It’s time for a good old fashioned Tech Talk with the Bosses! We know there are a lot of technophobes in voiceover, so The BOSSES want to ease your mind, and help you ease into the new era of voiceover. An era where technology can be (and is) your friend. Hear Anne wax poetically about all the benefits technology brings to mankind. Gabby…? She’s still trying to figure out how to work a toaster.
Takeaways
Quick Concepts from Today’s Episode:
Technology is an essential part of your career, whether you’ve been brought up with it, or learned how to adopt it.
The next generation of voiceover actors will be way, way, ahead of us technologically if we don’t keep up.
Strive to be an early adopter of technology and predict the tech that will become standard.
It benefits your business to remain technologically open minded.
Robots are not going to take over the world!
Voiceover’s big technological evolution is here in the form of online casting.
Our work days are now completely dependent on technology like the internet.
Too many actors still struggle with web technology and don’t have enough of an education regarding the internet.
Grade school kids now know how to create internet code.
You can find yourself in a frantic situation if you don’t have control of the primary functions of your website.
Have access to your hosting, domain/registrar provider, and access to editing your site.
Have back-ups in place that protect your sensitive technological data.
Take classes at your local community college to learn more about the technology you are behind on.
Technology (in large part) is a help, and a way to move your business forward.
Tweet This
Share ideas with your own network ++
Referenced in this Episode
Direct links to things we brought up ++
Learn all about tech and get your audio Audition Ready with Tim Tippets
You can make your own VO Website at www.wix.com
Another website builder is WordPress
Full Episode Transcript
>> Today’s voiceover talent is more than just a pretty voice.
>> Pretty voice.
>> Pretty voice.
>> Pretty voice.
>> Today’s voiceover talent has to be a BOSS.
>> BOSS.
>> A BOSS.
>> A BOSS.
>> Join us each week for business owner strategies and success with your hosts Anne Ganguzza and Gabrielle Nistico, along with some of the strongest voices in our industry.
>> Rock your business.
>> Rock your business.
>> Rock your business.
>> Like a BOSS.
>> Like a BOSS.
>> Rock your business like a BOSS.
>> Rock your business like a BOSS.
>> A VO BOSS.
>> A VO BOSS.
>> A VO BOSS.
Anne: Welcome, everybody, to the VO BOSS podcast. I’m your host, Anne Ganguzza, along with my bestie, bosstie, amazing cohost, Gabby Nistico. Hey, Gabby.
Gabby: Hi, hi.
Anne: So Gabby…
Gabby: Yeah?
Anne: I had an issue earlier. [laughs]
Gabby: Iss-you? What kind of iss-you?
Anne: I couldn’t hear you. Like this is like a constant –
Gabby: Mmm.
Anne: But because it was like my bad [laughs] my bad not clicking on the right button. [laughs]
Gabby: Oops.
Anne: Yeah, I know, this tech girl over here. I’d like to talk about tech today because I love tech, and I think it’s something that needs to be addressed in our businesses, because how do we survive if we don’t have tech?
Gabby: Yeah, a tech talk is very important for today’s voice actors. Something struck me the other day. Kids today know more about technology than we ever will, like ever.
Anne: Yeah, that’s the truth.
Gabby: When I can watch toddlers play with an iPhone, that’s impressive, to say the least.
When we were growing up, right, there weren’t – the Internet didn’t even exist.
Anne: It didn’t. We went outside and played.
Gabby: I know. How archaic.
Anne: And then got our TV privileges taken away.
Gabby: Yeah, and TV only had five channels. [laughs]
Anne: Exactly. Oh my God, yes. And you had to stand up and move to the television in order to change the channels on that dial, if you remember.
Gabby: Correct. There was a dial, and there was not a clicker –
Anne: Yeah.
Gabby: – as my dad would say.
Anne: [laughs] And now we’re dating ourselves. [laughs]
Gabby: Yeah. Well you know, and there was the five-mile trek uphill in the snow.
