Voice This!

DISCLAIMER: Don't listen to this episode hungry, still.

To our fellow engineers, developers, and those curious minds, we dedicate the season finale to you! Yes, both parts. Millani and Guy continue their conversation, finally closing out the season. While Part 1 is all about Guy's origin story, Part 2 is all about the reality of building and deploying voice apps — the not so fun parts like:

— Dealing with multi-device ASR quirks (and how some of these models can't pick up Guy's accent 👀)

— Tracking user behavior like drop-off (Guy calls it "the moment of truth" 🙏🏼) with platform analytics 📉

— The absolutely TERRIFYING but necessary practice of removing intents 👻

— Sunsetting conversational AI applications 🌅 (there's an actual process, you can't just do it manually on Amazon)

among other fun tidbits.

This episode officially completes season 1 of the Voice This! Podcast. We thank our guests and listeners for joining us on this LONG but rewarding journey. Thank you for following along with us through every step of the software development lifecycle. And thank YOU for listening. We hoped you enjoyed this season with us! Stay tuned for season 2 💜💙💜

Join Millani as she goes on an adventure to learn about the person behind elaineinthebay™. In this bonus episode, Elaine gives listeners the scoop on starting from a biologist to a multimodal designer while sprinkling pieces of advice along the way.

How do you prototype the best idea that was selected? How do you prototype voice products? To answer these questions and more, Robert Bruchhardt will take us through how to prototype ideas.

Join Millani, Marco, Diana, and Rebecca as they explore the book Conversations with Things co-authored by Diana and Rebecca. 

Voice This! podcast wanted to celebrate the book, not only for it's recent launch but just how much of a fantastic resource it is for all of us here. And so what better way than to invite the co-authors of the book onto the podcast.

Topics including why they created the book, what inspired them as well as some of the points that Millani and Marco found very interesting while they read the book.

In this episode, we look into concept generation with Brooke Hawkins - Conversation Designer at MyPlanet and voice tech ethics researcher with the Open Voice Network. Brooke leverages her unique perspective as we explore how to transform research insights into early concepts, as well as how to stay mindful of your audience and the potential blind spots in your data throughout that process. Other topics involve inclusivity in the design process, and how the value of automation may be shifting in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Join Millani and Erika Hall as they return with part two on User Research! With decades at the helm of Mule Design Studio and two books under her name (“Conversational Design” and “Just Enough Research”), Erika provides us with her take on how to develop a sensible yet robust research practice that will keep your audience’s realities front and centre in your organization’s vision.

In this episode, Erika Hall - author of "Just Enough Research", "Conversational Design" and co-founder of Mule Design Studio – joins Millani to examine why it’s important to take a moment to look beyond the technology and focus on your audience and the value you’re providing them.

Topics include leveraging minimalist design to empower constantly connected users, where humanist design principles belong in business, and the constant competition for users’ attention that can follow you into bed, at work, and yes, even into your shower.

Join Millani and Ilarna as they explore the lessons Ilarna learned from her early success as a voice app developer.

Topics include monitoring your product's performance with KPIs, Ilarna's views on moving from voice app concept to public iterations, and tips and resources for novice practitioners. Plus, some discussion around the satisfying and seamless experiences offered by personalization in voice apps, and the privacy concerns among users that might follow.

Ilarna Nche holds many titles such as voice app developer, business owner, Alexa Champion and much more. Ilarna has succeeded so much within the voice app space in such a short period of time, it's hard to believe she's only been in it for 3 years.

Join Millani and Tim as they trace Tim's journey into voice tech work, discuss how voice interfaces can help reclaim our time and keep us engaged with the world around us, and explore the present and future of voice UI.

Tim co-founded VoiceTechGlobal so that passionate voice practitioners could have a platform to convene, learn, and build together. He also directs Civic Lab, where cross-functional specialists create voice products for social good. Tim is a techie who's always been intrigued with sci-fi, and has been a designer for web and mobile until venturing into voice in the past few years. 

Welcome to Voice This! a podcast by Voice Tech Global aiming to educate novice practitioners and curious minds like myself on the world of conversational AI. For the first season, we'll be going through the product development lifecycle one episode at a time. Starting with research, ideating, testing and going all the way to launching the product. Watch out for new episodes monthly!