Some advice from Howcast.com on best practices for getting voice over jobs! In addition, the Techistan team would like to add that when you speak into the mic, remember that no one is watching you. So … you can use hand movements that will motivate you to speak more expressively but not in an exaggerated [...]

Written by Allison Smith. Edited by Omar shaikh
I have a few years under my belt voicing telephony platforms, and I can tell you that there are some universal mistakes that I see on a consistent basis  — and most make sense if you simply think back to the last frustrating IVR you found yourself trying to [...]

Written by Allison Smith. Edited by Omar shaikh.
I recently stumbled upon a great article on the Destination CRM website by Natalee Dyke entitled: “IVR Hell” which definitely encapsulates everything amiss with mis-designed, mis-written, and just generally frustrating phone trees — give it a read at: http://bit.ly/1XQaoM and meet me back here.
She really brings a lot [...]

Written by Allison Smith. Edited by Omar shaikh.
It’s generally well known — by clients of mine whom I’ve worked with for awhile — that I am game to voice pretty much anything. In fact, I encourage offbeat, parody, and “joke” prompts — they provide a welcome respite from the run-of-the-mill (but highly necessary) IVR stock prompts. [...]

Written by Allison Smith. Edited by Suzanne Bowen.
Despite me recording prompts in Spanish almost every day, I don’t technically speak Spanish. Or Hebrew, Tagalog (an Austranesian language spoken in the Philippines) or a host of other languages which I’m urged, cajoled, or persuaded into voicing.
I studied Spanish for two years at the University of Calgary, out [...]

Written by Allison Smith. Edited by Suzanne Bowen.
My very first contract voicing telephone prompts was with Telus — the telco conglomerate in Alberta — who hired me to voice their mobility platform. I attended a meeting where they were discussing which prompts were needed, and what time committment would be required of me (in the [...]

But Allison is more than the Voice of Asterisk. She’s also a heated yoga enthusiast and great story teller. Listen to her anecdotes of voiceovers for a prison system, collection agency and one request for a special 1800 service.

We met at Astricon 2008 in Glendale where DIDXchange was the Asterisk Developer Area Room Sponsor. Right after [...]