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natural

Best Voice Over: Spotlight on Health Care Ads

Voiceover Styles

Health care ads are a mainstay in advertising and the best voice over chosen to present medical messages is a critical part of creative choice. Healthcare commercials achieve their goals through a few specific avenues in terms of vocal tone and direction: sentimental – those that tug at heart strings, inspirational – through sharing success stories or great track records, and solution – matter of fact – as in, you’ve got a problem? We’ve got the solution. Which one do you think is at the heart of this health care ad I voiced for the Texas Children’s Health Plan?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6HhSwtfyCQ

The hallmark of healthcare ads no matter the end-goal is motivating people to take action toward taking good care of themselves. Easier said than done. Consumers aren’t generally interested in healthcare messages and place their own health at the lower end of their list of priorities unless they or a loved one is embroiled in the middle of a health problem. Challenging people to make connections between behavior change and well-being is not easy. Done well, it’s presented through stories that resonate with target markets. But many healthcare ads have the added constriction of tight FDA controls over what can and cannot be said about procedures, methods and the places and people we turn to for ideas of where to go to and what to do when we want to improve or take care of our health.

Behind the Message in Voicing Health Care Ads

Voice actors can get clues on how to better deliver the messages behind health care ads by gaining insight into how consumers react to certain word choices that may be in the healthcare script. Becker’s Hospital Review had some interesting insights into power words to lean in to in terms of performance. Words like “knowledgeable” “trust-worthy” and “cost-effective” gained top marks in terms of inspiring customer loyalty. “Sincere,” “authentic,” and “safe” are other words that resonated well with the consumers surveyed in this report. For voice actors, keeping these ideal messaging words uppermost in our minds when we approach how to perform our voice over narrations for these ads, whether they appear in the copy or not, enhances our delivery.

Personal Approach in Voicing Health Care Ads

To break past the vast divide of anonymity and reams of red tape people may feel when thinking about hospitals and health insurance, the actor voicing health care ads needs to remember to take a personal approach. Health care is ultimately very personal. Our interactions whether on the giving or receiving end are one person to one person at a time. Remembering that and bringing our voice over delivery to the one-on-one level helps humanize the message. Health care ad agencies know the best way to reach their audience is through creating an emotional connection. One that garners trust. In order to vocalize that, we voice actors have to be as authentic and genuine as possible in delivering the copy. Our ability to be sincere on behalf of our clients (i.e. the hospitals, health insurance companies for which we speak) can mean the difference between their client making a decision in their favor or not.

Voice Over on Behalf of Doctors and Clinics

Smiling Doctor holding Healthcare Ads sign
Source: Koeppel Direct

Though smaller than hospitals and insurance companies, commercial voice over on behalf of doctors and health care clinics are another important part of the mix of health care commercials. Showcasing physicians may be a choice made by some hospitals, like how Mount Sinai made their docs (and themselves as a result) seem more interesting and accomplished in promoting their musical side. Whether the marketing venture has a bigger or smaller lens, the successful voice over for doctor and clinic ads will be one that’s compelling and relatable. We need to spark emotion and curiosity and not forget the most important tool in our voice actor’s toolkit: the ability to storytell.

DTC Pharmaceutical Ad Voice Overs

Now, I can hear you saying, Kim, this is all well and good for branding messages but how can a voice actor riff away at a DTC (direct-to-consumer) pharmaceutical ad in a conversational, storytelling voice over manner? Especially when most of them are chock full of medical and legal terminology longer than Apollo’s journey to the moon and back. In a word, finesse. You work those $50 words until they roll off your tongue as easily as your grocery list and you imagine you’re sharing that info with your best friend – who’s life could just happen to become a whole lot better by taking said medication. I once had a client ask me to read a product monograph in a conversational way. A product monograph! That’s the little insert full of clinical trials and p values inside the medication box. Yup, it took a lot of imagining and world building, but I’m happy to say, it can be done. Happily, in spite of all the legalise and FDA restrictions put upon pharma ads, they do help people solve problems. They invite consumers to start conversations with doctors. So the artful voice over artist must self-direct to spin the words in, you guessed it, a compelling, authentic and genuine manner by focusing on the people, the pain of the problem and the hope and joy of the solution.

