Voiceover Industry Vets + Powerhouse Duo to Run VO Atlanta Conference

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The husband and wife team of J. Michael Collins and Anna Collins have assumed ownership and operation of the voiceover industry's biggest annual conference, VO Atlanta.

ATLANTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / April 6, 2022 / Industry experts and husband-and-wife powerhouse team J. Michael and Anna Collins were introduced as the new owners of VO Atlanta at the annual conference's closing ceremony late last week. As a multi-talented voiceover actor, producer, and coach, J. Michael Collins is relishing his new role, and is already putting together the lineup of speakers and presenters for VO Atlanta 2023. The Collins team takes over ownership of the well-known industry event from Executive Director Gerald Griffin, who founded it in 2012. Griffin, who announced last year that the 2022 event would be the last, has given his blessing to the new leadership team and feels confident that the event is in good hands, saying, "It has been my joy to see this conference grow from a smaller gathering of around 60 people to the internationally acclaimed industry event that it is today, which now includes a worldwide streaming audience as well. I know that J. Michael and Anna understand my original goal of bringing all kinds of people in the voiceover community together for networking, camaraderie, and professional development. I know they will continue to build upon that vision." Griffin received numerous standing ovations from industry peers during his remarks as the ownership succession plan was announced.

Anna and J. Michael have been preparing for such an undertaking through their participation and planning work at other events, such as their luxurious JMC Euro VO Retreats, and their roles as on-the-ground organizers for the first-ever One Voice Conference, held in Dallas in 2021. The team worked in partnership with owner-operators and renowned industry leaders Hugh Edwards and Peter Dickson of Gravy for the Brain on that event. The One Voice launch was so successful that it will return to Dallas-Fort Worth in August as a 3-day conference, with J. Michael and Anna again co-producing

Anna Collins, a veteran event manager and promoter, will act as CEO of VO Atlanta (which is now property of the newly formed Anna Collins Events, LLC, also known as ACE Events) taking charge of logistics and planning for the four-day event. Collins is well-suited for her new role, as she is well known in the voiceover industry for her stewardship and attention to detail as the organizer of the JMC Euro VO Retreats. The retreats are a signature annual event that takes place at European luxury properties and are centered around small-group coaching from elite industry experts. Anna says,
"J. Michael and I have found through our experience attending, planning, and producing other conferences and events in this industry that we can bring a truly comprehensive approach to design content and programming that appeals to all facets of this unique sector that we so love."

VO Atlanta 2023 will take place next spring at the Hilton Atlanta Airport. As planning advances, updates will be shared on social media and via the conference's website. JMichael Collins, who began his career almost 30 years ago and has voiced thousands of commercials and other projects, sums up the moment, "This is such a special and unifying event for those of us in the field that we simply didn't want to see it disappear. Gerald built an amazing foundation for what is now an internationally acclaimed annual event. We intend to keep the incredible array of professional development and networking opportunities while adding to programming and innovation, all with our signature first-class touch."