VUX World

What we discuss in this episodeMeet the expert: voice search and discovery with Dustin Coates:

London

San Francisco

Seattle

Google Assistant:

What's new with Google Assistant? Announcements from I/O19

Google Assistant passes 1m actions

About the interactive canvas

How to templates for Google Assistant

Schema mark up for how to tutorials

Schema mark up for FAQs

App actions for Google Assistant

Google Assistant for smart home

Mini apps

Google Pixel 3a and 3aXL

Everything else

Microsoft's voice report 2019

Delete Alexa recordings

Echo Show 5

Become an expert conversation designer

The Conversational Academy is a fantastic online course that'll teach you the ins and outs of conversation design. Prepare yourself for the UX role of the future and enrol on the course today. VUX World listeners will save $100 when you enrol at conversationalacademy.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're honoured to be joined by Amazon Alexa Chief Evangelist, Dave Isbitski, to discuss the conversations that he's having at C-Suite level about how brands should be approaching voice and where it's all heading.

Become an expert conversation designer

The Conversational Academy is a fantastic online course that'll teach you the ins and outs of conversation design. Prepare yourself for the UX role of the future and enrol on the course today. VUX World listeners will save $100 when you enrol at conversationalacademy.com.

In this episode

Dave Isbitski is the Chief Evangelist at Amazon Alexa and spends his days touring the world speaking and educating brands on why they should be adopting a voice strategy and how they can do it.

We chat to Dave about what he's observing at Chief Exec level within brands across different industries and how he's advising brands to approach voice. We also look at the bigger picture, where voice is heading and what brands can do today to put themselves in prime position tomorrow.

This is a key episode for digital and innovation leaders and C-Suite execs as you'll hear first hand from Amazon on how you should be thinking about and approaching voice in your company. From visioning and scene setting to resourcing, planning and scaling. You'll also hear about the opportunities that are waiting for you once you start down this path.

It's also an important episode for anyone working at agency level, as you'll see some of the techniques Dave uses to sell voice to big companies and understand where the technology and user behaviour is heading.

We dive into details on:

• Voice in the enterprise
• Short and long term roadmap planning
• The similarities between voice now and mobile then
• How to get users to discover your skills
• Conversation design
• Relationship building
• The future of voice and how to plan for it

Lots of you sent your questions in for us to ask Dave, which we do at the end and Dave shares plenty of tips for designers, developers, agencies and creators in this space.

Thanks to everyone who sent their questions in, it was a great way to end the show.

Links

Dave's details: thedavedev.com

Dave Isbitski on Twitter

Vote and propose Alexa features: alexa.uservoice.com

Dave's podcast: alexadevchat.com

Recent podcast appearances

Hear Dave discuss the evolution of Alexa on Voicebot

About Dave, his role and Alexa in Canada on Alexa in Canada

Dave on what's changed in voice on Voice Summit

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're finding out how Ruby Steel and Will Merrill made Alexa more accessible for Susan as part of BBC 2's Big Life Fix.

Become an expert conversation designer

The Conversational Academy is a fantastic online course that'll teach you the ins and outs of conversation design. Prepare yourself for the UX role of the future and enrol on the course today. VUX World listeners will save $100 when you enrol at conversationalacademy.com.

In this episode

Voice first devices such as smart speakers are often touted as accessible. That's one of the main reasons voice assistants are forecast to grow in adoption and usage over the next 5 years. Voice is the new interface.

Whether you're a child, an elderly person or if you have a disability of some kind, voice is here to enable to you interact with technology and connect with those around you.

However, as you'll find out in this episode, there are some fundamental accessibility problems with smart speakers. Having to download the app in order to onboard, for example. Even the design of smart speakers themselves can be intimidating for some.

As part of the BBC 2 Big Life Fix in the UK, Ruby Steel and Will Merrill of Smart Design Worldwide looked to address these problems for Susan.

