{"id":90923,"date":"2021-01-29T12:00:43","date_gmt":"2021-01-29T17:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandbox.voice123.com\/contentstudio\/?p=132"},"modified":"2021-04-02T19:09:35","modified_gmt":"2021-04-03T00:09:35","slug":"virtual-social-hackathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voice123.com\/about\/virtual-social-hackathon\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Social Hackathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”What’s a Virtual Social Hackathon?” google_fonts=”font_family:Muli%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][vc_column_text]Voice123 ran a one-day virtual social hackathon to get the entire company involved in brainstorming solutions at a jam-packed pace for Project Authentic Voices<\/a>. In October 2020, we put out a very <\/span>high-level and visionary piece<\/span>, stating what our objectives are as a company to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in the voiceover industry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But we don’t want to be a business that’s all talk and no show.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

So we began to brainstorm our next steps. It felt a little messy; we were working on a detailed guideline for our rules of engagement, how Voice123 approaches the topic of accents and language, intertwined with the complexities of artificial intelligence. We asked for help in creating a list containing terminology we\u2019d refrain from using in project descriptions. The goal was to set up triggers to educate clients when such words or phrases appeared in correspondence or project briefs.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, it didn\u2019t seem as though we were tackling the <\/span>root<\/span><\/i> of the issues. We took a step back and CEO Rolf Veldman suggested holding a hackathon. It fell very close to our company strategy week, fitting in with all our planning for the upcoming quarters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026. What better way to brainstorm, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_raw_html]JTNDZGl2JTIwc3R5bGUlM0QlMjJ3aWR0aCUzQTEwMCUyNSUzQmhlaWdodCUzQTAlM0JwYWRkaW5nLWJvdHRvbSUzQTExOSUyNSUzQnBvc2l0aW9uJTNBcmVsYXRpdmUlM0IlMjIlM0UlM0NpZnJhbWUlMjBzcmMlM0QlMjJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRmdpcGh5LmNvbSUyRmVtYmVkJTJGZ3pYV3R4djdHZkxZeUI4N2M5JTIyJTIwd2lkdGglM0QlMjIxMDAlMjUlMjIlMjBoZWlnaHQlM0QlMjIxMDAlMjUlMjIlMjBzdHlsZSUzRCUyMnBvc2l0aW9uJTNBYWJzb2x1dGUlMjIlMjBmcmFtZUJvcmRlciUzRCUyMjAlMjIlMjBjbGFzcyUzRCUyMmdpcGh5LWVtYmVkJTIyJTIwYWxsb3dGdWxsU2NyZWVuJTNFJTNDJTJGaWZyYW1lJTNFJTNDJTJGZGl2JTNFJTNDcCUzRSUzQ2ElMjBocmVmJTNEJTIyaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZnaXBoeS5jb20lMkZnaWZzJTJGVm9pY2UxMjMtZ3pYV3R4djdHZkxZeUI4N2M5JTIyJTNFdmlhJTIwR0lQSFklM0MlMkZhJTNFJTNDJTJGcCUzRSUyMEElMjBzbmVhayUyMHBlZWslM0IlMjB3ZSUyN3JlJTIwd29ya2luZyUyMG9uJTIwZGV2ZWxvcGluZyUyMFByb2plY3QlMjBBdXRoZW50aWMlMjBWb2ljZXMlMjBmdXJ0aGVyLiUwQQ==[\/vc_raw_html][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Two things immediately came to mind:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Virtual<\/strong>:<\/strong> hackathons are usually done in person over the span of a weekend, or a longer period of time. Of course, as a globally distributed remote team living in the COVID-19 era, we couldn\u2019t do that, but this was <\/span>our<\/span><\/em> hackathon so we tweaked the rules a bit. We told the teams that a working ‘prototype’ wasn\u2019t necessary and that a presentation would suffice.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Social<\/strong>:<\/strong> the question to tackle was: “how can we improve equality in the voiceover industry?”\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”90944″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” onclick=”link_image” media=”90383″ media_lightbox=”yes” media_width_percent=”100″][vc_custom_heading text=”Case Study: How we structured our Virtual Social Hackathon” google_fonts=”font_family:Muli%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

    We took a board game-ified approach, which probably happened because Rolf is a boardgame guru. The leadership team (CEO, Head of Business Ops, and Head of Engineering) took a neutral stance. Instead, they assumed the position of ‘Elder’ whom teams could consult if they had questions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    We also invited four Voice123 voice actors to join the Hackathon panel as well. Enter Dave Braxton<\/a>, Andr\u00e9s Gonzalez<\/a>, Crystal Cohen<\/a> and Donald Elivert<\/a>. <\/span>They were our \u2018Experts\u2019; every team could book a single 15 minute consultation session with them. We could ask questions, hash out ideas, test feasibility and usability of ideas, and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Reality” google_fonts=”font_family:Muli%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_single_image image=”90945″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” onclick=”link_image” media=”90386″ media_width_percent=”100″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

