REBECCA HAUGH Female Voice Actor

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Rebecca@lovethatrebecca.com

310-584-7379

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Pro Voiceover: ROI in eLearning Courses

business, creative professionals, instructional design, small business, VO tech, voiceover

What Is ROI?

ROI is an acronym for ‘return on investment’. For example, hiring instructional designers is investing money into a business endeavor, an e-learning course. Calculating ROI helps everyone understand the value your course creates. Within e-Learning courses, are you asking about ROI for hiring a professional voice actor?

Let’s put this in the hands of the experts – the Instructional Designer. You are ready to develop your virtual reality, game-based, micro-learning or video-based eLearning course. You’re drafting design elements, and pondering…

Will you hire professional voice talent (VO)?

Using a pro voice actor has positive effects for your learners within an excellent instructional design. VOs work as hired actors, narrators, and characters of varying ages in mock scenarios.

But what’s your ROI with hiring a pro VO?  Are these challenging questions popping up:

  • The budget is set… So leave out the VO and save on that budget line item?
  • Some colleagues pull aside an in-house person to save funds.
  • Others say it adds time to hire a professional VO.

What’s your ROI if you do or don’t hire a VO? Are there hidden costs? Apply top-level considerations to your unique project.

Pros and Cons of In-house Recordings

Is your project a short course with limited audience, limited use, and the audio recording quality is not an issue? Then it probably makes sense to keep it in-house.  Whoever does the in-house recordings will do their best with the experience, time and focus they can offer.

On the flip side, there are a few typical issues that can cost more time or produce sub-standard audio quality:

  • Usually non-pros require more recording time, and fixing errors time, compared to pros. The average unskilled person needs about 4-5 hours of work to create 1 finished hour of audio. A pro can get it done in 2-3 hours.
  • Will they edit for you, or is that your chore? More demands on your time?
  • Using in-house doesn’t mean ‘free’. Their regular work is being delayed. Whose budget does that hit?
  • Audio can be distorted with office background noise, or from non-professional equipment, or both. Will you receive clean undistorted audio?
  • Vocal expression may not fit the course. For example, monotonous tone, or inability to engage the text vocally, or not sounding authentic or conversational. Will the spoken word recording be vibrant and appropriate?

Audio should enhance the instructional experience. The spoken word recordings should enhance the script you’ve developed. Audio should never detract from the course nor distract the participant. Still, a non-pro may be your only option. For some projects, if you can live with these results, then stick with in-house audio.

Professional Voice Talent Recordings

Is your course for a larger audience, with broader use, and high audio quality a requirement? You probably already know it’s time to consider using professional voice talent. A course like this is representing the brand of the company it’s created for.

Here are typical benefits of hiring a pro voice talent:

Spoken Word Experience
A professional voice talent offers many years of experience with all different types of e-learning projects. She understands what you expect.

Audio Expertise
Professional voice talent have pro studio equipment and deliver high-quality audio recordings of your script. She stays up with trends in her industry, from varying styles of vocal performance, to the latest technologies for recording. If you need audio edits after the initial recordings, your VO talent should provide new audio that seamlessly blends into the project.

Trained Actor
Pro VOs are experts delivering a performance in front of a microphone (as compared to on stage or in front of a camera), and speaking to the intended audience when recording, to generate and maintain audience interest. Additionally, gaming and scenario-based courses often incorporate re-enactments or dramatizations that require acting skills.

Professional Commitment
Pro VOs are a business people that will aim to quickly turn around your projects and readily accommodate your deadlines.

Your Brand
Consider the impact that a professional production will have on your brand identity. It’s a business investment signaling to participants of the course that you value quality. Professional audio can convey a brand’s message in mere seconds.

What’s the ROI?

The most common ROI formula is net return divided by the total cost. Return on Investment formula

The simplest way to think about the ROI formula is to add up the value of benefits (return) and dividing it by the cost.

If you say something has a good or bad ROI,  then explain how you measure it. Each ROI case will be specific to the course you’re creating.

In conclusion, the choice of VO for e-learning projects is one of many crucial elements within the design process. The ROI will depend your budget, your experience with either in-house or pro VOs, and what the overall experience should be for your course participants.

