VOX 2009 took place over the weekend of 9th / 10th May and was a huge success. I arrived at the Chesford Grange Hotel in Kenilworth at around midday and was immediately impressed by the venue.
As it says on their website: “Chesford Grange is an enchanting venue, steeped in history with the original house dating back to 1902 when it was a family home” – nice! Check it out HERE.
Layla and the whole team from LBS Manchester did a fantastic job of organising the afternoon’s events which kicked-off at 2.00pm with everyone receiving a special voice overs’ goody bag followed by an amazing speed networking event. The voices had about 2 minutes to pitch their services to the voice producers until a whistle blew and everyone move to the next seat and the next producer. This was followed by an open networking session for anyone who hadn’t elected to join the previous one. Great fun and I made loads of new contacts.
A useful stand was in one corner the main networking hall where the voices could leave their promotional material. There was a vast range – from home made CDs to professionally produced DVDs and glossy leaflets. Some VOs even had their own sweets, mugs, badges and mouse mats to give away! I opted for getting some cool CD business cards produced. Basically exact copies of my OverVoice business cards printed onto small rectangular CDs that will play on any computer or CD player (mind you, I had quite a challenge getting the right software to make an audio CD which also holds PC data – it’s not nearly as straightforward as you might think). I was REALLY impressed by Wizbit (the company that made my CD business cards) and you can visit their website HERE.
Anyway, later that evening came the VOX Awards where many of the great commercials produced throughout 2008/9 were listened to and framed VOX 2009 certificates were given out – you can see the winners HERE. This was followed by the Gala Dinner and Race Night, where each table backed different horses from a pre-videoed race and won some great prizes. The dinner and disco was first class and the Après VOX bar was open, pretty much, all night. Several of us took full advantage of the late night networking opportunity.
It was great to see old friends and meet some new faces and I am sure I’ll be staying in touch with loads of new colleagues.
The following morning I only saw a few of the late night crowd at breakfast – I suppose most of them had the special “hangover breakfast in bed” service!
Next year’s VOX 2010 will be on the 8th / 9th May – hope to see you there.