a patient man who sometimes gets ticked off on occasion when someone or some organization treats me poorly, I’m OK with that. Otherwise, people haven’t done their due diligence on me

Maybe the company I’m frustrated by could be my customer some day, huh? No they won’t, no matter who the “they” are.

My company has a simple code of conduct that we’ve always operated under but only recently published. If I know from personal experience that a company can’t do what it says it can do, I won’t work on the account. Yes, I have turned down work on such accounts before.

They can screw up their brand all they want but they’re not going to infect my brand (me, my voices, my company) with their poison.

The other side of it is that if we (you, me, whomever) are always complaining on our blog, no one will read the blogs and we will be ignored…by the company, by subscribers etc. That makes sense which is why I don’t complain on blogs a ton. We also become “the boy who cried wolf”.

But if we all don’t step up occasionally (when the situation calls for it…see earlier “notes”), companies – clearly already lazy in their customer service departments – will get even lazier and the downward service spiral will accelerate. Then we will have no one but ourselves to blame.

Please feel free to disagree in the complaint box below

On the upside, let’s not be shy about singing the praises of companies that wow us either!

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Tags: social networking, social media, blogs, voiceover blog, technology, commentary // 4 Comments »

Voice over actor and teacher Pat Fraley teaches his seminars around the country when he’s not working on a voice project in LA. If you’ve been in voice over for anytime, you’ve likely heard of Fraley’s classes and how wildly popular they are.

Well there’s a wonderful, well-known voice actress and teacher in Western New York named Toni Silveri who has worked with and been friends with Pat for many years. That friendship coupled with their mutual professional respect and the Buffalo Niagara region’s storied broadcasting/voice over history has encouraged Pat to visit Buffalo numerous times with his wonderful always sold out classes.

This summer, Pat Fraley is coming to Buffalo again. Saturday, August 16th and Sunday, August 17th, 2008, Fraley will be presenting a two day workshop on The Silly, The Serious and The Subtle.

Download the Fraley Voice Class brochure here.

The classes will allow voice talents to hone their skills at creating and delivering character voice performances for the specific demands of the top three mediums: animation, interactive gaming and audio books (audio books will actually get a full day master class available only to VO professionals).

Class sizes are limited and are already filling up fast so contact Toni via email: tonisilveri at g mail dot com (figure it out).

Full disclosure: Toni is my voice coach and one of my agents (All Coast Talent is one of the few agencies that actually works at getting voice talents work). I have also studied with Pat before.

I am attending his August session and paying full boat because I know what a great teaching environment Toni establishes and what a great teacher Pat is. I have no stake in this presentation whatsoever except as a repeat student.

If you are a voice talent in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Fort Erie, St. Catherines, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Erie, Bradford, Cleveland and all points in between, I suggest you reserve one of the very limited spots for this voice talent training weekend.

If you miss because you’re slow to respond then shame on you. Get in touch with Toni today.

Thanks for reading.

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Tags: voice talent, audio books, peter o'connell, animation, character voices, narrations, commentary, voice actors, voiceover advice, voiceover // 3 Comments »

In my voice over business, I do more commercial and narration work that radio imaging work (serving as the radio station’s voice for ID’s, promos, contests etc.). Some of the production work I do for radio stations is strictly producing because they have a voice under contract. Usually these are smaller stations that may not have a full time production director or just want to avail themselves of my mad production skillz, yo, yo!

Proving timing is everything in life, I happened to have just updated my radio imaging demos for both voice and production. It had been over a year and a half since I laid hands on the demos and while there was nothing wrong with them, I think it’s good to freshen things up with newer material…after 18 months!!!! My thanks to my anonymous mentor for providing his aural guidance again; he helped make the demos sing!

But I was thinking in the back of my head as I’m doing this updating about the sameness of ALL imaging demos. Certainly there is the uniqueness of each voice talent’s money voice and the value that brings to painting a picture on the set of the theatre of the mind. The additional flavoring and spices that are included with radio imaging, however, (editing, EFX, drops etc) seem to be blending in to a cacophony of sameness.

As this (also timely) article noted from KROQ Production Director Trevor Shand, I’m not the only one who has noticed this.

You can go into almost any radio market in America and be sure to hear 3-4 of the same imaging voices everywhere. Let’s be clear, I do not resent for one minute any of these wonderful voice talents’ right to make a living and ride the wave of success. They have worked hard and more power to them.

Taken from a big picture perspective, almost the art of radio imaging, the same voices, the same effects, the same drops makes it all sound blah. I understand it is all so formulaic because one VP is issuing orders to use a voice talent because we get a corporate discount or because if it worked in Peoria it will work in Des Moines. And hey, if the customer asks me to make their station sound like the Des Moines station, that’s what I will do.

Neither I nor Trevor Shand are trying to bite the hands that feed us, certainly I’m not. I am offering up a request for program directors to try and create for their stations a slightly different sound in their imaging (no matter who they use as their voice). PD’s are the brains of the operation so they have to decide on the palette and texture. But as the hands (and/or vocal chords) of the guy whose putting the right paint colors on the proper numbers, I stand ready to try and craft something unique for the imaging sound of your station.

And I bet there are a few hundred other imaging producers chomping at the bit to do the same.

Am I right or am I way off base here? Please share any thoughts you have on the topic.

Thanks for reading.

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Tags: voice talent, radio, commentary, voiceover // Add Comment »