The Huge Role of Emotion in Health Care Ads

Whether voice over or action on screen, the myriad of emotions played in a health care ad are what ultimately make them successful, because our health is inextricably linked with our emotional state. Unwell, we are unable to interact socially with friends, family and loved ones at the same level. The stress of ill health unleashes a storm of emotional burden, whether we or a member of our close circle are the ones affected. Docs, HCPs and other health care providers also bring in incredible emotion in their passion for healing and finding cures and compassion for patients and caregivers. How do we as actors and voice artists pay tribute to the huge role emotion plays in health care ads in an honest, engaging way? We do it by breaking the fourth wall. By interacting directly (in our artist mind’s eye) with the person who could most benefit from the message we deliver.

Where Health Care Ads are Going in the Future

Health care and related industries are highly competitive and to succeed must stay on top of marketing trends. This not only includes pre-roll ads, banners and social media spots, it includes updating websites with patient portals and other tools to make it easier for patients to connect with docs and their services online. Mobile marketing, digital marketing and social media advertising has seen massive growth and will continue to grow. However offline advertising such as TV, radio, cable and print will continue to hold its own for years to come.

Filed Under: Voiceover Styles Tagged With: advertising, commercial, conversational, genuine, health care ad voice over, health care ads, health insurance ads, hospital ad voice over, hospital ads, medical ad voice over, medical ads, message, natural, pharma ad voice over, pharmaceutical ads, storytelling, voice actor, voice over, voice over actor, voice over artist, voiceover

My List of 7 Behind the Scenes Insights in VR Narration

My Voiceovers, Voiceover Business

Got VR? You will.

 

Virtual, Augmented or Mixed Reality, 360…it’s known by several names and may morph into more before it takes over the world. Statista’s conservative prediction is that the market will grow from $3B now to $40B by 2020. Others in the industry think it’ll be much higher. Orders of magnitude higher.

Virtual Reality Voice over Narrator

SO, have you been part of a virtual reality narration gig yet? Last year I did a voice over acting job for one. This year VR narrations under my belt number about 12. The applications for the technology are endless. Among the work I participated in was a game based on 50 Shades of Grey, two company tours to live on home websites, a grocery store application and a watch-and-learn surgery, as well as a number of conference booths and other business videos. I expect/hope to do 50 VR narrations next year. I, and others working in the medium have come up with sharable insights to think about when approaching VR and its voice over narration. Here is my list of 7 of these:

 

  1. From Outside In to Inside Out

The medium is different than a movie, video game or theatrical production, but has things in common with all of those. So says Rafael Pavon, creative director at Future Lighthouse. Virtual Reality has the capacity to immerse you more fully into the story, feel moments more intensely, be closer to the characters involved. You are no longer outside, looking in. You are inside.

 

  1. Empathy

VR makes the participant feel things at a deeper level. If you’ve ever laughed, teared up or shouted in reaction to a movie, you’ve displayed your EQ of empathy for other people. 360 immersion into experiencing other realities, will sharpen that aspect, making the participant feel what it would be like to be in places they otherwise would never be able to be. This not only requires acceptance – the saying yes so often purported in improvisation work actors undertake– but it requires respect for your audience.

 

  1. Special POV

To date, the point of view VR writers have fashioned their stories around are from privileged observer, no one sees you, and you cannot change anything. You can be an observer who can change things. You can also be a character without impact or even a character with impact. With each special point of view an adjustment in approach is required of the actor or narrator. In essence, it is getting closer and closer to embodying the participant themselves.

 

  1. Vulnerability

The fall of the fourth wall in VR makes users vulnerable in ways that are unprecedented. With VR, we step beyond empathizing with a character who acts as our representative in the world – we become characters inhabiting the space. Meeting this requires vulnerability on the part of the actor or narrator, as well. Astrid Kahmke of the Bavarian Film Center says virtual reality involves a shift from time-based narration of beginning-middle-end storytelling to spatial narration. It’s not storytelling, per se, it’s world-building. It’s not narrating, it’s creating. It’s not linear, it’s nonlinear.

 

  1. Beyond suspending Disbelief

Immersive media causes a strong visceral reaction and cognitive belief in what is experienced. Belief puts the real into virtual reality. Books, theatrical productions, movies, all of these require us to enter a complicit contract. One where we must suspend our disbelief: that what we are reading/hearing/watching is real, when we know in fact it is not. VR gives our sensory input a push off the deep end. We perceive the unreal to be real. The power of the resulting visceral reactions and cognitive belief is profound.

 

  1. First to market opportunities

Companies and institutions that capitalize on virtual reality’s novelty and use it on their websites, in learning opportunities and other forms of engagement, provide their customers/users a more intense experience than traditional media, making them and their brand more memorable.

