Explore every episode of the podcast Voice This!

🎉🌟🎙️Voice This! Podcast Season 2 premieres with Hilary Hayes!

We're back and better than ever! In this episode, we chat with extraordinary guest, Hilary Hayes, a leading expert in designing conversations for AR/VR experiences.

Listen up as we dive deep into the world of conversational AI, AR/VR, and explore a range of topics, including:

• Her journey in the industry and specialization in AR/VR design
• The benefits and challenges of integrating conversation AI in AR/VR experiences
• Strategies for ensuring inclusive and accessible design
• A behind-the-scenes look at her design process, and much more...

This episode officially kicks off season 2 of Voice This! Podcast! Thank you for following along with us as we explore the reality of designing Conversational AI and its real world implications. Thank you for being here fam 💜💙💜

We're backkkkkkk!

With all the love and support you've given us, we couldn't NOT launch another season. Like, come on! This season, we're taking this to next level. No more product lifecycle, no rules, just vibes. (Kidding, we're talking about very important topics this season.)

Season 2 of Voice This! Podcast is coming soon!!! First episode drops May 1, 2024.

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 💜💙💜

DISCLAIMER: Don't listen to this episode hungry.

To our fellow engineers, developers, and curious minds, we dedicate the season finale to you! 

Join Millani and Guy as they wrap up the season with the final and crucial component of the software development lifecycle: implementation. From his home country of Cameroon to the exciting tech hub of Toronto, Guy takes us through his background and how he got started in building conversational AI apps. Guy also sheds some light on the challenges he's faced while coding and deploying apps and shares advice on how to avoid them.

Oh and of course, there's a part two. Guy served us way too many golden nuggets to have only one episode.

Final note: this episode was recorded before Voice Tech Global officially disbanded. Read the official notice here.

Testing! Testing! Testing! What better way to figure out if your ideas are valid and your prototype makes sense than to test? Today we're joined by Fariya Mostafa, who, at the time of recording this episode, was the Group Product Manager at Winterlight Labs for their Life Sciences product. 

This is our first episode looking at the application of voice in the healthcare space. 

Disclaimer: Fariya is NOT a designer, she's a product manager and we actually love her all the more for it. In this episode, she guides us through the day-to-day of working in product management, which may include: defining a target market, learning from users, building roadmaps, and monitoring key product metrics, among many other things. 

There's something in here for everyone at any stage in their career, but especially for those in the early-stages who would like to learn more about working on a team with product managers in voice tech.

Fariya is now a Product Manager at Legacy. 

Where to find her:

LinkedIn

Join Millani on a new mission to uncover the person behind the brand, “elaineinthebay”. In this bonus episode, Elaine Anzaldo gives listeners the scoop on starting a career in conversation designer. From her humble beginnings in biology all the way to multimodal design at NLX, Elaine tells us her story with her usual silliness and flair, while sprinkling pieces of advice along the way.

Topics include:

• [8:40] Elaine’s experience before conversational UX
• [14:20] Elaine’s experience with conversational AI in general
• [17:10] Elaine’s role at NLX as a conversational UX designer
• [20:40] The multimodal design process
• [33:50] Documentation in conversation design
• [40:00] Elaine’s attitude toward conversational AI as a consumer
• [44:45] Ethics in conversational AI
• [57:05] The "smart neighborhood" as an ideal future world
• [1:01:45] Elaine's advocacy for the CxD community
• [1:05:00] Advice for emerging conversation designers

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.