Anne: [in old voice] Back in the day.
Gabby: [laughs]
Anne: [old voice] And there were 10 feet of snow.
Gabby: [laughs]
Anne: [old voice] I had to walk to school.
Gabby: OK, yes. We’re dating ourselves right now, and I know that we have listeners who are much younger and the Internet has always been a part of their life. Right? Smartphones have always in a part of their life. All of this technology that we now use on a day to day has not never existed in their world.
Anne: Exactly.
Gabby: But there will come a point in time where they find themselves in our shoes, where it’s that next generation coming up that has some new technology that they’ve always been accustomed to.
Anne: But Gabby, there’s always not just the younger people than us, there’s a whole lot of people in the industry right now that are our age or older. And they too I’m sure are finding the – a struggle, right, to keep up with all of this tech.
Gabby: Yep.
Anne: And you know, I always have felt like I’m a little bit more of an exception in regards to technology because I worked in it obviously for 20 years.
Gabby: You, you more so than anyone I know are in early adopter.
Anne: Yeah, I think it’s because it was part of my career.
Gabby: The new gadget, the new toy, the new like thing, like you’re very good at seeing it and going, “oh yeah, that’s going to be huge.” And then you incorporate that into not only your business but your life. I on the other hand show my Sicilian roots and become like this antiquated hill person who –
Anne: [laughs] “Antiquated hill person!”
Gabby: – lives in like a stone, you know, hut and refuses to embrace the new.
Anne: I love those people.
[both laugh]
Gabby: I’m still out there like washing my clothes on a rock, yes.
Anne: You know, it’s funny. The other day I went to my husband’s office party, and it was the first time I met a bunch of his coworkers, and for those of you that don’t know, my husband is now working in the field of AI, artificial intelligence. So if you want to talk about feeling like a little technologically left behind, and even myself –
Gabby: Oh wow.
Anne: You know, everybody working in that industry was younger, and I actually found myself in deep conversation with a former CTO, chief technology officer, about technology and where would we be as a society if we adopted technology sooner. Because really I think one of the main issues is so many people fear technology, that they push it, push it, push it, and if we all had a little more I guess openness, open-mindedness about technology – for example artificial intelligence, there is a lot of pushback because people think robots are going to take over the world, and they won’t, I’m just saying [laughs] or I’m quite sure that as a society we won’t let that happen, but if we have, if we could embrace technology more, think about where we would be as a society having technology as our friend and using it to work for us.
Gabby: Well, the resistance comes from what people have been taught, and it’s all based on pop culture. It’s not factual. It’s not scientific.
Anne: True.
Gabby: There’s no real data. It’s bull-[beep] from Hollywood movies and books that we think, right, there’s going to be some big uprising. The machines are going to take over. It’s going to be some sort of industrial apocalypse. Come on, guys.
Anne: [laughs] That’s a really excellent point, Gabby. That’s exactly what it is.
Gabby: The story was different if technology was our friend as a child of the 80’s, and in the 80’s there were a lot of really great movies that introduced technology in that way as –
Anne: Oh yeah.
Gabby: – a friend. I remember Johnny 5 and “Flight of the Navigator,” and you know. But somewhere along the line that changed.
Anne: Yeah, you’re right. How important is technology to our business? Well, you know, how about if I just start by saying, number one, our industry is kind of going through an evolution or revolution, who knows, what, how you want to see it, in terms of digital online casting. Right? Technology has evolved such that we are now being cast online versus traditionally, where we’d have to go in a studio and audition, and meet the casting director, et cetera. A lot of this is now happening online, and that is all due to the evolution of technology. And if you are not on board with that technology, then you’re probably not going to go too far forward in this industry.
Gabby: I remember distinctly a point in time where I could work a full eight-hour day with zero dependency upon the Internet. Now if the Internet goes down, I can’t manage eight minutes.
Anne: Oh my gosh.
Gabby: That’s it.
Anne: And studios.
Gabby: I’m done.
