New Business Development Feature
By Liz Raphael Helgesen

Communication does not depend on syntax, or eloquence, or rhetoric, or articulation but on the emotional context in which the message is being heard. People can only hear you when they are moving toward you, and they are not likely to when your words are pursuing them. Even the choice words lose their power when they are used to overpower. Attitudes are the real figures of speech. --Edwin H. Friedman

I am often asked, “How can I get into the field of voiceovers; people say I have a great voice?” This article isn’t about my complete response to that question. It is about only one part of my response, and it is the most important part. To perform the job of a voice talent, I have to have a healthy mind, clear intention and connection with my self. And this takes work. It takes a daily commitment to use the tools and techniques that keep me available and my attitudes healthy so I can reach others.

We’re born communicating in the most pure and simple ways--we cry, laugh and learn to use emotion to connect with others and get our basic needs met. Then we learn to form words so we can talk and use our voices to express our developing sense of self. As we grow, we learn socialization and build relationships outside of ourselves. Our experiences (good and bad and in-between) shape our attitudes and beliefs, and we have our own reactions to the world (good, bad and in-between). And through it all, we develop our own authentic style of communicating, with all the special nuances in our voice that make it ours.

For me, being a voice talent is not about having a great set of pipes or reading words on a page. It’s about having my very own feelings, attitudes, experiences and reactions and sharing that part of myself with another person. It’s about feeling safe to be vulnerable with you to deliver a message to you. It’s about being able to bring my voice-print, my nuances--how I say it--to voiceover copy and make it mine. I do this best when I keep my mind healthy and well. Effective communication depends solely on the my health of my attitudes.

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Welcome to Sound Ideas

Glen Campbell welcomes all CV Newsletter subscribers and readers with an exciting exclusive offer that you will not find anywhere else. Simply submit your name, mailing address. phone number and email address to Glen monthly...that's all there is to it. First he will offer to send you a Sound Ideas Sampler of many of their terrific products and you will also be eligible to win one of two great Production CD's, Captain Audio (450 sfx) or Mzzz Muzic (200 music tracks). Just click on Glen's name to submit. I have been dealing with Glen at Sound-Ideas for many years both in radio and in VO. He is very knowledgeable and professional about his business and is not a sales-hound if you know what I mean. Give Glen a call anytime at 1-800-665-3000 (within Canada) or 1-800-387-3030 (USA), 905-886-5000 (International). Check out their Blue Plate Specials every month for amazing deals!

Welcome to Sound Ideas Online The world's largest publisher of professional sound effects, royalty free music, and your source for a comprehensive selection of production music and production element libraries.Buy direct from Sound Ideas - our e-commerce Web site offers secure online purchasing of more than 200 different sound effects and stock music products for broadcast, post-production, multimedia, game development and other wireless and entertainment applications.

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Explode your Holiday Sales - Five Step Internet Marketing Campaign.....by Frank Frederick

This A Plan That’s Affordable, Effective, And Profitable
There is still time to make the holiday season a profitable one and begin next year with financial bang.
Coordinating a planned and organized internet marketing plan which does not cost bundles of money and which will generate traffic and sales much faster than search engine submissions alone is not a difficult task. Your internet based marketing plan will take research and some solid knowledge of your target customer, but it can be done in the space of one hard-working day.
Follow this simple Five Step Marketing Plan which has been created especially for small business. By following each of the steps listed below, you will develop an effective holiday marketing campaign and create marketing messages which may be implemented immediately to begin reaping sales success.................More

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The Funnies

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Marketing Voiceovers On-Line
Getting Found and Cast
by Peter Drew

The Voice-Over Revolution
The Internet is revolutionizing the voice-over business. Today quality remote recording of voiceovers can be done virtually anywhere. With a PC, mic, and Internet connection, almost anyone can set up shop as a voice talent.

A few years ago, a remote session entailed a voice over talent standing in a commercial production house studio, say, in L.A., taking direction over the telephone through a “phone patch” from, say, New York City.

The next innovation in remote recording was the satellite link. It sounds great on either end, but it’s very expensive, so it’s suited only for sessions with the biggest budgets and most expensive talents.
........More

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Making Script mistakes or Timely Writing....Rick Gordon

I recently recorded a rather large script for an educational e-Learning site and all seemed to go well. After receiving all the bits they applied them to the Flash visuals and found the timing to be all wrong......the scripts were far too long. In other words the screen had to stay up for much longer than the producers wanted in order to give it time to play all of the audio. As a result they had to re-write about 15 screens much shorter than the originals which of course cost them extra money. Not good. Good for me but not good for my client.

This is an on-going problem with visual production but really the answer is very simple. I am going to share this with you, all of our talented writers and producers who we VO talents greatly respect and we understand the many challenges of getting a script right the first time and on time. The other problem is producing by committee and we understand the head banging scenarious that result there too but that is another topic.

You might want to copy and print this to use as a guideline.

You probably already know this but normal narration speed in English is about 150 words per min (WPM). So in writing your scripts you could estimate how long the screen is to stay active with this formula. 75 words = 30 secs, 37 words = 15 secs, 25 words = 10 secs, and 13 words = 5 secs.

I hope this helps.

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Steps to Marketing Your Website (This month #1)....Mark Pelisek

Format your Content

Formatting your content is an important part of engaging your readers and encouraging them to read on. It's not just the content of your website, newsletter, or blog that matters: the formatting of this content determines how much your content is read and absorbed. Current research using eyetracking software shows us exactly how visitors read and scan through material to determine which items are worth their time. A page with a huge block of text is an eyesore to anyone trying to read it. Breaking up your pages and formatting your content is crucial to maximizing your site's readability.

After writing your content using the hallmarks of good copywriting, follow these guidelines to format your content for the web:

Use bullet points
Bullet points are a great way to list your ideas in a concise format.

Edit your material for relevance and brevity
Don't create an emotional attachment to your business writing—snip at will to keep your information on task!

Use typography and font hierarchy
In your style guides or stylesheets, designate different font treatments for headings, subsections, body text, and links.

Write, rewrite, and really focus on your headings and subheadings
Your section titles can make or break the information that comes after them. Being precise and clear will help you to get more readers for the rest of your information.

Write in an easy-to-understand, conversational tone
Using too much technical jargon or writing text that doesn't flow will only help you lose your readers.

Increase your line height
Increasing the line height in your code increases the white space between lines and makes the text easer to read.

Break up your text with paragraphs and punctuation
Providing content in bite-sized amounts can be easier for a visitor to process and absorb than long-winded, endless paragraphs. Don't be shy about breaking things up with punctuation and new paragraphs.

To learn more about creating quality content and writing for the web, contact Whirl Wind Web & Design Studio at info@whirlwindstudio.com

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