Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guests tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, Carin Gilfry and Jamie Muffett!! Carin and Jamie talked about their awesome conference, eVOcation, which took place last weekend. I attended, and what a valuable, educational, inspirational, and fun weekend it was (see my write-up here)!!
Carin and Jamie are both voice actors who started Facebook groups for local voice actors in New York and Philadelphia, respectively. In addition to the online groups, they also held in-person events. The eVOcation conference came about around 2018 when they met and realized that they were doing similar things in cities not far away. They thought, “Why not have a conference that focuses on the business side of being a voice actor?” And in September of 2019, the first VOcation conference took place in New York.
Since then the conference has been held virtually, hence the addition of the “e” in eVOcation. This year’s event covered a comprehensive range of topics applicable to voice actors as well as to others who own a business. As Jamie noted, an issue like work-life balance is something that all entrepreneurs have to deal with. Streamlining your workflow, negotiating rates, marketing, optimizing online casting profiles, website design and SEO — hearing other voice actors talk about these topics as it applies to us was a goldmine of information.
The workshops after each presenter were gold, too. The idea that Carin and Jaime had was for the workshops to provide steps that we could take away that could improve our businesses, and having the virtual conference means that you can be sitting in your workspace and make progress in real time. As Carin said, with the workshops it’s like a working weekend and a learning weekend.
In just a few months, there are plans for an in-person event this fall in New York! The conference returns to Symphony Space from September 10-11. Carin and Jamie said that they don’t have any announcements yet, but they are organizing it now so stay tuned.
And mark your calendars for February 9-12, 2023, and pack your bags for Cancun! Plans are in the works for a conference at the all-inclusive Moon Palace Resort. The plan is for classes to run from 10am-3pm every day and have the afternoons/evenings free.
Wondering how to connect and stay in the loop with all of these upcoming events? Join the Facebook group Vocation Voiceover, follow Vocation Conference on eventbrite, and visit vocationconference.com
Thanks so much to Marc, Carin and Jaime for the behind-the-scenes look at eVOcation, and thanks also for the audience questions that helped everyone listening learn even more! Check out the Marc Guss Voiceover Club every Wednesday night on Clubhouse at 8:30 pm ET or catch the replay later.