Anne: Home studios, Gabby. Like it wasn’t a requirement when I got into the industry. It was just like, oh, it was a luxury and kind of a thing.
Gabby: No, and it cost a fortune. So it was like, yeah, it was a very prestigious… to have one.
Anne: Now you can’t live without your own home studio. You just can’t.
Gabby: No. Something else that struck me the other day in thinking about this is about web development. I don’t know if everyone’s aware that children now as young as elementary school age are learning how to code, are learning how to build websites, and web technology, and algorithms, and all of these things that there’s a lot of voice actors out there who still struggle with these things, who don’t know how to maintain their own website, who are – so here’s what I find funny. There’s a lot of companies right now that I think thrive on the fact that people don’t have this knowledge.
Anne: Yes.
Gabby: And they’re able to in essence exploit that by offering –
Anne: They’re capitalizing.
Gabby: – a service that fills the gap, yeah. Either way – but I mean, yeah, you’re right. But what’s going to happen, as, as these kids grow up and they enter the workforce? Wix. Right? I use Wix for all my websites. I looove Wix.
Anne: So do I. I’ve changed, changed to Wix.
Gabby: But somewhere down the line – yeah.
Anne: Wix andWordPress. WordPress – VO BOSS, by the way, is WordPress. And everything else of mine now is Wix, and VO BOSS might turn into Wix soon.
Gabby: Somewhere down the line, WordPress and Wix will be obsolete because the new generation will be able to build their own sites from scratch. That will not be a skill anymore. That’s just a thing you know how to do.
Anne: Yeah, yeah.
Gabby: Isn’t that amazing?
Anne: Or Wix, and I’m sure Wix and WordPress will evolve into another –
Gabby: They will evolve in some way, yeah.
Anne: It’ll be like version – it will be software versions, right, because you know, here’s the deal. I mean, every day they are improving. Like how many – because I have both platforms, I know that WordPress, you can get, there’s a billion different plug-ins you can get for WordPress, and that’s a good thing, and it’s also a bad thing because sometimes they don’t play well with others. By then on the other hand you’ve got Wix who definitely has the controlling option over on their end where you are able to take advantage of their offering, so if you wanted to offer a store on your website, you would have to go through Wix to do that. With WordPress, you can get a plug-in that will do that. And you can choose from many different ones. There’s lots of different options. And I think the point that Gabby and I are trying to get at is that you should become familiar with, first of all, the backend technology that’s going to handle the front-end or the front face of your business, and the more familiar you are with it, the better off you’re going to be, the more control. How many times, Gabby, have I heard from a frantic student of mine that didn’t have the password to their website, didn’t know how to change their bio, didn’t know how to upload their new demos? Oh my gosh. If I had a nickel for every time somebody said that to me, and I’m like “that is exactly what you need to avoid.” Get some knowledge about your website, make sure you have your password, make sure that that designer, before they pass it off to you, shows you how to get in, how to log in, and how to make changes if you can.
Gabby: In the last year alone, I’ve talked probably half a dozen people who have had their website hacked, and they have no way to retrieve it, no way to fix it, don’t know what to do. And in many cases it is worse case scenario. It’s like their site has been overtaken by porn, and they are like, “oh my God. What do I –” And I’ve had conversations with folks where I’m like, “well, contact your registrar.” “My what?” I’m like, “oh God.” They don’t know who owns the URL, who has the hosting account. They‘re clueless.
Anne: And the’re clueless on how to find out.
Gabby: Mm-hmm.
Anne: So.
Gabby: Yeah.
Anne: And that is –
Gabby: And it’s a big problem.
Anne: And having worked in IT and having the desk in IT as well, for many, many years, and answering those phones, I can’t tell you one instance – there’s very rarely an instance where people call up their tech support and say, “oh my God, you’re doing a great job. Thank you.”
Gabby: [sniggers]
Anne: Usually they’re irate, they’re frantic, they’re panicked. And myself included, if I have a tech issue and I’m panicked, like I know, I’ve been through it.
