It’s not often that I find a book so readable that I run through it in a couple sittings, but for me, Joe Cipriano’s Living on Air is certainly one of them. If you don’t know who Joe Cipriano is, you certainly know his voice. His list of credits runs long…radio personality for prominent stations, network promo voice for the TV networks of Fox, CBS, NBC and ESPN, live announcer for the Primetime Emmy Awards, and Grammy awards, and in-show narrator for a slew of hits including America’s Got Talent, NBC, Deal or No Deal, Make Me a Mogul and others.

MAVO, the Mid Atlantic Voiceover Conference, was held in Washington D.C. from November 10th to November 13, 2023 at the Westin Washington Dulles Airport.

I know better, but I still do it. I compare myself with others…how far I’ve advanced relative to my peers, whether they have better work-life balance that me, what kind and number of vacations they take.

I’ve recently adopted a new project management tool.

Yesterday, I was asked to critique someone’s newly completed voiceover website. I needed the break so I happily jumped over to see their fresh turf. Within seconds, my heart sank. My thoughts turned to to how I was going to deliver feedback without crushing what I sensed was a fragile ego.

Earlier this year, I moved into a new apartment.

Regardless of the industry, in an age where our attention is tempted by so many media sources, when so much strife and dissent exists (not to mention the distraction of macroeconomic stresses), it’s key to ensure that we’re taking care of ourselves meaning our minds, soul and body.

There is no end of expenditures that we can make and find a way to justify whether it be an investment in a booth or recording facility, training or coaching, demo production, equipment - we all know how much we love our toys - marketing, conferences, and software subscriptions to name a few.

The earliest and certainly one of the most memorable lessons I was taught was to never stop at 95%.

Voiceover recording is at once freeing in that one can pursue this vocation without limitation and independently of others, but at the same time, it can also be an isolating experience.

I was recently on vacation and visited Casablanca for a day as a part of a cruise. It wasn’t my first time in Morocco and from my previous experience, I knew that taxi drivers could be aggressive, that negotiating was necessary and that it wouldn’t be as simple as hailing a Lyft as I had been doing at other cruise terminals (gig transport services are not yet available there).

I’ve come across a new VO Podcast, the VO Breakfast Show. While my main VO Podcast continues to be Marc Scott’s Everyday VOpreneur, the Breakfast Show is a welcome addition to my listening stable and I’ve been running through the episodes like nobody’s business. Its hosts are veterans Carin Gilfry and Jamie Muffett.

A deluge of articles on Chat GPT suddenly appeared on all the ways we could put Chat GPT to good use, the inherent risks, how people were already losing their livelihoods to this technology and how even technologists were urging caution until we could design and implement safeguards.

It’s not your imagination. In the United States, the rise in inflation continues to be acute and is on track to be high again in 2023 at 5.5%.

The Voices 2023 Annual Trends Report is now available.

I’m hungry for change. I have my own trail of made and broken resolutions behind me so I’m generally weary of making resolutions, New Year related or otherwise.