Standing in the spotlight

The weekend of August 15 and 16, 1997 was the time when my understanding of voiceover took a leap to a whole new level. I’ve written about this experience several times previously, just look at the History and People categories and you’ll find lots of posts about the International Radio Creative and Production Summit.

But this post is about something that happened at my 10th consecutive Summit, the one in 2006. The final session each year is called the Critique-A-Spot-A-Thon. Those of us foolish enough to subject our work to public examination turn in one promo or commercial we’ve written, produced or performed for a live, on-the-spot evaluation.

You hear each promo or commercial played, and it’s then followed by that evaluation; in front of everyone at the Summit. Sometimes nice things are said. Most of the time, it’s more painful than that. But, in every case it’s a fair and honest evaluation. And in every case, I’ve learned something valuable in the experience. This time I learned more than I usually do.

First, before you hear this audio, note that in general as each evaluation is given, you just stay in your seat and listen along with everyone else. If Dan has a question, he’ll ask you to respond; but most of the time you just listen to your spot, listen to the evalaution and then Dan moves on to the next one. Here’s what happened to me. You’ll hear my spot first, and then a few minutes what followed.

I can’t think of a better illustration of what taking part in the Summit is like each year. Because while being called up to the mike like that doesn’t always happen, there are many opportunities to jump into the action.

As I’ve written each year since I started this blog, whether you are full time in voiceover, work at a radio station in production or just do a little of this kind of work on the side, you’ll gain a lot from attending the Summit.

For those who’ve made it all the way to the end of this post, Dan has a great deal for you. A special offer on the audio recordings from the 2006 Summit (14 hours of actual seminar time) and a bunch of extras that will make the purchase very much worth your while. You can download Dan’s PDF about this offer right here. But, the deal ends October 31, 2006.