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James Bell

Talkin bout Writing

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you now have access to affordable, high-quality recording equipment and software. The bad news is that even though your equipment may be semi-pro, your voiceover performance is still amateur. And, hey, that’s not something you should beat yourself up about. If it were just a matter of showing up and talking into a microphone, there would be no such thing as a professional voiceover actor. Unfortunately, you can’t always afford a pro, but you can learn from their craft to improve your own DIY performance.Get Over YourselfSo let me guess…you hate the sound of your own voice, right? We’ve all had the experience of hearing our voice on a recording and wondering, “Do I really sound like that?”  Yes, you really do.That “awful” voice you hear in the recordings? That’s what the rest of us hear when you talk, and we think it’s just fine. As a voiceover performer, your voice is your instrument, so you had better make friends with it. The more you practice and listen to your recordings, the more comfortable you’ll be.Got a bad case of the nerves? Practice is the best medicine for that, too. You might lock up when you sit down in front of a microphone the first time, but the more you practice, the easier it will get. Remind yourself that no one listening to your performance is judging you as harshly as you are. Take a deep breath and just keep practicing.Preparing for the GigProfessional voiceover performers drink water like it’s their job, because it is. Hydration will have a huge effect on your performance, so be like a pro and start sipping water at least two hours before you’re scheduled to record. This prevents strained, rough-sounding recordings full of the dreaded “mouth click.” Avoid smoking and spicy foods before a performance unless you’re going for the Clint Eastwood/Batman/sandpaper sound. Also, don’t eat dairy the day of your performance—it produces mucus (a.k.a. “mouth sludge”). While you’re drinking your water, take a look at the script and read it out loud. Are there any tongue twisters? Awkward phrases that look fine on paper but sound weird when you say them out loud? If this is your own script, you still have time to improve it. If it’s someone else’s and you’re not allowed to touch it, at least you can practice those tongue twisters so they don’t sneak up on you during the recording.  Give yourself some direction. Take a pencil and mark up the script. If you want to emphasize a particular word, underline it. If a phrase should be spoken with a rising inflection, draw an upward arrow next to it. There are some industry norms for markup notation, but use whatever works for you. ShowtimeThe best way to deliver copy is standing up, but that’s usually not practical in a DIY recording situation. If you must sit, sit on the edge of your chair with your left knee pointed down at the floor. This forces you to straighten your back and allows you to breathe more easily. It also gives your diaphragm plenty of space. Also, keep your chin parallel to the floor. (When you look up, your vocal chords stretch; when you look down, they constrict. Neither is good for your performance.)Your breath is the fuel of your performance, so take a deep in-breath before starting each new line of copy. This will prevent you from needing to take a distracting catch-up breath in the middle of a line. A deep inhalation should move your belly, not your chest. Shallow chest breathing will cause you to run out of gas in the middle of a phrase.When you deliver, don’t try to imitate a “radio voice.” You don’t have a radio voice, and even if you did, that probably wouldn’t be the right tone for your e-learning project anyway. Instead, visualize a member of your audience and imagine you’re talking directly to him or her. A conversational voice is going to carry more credibility than the kind of smooth announcer voice that most people associate with used car ads.Put some emotion in your voice when the script calls for it. In fact, ham it up a little. Remember that the audience will not be able to pick up on your non-visual cues. What feels like a subtle, understated performance to you will sound like a boring monotone to your audience. What feels like a slightly over-the-top emotional performance to you will usually be just enough for your audience to hear in the final product.Deliver multiple takes for each line of copy, even if you think you’ve nailed it on the first one. Your perfect delivery might have the sound of a chair squeaking in the background. Having multiple takes to choose from is called “coverage” and you want lots of it. It will help you later in the editing process if you call the take out loud before each delivery (“Take 1…” “Take 2...” etc.).Cut!If your nerves get to you, take a couple of deep breaths and start a new take. If you’re really stuck on a given section, just move on to the next one and come back after you’ve built some momentum. Just keep going until your nerves cool off. Remember: you’re recording digitally, and you’re not going to run out of tape.If your mouth is sludgy and you’re getting a lot of “mouth click” or other gross sounds in the recording, take a few sips of water. (You should be drinking it throughout the session anyway.)  If you’ve got really stubborn sludge, eat a green apple. The acid will dissolve the mucus and other gunk to give you a clean, click-free mouth.That’s a WrapEven if you’ve got a good voice and a decent recording setup, you might still feel unsatisfied with the results. Keep things in perspective: you’re not recording a movie trailer or a luxury car commercial. E-learning is about learning, after all, and your audience will probably learn just as much from you as they would from James Earl Jones. Now go have some fun and don’t forget to keep your most embarrassing recordings for the outtake reel.