Let me know if you think I’ve missed anything, as I’m always happy to hear from you.

 

 

Doesn’t Improvising Mean Using No Script?

creative professionals, improvisation, instructional design, voiceover

woman reading a script

Isn’t voiceover acting and improvisation a conflict?

That would seem true. Pure improvisation does mean creating out of nothing with your imagination, with the only limitations being the ones you put on yourself. And voiceover actors get scripts to read into a microphone. Let’s explore the ways voice actors can use improvisation and find out if the conflicts can be worked through.

Starting with definitions…

The definition of improvisation from the Oxford American Writers thesaurus: extemporization, ad-libbing, spontaneity, lack of premeditation, compose, perform, or produce something such as music or a speech without preparation. We can argue about the meaning of “without preparation” but let’s agree to the concept of little forethought or almost zero preparation prior to the improvisation.

The definition of voiceover acting: an actor who provides and/or records voice to represent a character in animation, film, or television entertainment; or who provides/records voice within a project for non-entertainment purposes. In either case, the voice is not accompanied by the speaker’s image.

Can a voiceover actor use a script and improvise?

Here lies the apparent conflict that seems true with our basic understanding of the definitions above. To help illustrate that there is a middle ground, here’s a graph I developed for my 101 class showing how there is an overlap between these worlds.

chart

In simple terms, the voiceover actor can improvise by doing two things: fully embracing the script and improvising details that aren’t provided within the script but fit with it.

Embracing scripts while improvising details?

Every script tells a story. A voiceover actor can use improvisation to imagine details that:

  • create her world for telling that story with those specific words
  • resound more authentically for her as an actor portraying a role
  • support the words and the story wanted by the producer

A few other ways to improvise while using a script are simpler, well-known techniques or tricks.

Two ways to find a natural way to initiate the script opening:

  • Use a running start. This means to start talking the words you imagine would be said prior to the opening of the script, using them to launch into the script.
  • Ask a question that the first lines of the script answer.

Within a script, allow natural sounds that assist with natural flow/rhythm/pacing and which may possibly be edited out later:

  • Non-verbal sounds like ‘ah’, ‘uh-huh’ or sighs
  • Verbal ad-libs like ‘ha’, ‘so’ or anything else intuitive that fits

The ways in which a voiceover actor can improvise throughout a script can vary as much as actors are different.

Improvising for voiceover scripts doesn’t mean rewriting them.

The major point is there doesn’t need to be a conflict between improvising and the use of a script. The improvisation should support the script, filling in details that support the story and message. In a way, the improvisation is part of the acting technique, incorporated and embedded within the attitude, tone, volume and pacing of the spoken words.

Improvising supports acting technique and creating a ‘world’ that is generated from the words in the script.

The point for the voiceover actor is she wants to deliver the words as if she’s thought of them. Depending on the voiceover script, it may or may not provide that perspective. Voiceover scripts often leave lots of space for the actor to fill in details and “live within the ink”.

What sort of situation would create her to speak these words if that perspective isn’t provided? Regardless of the variability between actors, the practice of improvising details can assist her to explore and then determine the most authentic ‘world’ with the script.

Guide your Voice Actor with this Simple and Powerful Method

instructional design, production, voiceover

Before Recording Educational Voiceover, Guide your Voice Actor with this method.

To my friends in Instructional Design and to the CD’s and EP’s at Media Production companies, your educational course or study is powerful, with well-considered and thought-out design at its core. The spoken audio ‘heard’ by a course participant can support or strengthen course modules, as well as help retention. Longer form audio that is scripted into online courses is a very viable medium for a voice actor to bring their acting ‘chops’ to the collaboration, aside from their stamina and microphone technique.

In this article, I’m focusing on a simple and powerful method for the Instructional Designer or Media Company to prep the voice actor (VO) for the recording session. I call it the ‘VO Logline’.

As a voice actor, my role is to make the words I read sound real, authentic and conversational. During my collaborations with Instructional Designers and course study Writers, I’ve adapted my acting technique to breathe life into learning – educational courses. I just renamed this method as the VO Logline. With a simple and powerful VO Logline for your project, a VO can grab ahold of that ‘essence’ while they record for you.

