I love voiceover conferences.
They’re just plain fun. Especially the one I’m hitting this week: APAC!
Why? Many, many reasons.
I love the anticipation, the excitement of knowing that I’m going. Working out the logistics, and looking forward to seeing friends both old and new.
I love the knowledge. I always walk away from APAC learning something new about the audio book industry.
I love the networking. Honestly, I don’t go looking for work. I go primarily to hang out with my friends. However, the prospect of making a connection on a personal level that may turn into work is always nice, isn’t it?
I love the sense of community. This will be my fourth APAC and being able to spend even one day outside of my booth and being a welcome part of the audio book industry feels, well, damn good.
TIP OF THE WEEK
If this is your first APAC or your first voiceover conference, here are some tips to set you up for success:
Be prepared: know where you have to be and when. Go to their website and figure out which seminars you want to attend ahead of time. Also, bring something to takes notes with as well as business cards. DO NOT bring your demo with the intent of giving them to someone in hopes of getting work.
Don’t go just to take: If your mindset is that you are going to APAC just to make “connections” with publishers and ignore your “competition”, the conference will not serve you well. Just as an example, last year about half of the voiceover work I got came from peer-generated referrals, not from badgering agents or publishers. Your fellow voice talents are your greatest source of knowledge, potential work, and support.
Go to give: you may not know it, but you can be that source of knowledge, potential work, and support even thought you just started out in this business. Find ways to share what you as an individual has to offer.
Be kind to everyone, be a good listener, be honest to your yourself and others, and the Audio Publishers Association Conference can be the amazing experience you want it to be!
HAPPY HAPPYS!
Happy Memorial Day, and appropriately Happy Towel Day and Sunscreen Day!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness. John F. Kennedy
From my village to yours; this is Tom Dheere, GKN News…
Tom Dheere is a 19-year veteran of the voice over industry who has narrated thousands of projects for clients in over a dozen countries. He is also a coach at Edge Studio, voiceover business consultant known as the Voice Over Strategist, and is currently writing & producing the comic book “Agent 1.22”.