Voice in Canada Podcast

In this episode, Teri will talk about the ring light on Echo devices, why it’s there, and what type of information we can get from it.

Enjoy!

The previous episode that Teri did on the interesting features that recently came to Canada got some very great feedback. Alexa in Canada listeners were very appreciative of being made aware of the features, tips and tricks. That prompted Teri to enlighten Alexa users about the ring light.

What is the Ring Light?

• It’s a light that is formed like a ring which sits on top of the cylindrical shaped Amazon Echo devices.
• On the Echo Spot, there is a round light around the display. On the other visual display Echo devices, like the Echo Show and Echo Show 5, there is a band of light along the bottom, not a ring light.

The Importance of the Ring Light

• Amazon put a lot of thought into developing the ring light because if a user is looking at their device, it is a way for them to get some feedback about what’s going on, and it also has some security implications.
• One of the things that people are concerned about is when the device is listening to them. By glancing at the light that is displaying on top of the device, a user gets a hint as to what is going on with the device at any particular moment in time.

Different Colors of Lights

• Solid Blue Light/Dark Blue Light: One might see a spinning Cyan within this color. This is the color that comes up when the device is starting up.
• When one doesn’t see any color at all, it means that it is working (assuming it’s plugged in and everything has been set up properly) and Alexa is just waiting to hear the wake up so that she can receive a command.
• Once a user wakes Alexa up, they see a solid darker blue color with a small area of Cyan pointing in the direction of where the sound is coming from. Alexa has the ability to figure out in space where a person is speaking from, which has a lot of implications, including that when you have multiple devices, that is how Alexa knows which device should be responding to a user.
• Once a user has given their command, they see a solid blue and Cyan as Alexa responds.
• Other colors that provide useful information include an orange spinning light which spins clockwise to indicate that the device is connecting to the WiFi network.
• When there is a solid red light, it means that the user has muted the device, and so Alexa is not listening.
• A pulsing yellow light means that Alexa has a message or a notification for the user, in which case, the user will need to say, “Alexa, play my messages” or “Alexa, what are my notifications?”
• People can be on a phone call or drop in on other users using their devices, and this is where a pulsing green light comes up as a sign that there is an incoming call or someone is dropping in on the device.
• A green light spinning counter clockwise means that the user is on an active call or drop in.
• A white light indicates how high or low the volume is. When a user adjusts the volume level, they should see the ring of white light get bigger or smaller corresponding with the percentage of volume.
• A spinning white light can also indicate that Alexa Guard is on. Alexa Guard is a way for Alexa to listen to sounds such as glass breaking when you are away. This feature is currently only in the US.
• The purple light tells us a couple of things. A pulsing purple (or violet light) is an indication that an error occurred during your WiFi set up. A single flash of purple light after an interaction with Alexa means that “Do not Disturb” is turned on.

List of resources mentioned in this episode:

• The Comprehensive Flash Briefing Formula Course

Other useful resources:

• Voice in Canada: The Flash Briefing
• Complete List of Alexa Commands
• Alexa-Enabled and Controlled Devices in Canada
• Teri Fisher on Twitter
• Alexa in Canada on Twitter
• Alexa in Canada Facebook Page
• Alexa in Canada Community Group on Facebook
• Alexa in Canada on Inst...

In this episode, Teri welcomes Brian Roemmele, “The Oracle of Voice” and “The Modern Day Thomas Edison”

Welcome Brian Roemmele!

Brian is the consummate Renaissance man. He is a scientist, researcher, analyst, connector, thinker and doer. He is also referred to as the “Oracle of Voice” and is actually credited for having come up with the term “Voice First”. Over the long, winding arc of his career, Brian has built and run payments and tech businesses, worked in media, including the promotion of top musicians, and explored a variety of other subjects along the way.

He actively shares his findings and observations across fora like Forbes, Huffington Post, Newsweek, Slate, Business Insider, Daily Mail, Inc, Gizmodo, Medium, Quora (An exclusive Quora top writer for: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013), Twitter (quoted and published), Around the Coin (earliest crypto currency podcast), Breaking Banks Radio and This Week In Voice on VoiceFirst.fm that surfaces everything from Bitcoin to Voice Commerce. He recently spoke at the 2019 Alexa Conference about where voice technology is going and introduced some of his incredible ideas.