What is a logline anyway? Usually that’s a term used for TV, defined as a one-sentence summary of your TV story. A logline answers the question: What is your story about? It’s the kind of thing that TV Guide writes up about a program. So, a VO Logline for any kind of learning course informs the VO who they are speaking as, to whom they are speaking, and the context of that dialog. In essence, the ‘learning story’.

Now, all those of you who are familiar with a TV logline might immediately think ‘ah ha’! Nice idea. Those of you who aren’t, let me explain. You’ll use the simple steps below to create elements of the VO Logline – the single sentence providing insight to the VO before they record for you. It’s a simple way to guide your voice actor using what you already know.

Create a VO Logline using these 3 steps before the script is recorded. Then share the VO Logline with the person recording your script. This dials them into the vocal attitude and tone to match your objectives, like a shortcut.

1. Define “Who” Is Speaking.

Think of the written words to be recorded.

  • ‘Who’ would say this to the course participant? What is their job title, role in the organization, and level of experience?
  • What is their role with the course participant?

You’ve just defined who the VO is speaking as. Nice!

2. Define the course participant.

  • What is their job title, role in the organization, level of experience?
  • Who are they hearing from: a peer, a higher-up, a Subject Matter Expert (SME)?

You’ve just defined the person that the voice actor is speaking to. Great.

3. Write your VO Logline as a simple sentence about the participant, speaker and course value.

Here are real-world samples from courses I have personally recorded:

  • An experienced senior foster care social worker is teaching new social workers the State rules they’ll need to follow for their job.
  • An expert sales manager motivating and demonstrating to the veteran sales team how to use and maximize a new CRM.
  • A retail clothes buyer teaching a new company-wide inventory and sales system to her peers, so they all run it effectively.

What is your VO Logline? Write me and share it.

Now it feels like a story about the people who are touchpoints within your learning course.

VO Loglines create dramatic context for an actor.

‘Dramatic’ in the sense of how an actor can approach your script. Many course designers already know these definitions or can figure it out because it’s inherent to the course design process. Providing this single sentence, the VO Logline, to your voice actor or narrator will create a tangible context for them. This is a wonderful tool to provide your voice actor.

Did you already know all this? Or was this something new for your consideration? Let me know.

As a trained actor, I create narrative ‘worlds’ to contribute to successful educational projects. Thank you for taking the time to review these ideas, and please reply back with your inspired thoughts and advice.

Social Media – Does It Support or Waste Time?

business, creative professionals, instructional design, post-production, production, small business, video design, voiceover

phone with social icons

Social. Media.  I am doing this. Been doing this. For years.

Is it working? Am I succeeding with it? This is one of my tasks to analyze over the next month or so.

OK, let’s back up.  Which social platforms am I talking about?

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

I work at one or two every day, a little bit. I work this effort week after week, month after month, year after year. Are there results? How do I know if I’m succeeding?

Are you doing social media for your small business on any of these platforms? Are there results? Are you succeeding with it?

Because, frankly, I might be ready to let go of several.

Marketing goals are essential.

My goal has always been to generate connections with potential or current clients, get to know each other, and maybe end up doing some business together. I aim to connect primarily with creative pros from advertising, marketing, video/audio production and instructional design.

A secondary goal is creating strong alliances with other pro voiceover actors and talent agents. And there’s the preset that I am not near any of these people geographically. I’ve been remote working within this strategy for over 10 years.

Perhaps it’s this saturation of everyone doing everything virtually in the last few months, but I feel like it’s time to cull the wheat from the chaff among the platforms. Of course, I need to think this through.

Input & Output Experience differs per platform.

I’ve had good experiences with some platforms only, in relation to my above goals. I’ve cultivated many wonderful connections, clients and VO allies. I’ve also experienced a lot of frustration with wasted time and money.

Creating content is the most time-intensive. I created 20 topics to post about monthly. I hired a company which creates custom content from my ideas, and sets it up in a monthly calendar for my final approval or editing. Each unique post is set on the same day, in the same way, for each platform. I know this isn’t a best practice. I’m already frustrated with time spent to get these posts created and branded. Perhaps I need to rethink this?

Here is a mini-dive into how I feel about each platform I’m currently using.