 

  1. Where the Voices and Narrator Sit

To paraphrase Pink Floyd, in Virtual Reality, the narrator is in my head. There is little distance in the case of characters and no distance between you as the narrator and the user. As such, your voice over performance needs to be better than best. Authentic, genuine, real, natural. Soft, I have found. You’re the angel sitting on the shoulder, the little bird who told them. More than any other medium, your facility in making the written word sound like your very own will ensure you continued voice work in VR.

What have your experiences been in virtual reality?

 

Though most days, Kim Handysides is found narrating from within a 4×6 padded cell, her virtual reality today is from the cold pristine Canadian mountains, on the edge of a lake with sifted snow dusting the ground and a pale blue sky overhead. 

Filed Under: My Voiceovers, Voiceover Business Tagged With: 360, actor, audio, augmented reality, character, genuine, narration, narrator, natural, storytelling, virtual reality, voice, voice over, voice over performance, VR

My Fresh Insights Behind the Scenes in Audiobook Narration

My Voiceovers, Voiceover Styles

Audiobook Narration Kim Handysides
(Shutterstock)

There are few things I love more in life than story. Nature, maybe. Water, but that’s a subset of nature. People aren’t things…well, not generally anyway. But the point of this big reveal into story at the head of my behind the scenes insights on audiobook narration is that the tales we tell and how we tell them, whether through aural or oral tradition, wrapped in celluloid, tramped across boards or lining the pages or screens of books has been my happy obsession for decades.

 

Prep and Lead In

 

So with a lifetime drenched in a study of story, how it’s written and performed it was with great joy I sauntered into my first audiobook trilogy this month. A fictional biography to be recorded in a local studio over the next few weeks. I poured over (absorbed, really) the first book on Labour Day weekend and we began the following Wednesday.

 

Day 1 Oh my gosh, what fun! Breathing life into the characters, massaging vocal choices into form, hearing the story unfold like a film through the instrument of my chosen art. I really, really like this. The book is so lovely. So wonderfully spun. I must do it justice. I will. I am so exhausted after today’s session. You expend a different kind of performance energy. I have to take a nap. Two hours later – whew – that’s better. Now to the booth. A job came through while I was away. I need to clear it off my plate so I can concentrate on tomorrow’s work.

 

Day 2 Oh, hurray. The studio sent the first chapter to the author yesterday. She had a couple of notes, but overall, liked it very much. Huzzah! Still loving this process, but I’m not happy with my unfinished to finished read rate. (That is how many hours it takes to complete one edited, “finished” hour) When I quoted my rate for the trilogy, I assumed that I could apply my very tight read ratio to an audiobook read. But I seem to be taking an inordinate amount of time. Only 36 pages in almost 5 hours! Wait a minute. Hmm. Ok. There are 720 on an average page in this format. That’s 26K. 9000 words in an hour. So, almost 3 finished hours. I guess that’s not bad. I’m exhausted again. I need another nap. I never nap!

 

Kim Handysides Audio Book Narration
(Big Think)

Day 3 Pearl Hewitt, an audiobook narrator friend of mine messaged me I should not worry about the read rate. I am reading at an respectable rate. Darn my ego. Making me think my skill at speed was transferable to this medium. Reading news, narration and eLearning even for a couple of decades is not the same as reading an audiobook. This adjustment requires time. Time to world build. Time to mete out the appropriate emotional weight and pause. Plus, I am going back and forth in French and English. Many French names in an English book. Plus, there are so many characters.  I feel duly shamed. I am going to complete this at more like a 2:1 or maybe even a 3:1 rate. This brings my pay per hour down. I care, but I also don’t care. I am happy to be on this project.

 

Day 4 A crazy busy weekend. I worked up a few more voices for upcoming main characters. I need to anchor phrases and lock them into place. Johan, the sound engineer is making samples for me to refer to when I forget how this or that one sounded. Smart!

 

Day 5 What a great day! I am seriously loving this book. Enjoying the characters SO much and feeling of nailing their voice and how they would deliver a line is invigorating. I pushed hard to summon the necessary energy and so was dismayed at the end to discover we’d only gotten through about 34 pages (21K words) in almost 5 hours. I had 56 minutes (finished) of medical eLearning to record later in the afternoon and was again distressed when I didn’t read as smoothly or quickly as I normally would. And took a 2:1 read ratio on text I would normally chew off at a rate of 1.3:1 when fresh in the morning. I guess I’ll chalk that up to fatigue.