Inside the Voice Actors Studio

James Belina

Nominal Group Techniques

James Bennett has been an innovator in education technology for almost two decades. He has published papers on education reform through technology, and has authored several college textbooks on media design. As a professional educator, he has managed teams of instructional designers for 36 colleges and served as a subject matter expert in learning for the corporate sector. His presentations at professional education conferences have included topics such as innovations in education technology and the cognitive neuroscience of learning. In the area of adaptive learning, James has participated in the single largest rollout of adaptive learning systems in education, developed and implemented a successful pilot for integrating adaptive and teacher-led instruction, and initiated the concept of multicourse learning path, and introduced them to two of the largest adaptive products on the market. In the adaptive learning courses implemented under his guidance, he has seen a documented increase of 20 percent in learner performance and mastery of competencies. He has also written articles and a guide for educators that are considering adaptive technologies. James holds a bachelor of fine arts from Ball State University, a master of fine arts from the University of South Florida, and a number of professional development and technical certifications, including HTML, JavaScripting, and Online Tutoring, from the University of Oxford.

James Bennett

Government leaders need to develop creative ways to securely share insights so that agencies can continue to innovate as a community.

Finding the Balance Between Collaboration and Security

Competency-based training is a unique approach to training design that builds and enhances individual competencies in line with previously identified profiles of success.

Competency-Based Training Basics

When COVID-19 arrived in the United States in early 2020 and the country was awash in questions about its origins, a relative of mine was certain that the virus was not what officials said it was, wasn’t dangerous, and probably wasn’t even real. I shared a different perspective, citing information that I believed was reliable, but she was firm in her stance. Feeling indignant, I determined I would do what most of us do when another person is skeptical of what we deem to be facts: I would bludgeon her with more facts! Being a writer, I decided to do this by letter. I began by expressing what I believed in my self-righteous stupor to be good intent: to keep her safe. Then I proceeded to school her in “The Philosophy of Logic,” “The Psychology of Belief,” and “Coincidence and Conspiracy.” These and other subheadings eventually became chapter headings, complete with bulleted lists, hyperlinks, and citations. A week later, the letter exceeded 4,000 words! I read and reread the letter aloud, trying to imagine how she might receive it. I tweaked the words over and over, hoping to tame the screed. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t imagine her receiving it with anything other than total irritation. The way I wanted to handle that disagreement is perhaps best represented by a quote by James F. Welles, who wrote, “We cannot really understand ourselves without understanding stupidity; and if we understand stupidity, we will understand ourselves.” Notice that Welles does not say “We cannot really understand other people without understanding stupidity.” Yet when it comes to our disagreements, that’s always how we imagine it—it’s only others who are capable of being so stupid. In the Crucial Conversations courses, we learn about our reptilian brain. Because we associate facts with truth, when it appears to us that someone is willing to disregard them, we experience conflict. When we experience conflict, the reptilian brain lights up, we tell ourselves convenient stories, and we (often) foolishly resort to either silence or verbal violence. So, whattayado? First, check to see if you feel indignant. If you feel some sense of disgust, you’ve most likely concluded the other person is ignorant and you’re not. While you may not be wrong in your assessment of the other person, you’ve probably overlooked your own fallibility. One lesson of Crucial Conversations, and of life in general, is that when we judge only others to be fools, we are more likely to act like a fool in our interactions with them. Next, seek mutual purpose. You may need to explore motives to find some common ground, but it might be as simple as listening or suggesting an alternative. “I appreciate what you’re saying. I’ll keep that in mind as I do my shopping.” Or, “Thanks for your input. I don’t feel comfortable revising our lessons completely without more research and discussion, but how would you feel if we took such-and-such approach for now?” Also, talk tentatively. Don’t misinterpret the alliteration—there’s no need to be timid. To forward your ideas tentatively simply means to make it clear they’re your perspective. Share the events or experiences that have led you to your conclusions. About a week after I tucked that unfinished letter away, my relative and I decided to meet for coffee and openly discuss our beliefs about Covid. I felt very vulnerable. But instead of trying to teach her everything I think I know about logic and science, I listened to her viewpoint, and then I shared mine—as a viewpoint. “Based on my experiences, this is what I think.” That was far more effective than “Well, this is just how the world is.” We didn’t see eye to eye, but we maintained our respect for each other, and we gained new appreciation for each other’s viewpoint, which is all I wanted in the first place. In time, our perspectives shifted, and in hindsight I can see it would have been futile to fight each other with facts. 