Where Voice Technology is going

• The talk he did at the Alexa Conference was dubbed “The Last Interface” and was based on the term “What if?”
• The Last Interface refers to the last interface that we will have with technology.
• We type to computers because they cannot understand our volition and our intent.
• Computers are already intelligent enough with current technology to take a user’s context and present to them the information that they are searching for. That’s the premise of The Last Interface.

Intelligence Amplification

• Brian presented this idea by searching through history how we developed the concept of why we speak (why we developed language). He found that we did it because our brain got too large.
• Humans had to offload memories into archival systems which became known as writing. Typing is an example of an extension of an archival system which means we are storing the things that we can’t pass on generationally on an offloaded system. Computers took over that and now we archive in systems and places like websites, Google, PDFs, and others, but it’s still an archival system and it still doesn’t transmit the volition and intent of an individual. The short term aspect is what Brian calls “The Intelligence Amplify”
• He doesn’t fully believe in the concept of AI (Artificial Intelligence) because he doesn’t think we can fully define what intelligence is in humans and where it comes from, and therefore, we cannot artificially create it in any way, shape and form that is human like.
• We have been trying to amplify our intelligence by archiving our world and our stories, whether they be allegorical, mythological or “factual”. Factual is as we see it today. All of our facts today will 1,000 to 10,000 years from now look allegorical to people because they will not be facts any longer, they will be seen as primitive.
• The Intelligence Amplify takes in everything around us. How this works; in this world, with the technology that exists today, the moment you’re born to the moment you die, is a device that will have a camera and a microphone. Assume that it has the highest security you can ever imagine and it never goes on the internet (it has no internet connection). It’s recording everything you’ve ever seen, everything you’ve ever read, every comment you’ve made, every comment you’ve heard, and everything is archived. All those things will be presented to you as the basis of your AI to derive context and to understand not only your paradigm (how you make you as you because you are the sum total of the experiences, good and bad, that define us as human beings), and so it starts amplifying your intelligence.
• During his talk at the 2019 Alexa Conference, he pointed out that the human being discards (exformation) over 99% of everything that comes through our senses.
• With The Intelligence Amplify, the best of us can be amplified.

The Wisdom Keeper

• When we die, everything is thrown away, but not in the world of The Last Interface, because the next stage is called The Wisdom Keeper.
• The Wisdom Keeper (your Wisdom Keeper) is important because it is the sum total of all of your experiences, the essence of your experiences. Every human being has some wisdom to contribute to the world.
• A person’s Wisdom Keeper will be their testament, who they were.

Listener Questions

1. Do you feel that society is actually ready for what Brian has described (The Last Interface, The Intelligence Amplifier and The Wisdom Keeper)
2. Will we ever be ready for the scenario that Brian is describing?
3. Will this happen by default (is ...

Teri is a physician and clinical assistant professor at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver, Canada. He is an experienced keynote speaker, educator, consultant, and podcaster.

Getting into Podcasting and the Voice Space

• His passions are technology and education.
• Was always looking for a way to combine medicine, education, and technology.
• First became aware of voice technology in early 2017 and wanted to learn more about it to see how he could use it in medicine, teaching and helping people to be more productive with their lives.
• He launched the Alexa in Canada website along with the Alexa in Canada Podcast to talk about what’s going on in the technology scene and help people learn more about how they can use voice technology in their lives.
• He started learning about the applications for voice technology in healthcare which led him to start the website and podcast, Voice First Health.
• He’s also interested in entrepreneurship and marketing.
• The idea of having a flash briefing was exciting for him and he started the daily Voice in Canada flash briefing where he gives people tips and the latest news about voice technology.
• The Voice in Canada Flash Briefing is the number one rated flash briefing in Canada.

Flash Briefings and their Importance

• A flash briefing is a term that Amazon has given to a type of audio show that producers can create and typically they are very short. They are also known as Briefcasts.
• The big difference between flash briefings and podcasts is that flash briefings tend to be on a daily basis even though they don’t have to be.
• Statistics show that people tend to listen to their flash briefings in the morning. They often become part of a person’s daily routine and it’s a way for the person creating the flash briefing to develop a more intimate relationship with that person.

