The Future is Spoken

Hello and welcome to the 'Future is Spoken' produced by the digital assistant Academy. In Today's episode, Shyamala Prayaga speaks with Maikel Van Der Wouden about the Sonic branding in Voice Design.Maikel van der Wouden, a highly passionate audiophile, and design engineer has a lot of experience developing voice branding strategies and audio assets for prestigious clients, including fortune 500 companies, across various industries.Tune in now!Conversation Highlights:[00:00:46] Maikel's background as an Audio engineer working on Sonic branding. [00:03:08] Sonic branding connects users to the brand.[00:07:25] What is the relation between Sonic branding and Voice?[00:19:26] What are the different elements of Sonic branding? [00:30:15] What is the return of investment for companies to invest in Sonic branding. [00:32:31] Who all are involved in sonic brand designing? Learn more about Maikelhttps://maikelvanderwouden.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/maikel-van-der-wouden-4a5822112/ If you enjoyed this episode of The Future is Spoken Podcast, then make sure to subscribe to our podcast.Follow Shyamala Prayaga at @sprayaga This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shyamalaprayaga.substack.com

Hello and welcome to the 'Future is Spoken' produced by the digital assistant Academy. In Today's episode, Shyamala Prayaga speaks with Julie Daniel Davis about the Voice First Usecases for FinTecin Education.A former accountant turned educator, Julie Daniel Davis enjoys thinking about innovative ways to enhance education and then making them happen. 15 years in the k12 setting, with the last role being Director of Instructional Technology and Innovation, led to being an educational consultant, advocate for voice technology use in education, and an adjunct Edtech professor at UT Chattanooga. Julie is striving to meet the individual needs of student and teacher and take them forward in their growth as lifelong learners in the use of Edtech. Somewhat of a futurist, she is never content with the now and is constantly striving to better the world she lives in. She is seen as a passionate person with the skills to help others catch the joy- whatever that joy might be. She is an instructional technology professional development leader/speaker, author, Amazon Alexa Champion, and Bixby Premier Developer. She believes voice technology can enhance education in mighty ways. She helps educators use technology resources to enhance critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration- all skills required for students to become influencers of their world. In 2020 Julie became a CoSN Certified Education Technology Leader (CETL). Julie is the founder and host of the Voice in Education podcast that was a finalist in the 2020 Project Voice Awards. Julie has been on the planning/steering committee for EdCamp GigCity since 2015. She has served in the past as co-moderator of Twitter Chat #TnEdChat where educators from Tennessee and beyond talk about educational technology issues. She is recognized as a leader in the Canvas LMS community, where she serves as a course facilitator for the Canvas Certified Educator program. EdTech Magazine named Julie as having one of the top K-12 I.T. Blogs for 2015. She was recognized in 2021 by Amazon Alexa in their “Women in Voice” series.Tune in now!Conversation Highlights:[00:06:51] Usecases for Voice in Education [00:11:05] How to solve discoverability issues for parents? [00:15:36] How Schools can adapt to Voice?[00:21:09] Teaching Kids Digital Citizenship with Voice Technology [00:25:55] Will technical issues like limited language and accents understanding create problems with kids and their confidence?[00:30:49] How to solve equity issues with Voice, especially in the classroom?[00:02:33] Julie's Voice in Education Podcast Learn more about Juliehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/juliedavisedu/ https://www.juliedavisedu.com/podcast https://twitter.com/voiceedu1 If you enjoyed this episode of The Future is Spoken Podcast, then make sure to subscribe to our podcast.Follow Shyamala Prayaga at @sprayaga This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shyamalaprayaga.substack.com

Hello and welcome to the 'Future is Spoken' produced by the digital assistant Academy. In Today's episode, Shyamala Prayaga speaks with Rana Gujral about the Voice First Usecases for FinTech.Rana Gujral is an entrepreneur, speaker, investor, and CEO at Behavioral Signals, an enterprise software company that excels at distinguishing behavioral signals in speech data with its proprietary deep learning technology. As a thought-leader in the AI/technology space, he often leads keynote sessions and joins panel discussions at industry events such as World Government Summit, VOICE Summit, The Next Web Conference, and Blockchain Economic Forum. His bylines are featured in publications such as Hacker Noon, Voicebot.ai, SpeechTechMagazine, and is a contributing columnist at TechCrunch and Forbes. He's been recognized as 'Entrepreneur of the Month' by CIO Magazine, awarded 'US-China Pioneer' by IEIE, and listed as a Top 10 Entrepreneur to follow in 2017 by Huffington Post and an AI Entrepreneur to Watch in Inc. In 2020 he won "Contributor of the Year: Chatbots" in Hacker Noon's Noonie's Awards.Tune in now!Conversation Highlights:[00:01:47] Rana's Journey in the Voice tech world [00:09:35] Why is the Financial sector leveraging Voice AI, and what benefits they reap?[00:13:30] How to design scalable solutions?[00:26:01] Will Voice AI synergize with brain-machine interfaces for Fintech in future? [00:37:00] How to design Bias-Free voice experiences?Learn more about Behavioral Signalshttps://behavioralsignals.com/ Learn more about RanaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ranagujral/Twitter: https://twitter.com/RanaGujral If you enjoyed this episode of The Future is Spoken Podcast, then make sure to subscribe to our podcast.Follow Shyamala Prayaga at @sprayaga This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shyamalaprayaga.substack.com

