Sometimes the obvious is anything but.
A situation came up for me recently, that while it was very exciting, flattering and profitable, I didn't recall ever hearing about.
I had a repeat directed session client! I could now say that I had an actual repeat client, which was a big deal for me, as I felt very validated as a voice actor, but it also brought anxiety with it, after reading the script that had been sent to me. The job was to record a revised version of the script that had been used on the eLearning module that I had voiced over a year ago.
A professional question.
It had that same multi-syllabic, not-usually-seen-in-everyday-life medical term that I had needed to ask how to pronounce the last time. As a licensed medical professional for over twenty-five years, I know that those types of words can often be pronounced more than one way, based on who you ask, from region to region or even from facility to facility. I knew that I needed to pronounce that word correctly so what did I do? I sent an email to the engineer, who then forwarded it on to the client.
A prompt response arrived via email with "Great question!" and the phonetic spelling. It was one of the two ways I had thought it could be. So while asking that question showed that I had actually read the script over before we went into our session, and that I cared enough to want to get it right for the client, as that word was the crux of the video, I realized that I might have looked even more professional if I had shown up in the session and the first time the word came up in the script, the client preferred pronunciation would have just rolled off of my tongue.
When ah-ha = duh!!
That's when the ah-ha moment came to me... the next time that I have a directed session, as soon as the client is pleased with the way the read went, the engineer has all of the takes that he thinks he needs, I have expressed my thanks for this casting opportunity and everyone wishes for each other their hopes that they have a great rest of their day, I will sit down at my desk and make notes of what I learned, what I felt I did well or could have done even better, and any specifics that the client or engineer had mentioned or made me aware of.
It seems so obvious... now!!