What an incredibly awesome experience!   Those who were there understand the power of attending this phenomenal conference!  For those who were not present this year, I encourage you to attend the next one.

James Alburger and Penny Abshire co-produced this amazing event, bringing together top voice talent and industry experts who generously shared their time and expertise with attendees as presenters, making themselves available mingling throughout the event, and some even offered private coaching sessions!

The Red Carpet Reception Wednesday evening was a kaleidoscope of talent from around the world and a fantastic opportunity to network.  Pat Fraley and special guest, Brad Garrett, kicked off the event Thursday morning with a keynote presentation on understanding and delivering comedy in voiceover! Specialized breakout sessions followed by top talents such as: Marc Cashman, Dan Lenard, Deb Munro, Melody Jones, the queen of telephony, Liz de Nesnera, Erik Sheppard, Tim Underwood, technical audio expert and genius George Whittam, and more.

The Expo boasted representation from such popular voice over resources as John Florian and VoiceOverXtra, SAVOA, Source Connect, Performer Track, El Dorado Recording Services, and many of the presenters too.  Outstanding photographer, CeCe Canton was available for professional headshots, and technical experts were available for techie questions on the Tech Talk Terrace.  One of the most popular exhibits at the Expo was the Osborne Head and Neck Institute, where talents could actually receive a complimentary general scope of their throat and vocal chords, speak with Dr. Reena Gupta, MD., who is a board-certified fellowship trained Laryngologist about vocal health concerns, and other medical experts including a Pediatric Otolaryngologist and a Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon.

Dave Courvoisier and I kicked off Friday morning with a riveting keynote on building your voiceover business through social media networking. I even did my best David Lee Roth-inspired kick!  You can check out the PowerPoint from our talk on SocialMediaVO.com.  Following our presentation were more breakout sessions from vo experts such as Richard Horvitz, Julie Williams, John Florian, Gabrielle Nistico,  an audio book panel hosted by Hilary Huber, and an uncut, uncensored course from Nancy Wolfson on “The Absolute Best Booking Secret F%#king Ever!” in effectively delivering copy!   MJ Lallo, Bill Homes, Big Louie and the queen of improv, Karly Rothenberg, delivered the final touches of the evening.   More networking fun and fellowship followed at the X-Bar!

Marc Cashman made us laugh until we cried Saturday morning as he shared real life examples of horribly offbeat, crazy, demented directions and copy given to voice talents that he’s collected over the years.  An entourage of exceptional talent ensued with sessions by John Taylor, Beau Weaver, Peter Rofe, Tim Keenan and the awesome Joe Cipriano, who closed out the Saturday sessions with a powerful promo panel!

The Poolside Mixer was a definite hit and the VOICE Banquet was the perfect culmination to VOICE 2010.   John Florian received VOICE Community Award and we were honored with some very special guests who are legends in the voice over industry – June Foray, Bob Bergen, Rob Paulsen, and Maurice LaMarche.

The relationships forged at VOICE 2010 are memorable. An excellent opportunity to connect with other people and be connected to a wonderfully supportive and powerful community, VOICE is an event you won’t want to miss!