Designing a Flash Briefing

• Flash briefings can be produced for any topic.
• They are great for businesses, nonprofits, and hobbyists.
• There are very few flash briefings currently relative to the number of podcasts and blogs. It’s a huge opportunity.
• The tools needed to start a flash briefing are similar to the ones used in podcasting.
• There are 8 steps to set up a flash briefing. Step 1 is coming up with the core topic. Step 2 is actually sitting down and trying to record an episode to see if you even like this sort of thing.
• Teri uses a Mac, GarageBand (Free Version), Audacity. You don’t need anything more expensive than that.
• Step 3 is choosing an audio host where you will upload your audio files. This will allow you to have an RSS feed. You will take that RSS feed and plug it into your Amazon skills kit where you will be creating the flash briefing skill.
• Teri is not a programmer or coder, but he set up his flash briefing all by himself.
• Step 4 includes beta testing the flash briefing to make sure everything is live then submit it to Amazon for certification.

Building a Good Flash Briefing

• When setting up a flash briefing, one can do recorded audio or text to speech.
• From a branding perspective, text to speech will not have as much impact as audio recorded files. This is because Alexa’s voice gets mixed in with everybody else’s and thus have no identifying factors. When one does audio recording then they can have some type of audio jingle or branding which is important because people will always know what they’re listening to.
• Having some music playing in the background of each flash briefing episode is also a great method of audio branding.
• A good audio branding catches a listener’s attention.
• When creating a flash briefing, one has the option of creating the skills card which works perfectly for multimodal devices like the Echo Show because it displays an icon and title of the flash briefing. One can also choose to put in a URL that people can click from their mobile phone or Echo Show and be directed to a website. That can work very for marketing a business’ product or service.
• One can get information on listeners and unique users of the flash briefing depending on the audio host.
• You can do your flash briefing weekly, daily or hourly, but Teri proposes daily.
• Consistency is very important because the audience you have starts to rely on you and build a relationship with you.
• When doing a daily flash briefing, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of content you need to come up with. Having a clear process is extremely useful.

Good or Bad Voice Experience

• Teri was playing around with an educational skill with his kids. It’s a tutoring adventure stories skill called Kiwi Monsters. It teaches scientifi...

In this episode, Teri welcomes Melissa Klepacki, a serial entrepreneur and wellness fanatic. She’s also one of the pioneers when it comes to voice first and particularly with flash briefings. She is well into the 200s of her episodes of flash briefings, and they had a very interesting conversation about the impact that voice is and will continue to have on the world.

Getting into the Voice First space

• Got into social media marketing to push marketing out to people instead of having them go to a website to get community news. Was using Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to share information with people.
• She realized the paradigm shift happening with voice and decided to develop a daily flash briefing skill called “Today’s Health Tip”, to push wellness information to people.

Today’s Health Tip

• It’s a 3-minute daily wellness tip.
• Available on Amazon.com
• She talks about all kinds of subjects like low carb living, gut health, brain health, recommended supplements, mindfulness, incorporating more movement, and others.
• She works with a developer. Initially used Storyline to piece together her daily flash briefing, but it was ugly. The developer advised her to use her voice in developing the entire skill.
• People in 190 countries listen to Today’s Health Tip. 28% of the listeners are in Canada.
• The recommendations she gives comes from journal articles, books and anecdotal things that have worked for her.

The Guud Company

• She has a passion for Umlauts which remind her of the smiley face.
• She wants to share good news and make people think about wellness on a daily basis.
• Consults with other companies to develop flash briefing skills. Currently working with Princeton Partners, the largest marketing firm in Princeton, New Jersey. They have developed 2 flash briefing skills for them.
• They just launched a fun, family-friendly holiday skill called “Dear Santa” done in Santa Clause’s voice. The typical consumers are 4 to 9 year olds and the two choices they have is to report their good behavior to Santa so they can be on the nice list or to request a specific gift. When requesting a gift, the child asks for a specific gift and that information is captured so that the email registered to the Alexa device will receive an email from the North Pole to tell the parent that a specific gift has been requested. The parent can then buy that gift for the child for Christmas. Kids will typically not share their gift requests directly with their parents.
• Dear Santa is live right now.
• They plan on building out the regular Alexa skill to include more wellness and mindfulness topics.

