 Mixer organizers Erik Sheppard and September Day Leach (right) announce prize winners during the 2008 New York Voice Over Mixer. Voice actor Kathy Millar (middle) happily looks on.
New York VO Mixer Draws Nearly 300 Voice
Actors to Networking (And Fun) At Its Best
12/8/2008
 It began in the mind of voice talent Erik Sheppard as "an event for getting together and making friends and trading cards and talking shop."It became the hugely successful 2008 New York Voice Over Mixer on Friday evening, Dec. 5, at Butterfield 8, a restaurant/bar in midtown Manhattan.
Nearly 300 voice actors jammed the long bar with shoulder-to-shoulder holiday cheer and the swapping of business cards and stories.
Name tags were the cause of sudden, unexpected hugs and the exclamation, "So good to meet you in person!"
And many attendees went home with generous door prizes that Sheppard and co-organizer/voice talent September Day Leach had obtained from voice-over coaches, authors, web site services and more. Even VoiceOverXtra's Voice Actor Hats were seen flying into the crowd.
See below for a VoiceOverXtra photo review.
CASUAL AND RELAXED
"There is just something about the free flow of ideas that happens when people are casual and relaxed," says Sheppard.
"Plus, it is good to get out and meet each other. So many of us spend so much of our time in our home studios that we don't get the chance to see our peers much.
"Non-VO friends - or 'citizens,' as I call them - can't really know what we go through on a daily basis. The frustrations or hardships or even the excitement of landing a great gig. So I think it's important to have each other to share those things with, who really get it."
Sheppard initially expected 50 to 75 attendees. Yet by a week before the event he'd already received more than 200 RSVPs and had to post a cut-off announcement on the Mixer's web page.
Still, "They all came, along with tons of others," he says.
PHOTO REVIEW
Who attended? The VoiceOverXtra camera snapped these talents rockin' the room. And more photos are on view - along with the attendee RSVP list - at the Mixer's web page: http://voicetalentproductions.com/events.aspx
 L-R: Trish Basanyi, Lee Gordon, Diane Havens
 L-R: Harlan Hogan, Robbie Morgan, Nikki Strong
 L-R: LindZ Reiss, Pamela Erbe, Wuzhi Lu
 L-R: Frank Rucco, David Goldberg, John Florian, Walter Joseph
 L-R: Stephanie Ciccarelli, David Ciccarelli, Deby Cedars
 L-R: Lucien Dodge, Bobbi Owens, Maggie Philips
 L-R: Alex Torrenegra, Tania Isabel, Steven Lowell, Juan Salcedo
 L-R: Shellee Nicols, James Clamp
 L-R: Erik Sheppard, Tim White, Kim White
 L-R: Clarissa Grinnam, Nikky Swerdlin (front), Norma Vixama
 L-R: James Lorenz, Melissa Exelberth, Tom Dheere
 L-R: Rob Sciglimpaglia, Michael Schoen
 L-R: Mike Harrison, 'Uncle Roy' Yokelson, Pete Larkin
 L-R: Randye Kaye, Lorriane Blake
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