Hello and welcome to the 'Future is Spoken' produced by the digital assistant Academy. In Today's episode, Shyamala Prayaga speaks with Bret Kinsella about the Current and Future Trends of Conversational AI.Bret is the founder, CEO, and research director of Voicebot.ai. He was named commentator of the year by the Alexa Conference in 2019 and is widely cited in media and academic research as an authority on voice assistants and AI. He is also the host of the Voicebot Podcast and editor of the Voice Insider newsletter.Tune in now!Conversation Highlights:[00:01:30]: Origin story of Voicebot.ai [00:05:08]: How does Voicebot.ai conduct research? Who is the target users? [00:11:02]: Voice as marketing, nitty-gritty and expectations [00:16:18]: Why is there a rise in human-like synthetic voices? [00:20:29]: Trends to make Voice AI accessible and inclusive[00:27:49]: Voice prosthesis for people who cannot speak[00:33:21]: How many assistants do we need? [00:37:18]: Is arbitration the future? Learn more about Voicebot.aihttps://voicebot.ai/ Learn more about BretLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bretkinsella/Twitter: https://twitter.com/bretkinsella If you enjoyed this episode of The Future is Spoken Podcast, then make sure to subscribe to our podcast.Follow Shyamala Prayaga at @sprayaga This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shyamalaprayaga.substack.com

Hello and welcome to the 'Future is Spoken' produced by the digital assistant Academy. In Today's episode, Shyamala Prayaga speaks with Nicholas Sawka and Benjamin Falvo from Voice Spark about Voice Evangelism and testing.Nicholas was recently brought on at Wanderword as their Chief Evangelist. Nick will represent Wanderword in the US in sales, networking, gathering product testers, and improving the use/onboarding of Fabula, Poptale and entertainment production.Nick found his passion for Alexa back in 2015 when she was first released and was part of the device's initial Beta program. In 2017 he made the jump to development and has been involved with creating over 400 Alexa Skills. Further, Nicholas has experience with working on and creating Google Actions. In addition to his love for Voice First tech, he is an experienced Chief Of Operations with a demonstrated history of working in the military industry, with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix. Benjamin Falvo is currently making things for Howl. Benjamin is an Intrapreneurial and strategic CIO / CTO with 20 years of diversified leadership experience across agency, startup, corporate and nonprofit environments, including numerous high-profile global projects for Fortune 500 clients. Leverages a unique blend of skills at the intersection of technical leadership, creative direction, product management, and operations management. History of ideating, designing, building and deploying highly engaging, user-friendly digital products and experiences across web, mobile and event platforms. Weekly co-host for VoiceSpark Live Podcast on thought leadership in AI and Voice First.Tune in now!Conversation Highlights:[00:03:07]: Nick Journey to Voice Tech [00:04:59]: Ben's Journey to Voice Tech[00:09:07]: Evolution of Voice Spark[00:15:00]: Voice Spark's Testing criteria for voice applications [00:21:28]: Why Voice Evangelism is essential? Guest requests for Voice Spark Livehttps://voicespark.live/contact/Submit your work/skill for review:https://voicespark.live/submit-skill-action-review/Grading Scale for Skills and Actions:https://voicespark.live/voice-spark-scoring-review-breakdown/Learn more about Nick https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-e-sawka-41aa3b79/ Learn more about Ben https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminfalvo/ If you enjoyed this episode of The Future is Spoken Podcast, then make sure to subscribe to our podcast.Follow Shyamala Prayaga at @sprayaga This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shyamalaprayaga.substack.com

