Welcome back to MAVO 2018. We are live now with Bob Johnson, who I met last time, no, I didn’t meet you last time, I met you just after this conference, and we said next time we have MAVO, we have to get together. So welcome, thanks for being on.
Yeah, because it was 2016, and I was saying, you were at MAVO? I didn’t see you there.
Yeah, I was kind of a whirlwind that day, as I was talking about during our intro last night. It was our third episode ever, and Sean and I were running around like chickens with our heads cut off, because we had no earthly idea what we were doing. We were just trying to get things organized.
We’re a little bit better now, marginally. So, good to see you again.
This is my fourth MAVO. I’ve been here since 2014. Wow.
2014, 2015, did 16, and then this one.
Awesome. So, as a veteran of the conference, what are you looking to accomplish this year?
For this particular conference, it’s the level of presenters that they have. And again, from year to year, this conference just continues to grow and get bigger, both in participants, but also the presenters as well. And so, getting ready to hear Armand talk about Bedalgo, to hear Gabby talk about conversational reads to Johnny Heller in audiobooks.
I mean, across the board, whatever level you are as a voice actor, or whatever genre you want, you have some element of it here at MAVO. So that’s what makes this conference great.
Yeah, I agree. And I would agree that the Calibre presenter is just amazing. I sat right here with Joe Cipriano this morning.
And I said…
Joe Cip, I didn’t even mention him.
I said to him, as much as I admire what Val’s done, when I saw he was on the schedule too, I said, what?
Right, right, yeah. It’s gonna be exciting. Yeah, it just kept coming, and I’m like, wow, this is getting huge.
I agree. So what have you done so far today? Have you had any sessions that you were sitting in on?
The only, I have a session coming up with Johnny Heller, and I have another one tomorrow with Johnny Heller, I think, as well. I did one with Gabby with Conversational Reads, which is always interesting. Did one with Tom Deere today, talking about the strategy behind this, and you’re all reminded that this is a business first.
And you’re always scratching down notes and saying, all right, mission plan, goals, and vision statements of that thing. So, but yeah, overall, yeah, it’s been great. I’ve met a lot of people who have been here before.
What struck me this year when we were talking is the number of new people here, and specific to folks in the Mid-Atlantic region, folks that have been doing voice overs, but others who, quite frankly, haven’t done anything in the voiceover world but want to come here and try to get involved in it in some way.
Yeah, I noticed that as well this morning when Hugh Edwards at the opening sessions asked everybody how long they’ve been doing this. He said, show of hands, who’s never been to a voiceover conference. And almost half the room raised their hands.
And I was amazed at the sheer amount of talent in this area because I don’t often see it. We lock ourselves in our little boxes or you’re about to lock yourself in your new little box.
How about that, huh? I like that.
And you just don’t see those people very often unless you’re at a conference like this.
And that’s the beauty of the conferences, is that you get out, you get to meet people, you can talk about room tone and actually have an interesting conversation about it. But at the same time you realize, wow, we’re only a few miles apart. And even if you’re half hour to an hour, DC area being maybe two hours away, you’re really not that far away from people.
So there is a good, rich community here to get together with. And it’s nice that VAL puts this stuff together for all of us to sort of come out, as opposed to… I usually do APAC as well, and that’s always a good one.
And I’m doing Voice Over Atlanta this year as well.
I’ll be there as well.
All right, good.
So I want to report on something that we talked about a couple of months ago. Some of our listeners may remember Bob was on as a guest due to my booth snafu, where I was going to sell him the booth and then renege on the deal, and Bob was left out to dry. I want to report on a happy ending.
Tell us about that.
Well, I don’t know that I was left out of the box, so to speak, but I appreciate you feeling guilty enough that you didn’t sell me your booth and in fact stayed on the lookout for me and actually found one through Craigslist, gave me a heads up about one that was actually right here in Vienna, Virginia, about five miles from where I live, bid on it through Craigslist and actually picked it up last week. So it’s still sitting in my sister’s garage, but I will put that together next week, and I appreciate you looking out for me.
No problem. Like you said, I really wanted to clear my conscience.
I like that, though.
That’s awesome. Well, Bob, thanks for coming on today and enjoy the rest of the conference.
No, I appreciate what you guys do with VO Meter. Listen to every episode that comes out, and always appreciate what you guys do for the community.
Thanks, appreciate it.