Honestly, I hesitated over writing this post. Why? Because it will reveal a “Learning Experience” that I had in August, that promotes the benefit of hiring professional voice talent for online narration (e-learning, marketing presentations, etc.). In a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) e-learning world, a world that’s growing due to the current economy, most people cannot afford to hire a professional voice actor and they feel satisfied with the audio narration they produce for their online learning activities.

I’ve heard their results, and…. well…. (pause) Let me tell you a story.

One of the projects I worked on this summer was a short, online CBT for a local hospital, Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC). Their OD group hired me to develop and package for publishing their designed and approved content. They had used Adobe Captivate in the past. For this project, I used Articulate Presenter ’09. I like how Presenter makes it so easy to import recorded WAV or MP3 files (WAV is the better format).

My Initial Approach

For this project, I decided to take the DIY voice actor narration route. Now, let me explain. I’m not a “total” amateur, but I’m also not a Union Talent. I’ve attended two voice over workshops and several “work outs” with my coach, Beverly Bremers.

As I was saying, I decided to DIY the audio narration for CHOC’s CBT project. The audio quality I produced in my home studio, edited by using Audacity, was fine. The (ehem) voice actor’s acting or narration was… lacking… something. I decided I just couldn’t import my lack-luster narration into a nicely developed CBT. For a moment, I sat in my home office in a bit of despair.

You see, spoken narration for online learning is much more than buying a microphone and learning how to use a sound editor. For e-learning to engage your learners, you want the audio to enhance the experience and not detract from the activities. And, in my opinion, you don’t want the audio to draw attention to itself because:

1. It sounds like you recorded in an echo chamber.
2. You don’t know how to edit out the “Popping Ps”.
3. The narration sounds stilted; there’s no “life”, no vibrancy in the voice.

For my CHOC project, #3 above caused my moment of despair. I knew that hundreds, if not thousands, of learners would complete the CBT. The graphics and animations were quite nice! How could I put lack-luster narration into the package? I couldn’t.

So… what did I do? Have you guessed yet?

My Life-Saving Approach

I called Beverly, my coach. Bless her heart, she was driving back from a gig in San Diego, was almost at her studio, and YES!, she said to come on over. Two hours later, I left with Audacity files to edit, a smile on my face, and a huge sense of relief. Beverly took me last minute into her studio after working a gig, long hours driving on the freeway, and just before her scheduled work-out session with other voice talent. I’m forever grateful.

What’s the Difference?

Acting, ladies and gentlemen, acting. Although I read and recorded the exact same script, the words came alive under my coach’s direction. Her coaching also reminded me of the acting principles she teaches in her workshops and work-out sessions. As our coaching session progressed, I “got more into” the script and she coached me only on the finer points.

A Professional Is Worth It!

I decided to write this post after an Orange County ASTD colleague of mine, Janet DiVincenzo, wrote on her LinkedIn profile the following (two days ago):

Janet and I have chatted about audio narration for online learning a few times, and I’m pleased that she understands the difference. Bravo, Janet!

What about the CHOC CBT project? Thanks to Beverly for helping me to find my acting voice for their script, I got rave reviews from the OD team for my audio narration as well as for the Articulate Presenter development. The “total package” produced client-pleasing results as well as an engaging experience for the learners.

Bottom Line…

If your budget for online learning is limited, please do what you can to save money to hire a professional voice over talent. Everyone will be much happier that you did!

(As for me, I learned that a talented VO coach is also worth every penny for studio/coaching time. I’ll hire Beverly for my next VO project, and the next one, and the….)