Challenges and Rewards with the flash briefing

• Recording it on a daily basis can be a challenge.
• Records a few episodes at a time sometimes like when she’s taking a vacation. Does it the night before and tries to release at 12:01 AM on the day that it’s going to be shared.
• Friends and other people have reached out telling her the flash briefing has changed their lives.

Flash briefing tips

• There is a huge opportunity in the flash briefing skills arena especially for people creating content regularly. There are about 50,000 Alexa skills and only 5,000 of those are daily flash briefings.
• You don’t have to do the flash briefing every day.
• Flash briefings are a huge opportunity for companies to get out in front of competition.
• The discoverability issue: It’s not easy for people to find the different Alexa skills that are available because there are currently no discoverability tools. There needs to be a website or Alexa skill that will recommend the different skills and flash briefings based on each user’s preferences. She occasionally asks people to share her flash briefing and leave reviews. Plenty of Alexa skills have no reviews.

List of resources mentioned in this episode:

• Today’s Health Tip
• Dear Santa
• Dr. Perlmutter
• The Guud Company on Facebook
• TheGuudCompany.com
• Voice in Canada: The Flash Briefing
• Complete List of Ale...

Top Tips for Voice in the Roaring 20s

In this episode, Teri will share the recording of the presentation that he gave at Project Voice 2020 about flash briefings and the top flash briefing tips for 2020 and beyond.

Teri was awarded the Flash Briefing of the Year award at the event, and has recently learned that Amazon named him an Alexa champion. His Crack the Code gamified flash briefing competition also just recently ended and he will be announcing the winners in this episode.

Enjoy!

The Audio Content Production Opportunities with Flash Briefings

• While looking for resources to help him learn about voice technology, he didn’t find much, and so he decided to start his Alexa in Canada podcast all about consumers and how they can use Alexa and leverage voice technology.
• His Voice in Canada flash briefing has been the number one rated flash briefing and new skill in Canada since it started.
• He started the Briefcast.FM Network, which is a network of curated briefcasters who are producing some of the very best flash briefings in the market.
• Combining his passion for voice with his medical expertise, he also created a suite of voice first health flash briefings on top of his Voice First Health Podcast.
• He also created a course called Flash Briefing Formula to help the voice community.
• There are 700,000 podcasts and 12,000 flash briefings, which means that for every 60 podcasts that are currently out there, there is one flash briefing. This highlights the great opportunity in the space.

The Top 9 Flash Briefings Tips

#1 - Be Brief

• Listeners are subscribing to multiple flash briefings (6 to 10 at least), and they want quick content. They want to get in and out, and get the little nuggets so they can move on.
• From a poll that Teri conducted within his audience, the preferred length for a flash briefing episode is 3 minutes or less.

#2 - Solving a Problem

• The best way to develop a nice relationship with listeners through a flash briefing is by solving a problem that the listeners have.

#3 - An Eye Catching Eye

• As of today, the way people are finding flash briefings is by looking at some type of visual display.
• Teri asked his audience how they search for flash briefings, and 68% of them said that they use some type of visual interface like the Alexa app, the Briefcast.FM website, and the Amazon website.

#4 - Equipment

• The use of decent equipment is paramount if someone wants to create a great flash briefing.

#5 - Have Fun with it

• It’s important for one to be willing to experiment and be creative. For example, for the 500th episode of his flash briefing, Teri created the Crack the Code competition to make the flash briefing fun and engaging for his listeners.

#6 - Consistency

• This is probably the most important tip because if one is not consistent, they will definitely lose their listeners.

#7 - Analyze

• One must take time to strategize about their titles and descriptions when they’re creating their flash briefing. Amazon is a search engine just like Google, and so it’s critical to use the right keywords. Daniel Hill from the Instagram Stories Flash Briefing advises people to pick a name for their flash briefing that incorporates something that people are searching for on Amazon or Google.

#8 - Sonic Branding

• Emily Binder of Voice Marketing with Emily Binder flash briefing says that a flash briefing’s consistent intro and outro should be on brand and short (under five to ten seconds each)

#9 - Start Today

• Now is the time to start a flash briefing. They are an incredible opportunity for people to get their message out to their niche (audience)

List of resources mentioned in this episode:

• Flash Briefing Formula
• www.AlexainCanada.ca/Funnel
• Teri’s YouTube Channel

Other useful resources:

• Voice in Canada: The Flash Briefing
• Complete List of Alexa Commands