 

Kim Handysides Audio Book Narration
(Premium Beat)

Day 6 I’m still unsettled about my read ratio. I am going to convert this pdf into a word doc. I want to try a few new things. Changing the font to something I’m more used to working in (like Calibri) and at a size of 14. I’m going to do something Hilary Huber –at least I think it was Hilary- told me to do. Use highlighters in different colors for various characters.

 

Day 7 A fresh insight today: it’s not about how long the audiobook takes. It’s about the performance. The tension of pushing to get a certain amount of word done per day threatens to take me away from delivering my best performance. Or at least enjoying that process. My ears were sore at the end of today’s session. I wonder if I should bring in my own headphones. We used to do that when I worked in radio. The station headphones got seriously mangled and then there was hygiene.

 

Day 8 Today I figured out that Audiobook Narration is like Theatre in the voiceover world. Most actors love theatre. Above film and television. Above voice work. It’s immediate. Instantaneous. The connection with a live audience is exhilarating. The work is intense and profound. It pays the least (except for Broadway) and often demands the most. In voice acting, gaming and dubbing also require energy and intensity, both highly technical and exacting and ironically and unfortunately on the lower end of the pay grade. The marathon that is a good fiction audiobook performance is similar, albeit less technical in terms of dubbing and less exhausting in terms of sustained gaming energy requirements. A book is this beautiful play that one gets to act out solo, but embodying many characters, including the narrator. Sorting and accessing all those voices, anchoring and locking them in place is the technical aspect. Alex, another audio engineer I’m working with, created a grid of voice samples for quick access today. I also spoke with Serge about perhaps recording remotely with my home studio and using Source Connect or an ISDN bridge. I could save parking fees ($15/day x 10 days) and 90 minutes on the road. That would free up a studio for them to rent out as well. We will experiment with this between book 1 and 2. Not a good idea to change studios/mics etc., in the midst of a recording. Ears ached at the end of today’s session again. Must remember to bring in my own headphones on Monday.

 

Kim Handysides Audio Book Narration
(Squarespace)

Day 9 Today’s session went by so fast! Am I perhaps getting the hang of it? Sliding into the characters more easily? Making the adjustment from one to another with fluidity? I am very conscious of helping to unfold the story in the best way possible. Imbuing the characters with light and life as well as maintaining variety, especially in scenes where five or more converse. Only fifteen pages left for tomorrow’s session and then we wrap. I am sad it’s coming to a close. Yes, this is the theatre of voice work.

 

Day 10 Ok. The voice over narration marathon is over. The book is complete. I feel good. By the end of this intense run I am happy with my performance and understand and have such a greater respect for the energy and creativity required to perform a book. And I am thrilled this is a trilogy. Because I don’t think I got enough of the experience. I definitely still enjoy shorter voice projects. Simply because of all the reasons I’ve always loved them: variety, the challenge of working well within the limitations of a construct and frequency. But the audiobook? Ha. This is a dance I might just become addicted to.

 

Need a narrator for your audiobook? Or want to talk story? Drop me a note in the comments & let’s chat.

 

Filed Under: My Voiceovers, Voiceover Styles Tagged With: actor, audio, audiobook, author, character, delivery, eLearning, narration, narration marathon, narrator, natural, performance, read rate, story, voice actor, voiceover, voiceover talent

One Narrator’s Voiceover Obsessions: Just Explainer to Me

My Voiceovers, Voiceover Styles

Kim Handysides VoiceoverApart from the fact that they provide me, a professional narrator, with about 20% of my voiceover income, I must confess. I am obsessed with explainer videos. They’re nifty-swifty cool little bites of “Hello, My name is____” and “this is what I do.”

I was surprised at an in-studio commercial voice over session the other day, when neither the brilliant copywriter nor the other (truly gifted) actor with whom I was dialoguing for the spot, knew much about them. So, voila!

Animated, or drawn on a whiteboard, these 30 second to 3 minute snippets do what their name implies: explain something about a product or service or what a business does. 99% of the time they live on a website, like on the home page, but sometimes you’ll find them on other web pages. Their primary goal, aside from providing an entertaining info-nugget? Entice a visitor to click, engage and stick around a little while longer.

How are explainers different from corporate videos?

