What a busy month since I last posted. Conferencing in Sydney, travelling throughout Tasmania training BNI members and recording voiceovers.

Listened to Enzo Botte (Action Coach) - presenting the "6 Steps to Attaining Massive Results in Your Business". For more information go to www.actioncoach.com/enzobotte

Listening to Mark Garbelotto of Wealth Empowerment Institute presenting " Selling Like a Professional", part of an accredited Certificate 3 course in Advanced Selling Skills. For more information go to www.briantracy.net.au

Listening to Greg Knox of EC Credit Control talking about "How a Lack of Terms of Trade can Kill Your Business". To find out more visit www.eccreditcontrol.com

Just listened to Celine Egan from Accelerate Series talking about the "Responsibility Game.
Visit www.accelerateseries.com to find out more.

Listening to Lindsay and Greg Adams from the Referral Institute presenting Referral Success 101 at the BNI Business Development Day.

Who is your target market ? Be specific then find a referral partner(s) to help you achieve access.

Listening to Lindsay and Greg Adams from the Referral Institute presenting Referral Success 101. Find out more at www.referralinstitute.com.au

Do you procrastinate ? If you do book yourself into the next "Eat That Frog" seminar in your area. Go to www.eatthatfrog.com.au

Listening to Mark Garbelotto presenting the "Eat That Frog" seminar in Hobart. More to come soon !

Finally finished training all the BNI leadership teams. Onwards and upwards from here !

Finished designing another website using the excellent Thesis 151 Wordpress theme. Check it out at www.tfca.com.au

What a busy month since my last post. Organising a Business Development Day which is on tomorrow ! Fingers crossed it goes well !

BNI Leadership team training - Very busy for past two weeks. Finishes after Friday's sessions. Currently in Burnie. Launceston tonight for more training tomorrow. Home on Thursday.

And for my next trick ....... updating painter Roger Murphy's website.

Nearly finished redesigning website for Tasmanian Forest Contractors Association at www.tfca.com.au

Just finished voicing and mastering a corporate video voiceover for Peter Kline & Associates in HOng KOng on behalf of Leighton Asia.

Very busy with various projects over the last two weeks. New audio, video and websites coming up for clients!!

Busy day ! Interviewed video subject, updated three websites, processed audio files, invoices and BNI memberships. Plus taking photos tonight.

reviewing and restructuring SEO on a clients website

Meeting with BBX Hobart franchisee Cherie Duggan re; opportunities. Refer to www.ebbx.com

BNI Business Development Day now changed to Friday 16th October @ Mercure Hobart

BNI Business Development Day featuring Lindsay Adams Referral Institute & Mark Garbelotto Brian Tracy Intl - Thu 15 Oct - Hobart

Great Wordpress theme called Thesis 151. It's very flexible !

Busy updating Ozvox Audio voiceover talent website @ www.ozvoxaudio.com

Organising a Big Breakfast in October with White Diamond Events Sara Millar

RT @mashable Card.ly: Build a Beautiful Social Media Business Card http://bit.ly/18nfRa I've just done this. View my card at http://ping.fm/pLJ9D

Heading back to Hobart after BNI training sessions went really well.

Just about to head out for Launceston to run MSP training tonight and Advanced MSP workshop tomorrow.

RT @voicesdotcom Getting the Most Out of Voice Over Marketplaces http://ping.fm/xoFTr This has some great advice.

Snow on the mountain today! Cold..brrrr. Come on spring do your thing .

What is the "Twitter Army" ? I don't want to be part of it.

Just heard a great guerilla marketing message on an answering machine from a naturopath. I'm going to get the free report.

Sorry. twitter.com/hobartcomms

British govt strategy on Twitter. http://ping.fm/X2iHh Thanks to www.twitter/hobartcomms for finding this link.

Just heard a great new podcast from Ivan Misner called the "Top 10 Ways to Waste Your Time in BNI". You can listen to it at www.bnipodcast.com

The new Ozvox Media podcast site

The new Ozvox Media podcast website is up and running at http://ping.fm/IcvBM
Please subscribe and you'll be seeing lots of new podcasts soon !

Podbean.com

Just signed up for podbean.com to upload podcasts for distribution

Ping.fm

Just set up a great social media dashboard using all my various platforms through ping.fm
Try it !!

What is the best social media dashboard?

I've been trying out a few dahsboard-style interfaces to help me manage my burgeoning social media responsibilities (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Blogger, Flickr and YouTube to name a few).

Initially I started out with a bunch of favourites in my Internet Explorer, then iGoogle, before discovering (thanks to Mashable) other things like Seesmic Desktop, TweetDeck and PeopleBrowsr for managing Facebook and Twitter identities.

However the best to date has been Flock which acts as a web browser, RSS feed manager, Gmail client, status manager for all the most popular social media sites as well as media manager for Flickr, Picasa and YouTube.

If that wasn't enough it also has great sharing and blogging options at the click of a button!

It's essentially (as far as I can tell) a version of Firefox with all the benefits of being able to download all the plug ins for Firefox.

The only drawback is it does not (as yet) allow to be logged to to multiple twitter identities (at once anyway), thus I still rely on Tweetdeck as well.

The only performance drawback is it is slower than Google Chrome but given how many more features are crammed into it that shouldn't be surprising.

Whilst currently enamoured with Flock the reports about Google Wave do have me excited if Google can marry Flock's one-stop shop ability with the speed of Chrome.

Until then check out Flock!

Audio Boo

There's an iPhone app I've just discovered called AudioBoo. Check it out at http://audioboo.fm/

Start Hearing Voices! Why Voice-Over Talent is Important

Author: Vicki Amorose

Start Hearing Voices! Why Voice-over Talent is Important
By Vicki Amorose


Here is something I find puzzling. I often encounter media projects where the voice-over artist is considered as the last element of production. Voice-over is not the icing on the cake, it is not even the candle on the cake. Voice-over is the match no one can find just as everything is ready and the client is awaiting the cake presentation.

