SaVoa once again plans to have a strong presence at the VOICE conference.

VOICE is The Voice Over International Creative Experience, organized and founded by VoiceActing Academy’s James Alburger and Penny Abshire.  Alburger is also the author of  THE ART OF VOICE-ACTING, a very popular primer for all those in the business of voice-acting.

VOICE began in Las Vegas in 2007, then moved to Century City in Southern California for the conferences in 2008 and 2010.  Now, two years later, VOICE2012, will be held at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA from June 13th through the 16th.

In 2010, the SaVoa booth signed up more than 70 interested attendees considering membership.  Many of those are now full-fledged members of SaVoa.

This June, one of the main sponsors of the VOICE2012 conference will be VOICES.com.

VOICE is built on a motto of:   Education, Technology, and Community.  A number of notable coaches, top talent, and  influential people in the VO community will be presenting or on panels in this conference.

Click HERE to go to the registration page.  Early bird pricing is good till Feb 15th.

If you are not a SaVoa member, please stop by the booth to get to know us and ask questions.  If you’re a current member, please stop by anyway, and let us know if you have any suggestions.

See you there!

Dave Courvoisier
SaVoa Advisory Board member

George is what you would call an Audio or “sound” expert.  His knowledge and implementation of technical solutions to some of the thorniest troubleshooting and design issues are legendary.  He was the personal home studio engineer for Don LaFontaine.  After Don’s passing, George helped build the SAGA Foundation Don LaFontaine Voice Over Lab.  He’s also involved in wiring any number of notable voice actor’s private studios in the LA area.

George’s own business is Eldorado Recording Services or EldoRec.  (http://eldorec.com).

Luckily, George is a friend…a friend of SaVoa. Early on, George became a “friend” of SaVoa, offering discounts to members who need to consult on equipment or troubleshooting.  George is partners with SaVoa Advisory Board member Dan Lenard - The Home Studio Master — in a weekly fun live half-hour program on U-Stream called EWABS (East West Audio Body Shop).

The other day, I collared George into an interview on Skype which is posted below.  It’s about 14 mins long, and ranges far and wide on a number of issues of value to voice actors, including SaVoa.   Please take the time to listen and learn from one of the great “listeners”.

Dave Courvoisier
SaVoa Advisory Board Member

With the assistance of British Voice-actor Andy Boyns (living in Istanbul), the members of our board worked out new protocols for vetting talent whose primary tongue is something other than English.

As a result, Mehmet Onur is one of SaVoa’s newest accredited members.

Please see Andy Boyns’ Blog for the complete story.

We thanks Andy for his assistance, and we welcome Mr. Onur to our ranks of accredited voice-actors.

Dave Courvoisier
SaVoa Advisory Board Member

In 2010, SaVoa:

• experienced the addition of scores of new members
• saw a switch in the presidency
• launched an active Advisory Board
• began including and creating protocols for accepting more members from foreign countries
• made a promotional splash at VOICE2010, signing up more than 70 potential members
• sponsored the first ever National Voice Over Appreciation Month
• created an affiliate program and almost immediately signed about 5 partners with services and offers for members
• began an exclusive online community for its members

If anything, SaVoa’s newest mission is to create a a better understanding of WHO WE ARE, and what we represent.  Misinformation, unfounded fears, and assumptions cloud prospects for inclusion of many more professionally seasoned voice actors.

There’s no question SaVoa is a hit with its members.  Read this from SaVoa member Claire Dodin:

“My SaVoa accreditation helped me get a US agent and be listed on VoiceBank. The community is also great to help us make choices on the equipment we buy, one of the directors at SaVoa is helping me upgrade some of my equipment and his expert advice is valuable. 

See a greater discussion of Claire’s rationale for SaVoa here:  http://www.uk.castingcallpro.com/m/36758.

Our peer review process is now streamlined and churning out approvals of qualified applicants regularly.  We’ve recently updated our database of current members, and can distribute pertinent info to everyone within hours.

If you feel SaVoa has helped your voice over career in any way, please feel free to comment below with verbatims and examples.  We’d like to know how we’ve helped, and what we can do or change to help even more.

Watch for new promotions, more affiliates, continued growth, and big announcements in 2011.  SaVoa’s not out to change the VO world…just create “a hire standard”.

Dave Courvoisier
SaVoa Advisory Board member

The event is being launched with the support of a consortium of high-profile VO businesses, coaches, individuals, agencies, subscription sites, and supporters (including VoiceOverXtra).

The official announcement comes from the offices of the Society of Accredited Voice Over Artists (SaVoa), with planned month-long promotions, marketing opportunities, and news releases. The event offers the opportunity for voice actors of every stripe to raise awareness about the industry, and educate the consumer about their work.

“Voice actors create various spoken products that are heard by viewers, and listeners in a broad spectrum of media,” says Dave Courvoisier, a member of SaVoa’s Advisory Board.  “People don’t realize that practically every city and town in America has voice actors working out of a private studio in their home.”

SaVoa member and Voice Actor Peter O’Connell adds, “…Today, with the explosion of communication tools brought on by the success of the internet, just a small; sample of the places voice talents’ work can be heard around the world include computers, stadiums and arena, video games, telephone systems, airports, colleges and universities, the internet as well as television and radio.”

And yet, the majority of Voice Over Talents work as individuals.  An event like September’s NVOAM helps build pride in the far-flung community of Voice Over professionals.  The industry is known for it’s supportive camaraderie as is evidenced by the traffic at online forum sites like the VO-BB and VoiceOverUniverse. While there is a fascination with the mystique of Voice Overs, most of the general public doesn’t quite understand how a Voice Over Talent actually interfaces with the vast media/advertising marketplace.

National Voice Over Awareness Month hopes to change that.  Voice Actors are encouraged to freely spread the word about NVOAM; to utilize the NVOAM logo on their website; link back to the NVOAM website (http://www.nationalvoiceovermonth.com)’ and use the NVOAM occasion in their marketing and self-promotion tools.

“This is our month to come out of the studio, and spread the word about the valuable service we provide, talk about the challenges of our work, and honor the indefatigable spirit of Voice Actors everywhere – freelancers in the finest creative and entrepreneurial tradition,” says Courvoisier.