    On a team level, a nasty bug hit our platform and took away our core engineers and Customer Success team (<\/span>yes, there were some team members who had to juggle work in the midst of work sessions). <\/span><\/i>Every team also experienced something of a disadvantage in terms of focus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

    Some teams almost took 10 hours to come up with a condensed problem statement! In many instances, frustration and irritation surfaced as the clock ticked away. All a part of the challenge, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Learnings” google_fonts=”font_family:Muli%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][vc_text_separator title=”It\u2019s easy to forget that there are people on the other side.” color=”vista_blue”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

    Having voice actors present and meeting the team behind Voice123 was very special. Unless you work in a position where you’d be communicating with voice actors (like our customer success team), others wouldn’t come in contact with any of the voice actors. But having both sides meet? It humanizes the experience. Because sometimes, we forget that there are people on the other side, and vice versa.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][vc_text_separator title=”Listening to stories first hand is very impactful.” color=”vista_blue”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

    Hearing the voice actors’ personal stories and watching the reactions of team members was priceless and impactful. A question came about; how could we implement that into our storytelling efforts?<\/span><\/p>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][vc_text_separator title=”Timezone inclusivity is easier said than done.” color=”vista_blue”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

    After our\u00a0<\/span>diversity, equity and inclusion workshop during our virtual company retreat<\/span><\/a>, we knew we had to do better for our members. We tried applying our learnings in this event.But only securing 4 Experts within the Americas timezone spoke volumes to the amount of effort we could’ve put in to find others around the world. Logistically, the dependencies were inevitably a challenge; those we did reach out to either got back to us too late, or couldn\u2019t join. We should’ve reached out earlier. Perhaps we need to connect with more voice actors in other regions of the world. Voice123 is (and has historically been) very America-centric. If we want to be more inclusive and expand, we need to actively do so.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][vc_text_separator title=”Know the industry you work for.” color=”vista_blue”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

    I think it\u2019s very evident that no matter what your role is, if you do not spend time understanding the industry you\u2019re inciting change for and how your work can make an impact, you\u2019ll never improve. In whichever way we achieve this (through focus hours, or improving our onboarding documentation), the importance of familiarization must be stressed.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Yearly Goal” google_fonts=”font_family:Muli%3A300%2C300italic%2Cregular%2Citalic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][vc_column_text]The day after the virtual social hackathon we returned and presented our ideas to the Elders and Experts. Three out of four teams presented solutions that had to do with accessibility and education, and one team presented a solution that could be integrated with our current platform <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> educates clients. That team, the Dream Team, won and donated the $1000 USD winnings to <\/span>FRIDA<\/span><\/a>, an organization that supports young feminist groups in the Asia-Pacific region.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery interval=”3″ images=”90947,90948″ img_size=”large” el_id=”gallery-569563″ medias=”90387,90384″ explode_albums=”yes” carousel_lg=”2″ carousel_md=”2″ carousel_sm=”1″ gutter_size=”3″ carousel_interval=”3000″ carousel_navspeed=”400″ stage_padding=”0″ single_overlay_opacity=”50″ single_padding=”2″ title=”The Dream Team”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Taking our ideas from the virtual social hackathon, the leadership team developed our company OKR (<\/span>objectives and key results<\/span><\/a>) for 2021.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_cta h2=”From CEO Rolf Veldman”]”Voice123 will start offering educational material (The Booth<\/a> being one of them) for voice actors trying to enter and break into the voiceover industry. We are working on mixing affirmative action efforts into our core algorithms. Our goal is to encourage equity in the voiceover industry by educating clients (voice seekers) on Voice123.<\/p>\n

    We haven\u2019t established the right partner(s) yet. But one of our ideas is to give away a series of starter kits to new and emerging voice actors. In the meantime, you can follow The Booth and stay tuned for further updates.”[\/vc_cta][vc_message message_box_color=”orange” message_color=”color-voice-orange”]We will be tracking our progress and updating our learnings and experiences.<\/span>\u00a0\ud83d\ude0d If you liked these re-caps, ping us on social media (@voice123) and share it with a friend or colleague! \ud83d\ude07<\/span>[\/vc_message][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Voice123 had a virtual social hackathon to ideate how to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in the voiceover industry. This is what we learned!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":90941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[150,151],"tags":[154,153,152,155,156],"class_list":["post-90923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-project-authentic-voices","category-recap","tag-case-study","tag-company-event","tag-hackathon","tag-learnings","tag-reflections"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voice123.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voice123.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voice123.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voice123.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voice123.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90923"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/voice123.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90949,"href":"https:\/\/voice123.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90923\/revisions\/90949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voice123.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voice123.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voice123.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voice123.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}