Susan has MS and requires round the clock care. Even things like changing the TV channel are a challenge for Susan and Smart Design Worldwide looked to change that.

Through creating a custom build, 3D printed casing in the shape of an owl, this 'accessibility jacket' made Alexa less intimidating. Inside, were two Echos. One for Susan to address, and that one talked to the other. Why? You'll find out in today's episode.

There are also plenty of insights into how to make your voice experiences more accessible. Some of which, like the use of small nested menus, go against the grain of current VUI design thinking.

Prepare to be inspired and challenged.

Links

https://smartdesignworldwide.com

Smart Design Worldwide on Twitter

Smart Design Worldwide on Medium

Ruby Steel in Big Life Fix

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're finding out how Ruby Steel and Will Merrill made Alexa more accessible for Susan as part of BBC 2's Big Life Fix.

Become an expert conversation designer

The Conversational Academy is a fantastic online course that'll teach you the ins and outs of conversation design. Prepare yourself for the UX role of the future and enrol on the course today. VUX World listeners will save $100 when you enrol at conversationalacademy.com.

In this episode

Voice first devices such as smart speakers are often touted as accessible. That's one of the main reasons voice assistants are forecast to grow in adoption and usage over the next 5 years. Voice is the new interface.

Whether you're a child, an elderly person or if you have a disability of some kind, voice is here to enable to you interact with technology and connect with those around you.

However, as you'll find out in this episode, there are some fundamental accessibility problems with smart speakers. Having to download the app in order to onboard, for example. Even the design of smart speakers themselves can be intimidating for some.

As part of the BBC 2 Big Life Fix in the UK, Ruby Steel and Will Merrill of Smart Design Worldwide looked to address these problems for Susan.

Susan has MS and requires round the clock care. Even things like changing the TV channel are a challenge for Susan and Smart Design Worldwide looked to change that.

Through creating a custom build, 3D printed casing in the shape of an owl, this 'accessibility jacket' made Alexa less intimidating. Inside, were two Echos. One for Susan to address, and that one talked to the other. Why? You'll find out in today's episode.

There are also plenty of insights into how to make your voice experiences more accessible. Some of which, like the use of small nested menus, go against the grain of current VUI design thinking.

Prepare to be inspired and challenged.

Links

https://smartdesignworldwide.com

Smart Design Worldwide on Twitter

Smart Design Worldwide on Medium

Ruby Steel in Big Life Fix

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Become an expert conversation designer

The Conversational Academy is a fantastic online course that'll teach you the ins and outs of conversation design. Prepare yourself for the UX role of the future and enrol on the course today. VUX World listeners will save $100 when you enrol at conversationalacademy.com.

In this episode

In part 2 of RAIN week, we're joined by Nick Rovisa, Director, Business Development, and Matt Lang, Strategy Director. The guys share their learnings on the voice industry, including how different clients perceive price i.e. how much should a voice project cost, as well as whether to think about voice from a content or app perspective.

We dive deep into the work the team did with Nike in using Google Assistant to launch a new pair of sneakers at the half time interval during a televised Celtics v Lakers basketball game. We look at how the project came about, the lead times, the technical necessities of handling substantial transient traffic and the results of the project on sales.

We discuss how through working with Unilever and a selection of influencers, RAIN were able to achieve a 10% conversion rate of newsletter sign ups via the Alexa skill they built. The Unilever project was a 7 week pilot with a selection of influencers in an attempt to bridge the social and voice landscape. We discuss how this new medium caused confusion with influencer licensing and how to get around that, as well as the results of the pilot and what it takes to sustain a content heavy voice experience.

We discuss how to measure success and how, for some, starting to gather data to develop understanding is a better option than setting KPIs. We cover how to sell, without selling or being too overly salesy (that's a word).

Finally, we chat about what's missing in voice: virality (that's another word). This includes developing our thinking on how to make experiences spread and whether to plumb voice into the mobile and social ecosystem in order to help discoverability.

