Liz de Nesnera. Best of Both Worlds VO.

Fluently Speaking Your Script's Language in English and French.

My “Elevator Demo”

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We’ve all heard of the “Elevator Speech,” right? Being able to tell someone what you do/sell yourself in :30 or less, basically in the time it takes to ride an elevator.

Well, when it comes to Voice Over, demos are already pretty short, and getting shorter. Anything much longer than :60 these days is considered “too long!” And people say that if you don’t grab the listener in the first :10, they’ll stop listening and go on to the next talent.

So my friend Philip Banks threw out a challenge to those of us on the VO-BB:

“Sell your voice in a 10 second demo.
Your sounds, your experience,
your reads, your personality in 10 seconds.”

WOW! It was a challenge, and I had fun putting mine together.

Here is my contribution:

Liz’s :10 Demo

Think about it. If you truly only had :10 to showcase what you do….could you? Give it a shot & let me know, I’d love to hear it!

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2008 Voicey Awards!

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Well, it was an honor just to be nominated!
Really it was!
I know that when you hear that, you’re probably saying, “Yeah, sure!” but actually, even though I didn’t win in my category, I was still really happy, and yes honored, to be considered!

And here’s the thing, I was still able to let clients, prospective clients, colleagues and…ok, family 😉 know about the fact that I was in the finals. I got this great graphic to use as a promotional piece, and….there’s always next year!

Frankly it was still a win for me!

As to who among my friends won:

Winner of Best New Voice – Jeffrey Kafer
Winner of Best Teen Voice – Jesse Springer
Winners Best Voice Team – Kara Edwards /Adam Fox
Winner Lifetime Achievement – Pat Fraley

Congratulations to all!

You can also go listen to the Voices Vox Talk Podcast of the announcement of all the winners!

Thanks to Stephanie Ciccarelli, and the entire Voices.com staff for all they do for the voiceover community & for putting together the Voiceys!

Searching for myself!

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So….on his Blog today, my friend Peter O’Connell posted about “Google Placement” and SEO (Search Engine Optimization), all about our constant hopes of being on Page 1 of a Google search…or at least in the first 3 Pages.

So I went searching…for myself, so to speak!

Here is where I come up:

“French voice over” ranked #4! – THAT was a nice surprise!
“French voice talent ” ranked #6!
“Bilingual voice over” ranked #19 (page 2)
“French female voice over” ranked #69 (my TalentDatabase.com page)
“Female voice over” – I gave up looking for me! 😉
“de Nesnera” ranked #2 (after my older brother – every “de Nesnera” is my family!)

So then I went looking for “Hire Liz” my website url…just to see, and came up #1 – not bad.

It was a worthwhile exercise…I’m doing well in some areas, and need to work on some others!

Then, when I was doing the “Hire Liz” search I happened upon another “Liz”: Liz Stevens.
She’s an illustrator, and I just love her style! I don’t know her, but I’m looking forward to seeing more of her artwork!

So today I learned something about my placement in cyberspace and found some cool art!

Time well spent, I think! (Thanks for the push, Peter!)

2008 Voicey Voice Over Award Finalists Announced

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It’s awards season, and that includes Voice Over awards!
The finalists for the 2008 Voicey Awards have been announced, and I’m thrilled that several of my friends have been nominated!!

Check out their websites, and you’ll see why they all rock!

Finalist in Best Female Voice – Moe Egan
Finalists in Best New Voice – Jeffrey Kafer & Dave Houston
Finalist in Best Male Voice – Bob Souer
Finalist in Best Teen Voice – Jesse Springer
Finalists in Best Voice Team – Adam Fox /Kara Edwards (I don’t personally know Adam, but if Kara works with him, he must be good!) & Terry Daniel /Trish Basanyi
Best Personal Branding Finalists – Kara Edwards & DC Goode
Lifetime Achievement Finalist – Pat Fraley

Oh….and I almost forgot, another friend, Connie Terwilliger, is one of the judges!

I wish everyone the best of luck!

…I wonder if they’ll still talk to me when they win 😉

I feel so much better now!

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It has been a few days….OK over a week…since I’ve posted…so to all my thousands of readers I’m really sorry! 😉

Sometimes life gets in the way of blogging, but I’m much better now & raring to go!…get ready!….she’s baaaaaaaack!

So on that note of “feeling better.”

As Voice Talent, one of the WORST things that can happen to you is to get a cold and/or sore throat. So we do all we can to prevent that from happening. But sometimes we just can’t. So what can you do to at least shorten the duration, symptoms & effects of a cold so that you’re not totally out for count & missing sessions?

Disclaimer: I am not a Doctor…(although I have played one in narrations!)