They’re short. They’re simple. They’re fun or funny. They’re essentially marketing videos that speak directly to potential clients/suppliers/etc. They invariably come with music, sound effects and a professional voiceover. They incorporate brand elements like colors or logos or slogans to help the audience recognize you are you. Good quality, they are generally animated, although I have seen and done some that included segments of stock or inexpensive live footage. Like the one I did for Telos for Created by Agent, right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntEmzNnst10&t=25s

 

Benefits of explainers

Who doesn’t love an elevator pitch. You can explain what and why you’re different. A quick, fun opportunity to (hopefully) hook the customer into your product. Google likes ‘em. They increase your seo by increasing time on your website. An explainer video is a little call-to-action. It gives your visitor something fun to do. Click on and watch your video. Especially if it appears prominently on your homepage, like somewhere above the fold. It also can increase your conversion rate. In fact, explainer production company YumYum Videos says that conversion rate increases by 20% when a company uses an explainer video on its homepage.  And Internet Retailer, says up to 85% of people who watch an explainer video are more likely to purchase.

 

‘Splain Me, Mom

It’s natural, isn’t it?  We all explain things. Maybe you explained how to heat up soup to your kid yesterday, or explained why you pay attention to indicator lights on the car’s dashboard to your teenager.  It’s simple communication we use everyday, turned into an relatively new art form. The sweet thing about explainer videos is that they break down problems while incorporating intentions and goals. They focus in on certain ideas in a form everyone loves, story, to encourage or persuade people to take action.

Back to the Future

Explainer videos started in 2007 with the birth of Twitter. Eager to introduce as many people as possible to their platform and needing a totally approachable way to do it, Common Craft, the creative for Twitter’s venture launched a how-to video showing folks how to use their new social media platform. In 2009 Dropbox followed suit and the term “explainer” was coined. Since then thousands of businesses use the same platform to describe their companies in clear and succinct ways.

 

Why Explainers Work So Well

Relatively inexpensive, explainer videos stay with your potential customers because they have the two-pronged approach of a visual story that resonate with us and engaging audio. Infinitely more entertaining than a talking head or a slideshow of stills and no or unprofessional audio narration, explainers draw us in. They incite our compassion. Get us to identify with Jane for example with the simple words, “Meet Jane.” They introduce tension in the story by revealing Jane’s problem. We become empathetic. Her solution is cathartic and as Jane’s issue is resolved we (insert sigh of relief) feel that release of tensions too.

 

The Pivotal Role of Explainer Narrator

Ask any producer of explainers, the emphasis is on the script. As in, the core message. Marketers of early explainers realized that flashy visuals without a well thought out story just doesn’t add value. And who presents the script? The narrator. The story teller. The narrator is the actual human interface in the video. That voice and the ability of the actor behind it represents the brand, wraps the viewer in the story and propels them to act (click for more, explore the site, buy a product, call for an appointment, etc). The narrator brings the emotion, adds personality and elevates the quality of the video. The layer in trust, make the viewer comfortable and identify with the end product.

 

I’m a voiceover narrator who would love to explain to you how much I love explainer videos. Oh, and we could work on one if you want to, too. Ja feel?

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: My Voiceovers, Voiceover Styles Tagged With: explainer, explainer narrator, explainer voiceover, narration, narrator, natural, voice, voice actor, voice over, voiceover talent

Spotlight on a Retail Video Ad: My Voice Over Life

My Voiceovers, Voiceovers Completed

Ask anyone who knows me in my voice over life. I love video ads. In fact, if I had to choose only one form of voice work to do for the rest of my life, it would be commercial voice overs. The kind that sells things to the everyday Jane & Joe. Like this 15 second gem for Sears.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAiZxf4QAOE

Creativity within a Constraint

I hanker for a good set of boundaries within which to play. I first realized this during a year long stint on a weather channel, where I had to spiel off weather report after weather report in 4 minute and 50 second chunks over and over again for hours on end. Hotter than Hades you say? I did succumb to initial tedium, for about a minute. Maybe two. But then, I realized there was a secret challenge locked in “sunny today with a cold front moving in.” Yes, the basic info was pretty much the same from set to set, hour to hour, but I could change the delivery. Experiment within it. Improv it up. Find ways to make it more natural, more serious, more conversational. Roll it around in some humor, find out how to make commercial voice over funny, get busy with it. Same thing applies for that 15 or 30 second mini-saga centered around advertising toilet paper. It’s a creative constraint I love to play in.