'Who has a match? Did somebody bring matches? Who is going to read this script?'

I've been a voice-over talent since the last century, and I admit, I am unusually tuned-in to voices. I carefully listen to every voice-over I come across and weigh its strengths and weaknesses. I am not asking my reader to be as obsessively interested as I am, but I do want to point out how your message will be greatly enhanced by the right voice.

I can't tell you the number of times I've been contacted by a frantic media producer who needs me to voice their project NOW, and preferably yesterday. All the elements- visuals, script, music, message- it's all ready to go just as soon as I record the voice-over. While I am happy to get hired, it feels like voice-over is considered as a minor wrap-up detail, like buying a presentation folder at Staples. How often do producers consider voice-over as merely reading? How often do they think, 'I know this voice-over guy or gal can provide fast turn around', as if expedience were the primary consideration for good voice-over?

Stop and think for a moment about the importance and influence of the human voice. It has been called the most versatile instrument on earth. We all find it easy to detect when someone is upset, excited, or disinterested, just by listening to the inflection and timbre of their voice. We can recognize and identify the subtleties of hundreds of different voices. Even if we have not heard a person's voice for years, their voice can jog our memory as effectively as a picture.

Humans respond to human voices, we do so instinctively and instantly. In fact, we respond to voices before we are born. Similar to music, voices stir feelings. The sound of a voice can raise or lower our blood pressure. Consider the power a voice has to soothe, amuse, irritate, or bore us. Voices convey complex emotions and communicate so much more than mere words.

Forgive the blatant truism of this statement, but the voice is a powerful tool for communicating. So do not overlook the possibilities of voice-over for enhancing your message. Sure, anyone can talk. But can 'anyone' sustain the listener's attention? Doesn't your project require a 'someone', not an 'anyone', to perform voice-over?

Take the time to cast your audio project. Most professional voice talents will audition for you gladly. Plan the time to search for and hire the right voice, the voice that best reaches your audience. From advertising to art and everything in between, voice-over is important.

No more, 'Did somebody bring matches? Who is going to read this script?' Stock up on matches and keep the drawer full!

Copyright 2009
http://www.voiceofvicki.com

About the Author:

Vicki Amorose is an award winning voice talent and copywriter.Listen to her demos or ask questions at http://www.voiceofvicki.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Start Hearing Voices! Why Voice-Over Talent is Important

Free SEO Blogger

Thanks to Nick Usborne I've been directed to a Free SEO Blogger for Firefox. It's at http://www.wordtracker.com/academy/5-minute-seo. You can also follow Nick on Twitter: at twitter.com/nickusborne or follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/dangarlick.

That's it for now !!

The Voiceover Industry and how to get into it !

I regularly get emails from people wishing to go into the voiceover industry after someone tells them they have a "nice voice".

For those that wish to get into this industry there is a lot of information to wade through on the internet.

This industry is wide and varied and differs from country to country. But the essential tenets of the industry are the same no matter where you're located.

There is any number of credible books and reports you can read about this.

A couple are Susan Berkley’s Six Insider Secrets… Free Ebook available from the Great Voice Company at www.greatvoice.com

Another professional in the voiceover industry Peter O'Connell has just released a book called "The Voiceover Entrance Exam".

This is a free ebook as well available from his website at http://www.audioconnell.com

I recommend these both as they have been written from the perspective of voiceover professionals wishing to help newbies get into the industry.

Wanted: Voiceover talent

OzVox Audio provides a service that puts a strong emphasis on professionalism, value and fast economical delivery of your voice over project. 
Ozvox Audio provides voiceover talent for e-learning applications, web sites, corporate dvd presentations and radio, TV or cinema advertising campaigns. 
In fact, any conceivable audio project ! 
The voiceover artists are available in over 10 languages including English (most accents), Chinese, Spanish, Portguguese, Belgian, Dutch, German, Greek, Serbian, Italian and Turkish. 

We are currently seeking Arabic voiceover talent.

Visit www.ozvoxaudio.com to apply.

More on Google Wave

Google Wave just keeps looking better and better !

The images feature is incredible - it has a really easy way to create a group photo album.

Can't wait to use this in a lot of areas.

You can add your posts in a wave to Twitter and other such applications.

Proposal Kit

Proposal and Contract Management Software, Documents, Templates and Samples for Selling Products and Services

Accurately quote your projects, multiply your profitability, brand yourself as a top professional and close the sale. Proposal Kit helps you demonstrate that you are the right professional for your customers. It's mission-critical, easy, customizable, accurate and immediately downloadable.

Google Wave

I'm very excited by the possibilities embodied in the new Google Wave app. I've only watched 15 minutes so far of the presentation but I'll find time to watch more.

Love the collaborative images section so far and the instant messaging in emails.

More to come.................

Audio Recorders

This Video overview of the Sony PCM-D50 digital audio recorder convinmced me to go with this recorder rather than the Zoom H4N.

Can't wait to get it from the Sony Centre here in Hobart.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Brad Linder has published a video over view of this recorder at this link

I've just come across a handy audio recorder called a Zoom H4N. 

Looks great and comes in at about $650 AUD. 

Saving up to get one. 

Brad Linder has written a review of it - www.bradlinder.net/2009/03/zoom-h4n-review.html

Latest media tools

Looking at a telephone recording unit for doing phone interviews with.  It's called a CRU4.
I'm selling them from my website at www.voiceoveronhold.com.au

Pretty simple to use, just have a look at the images below.