-When I first feel as if a cold is coming on, I hit my nose with ZICAM, it’s a homeopathic remedy that really does work as long as you use it right at the start of any symptoms. You can find it at pretty much any grocery or drug store these days.

– Oscillococcinum (try & say THAT 10 times fast!) by Boiron: another homeopathic remedy that I have found helpful, as long as you take at the first sign of symptoms.

– Throat Coat & Herba Tussin Herbal Teas from Traditional Medicinals are great at keeping your throat soothed.

– A Neti Pot….OK to be blunt, this is a way to wash out your nasal passes with saline….it’s not pretty, but it really helps keep your nasal passages clear. This is more a preventative measure, and I know several voice talents that swear by this little contraption. I have just started using one and it does seem to help.

– Vitamin C: The old standby. Studies are now suggesting that it may not be as effective in high doses as we once thought, but hey, you don’t want to get scurvy, do you! 😉 I take it everyday, and add one capsule if I feel something coming on.

– Echinacea: This extract of the cornflower has also been said to help in the treatment of colds. Again, studies vary, but I have found it helpful.

– Entertainer’s Secret: a throat spray that you can use if you have a scratchy/sore throat and you still need to record! It will help sooth your throat and make you sound less like you have…well…a frog in your throat! After the VOICE 2007 conference last year, many of us Voice Talents came back with what we have come to call “Vegas Voice” due to the dryness of that air, the smokey casino where the conference was held, and well, all the cheering we did! Entertainer’s Secret helped a lot of get through he following week’s recording work without making our clients wonder what had happened to the golden voices that thought they hired! 😉

– Try to keep a positive attitude. I can tell you from personal experience that when you’re down emotionally, it DOES affect your immune system and your body’s ability to fight off colds. Try to be as positive as you can, or surround yourself with people who will support you as you’re going through your “stuff.”

So that’s what I do! Again:
Disclaimer: I am not a Doctor!

Obviously if you are feeling sick for longer than is normal for you, go see a doctor! My husband, who rarely gets sick, got the flu last year, went to the doctor and was given Tamiflu right away which really helped….and then I did the same thing when I saw the synptoms coming on.

The key is to know your own body. If you feel something coming on, deal with it right away in whatever way feels comfortable for you, don’t wait, that’ll only prolong the discomfort!

Let me know if YOU have any tricks or tips to keep your voice healthy!

That’s it for now! Here’s to your health!

What goes around, comes around

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One of the best aspects of being a voiceover artist is that I get to work out of my own home studio, without anyone looking over my shoulder every minute, of every day.

One of the hardest aspects of being a voice over artist is that I work out of my own home studio, without anyone to talk to all day!

There’s a reason we VO’s joke about being a bit strange: we sit in our padded rooms, talking to ourselves all day!

But one of the most amazing aspects of being a voice over artist is the fact that I have been blessed to meet the most talented, funny and generous group of people on the planet, both in person and “virtually” online: other voiceover artists.

This business, like many others I suppose, is built on relationships. But, regardless of what outsiders or newcomers to voiceover may feel, there truly is no “competition” in this business. I don’t sound like Moe Egan, or Mary McKitrick. Bob Souer doesn’t sound like Jeffrey Kafer or David Monteath. Each of us is unique in our sound, our delivery and in the types of VO we are best suited for. If a client likes the way we sound we get hired. If we’re not right, hopefully one of our friends is!

There’s a real sense of community. A group whose members are happy help each other along the way, and who celebrate each others victories.

I have been happy to pass along job leads to friends and I have been lucky enough to have leads steered my way as well.

My father taught me a long time ago that when someone does you a favor, you may not always be able to “pay” that person back right away – or ever – but if you help someone else, the good just keeps on going. The ripple effect is real.

I’m thrilled to be a part of a community that lives this ideal, and doesn’t just give it “lip-service!” (Pun intended!)

Learn a word & Feed the world!

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I love words. Yes, one of my favorire books is the dictionary! I’m always looking up words I hear that I don’t know…and then get distracted by other words as I look for the definition of the first word! I have English dictionaries, French dictionaries, English to Russian Dictionaries…I could go on…yeah, I love words!

So when I found out about Free Rice, I had to share! Free Rice is a website where you play to test your vocabulary, and help feed the world at the same time! For every word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations Food program.

Don’t think thin 20 grains is much? according to their website, they’ve donated 15,934,508,610 to date (1/25/08)…every little bit helps… I just played and donated 220 grains already! (make that 300 grains…) I did my good deed for the day!

According to their website, Free Rice has two goals:
– Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
– Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

As a voice over artist, I live in the world of words. this site will be a new addiction!…but at least I’ll be doing good!

My thanks to Stephanie Ciccarelli at Voices.com for posting this info on their Vox Daily Blog