Gabby: Sure.
Anne: I expect that person on the other end to help me and not like, not be rude. I am in a very fragile state of mind when my technology doesn’t work. And so, you guys, I think that the more prepared you can be for a scenario when your tech doesn’t work – that means having a backup, right, have a backup Internet line, have a, have your website backed up, make sure that you have that login and that password, and that goes for anything, really. I mean, what happens if you forget your password or you get hacked? I think the other day, I got an email saying that somebody had logged into my Netflix account. And I was like, hmm. And from Indonesia, and I’m like –
Gabby: Oh, fun.
Anne: That wasn’t me, but do you think that was somebody else? Was I being hacked? And to change my password. Well, guess what, guys? If you get something like that, don’t click on the link, because sometimes that’s a spammer at work, having you click a link to change your password so that they can get your password, but you can go to your website directly, right, in another browser, in another window, and go to your account settings and change your password. And that way you can keep yourself secure as well.
Gabby: We can’t be gullible. We have to have at least a basic education and please don’t rule out, guys, going to your local community college and taking some classes, because that will totally help you get up to speed.
Anne: Oh yes, please. For sure. [laughs]
Gabby: And third [laughs]
Anne: [laughs]
Gabby: The technology is not out to get you.
Anne: No, it’s not.
Gabby: There’s no emotion. It feels nothing. It has no agenda, and as long as you remember that, you retain your control over what happens.
Anne: Gabby, this is the optimist in Anne speaking. This is how I am able to be on board with technology, is because people are inherently good and that technology should help us and not hurt us. Now I’m not of course so naïve to think that there aren’t things out there that can hurt us. Of course, you know. I mean, we’re talking, this could be a whole other podcast, but modern-day warfare. You don’t think hacking into systems [laughs] doesn’t play a part in that, of course it does. And so I think the best thing you can do is to educated, as Gabby was saying, be educated, be smart, be streetsmart, be Internet smart, be network, you know, digital smart, and understand where things could possibly be not in your best interest, so don’t trust it implicitly. Like I said, don’t click that link that’s saying, “change your password here.” Be a little, you know, step back for a second, think about it, and get yourself educated if you’re not so that you can react smartly to your technology and make it work for you and not against you.
Gabby: Oh God, yes. And you know what, Anne, I’m going to be an optimist right there with you, and I’m going to say that if you want to have all your faith in humanity restored via a story of technology, just go look up the da Vinci robotic arm.
Anne: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Gabby: That’s all you got to do.
Anne: Yeah.
Gabby: That piece of tech right there, that is humans using technology in the best way possible.
Anne: The big thing about artificial intelligence is people are like, “no, it’s going to take away our jobs, right? Artificial intelligence, we won’t need humans anymore.” Well here’s the deal. If you can employ artificial intelligence in the health care industry, even like crime, where it can search huge, huge databases at once and come back with comparisons and data that can help you to do your job better, well then that’s the plus. That’s the good side of tech. If you’re a cancer patient and you’ve got artificial intelligence searching millions and billions of CT scans for a tumor that looks like yours, and that your doctor can help to cure it faster, quicker, better, then that’s the good part of technology. That’s what I’m on board with. And that’s the hope and the heart that I have for technology, and that’s where I hope people can get on board with technology, and use it for good. Use it to build your business, think good things about it and don’t be scared of it.
Gabby: That was the best medical narration I’ve ever heard. That was amazing.
Anne: [laughs]
Gabby: That was amazing. We’re going to take that right there, and we’re going to add it to your demo. That was incredible.
Anne: Oh thank you.
[both laugh]
Anne: But it’s so true, that’s why the technology can be so good. Don’t be toxic toward the technology, right?
Gabby: Aww.
Anne: Use that technology right back to build your business, let’s say better than that, or use that to, you know, get yourself lots of online casting agencies that will help you get work.
Gabby: Hey, one way or another, we don’t have a choice.