What to Do When You Disagree About “Facts”

Tamara J. Erickson is a McKinsey Award-winning author and widely respected expert on organizations and the changing workforce – on the shifting relationship between individuals and corporations – and on enhancing innovation and workforce productivity. She is one of the 50 most influential living management thinkers in the world – named in the 2009 and 2011 Thinkers 50, a prestigious, biennial global ranking of business thinkers created by Des Dearlove and Stuart Crainer and published in The (London) Times. Her work is based on extensive research on changing demographics and employee values and, most recently, on how successful organizations innovate through collaboration. Recently, Tammy founded and is CEO of Tammy Erickson Associates, www.tammyerickson.com, a firm of renowned thought-leaders and senior business leaders committed to developing insights into the challenges that today’s businesses are facing and offering a specific set of services that help companies re-shape their organizational practices. She has co-authored four Harvard Business Review articles: “It’s Time to Retire Retirement” (March 2004), winner of the McKinsey Award, “Managing Middlescence” (March 2006), “What It Means to Work Here,” (March 2007), and “Eight Ways to Build Collaborative Teams,” (November 2007), as well as the book Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent, published by Harvard Business School Press (2006). She has also co-authored an MIT Sloan Management Review article, “Bridging Faultlines in Diverse Teams,” (Summer 2007). Tammy is the author of one of Harvard Business Review’s Breakthrough Ideas for 2008, “Task, Not Time,” (February 2008), one of HBR’s Forethoughts on Unconventional Wisdom in a Downturn, “‘Give Me the Ball’ Is the Wrong Call,” (December 2008), and the HBR Case Study “Gen Y in the Workforce” (February 2009). Tammy recently completed a trilogy of books on how individuals in specific generations can excel in today’s workplace. Retire Retirement: Career Strategies for the Boomer Generation and Plugged In: The Generation Y Guide to Thriving at Work were published by Harvard Business Press in 2008. What’s Next, Gen X? Keeping Up, Moving Ahead, and Getting the Career You Want was published in 2010. Her blog “Across the Ages” is featured weekly on HBP Online (http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/erickson/). The research initiatives she and colleagues have undertaken include Demography is De$tiny, exploring the implications of current demographic changes on human resource practices, The New Employee/Employer Equation, developing new and powerful approaches to increasing employee engagement through segmentation, and the Cooperative Advantage, done in collaboration with a team at London Business School, exploring the working practices of over 50 teams in 15 multi-nationals, representing the most extensive academically-grounded study of industry-based team working ever conducted. Her current research is focused on the implications of social enterprise software on the way we work. Tammy is also a respected authority on technology and its implications for business and coauthor of the book Third Generation R&D: Managing the Link to Corporate Strategy, a widely accepted guide to making technology investments and managing innovative organizations. Tammy is a former member of the Board of Directors of PerkinElmer, Inc., a Fortune 500 company competing in advanced technology markets, and a former member of the Board of Directors of Allergan, Inc. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Chicago and a MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration where she was the recipient of the James Thomas Chirurg Fellowship.

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