Empathy is the first step to design any product because it is a skill that allows us to understand and share the same feelings that others feel. Through Empathy, we can put ourselves in other people's shoes and connect with how they might be feeling about their problem, circumstance, or situation. When we design products with Empathy in mind, we are making them usable and helpful. In Today's episode, Shyamala Prayaga speaks with Romita Bulchandani about Designing for Empathy in Conversational AI.Several years ago, Romita Bulchandani left her corporate dream job to live her dream life.  She is now living her purpose through transformational coaching while leaving glitter trails along the way.  Romita works with clients from all across the globe.    As a certified coach, Romita also leans in on 15+ years of diverse leadership experience from Fortune 50 companies like The Walt Disney Company & Marriott International.  Romita is driven by her real-world experiences and passion for living authentically.  You can think of her as a business magician, life coach, spiritual mentor, strategic planner, and creative problem solver.  Romita will find your glitter and help you bring it to the surface.  To learn more about Romita's story, you may connect with her on LinkedIn. Starting with their own experiences, they end up discussing voice design strategy for the elderly population.  Tune in now!Conversation Highlights: [00:06:40] Romita's story from Disney about Empathy [00:10:31] Empathy is putting yourself in user's shoes [00:16:38] How does Empathy help a brand? [00:20:51] How to Design for Empathy?[00:24:55] Empathy is everyone's responsibility  Learn more about Romita and her work Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/romita-bulchandani/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glitterthesoul/https://www.glitterforthesoul.com/ If you enjoyed this episode of The Future is Spoken Podcast, then make sure to subscribe to our podcast.Follow Shyamala Prayaga at @sprayaga  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shyamalaprayaga.substack.com

The Future is Spoken presents Ryan Elza as this week's guest. Ryan Elza is Vice President of Innovation and Technology at Volunteers of America National Services. Before that, Ryan was Social Entrepreneurship in Residence for Social Connectedness at AARP Foundation and led AARP Foundation's social isolation and digital inclusion work. He has an extensive background in the social determinants of health, design thinking and civic engagement. He is a recognized subject matter expert on social isolation and voice-first design for older adults. He has been at the frontier of developing voice-first solutions for low-income older adults. Ryan is a trained anthropologist, and has a master's degree in technology entrepreneurship from the University of Maryland, and is an avid mentor to students and startups at various stages of development.Prior to joining AARP Foundation, Ryan served as the Program Management Specialist and adjunct professor for the national award-winning Honors College Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program at the University of Maryland. During his tenure with EIP, Ryan developed and launched several new entrepreneurial programs and initiatives, including the EIP Terp Tank Startup Competition and the Global Entrepreneurship Semester Program. Previously, he worked at The Advisory Board Company on the performance technology team helping health systems implement transformational solutions. Mr Elza was a social entrepreneur by the practice during his undergraduate career at the University of Maryland, where he founded and scaled the UMD Chapter of Health Leads, a non-profit that trained and placed students in primary care clinics as family advocates for low-income families to find resources such as food, housing, and job training. During his tenure, he worked with hospital administrators, primary care physicians, university administrators, and student volunteers to implement a closed-loop screening and referral system for the social determinants of health. Starting with their own experiences, they end up discussing voice design strategy for the elderly population. Tune in now! Conversation Highlights:[00:02:21]: Ryan's journey to Social Entrepreneurship [00:06:01]: Barriers when designing voice experiences for the elderly population[00:11:57]: Usecases for Voice in Elderly Population[00:16:14]: Bot Personality. Do older adults understand they are interacting with an AI?[00:19:39]: Solving for discoverability through education [00:23:48]: How to design for age-related issues or disabilities?[00:33:05]: Designing for Social Isolation and mental health[00:40:09]: Designing for memory-related issues[00:42:56]: Ryan's suggestion for getting started Learn more about AARP Foundation http://www.fondationarp.org/Learn more about Ryan LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-elza/If you enjoyed this episode of The Future is Spoken Podcast, then make sure to subscribe to our podcast.Follow Shyamala Prayaga at @sprayaga This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shyamalaprayaga.substack.com

The Future is Spoken presents Matthew Hammersley as this week's guest. Matthew Hammersley is the Founder and CEO of the novel effect, which uses voice recognition combined with sound effects to enhance storytime for parents, teachers and children. Matt was previously a patent attorney for various companies. During his daughter's baby shower function, an idea for bringing new technology like voice recognition to the timeless tradition of reading aloud to children and making storytelling more engaging came to his mind. That is when he quit his job to start the company novel effect. Matt comes from a chemical engineering background from Clemson University. Starting with their own experiences, they end up discussing voice design strategy for everyone. Tune in Now!Conversation Highlights:[00:01:36]: Matt's journey from Chemical engineer to Cryptography and then from Patent officer to founder of Novel Effect. [00:04:45] Birth story of Novel Effect and how it all started[00:09:40] Kids have more patience than adults when things go wrong[00:12:45] Whose responsibility is it to safeguard a child's protection?[00:18:03] Handling privacy for kids[00:27:05] Targeting the right market [00:35:25] Designing custom responses for kids[00:41:05] Suggestions for aspiring conversation designersLearn more about Novel Effect on Twitter and the web: @novel_effect Novel EffectDownload Novel Effect in the App Store: Novel Effect for iOSDownload Novel Effect in Android: Novel Effect Beta for AndroidFollow Novel Effect on Facebook: Novel Effect on FacebookLearn more about Matthew at● LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthammersley/If you enjoyed this episode of The Future is Spoken Podcast, then make sure to subscribe to our podcast.Follow Shyamala Prayaga at @sprayaga  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shyamalaprayaga.substack.com