Helping Humanity

Seriously Kim? You’re going to say convincing people to load up on discounted toothpaste and deodorant is helping humanity? Yes. I am. Because I am genuine in my approach to retail ads. And health and cosmetic ads are not exception. What does that mean? It means knowing that for the pensioner or single mom, the money they save on those toiletries may mean the difference in being able to spend it on something nice for themselves, or in some cases, in just being able to make ends meet. So I do get excited about deodorant 3 for $5 because that is my way of helping people. Cynics may see it another way. That’s their view. This is mine.

rows of spices like voice actor choicesThe McLuhan Spice Blend

Marshall McLuhan, father of media theory, said “Advertising is the greatest art form of the 20th century.” I grew up believing this and hearing the greatest minds are not in the universities, hospitals or on Wall street – they’re on Madison Avenue churning out ads. Whether that’s true or not, as a voice over talent, I bathe in the notion that adding human sound to ads is my predominant art form. Some of them are arty ads. Some of them are family friendly ads. A lot of them are not. But they are all different. Like curry, cumin or chili powder, they all have their own flavor. They all reach out creatively to tap someone on the shoulder and send what could be a very impactful message.

Looking for a great voice to help you sell your message? I’d love to help.

Filed Under: My Voiceovers, Voiceovers Completed Tagged With: advertising, believable, commercial, commercial voice over, conversational, delivery, family friendly ads, genuine, health and cosmetic ads, message, natural, retail ads, voice actor, voice over artist, voiceover talent

How to Voice Over ELearning for Kids

eLearning

eLearning for kids Kim Handysides
Photo: theweddingwardrobist – blogger

Just like this Porifera named Bob, children are like sponges. Sometimes we forget how quickly and how much they pick up and next thing we know, they’re repeating words we may not think they should incorporate into their vocabularies just yet. They absorb more information than we realize, and their education doesn’t stop when the school bell rings.

 

And of course, they are extremely comfortable with electronic environments. This plus the fact that schools are overcrowded and underfunded, is it any wonder close to 50% of the growth in eLearning in the US in the last couple of years

has been in the K-12 market. Ergo the profusion of ELearning courses for kids.  Whether you as the narrator or a character within a course is helping kids stay on track with their studies or relaying new and exciting subjects, there are a few things voice over actors need to remember when speaking to a younger audience.

Teaching One-on-One, Not Talking Down

Voice over narration for kid’s eLearning is about finding the correct delivery to ensure the young learner is keeping up, but doesn’t feel talked down to. Kids are super sensitive not only to what we say, but how we say it. Speaking too slowly can sound condescending to little Izzy or potentially boring to young Jake. When it comes to educating the next generation our mission is to help keep them interested in and excited about the subjects they’re learning, by staying engaged with the material ourselves. Here’s where your imagination comes into play. Picture Izzy or Jake by your side. They will be super excited and feel great when they understand what you’re saying. Making it real for you, makes it real for them. Your client will read this as a student that is engaged with his or her eLearning is more likely to score better and retain the information.

The Tone, Inevitably, Sets the Tone

 

Photo: i.imgur.com

Your tone of voice also dictates how the learner receives the information. Kids react well to an upbeat, lively, conversational tone, but the most important thing is to keep it real. Kids are very perceptive and are used to being highly entertained (tv, social media, gaming). You may know the declaration of Independence so well it may be snore city to you, but beware of sliding into a soporific, meditative voice. Take it as a challenge. This is new info to them, make it new to you too. Bring a light undercurrent of energy to your tone. It will help you stay present. Also take the age of your audience into account. Very young children respond better to bubbly or friendly voiceovers, while older kids respond to a broader range of styles from the hip or cool, to quirky or matter of fact. (i.e. Bill Nye the Science Guy) Another possibility is hiring an adult who sounds like a kid. Friend and talented voiceover artist Lisa Biggs has done eLearning for kids with the boy voice she created, “Liam.” She also offers an excellent course on how to discover your boy voice. Many talented female voiceover artists have a couple of those in their tool kit. (Think Nancy Cartwright, a.k.a. Bart Simpson)

 

The thing to remember for  eLearning voice over project directed to kids or any age, is that your work is a major part of the listener’s overall understanding and education. As they say in the modules, key takeaway? It’s: important.

Filed Under: eLearning Tagged With: believable, coaching, conversational, eLearning, eLearning coaching, elearning narration, female elearning voiceover, natural, professional, voiceover, voiceover narration, voiceover talent

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