Warning! No Gabby's were harmed in the making of this video!
VO Atlanta, WOVO, Voxy Summit, VO Mastery... the list goes on and on! It's no secret that voiceover conferences are GREAT experiences, but they're also not cheap!
In this video, Gabby gives you the details on what you should look for and how to determine which conferences you should attend!
How to Pick a Voiceover Conference – 6:13
Look, voiceover conferences are amazing, right? So you get there, and there's all these people, and you haven't seen some of them in forever, and some of them you've never actually seen. You've just known them on Facebook for what seems like your whole life, and then you hug, and it’s great. And you love one another. And then you go to events, and you go see speakers, and then you usually have a keynote. And the keynote makes you cry because that's their whole purpose. They have to make you cry in the keynote. And then you go to a workshop, and then you go to another workshop, and then you go to another session and another session, and then you have lunch. And lunch is usually pretty good. And then after lunch you go to more sessions. And then you’re exhausted, and then you have to go back to your room and you have to change, because you have to go to karaoke. I don't know how they expect you to sing after all of that. And usually there's some drinking involved at some point in the evening. And then you get up in the morning, and you start it all over again, and at some point you go into the exhibit hall, and you get lots of free stuff. And then you have to figure out how you're going to get all that free stuff home, because you only packed a carry-on, so you really don't know what you’re going to do, but you’ll make it work, if it means wearing all of your swag home.
Hey, everybody. Thanks for joining me for another edition of "The Gift of Gab." Today we’re going to talk about voiceover conferences. There's a lot of them and there's a lot to know. There are so many voiceover conferences. It used to not be like this. There are just tons of these things now. It used to be 10 years ago there was only one and maybe two choices every so many years. Now every single year, multiple conferences for our industry are taking place. On one hand, that's really cool, and it gives us a lot of learning opportunities and a lot of networking opportunities, and it gives all of us really crazy people, who never leave our little padded rooms, a chance to have time with other human beings. Ah! It's the bestest.
But [laughs] there's so many of them that it can become overwhelming. We don't know where to spend our money or which one to go to, which one shouldn't I go to, it’s crazy. So let's go through them all and talk a little bit about this. VO Atlanta, WOVO Con, VOXY Summit, Mid-Atlantic Voiceover Conference, One Voice in London, Faffcon, Euro Retreat, That's Voiceover, VO Mastery, [gasps] and I'm sure there’ll be like five new ones by the time this video comes out. What are the things that you have to look for and how do you determine which one you should actually be going to?
It really isn't that difficult to pick the best conference for you. First of all, you need to know your goal in attending a conference. Why do you want to do it? Is it education? Is it networking? Is it an opportunity to meet with clients and talent agents? Know your goals ahead of time because you need to check your goals with the goal of the conference. Some events are strictly for learning. Some are strictly for networking. So knowing this can help you to figure out exactly which ones you can narrow down on your list and which ones you can eliminate.
Next up, you really have to plan your budget, and you have to take a lot of things into consideration when it comes to money. Conferences are not cheap. While they are very worthwhile to attend, they cost a good bit to attend. Don't just look at the base price of the conference. You need to think about all the money that you’re going to invest. Travel, airfare, hotel, accommodations, food, just having a daily spending limit. The further you have to go, the more money you’re going to have to budget, so really take the time to think about that when you’re factoring in your total available budget for attending some of these events.
Talk to other people who have attended the conference that you’re thinking about going to. Make sure you talk to a couple of different people and get some really solid insights into what you can expect and what their experiences were like.
Whichever one you attend, I can guarantee you you’re gonna have a phenomenal time, and you’re gonna meet some amazing people, and you’re gonna make friends that you’re gonna have for the rest of your life. One thing I will tell you is that as a conference attendee, it’s very easy to start getting a little bit of FOMO going on, a little bit of fear of missing out. Don't worry about it. We can't possibly attend it all, go to it all, be at all things. Something’s gotta give, and even when you’re at a conference, it’s really easy to run yourself into the ground trying to make sure that you go to every single event, talk, speaker, conference, party, get-together that's taking place surrounding the conference. Don't do that to yourself. It is way, way too much pressiure. Preth-iure. Don't do that to yourself. It’s way too much pressure, and it’s not necessary. We can't possibly get to everything. If you’re going to a two or three-day conference, you’re gonna miss some stuff. It’s all right. A good thing to do is plan ahead with friends who are going. This way you guys can kind of share notes for different things that maybe you got to that they didn’t and vice versa.
When you’re going, bring business cards, lots of them. There's no excuse to not have one. I can't tell you how many conferences I’ve been to where voice actors either don't have a business card with them or didn't even think to bring one. Big no-no. Make sure you have them. Have stacks of them for that matter, and get out there and meet people. That's really the biggest benefit to one of our conferences in the voiceover industry. They’re amazingly wonderful events. They’re run by some wonderful people. And at the end of the day, I really don't think there is such a thing as a terrible conference experience in the voiceover industry. But you gotta find what works for you.
If you want more information like this, you can check out my website. There is loads of information there including links to a bunch of different conferences and resources throughout the industry. Thanks for watching.
704-674-8294 / GabrielleNistico.com / gabby@voiceovervixen.com
Gabrielle Nistico, Gabby Nistico, The Voiceover Vixen, The Business First VO Coach, #VoiceoverVixen #VoiceOnFire #BusinessFirstVOCoach Voiceover, Charlotte, North Carolina, Voiceover conference, networking, WOVO, Voxy Ladies, VO Atlanta, VO Mastery