Anne: Yeah.
Gabby: We have to move with it. It’s going to happen, so the faster you accept that and the faster you realize that your business can thrive with technology, better off you’re going to be.
Anne: Yeah, yeah.
Gabby: Speaking of tech, one of our favorite pieces of technology, I remember the day I met Kevin. Oh my God. When I first heard about ipDTL, I was like, “this is the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen.”
Anne: Oh yeah, I’m right there with you. I still think that it’s brilliant and –
Gabby: Oh, it is.
Anne: It’s awesome, amazing technology. Because this is what’s connecting us, Gabby. Think about it Again here’s the positive. You know, take that tech and spin the positive because that tech allows you and I, like oh my God, I’m going get like verklempt, but it allows us, it allows us to be together like all the time.
Gabby: So emotional.
Anne: Right? I feel like I’m next door to you. Just, like we’re just having coffee. We’re talking, and oh, we happen to be recording, and here’s the VO BOSS podcast while we’re at it.
[both laugh]
Gabby: So funny.
Anne: Right?
Gabby: You and I will actually hang up the phone in favor of ipDTL.
Anne: I know, right?
Gabby: We’d rather talk to each other over ipDTL than on our phones. [laughs]
Anne: It’s so, well it’s true because gosh, we just sound great. [laughs]
Gabby: We do.
Anne: We sound great over ipDTL.
Gabby: There’s an intimacy that you cannot beat.
Anne: So true.
Gabby: And it makes everything else look obsolete by comparison.
Anne: So yeah, Kevin Leach, the brainchild behind ipDTL, thank you for allowing Gabby and I to hang out [laughs] on a day-to-day basis pretty much, right, have our coffee and have this wonderful, amazing time talking to one another, and recording it by the way, and then letting you guys hear us. [laughs] So it’s the coolest thing. Thank you, Kevin. Shout-out to ipDTL, our sponsor. If you guys want to know more and connect, you can at ipdtl.com.
Gabby: And of course, you know, the entire podcasting industry, this wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for people embracing and adopting new technologies. So for more things BOSS in your life, please visit voboss.com.
Anne: More technology.
Gabby: Mm-hmm.
Anne: And listen to us on technology like Stitcher.
Gabby: Oo.
Anne: Alexa.
Gabby: And iTunes.
Anne: Spotify. All the good things.
Gabby: Yup.
Anne: All right, guys. We love you. Have a great week, and we’ll see you next week.
Gabby: Bye!
Anne: Bye!
Announcer: Join us next week for another edition of VO BOSS with your hosts Anne Ganguzza and Gabby Nistico. All rights reserved, Anne Ganguzza Voice Talent in association with Three Moon Media. Redistribution with permission. Coast-to-coast connectivity via ipDTL.
[outtakes]
1
Gabby: Stop.
Anne: All right, are you recording?
Gabby: Stop being Squirrel Anne. Just stop it.
Anne: Squirrelanne. Squirrelanne.
Gabby: Squirrelanne.
Anne: Squirrelanne. Squirrel, squirrel, squirrel.
Gabby: I’m also a little bit snarfly still, so.
Anne: You sound good.
Gabby: If you say so. I still feel like I sound like I’m underwater.
Anne: You sound a little husky.
Gabby: Hey, baby.
Anne: Hey. Um are you recording?
Gabby: How you doing?
Anne: [laughs]
Gabby: Yeah.
2
Cliff: What is happening?
Gabby: Am I missing the fair? Am I missing the state fair?
Cliff: Yes, the fair’s going on right now.
Gabby: Damn it! Damn it!
Cliff: And you’re missing out on –
Anne: I love a good fair.
Cliff: – fried Twinkies –
Gabby: Damn it!
Cliff: – and fried Snickers.
Gabby: Oh my God. So Anne. Anne.
Anne: Wait, wait.
Gabby: Hold on, ‘cause this is amazing.
Anne: Cliff.