The Future is Spoken presents Susan and Scot Westwater as this week's guest. Susan and Scot Westwater are the husband-and-wife co-founders of Pragmatic Digital where they advise the world's most innovative brands that want to capitalize on the incredible opportunity Voice represents. Through their consultancy, Susan and Scot help clients solve their marketing and customer experiences problems using customer-centric approaches to plan and create useful and usable Voice experiences for their audiences. They have presented and authored several talks, workshops, articles, and ebooks focused on the role Voice technology plays in marketing and business strategy. Together, they authored the book Voice Strategy: Creating Useful and Usable Voice Experiences and are working on a second book titled Voice Marketing which will be released in Spring 2022. Susan and Scot are also co-founders of Voice Masters, an online education program designed to teach innovative business teams about Voice and Voice strategy and ambassadors for the Open Voice Network and instructors for the Marketing AI Institute AI Academy. They both were recognized in Voicebot's Top 68 Leaders in Voice 2020, and Scot was recently included in Sound Hound's "Top 40 Voice AI Influencers to Follow on Twitter." Starting with their own experiences, they end up discussing voice design strategy for everyone. Tune in Now!Conversation Highlights:[00:02:28]: Learn how Susan's experience from content and Scot's experience from product design background helped them start a pragmatic digital voice strategy company. [00:05:05]: What does voice strategy mean, and why is it important? [00:07:17]: Why is it important to balance the user needs and business needs to design better Voice strategies [00:11:44]: Voice strategy involves thinking about the use case itself, like where Voice fit into the overall digital strategy to think about how even to convince the stakeholders and ROI of the investment. [00:16:03]: Dont rush; adopt a crawl, walk, run approach to designing Voice products[00:22:45]: Testing is iterative[00:23:23]: Data is the king to design strategies[00:33:49]: Build vs buy strategy and which is better?[00:42:42]: Marketing is not a four-letter word. Involve them in your process early on[00:53:50]: Suggestions for aspiring conversation designersSusan and Scot's book Voice Strategy: Creating Useful and Usable Voice Experiences  - www.voicestrategybook.com Voice Masters - www.voicemasters.ai Open Voice Network – Voice assistance worthy of user trust. https://openvoicenetwork.org/ Other Books: Designing Voice User Interfaces: Principles of Conversations Experiences  - Cathy Pearl How to Make Sense of Any Mess - Abby Covert The Content Strategy Toolkit  - Meghan Casey Audio Branding: Using Sound to Build Your Brand - Laurence Minsky and Colleen Fahey Learn more about Scot at● LinkedIn Learn more about Susan at● LinkedIn  If you enjoyed this episode of The Future is Spoken Podcast, then make sure to subscribe to our podcast.Follow Shyamala Prayaga at @sprayaga  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shyamalaprayaga.substack.com

The Future is Spoken presents Daniel Suissa and Ilana Meir as this week's guest. Ilana Meir is a Conversation Designer at Facebook Reality Labs. There, she works with a cross-functional team with AR/VR technologies, namely Oculus and Portal. Ilana approaches her work with a cultural lens: first seeking to understand the cultural underpinnings of behaviour in a space and then how a new product will affect them. For her contributions to the design field and voice community, Speech Technology magazine named Ilana a "Speech Technology Luminary”.Daniel Suissa is a software engineer at Facebook Reality Labs, working on knowledge bases for conversational AIs focusing on media-related interactions. He previously helped build the personal finance manager Exeq (acquired by RetailWorx), helping young folks understand their spending and connect with their favourite local merchants. Daniel comes from a background in data representation and understanding from the IDF, where I led a team of analysts that advised military leadership on resource management & strategy. Starting with their own experiences, they end up discussing collaboration in conversation design. Tune in Now!Conversation Highlights:[00:01:39] Ilana’s journey towards conversation design[00:03:01] Daniel’s journey into conversation design [00:05:34] how does the Interaction between designer and developers look?[00:10:11] Learn from Daniel’s experience how developers can adapt to user centered approach [00:11:33] How is designing for scannability different from listenability? [00:13:31] Information Architecture in conversation design is key[00:19:53] What is fun about working as a designer with a group of developers?[00:21:11] Best practices to get into conversation design spaceLearn about Ilana at●      LinkedInLearn more about Daniel at●      LinkedInIf you enjoyed this episode of The Future is Spoken Podcast, then make sure to subscribe to our podcast.Follow Shyamala Prayaga at @sprayaga This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shyamalaprayaga.substack.com