LinksRAIN

Visit the RAIN website

Subscribe to the RAIN newsletter (scroll to bottom)

RAIN on Twitter

RAIN on Insta

Contact

Email RAIN 

Things we discussed

Adoption, growth and in-skill purchases with Nick Schwab

Everything is a remix by Kirby Ferguson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Conversational Academy is a fantastic online course that'll teach you the ins and outs of conversation design. Prepare yourself for the UX role of the future and enrol on the course today. VUX World listeners will save $100 when you enrol at conversationalacademy.com.

Welcome to RAIN week

This week is RAIN week. We've got two huge episodes featuring the industry-leading and ground-breaking RAIN Agency.

RAIN are a dedicated voice agency and have worked with 23 of the Fortune 100 companies on voice projects. From Nike to Unilever, Campbells to Tide creating experiences from utility to leisure to kids and even product launches.

In this episode

In this first episode with RAIN, we're joined by VP Emerging Experiences, Greg Hedges, to discuss how RAIN approach voice with the Fortune 100 and we get into detail on how they built the Kung Fu Panda Alexa skill for DreamWorks and Amazon.

We share some detail on what's changed in voice since RAIN pivoted in 2015 to focus exclusively on voice. We discuss how brands have moved from more tactical thinking to more strategic and how voice is something that is beginning to impact businesses, rather than be a nice marketing tick box. We also discuss how voice has changed ownership within brands, moving away from the research and innovation teams and moving into the hands of marketing.

Greg shares how RAIN has changed and adapted over the years, how the tools they use have improved, how they built using the VOXA framework and he shares some of the secret sauce RAIN use to track and analyse their voice experiences using Google Analytics.

We also dive deep into the Kung Fu Panda Alexa skill and discuss some of the technical detail in how it came to be, how RAIN approached the project and what Greg learned from a technical, design and strategic perspective.

LinksRAIN

Visit the RAIN website

Subscribe to the RAIN newsletter (scroll to bottom)

RAIN on Twitter

RAIN on Insta

Contact

Email Greg 

Email RAIN

Things we discussed

Kung Fu Panda Alexa skill

The VOXA framework

Lucid charts

VUI design best practice when designing for kids with Paul Jackson

Will Hall and Jason Herndon of RAIN on VUX World

 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Conversational Academy is a fantastic online course that'll teach you the ins and outs of conversation design. Prepare yourself for the UX role of the future and enrol on the course today. VUX World listeners will save $100 when you enrol at conversationalacademy.com.

Welcome to RAIN week

This week is RAIN week. We've got two huge episodes featuring the industry-leading and ground-breaking RAIN Agency.

RAIN are a dedicated voice agency and have worked with 23 of the Fortune 100 companies on voice projects. From Nike to Unilever, Campbells to Tide creating experiences from utility to leisure to kids and even product launches.

In this episode

In this first episode with RAIN, we're joined by VP Emerging Experiences, Greg Hedges, to discuss how RAIN approach voice with the Fortune 100 and we get into detail on how they built the Kung Fu Panda Alexa skill for DreamWorks and Amazon.

We share some detail on what's changed in voice since RAIN pivoted in 2015 to focus exclusively on voice. We discuss how brands have moved from more tactical thinking to more strategic and how voice is something that is beginning to impact businesses, rather than be a nice marketing tick box. We also discuss how voice has changed ownership within brands, moving away from the research and innovation teams and moving into the hands of marketing.

Greg shares how RAIN has changed and adapted over the years, how the tools they use have improved, how they built using the VOXA framework and he shares some of the secret sauce RAIN use to track and analyse their voice experiences using Google Analytics.

We also dive deep into the Kung Fu Panda Alexa skill and discuss some of the technical detail in how it came to be, how RAIN approached the project and what Greg learned from a technical, design and strategic perspective.