Gabby: Anne, have you ever been to the Texas State Fair?
Anne: I have not, but I can only imagine.
Gabby: It is, it is the fair to end all fairs. Like you never need to go to another –
Cliff: Bring about $250.
Gabby: – one ever. Yeah, like dude, I had fried bacon.
Anne: Yeah.
Gabby: Fried bacon.
Anne: Deep fried, double fried.
Gabby: It was off the chain! It was amazing!
Cliff: Oh my God, we had fried – um, not s’mores, samoas.
Gabby: Oh my God.
Cliff: The coconut chocolate –
Gabby: Oh God.
Cliff: – Girl Scout cookies.
Gabby: Oh dear Lord.
Cliff: Deep-fried with maple syrup and caramel and powdered sugar.
Gabby: Holy moly.
Anne: Oh my goodness.
Cliff: Yeah, it was unbelievable.
Gabby: Anne, the last time I was in Texas, oh, well not the last time I was in Texas, but the last time I was at the state fair, was the year – OK, do you know about Big Tex? Do you know Big Tex? Do you know this phenomenon?
Anne: I know, I know something of Big Tex.
Gabby: OK, so –
Anne: But explain just in case.
Gabby: Big Tex is, he’s the mascot.
Anne: He’s the guy, yes.
Gabby: He’s like this –
Anne: Yeah, I know what he looks like.
Gabby: He’s like this three-story animatronic –
Anne: Mm-hmm.
Gabby: – yeah, dude that’s Big Tex. So anyway, the year that I went to the Dallas state fair, the morning, the very morning of the day I was going, Big Tex burned to the ground.
Anne: Oh no!
Gabby: And yeah, and Susan Bernard and her husband blamed me because, you know, the damn Yankee came to town –
Anne: “Damn Yankee.”
Gabby: – and I burned, I burned down Big Tex with my –
Anne: Oh my God.
Gabby: – Yankee, my Yankeeness.
Anne: Your Yankeeness.
Gabby: And uhh and then, yeah, and now he’s back, he’s back. He’s finally – it took years for them to rebuild him, but yeah, he’s back.
3
Anne: Cliff has a long wire.
Gabby: Oh wow.
Anne: Cliff has a long wire.
Gabby: I like a man with a long wire.
Anne: A long wire.
Gabby: Just saying.
Anne: Should I put the jazz music on again so we can get ourselves in the mood?
Cliff: [sexy voice] Oh yeah.
Anne: Should – can we get [laughs]
Gabby: Wow.
4
Gabby: Tell Dianna to go away. It’s my time.
Anne: [indiscernible in background]
Gabby: Tell her to go away. It’s my time with Anne.
Anne: [laughs]
Gabby: Dianna and I fight for Anne’s attention. I want Anne love.
5
Anne: You’re all being insightful and like, telling me like deep –
Gabby: Aw thanks.
Anne: – insightful things in your text, and I was like, damn, Gabby.
[dog barking]
[both laugh]
6
Anne: And, and, and, and, and, um want to start? Are we ready?
Gabby: Yeah.
Cliff: Sure.
Anne: OK awesome. [clears throat]
Cliff: “Press one for” – no, that’s your job.
[Anne and Gabby laugh]
Anne: “Thank you for calling.”
Cliff: “Para español, marque dos.”
Anne: [laughs]
7
Anne: What, what do I, what do I need to do? Do-do-do-do-do-doo. Um.
Gabby: [in accent] Introduce the show.
Anne: [laughs]
8
Anne: Can ya hear me now?
Gabby: Yeah, baby.
Anne: Can you hear me now?
Gabby: Mm-hmm.
Anne: [laughs] And the [laughs] and the topic is –
Gabby: Talk BOSSy to me, Anne.
Anne: And the top- [laughs] And the topic is –
Gabby: Why haven’t we used that yet? That’s a great hashtag.
[Both]: Talk BOSSy to me.
Anne: Gabby, talk BOSSy to me.