LinkedIn – Highest true, tangible value. I find excellent professional, direct interaction within a professional community of clients, potential clients and other VO allies. Most of the LinkedIn Groups were very vibrant in 2007 and for many years. Now they seem like ghost towns. Active posts in the home feed and direct messaging are interesting and professional for the most part. I’m very satisfied and grateful for this platform and expect to continue finding value there.

Instagram – I started with skepticism, long after many had already lauded its perfection as the newest and next best shiny social place. It sort of felt like everyone I already knew was simply jumping to Insta. What’s the point of creating the same community on a different platform? And since this platform is about images – and now stories – it feels difficult to master with my vocation as a voice actor. I’ve positioned my Insta as a business account. I’ve not found it fruitful. I feel like I don’t have time to customize content the way this feed needs, and I’m not confident I know the best way to take advantage or if there really are opportunities here.

Twitter – So many changes have happened. Seriously, I used to be in a LinkedIn group that was called ‘Twittering’ in 2007! It was a baby then, quite effective and fun. Those were precious times. Since then, I’ve seen the best and worst of times. I have a nice following but limited interactions, primarily with people I already know. I’ve positioned my twitter as a business account. Although I also do what I can here to tweet, re-tweet, and engage, I’ve not found the right business angle during the many years since its heyday. Again, I’m not confident I know the best way to take advantage or if there really are opportunities there.

Facebook Page – This place isn’t my personal profile. It’s a lonely, lonely page. So sad! Friends and other voice actors take notice of my posts, here and there. This wasn’t true back in the day when Pages meant something and got traction. Then they changed the algorithm, and you don’t get eyeballs unless you do paid promotions. Ugh.

Facebook personal profile – I created this to be in touch with family and friends. My ‘friends’ have evolved to include real friends to distant acquaintances in voiceover. Over time I have included a tiny few clients and VO agents into this mix – and I’m always unsure if this is wise. It’s that blurry line that all the ‘specialists’ say you shouldn’t cross. I wonder if it’s a line I simply should stay on one side of? Whatever the answer is, I do not use this for business purposes as much as is possible. Lately, however, due to the Page being so low performing, during the moments I have thought to close my Facebook page down, I have shared from my Page to my personal profile. Wrong? Not sure that’s the right question. Ineffective? Probably.

YouTube – This is a repository for my work, a sort of online portfolio of work where I’ve been able to accumulate copies. Someone just recently suggested that I might want to pursue activity here. That’s never been a goal of mine. Am I missing something?

Best Practices per platform?

I’ve done my research, my content calendar and branding – as much as I have time to devote. Over years!

I found a company I enjoy working with to help me create content custom for my brand. I’ve read and re-read materials about ‘doing social media right’ and generating content. I’ve played with analytics but so much seems based on consumer vs business demographics. I follow experts that show tips and tricks for actors, and I do a lot of that right. I’ve hired so-called and real experts for paid promotion campaigns. I found one experience full of baloney. I was really mad that I wasted my money but at least I learned.

I know there are lots of best practices. The problem is, most seem geared to larger companies than mine. That’s why I’ve started to feel that a lot of advice out there simply isn’t worth the time it takes to read it. I’ve even studied and done the work about identifying my ideal client/s. It takes so much time. It feels so unscientific. It feels like a treadmill rather than a path to a goal.

What’s my opinion?

I know I’m succeeding with LinkedIn. YouTube is only a repository, with no further expectations. Twitter and Facebook are seemingly time-wasters at this point. Insta is an enigma and leaning toward feeling like a time-waster.

Back in 2007, when Twitter was new and LinkedIn was fresh, it felt good and really authentic. In 2020, it feels very different. My opinion is that LinkedIn is still a robust enough platform. The rest? Not especially worth the time. They’re fun to observe, see what others are doing, and to keep in touch with associates, friends and family. And enjoy very funny memes! I’m going to do some analytics again, and a little more deep diving on content value. At this point, my mind can be changed. Professionally though, I don’t see the value except with LinkedIn.

Do you agree? Do you see something wrong with what I’ve described? What’s your experience and opinion? Please leave a comment and answer social media Qs here: https://forms.gle/16qNPgrEmCZPTnba6