DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO

April, 1996 (continued): After my unforgettable with 400 Swedish student nurses in  Växjö, I boarded a flight to Stockholm, where I connected to another flight that was to bring me to Ostersund, Sweden.

That second flight sat, fully boarded, on the ground in Stockholm for 45 minutes past its departure time.

Crew members repeatedly walked slowly down the aisle, counting the passengers; something was amiss.

Then a gate agent came aboard and asked each passenger to produce a boarding pass; each of us had one. But it appeared, inexplicably, that there was an “extra” unaccounted for passenger on board; there was one more passenger on the plane than there were tickets collected at the gate.

But everyone had a valid boarding pass. How could that be? Finally they gave up trying to solve the mystery, and our 9:05PM flight left at 10:00PM.

Upon our arrival at Ostersund, I was surprised to hear my name paged inside the airport. As requested, I reported to the SAS customer service desk.

“I’m Dan O’Day,” I said. “You just paged me?”

“Yes, Mr. O’Day. You just arrived from Stockholm?

“Yes.”

“May I see your receipt for your ticket, please?”

“My receipt?”

“Yes.”

That’s what’s left of an airline ticket after it’s been used. So I dug out my ticket and handed it over.

The SAS agent examined it, then exclaimed, “This is your ticket! You were supposed to give it to them at the airport in Stockholm!”

“I gave it to them at the airport. This is what they gave me back.”

“You should have kept the boarding pass but not the ticket. You caused the whole problem for everyone!” he said.

I was much too exhausted by this time to offer a crushing rejoinder, so I just shook my head and walked away.

But it really wasn’t my fault.

Recently a veteran radio personality hired me to critique his show.

Here’s another of his post-critique questions.

He’s Become So Smooth That His Ad Libs Sound Scripted

In the critique, I praised his efforts to have something to say in each break.

But it sounded as though he had scripted each break.

My advice: Jot down a few key words or phrases — or maybe some bullet points — and then open the mic and talk to the audience, rather than reading.

His follow-up:

Honestly, it sounds like I write everything down, actually I don’t write anything down…ever…although I do lots of research and bring that material with me…my breaks are generated as I say them…I think I can make them sound more real/less scripted if I can connect on the “sounding real” challenge.

Again, suggestions?

My Reply:

That means you’re a very accomplished ad libber. Just add some emotion to your delivery, and probably you’ll notice a difference almost immediately.

I’m not saying “fake” an emotion. I’m saying “feel” an emotion:

• Excitement

• Joy

• Amusement

• Nervousness

• Wonder

The emotion will vary from break to break, depending upon what you’re saying.

And:

Stand up.

I’m guessing you sit through your breaks, to which I have no objection.

But standing and focusing on communicating the emotional backdrop against which you’re delivering  your message might have a huge impact on your delivery.

We Can NOT Guarantee Your Success...

Harlan Hogan and I produce an annual, month-long teleseminar class entitled STARTING YOUR VOICEOVER BUSINESS: Everything You Need To Know To Turn Your Dream Or Your Sideline Into A Business.

We’ve been teaching every year since…well, since 2009. Ah, tradition.

At the moment, class registration is open. Soon it will close.

A bunch of people already have signed up. Maybe you’re thinking about it. Undecided. On the fence.

Perhaps a brief look at last year’s students will help you decide. The information below is from a pre-class survey.

43% of last year’s students already were earning money from voiceovers, either full- or part-time. 57% were not yet earning any money from voiceovers.

66% did not have their own voiceover websites.

Almost everyone had taken at least one other voiceover class. There seemed to be a lack of overall satisfaction with the results, although a few people were happy with some of the classes they took.

We asked, “What are the biggest obstacles to launching your career?”

Here are the most common obstacles the students listed.

Far and away, Number One: “Not knowing where to start.” (Fortunately, that’s what this class is all about.)

Number Two: “Not having a mentor.” (Hmm. Harlan Hogan as your mentor. Not bad.)

Number Three: “Lack of confidence.” We admired the people who were willing admit they weren’t confident they could do it, that they could do the work necessary to get a job.

If you’re considering taking this class — or doing anything else that might help you achieve your dream — here’s a Big Secret:

You can think, “I’m afraid, so I won’t do it.” Or you can think, “I’m afraid and I’m going to do it.”

I mean, if you take the class and “fail,” what’s the worst that can happen? I guarantee your voiceover career won’t be any worse as a result of taking this class.

The Fourth Most Common Obstacle: “Knowing how to market myself” or “I don’t feel comfortable marketing myself.”

Even before our first class assignments, Harlan and I sincerely applauded everyone who registered, because everyone had a good excuse not to register. All of us had other things going on in our lives and other things we could spend our money on.

One student was in the process of moving. She had sold her house the week before our first class. But she showed up.

Another already was enrolled in another class (not related to voiceovers) that he had to attend in person, every Tuesday evening. But he signed up, and he emailed his questions for our Tuesday Q&A sessions.

One student was in great pain from a disc problem in his back. He showed up anyway.

Several were on other continents and attended each class “live” even though for them it was the middle of the night. Others were on other continents and waited to receive the mp3 recordings afterward.

This level of commitment really was very encouraging to us, because you cannot succeed in voiceovers unless you’re willing to commit to it.

And commitment doesn’t mean, “I really want to do this.” Commitment means doing what you have to do to make it happen.

Commitment is not a measure of how much you want it; it’s a measure of how much you’re willing to do to make it happen.

Harlan and I knew we could not guarantee anyone’s success. In fact, we knew that a certain percentage of students simply would not take action.

Our commitment to the class was to do everything we could to make it easy for people to take action. But we couldn’t force anyone. And we couldn’t do it for anyone.

If you register this year, we hope you’ll be among the students who don’t treat it as just another class but who instead take what we teach you and use it.

And still we won’t be able to guarantee your success. We can’t guarantee your degree of talent, your degree of ability.

But we guarantee this: If you do all the assignments and then after our four weeks together are over you act on what you’ve learned, your voiceover career definitely will not be any worse off.

Some of you will succeed more than others, but there is no way for you to fail, unless you simply fail to act. And we’re going to do our best to make easier for you to act than not to act.

A friend forwarded an emailed pitch for a cruise ship.

Here’s the mind boggling opening line:

“A sea voyage is like a trackless train ride across the water fields, relying only on the principles of physics and magic to keep your vessel floating above the water on a thin cushion of air.”

Your Challenge:

1.  Figure out what they’re trying to say.

2.  Find a way to express that message…even worse than they did.

3.  Post your entry below.

The winner will receive full bragging rights.

Good luck, and enjoy your trackless train ride across the water fields.