LinksRAIN

Visit the RAIN website

Subscribe to the RAIN newsletter (scroll to bottom)

RAIN on Twitter

RAIN on Insta

Contact

Email Greg 

Email RAIN

Things we discussed

Kung Fu Panda Alexa skill

The VOXA framework

Lucid charts

VUI design best practice when designing for kids with Paul Jackson

Will Hall and Jason Herndon of RAIN on VUX World

 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kane Simms and Dustin Coates are joined by Elaine Lee, Principal Product Designer at Twilio, to discuss the ins and outs of Twilio's Autopilot bot builder and how you can build trust with users through dialogue design.

Voice-Connected Home 2019, Cologne, Germany

The Voice-Connected Home 2019 conference dives into all this and more with an incredible line up of speakers from brands like Amazon Alexa, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, BBC, BMW, Vodaphone and plenty more.

Save 30% on tickets with promo code VuxVoice.

Find out more

Learn the art of conversation design with the Conversational Academy online course.

Links

Follow Elaine on LinkedIn

Follow Elaine on Medium 

Check out Autopilot on the Twilio website

Read the documentation for Autopilot

 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why do all skills start with 'Welcome to xyz'? Is an 'assistant' the right mental model for voice experiences? Mark Webster of Adobe XD joins us to tackle some of the biggest challenges in voice and discusses how design can play a role in solving them.

• Voice-Connected Home conference in Cologne, Germany on May 7th-8th. Save 30% on tickets with promo code VuxVoice.
• Learn the art of conversation design with the Conversational Academy online course.
• Take some time out with the Moment Pebble

About Mark Webster

Mark Webster is Director of Product at Adobe, focusing on voice integration for Adobe XD. He is also responsible for driving product strategy for emerging technologies within XD. Mark joined Adobe through the acquisition of the company he founded, Sayspring, which offers a design and prototyping platform for voice interfaces.

Prior to Sayspring, Mark was Director of Product for Groupon, focusing on entertainment and events. He landed at Groupon after SideTour, an e-commerce marketplace for local activities he co-founded, was acquired by Groupon in September 2013. Mark started his career with a five-year stretch at the National Basketball Association, where he worked in Creative Services.

Links

Follow Mark on Twitter

Read Mark's posts on Medium

Check out Adobe XD

Follow Adobe XD on Twitter

Listen to Hans Van Dam discuss conversational design techniques

Listen to Pulse Labs discuss situational design

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're digging deep into how to craft compelling audio experiences in your voice app by using sonic branding and sound design, with Audio UX Co-Founder and CMO, Eric Seay.

In this episode: sonic branding

We're advancing the conversation we had with Joel Beckerman of Man Made Music on scoring voice experiences, and get into specifics of how to make your VUX sound better with a combination of sonic branding and sound design.

We discuss:

• The resurgence of audio
• Why is sonic branding and sound design are important
• Where and how to use sonic branding
• How sonic branding applies to voice
• What's missing in voice from a sound design perspective
• The anatomy of an Alexa skill and where sound design can make an impact
• The 4 As: Audio As An Afterthought, and the perils of putting audio last
• Challenges in sound design and audio branding, including celebrity voiceovers

About Audio UX and Eric Seay

Audio UX are a sound design and sonic branding company helping brands create a holistic Audio Aesthetic by developing an Audio DNA that is extractable, expandable, and effortlessly deployable into virtually any brand moment.

Co-Founder and CMO, Eric Seay, has a background in audio production and composition, working on sound design and sonic branding initiatives for global brands.

Earn monthly recurring revenue from your skills/actions

If you build skills/actions for clients, then you can earn money from them each month through Speebly.

Speebly let's your client's skill/action be accessed and interacted with via your client's website.

Sign up your client to Speebly and you'll get a share of the monthly subscription fee.

Plus, if you've already built the skill/action in Dialogue Flow, it'll take you 5 minutes to set up.

Find out more

Links

Auxnyc.com

AUX on Twitter

Amazon Alexa Blueprints

Amazon Alexa sound library

Invocable shuts down

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.