VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

John Kissinger · Joined: 20 Dec 2016 Posts: 15 Location: Detroit

Hello future friends and acquaintances!

My name is John Kissinger. I'm a long-time VOBB-lurker and aspiring voice talent. And, not one to thumb my nose at tradition (actually, that's not true -- but I'll bend the rules just this once), here I am, following Bruce's wise admonishment to introduce myself to you, the lovely VOBB community.

So, what shall I share about myself? Let's see...

I've been gainfully employed as a Learning Strategist, Instructional Designer, and Corporate Trainer for nearly 20 years, including a brief dalliance with University Professorship in Learning Design & Technology at Wayne State in Detroit.

My formal acting background began and ended some 30 years ago with winning the male lead in my senior high school play, then flaking out two weeks before show time. Thank goodness for understudies!

My radio background is comprised of three years as a semi-apathetic college disc jockey and production manager where our station's proud motto was "Nowhere on your FM dial!"

That said, I've used my voice for a looooong time now to engage and entertain corporate learners from all over the world, primarily as a live instructor/presenter. But, I often get tapped to narrate e-learning, training videos, and other corporate projects for the brands I support.

Currently, I'm the go-to educational voice of Ford Motor Company's Consumer Experience Movement. And I've recently done some explainers for Ford Credit and SKH International as well.

My long-term plan is to transition into VO professionally, full-time as an early "retirement" of sorts from corporate America, at least on the client side of things. For the past few months I've been training with Edge, Pat Fraley, and others, but have many VO mountains to climb yet. So, I very much look forward to learning from and with all of you!

Does that suffice for an intro? Feel free to ask me anything, if you're curious.

Looking forward to getting to know you all!

Best,
John

heyguido · Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:24 am Post subject:

Welcome, John. You're among friends. Inoccent

_________________
Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

roger · Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:34 am Post subject:

Welcome to the family, John.
You'll like it here.
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Roger Tremaine
www.MyFavoriteVoice.com
http://rogertremaine.voices.com/
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craigsvoicetalent · Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2016 1:08 pm Post subject:

Welcome John. You will love it here! It is an excellent resource and people tell you the truth - which is quite refreshing. Smile

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Reading, talking and listening.

British Voice Over

John Kissinger · Joined: 20 Dec 2016 Posts: 15 Location: Detroit

Thanks for the speedy and warm welcome, Don, Roger, and Craig!

Looks like more than a handful of others popped by to read my over-lengthy autobiographical intro. I hope I'll have the chance to connect with the lot of you soon (and I promise to keep it shorter next time)!

Wishing you all a very Happy Holidays -- whichever one you celebrate!

Best wishes,
John

Bailey · Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2016 8:14 am Post subject:

Welcome aboard John. The voice of FMC? Are you the voice that tells me how to program my Edge climate control online?
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a.k.a. Jim Sutton
Retired... Every day is Saturday, except Sunday.
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Bish · Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2016 8:47 am Post subject:

Welcome John. A quick question... your dealings with FMC and your location in Detroit... a happy coincidence, or some local marketing with a client who was predisposed to use local talent? (I guess if it was in a local studio preferred by FMC, then that answers the question).

I share your background in corporate training. Developing, writing, and presenting training material is a good foundation... and the "stage time" in front of a motley crew of raggedy-arsed "I only came to London to visit Harrods" students certainly helps hone the presentation skills Smile

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Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

John Kissinger · Joined: 20 Dec 2016 Posts: 15 Location: Detroit

Ha! Noooo. Not the voice of FMC in total. They are a masssive organization with probably a million voices supporting them.

My team and I are the designers of their "Consumer Experience Movement" -- a 7+ year effort to overhaul the experience of buying and servicing vehicles, in order to improve customer loyalty and advocacy. No small task! Everyone knows how much fun dealing with car dealerships is!

Anyway, our Ford clients seem to have taken a shine to my voice. It was just a lucky coincidence that I also happened to be training for a future in VO and had good gear and a booth at home. No marketing required. Best kind of gig if you can get it!

John Kissinger · Joined: 20 Dec 2016 Posts: 15 Location: Detroit

Hey Bish. Nice to know there are other reformed or reforming (as in my case) corporate trainers out there! Would love to hear more about your career transition some time.

My response to Bailey's question may have answered your question. But, the icing on the cake is that the agency I currently work for (Xperience Communications) is housed in a pair of twin buildings known locally as the "washer and dryer." And, conveniently enough, we're smack in between three of Ford's main headquarters buildings: the "glass house" (World Headquarters), the "blue lagoon" (Marketing Sales & Service), and the "Darth Vader" building (Ford Credit). Apparently the locals need to give curious names to buildings around here. Shocked

Anyway, I've just sort of fallen into VO projects for two of those three buildings. I guess I have to ingratiate myself better to the execs at the glass house.

AlanTaylor · Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2016 10:55 am Post subject:

Welcome! This is a great place!

ConnieTerwilliger · Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2016 1:05 pm Post subject:

Welcome!

I did time as a staff producer/writer and on and off-camera talent for General
Dynamics back in the 80s and 90s and it was the best training ground for so many things.

They closed the company in San Diego in 1994 (by then I was actually Lockheed Martin!). Went free lance and kick-started the voiceover biz that I had before
GD and lost while I was full-time there.
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Playing for a living...
www.voiceover-talent.com
YouTube Channel: http://youtube.com/connieterwilliger

Monk · Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:08 pm Post subject:

Bring cake. Feed the Llama

Dem's the rules.
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Company, villainous company, hath been the spoil of me...

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