The Alexa Conference 2019 with Harry Pappas

01/01/19 • 23 min

In this episode, Teri welcomes Harry Pappas, the Founder and CEO of the Intelligent Health Association (IHA)

Welcome Harry Pappas!

Harry is a serial entrepreneur and has never worked for the corporate world. His core goal is to get the healthcare community to adopt new technology, software, apps, voice and other forms of technology that can have a dramatic impact on improving patient outcomes, patient care and patient safety while driving down the cost of Healthcare for all citizens.

The Intelligent Health Association (IHA)

A healthcare incident concerning his mother made him realize how bad the healthcare system is the US and worldwide. He promised his mother that he would use all his talents, resources and connections all over the world to improve the delivery of healthcare by educating the healthcare community around the world to adopt new technologies and processes.
He divested his companies and decided to do social good.
He started out by forming the RFID in Healthcare Consortium which then led to the formation of the Intelligent Health Association because he realized that RFID and RTLS technologies were only tools that needed to be surrounded by other complementary technologies.
They have an Alexa in Healthcare Consortium and other technology oriented alliances.
IHA is focused on education. They are vendor neutral technology agnostic and the association is by invitation only.

Similarities of Voice to the Early Stages of the Dotcom Boom

Voice is similar to the Dotcom enterprises, but Voice is more consumer oriented because an individual doesn’t need a laptop or any knowledge about how the web works.
Voice is going to be the next WWW.

Getting involved with the Alexa Conference

When he was approached by Bradley Metrock to contribute to the organization of the conference, he jumped on-board because his goal is always to help educate the community. They decided to create a track on healthcare and bring in real-world applications of voice.
He will be doing a panel session where they will have both vendors and end-users talking about real-world application of voice.

List of resources mentioned in this episode:

Other Useful resources:

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

In this episode, Teri welcomes Harry Pappas, the Founder and CEO of the Intelligent Health Association (IHA)

Welcome Harry Pappas!

The Intelligent Health Association (IHA)

A healthcare incident concerning his mother made him realize how bad the healthcare system is the US and worldwide. He promised his mother that he would use all his talents, resources and connections all over the world to improve the delivery of healthcare by educating the healthcare community around the world to adopt new technologies and processes.
He divested his companies and decided to do social good.
He started out by forming the RFID in Healthcare Consortium which then led to the formation of the Intelligent Health Association because he realized that RFID and RTLS technologies were only tools that needed to be surrounded by other complementary technologies.
They have an Alexa in Healthcare Consortium and other technology oriented alliances.
IHA is focused on education. They are vendor neutral technology agnostic and the association is by invitation only.

Similarities of Voice to the Early Stages of the Dotcom Boom

Voice is similar to the Dotcom enterprises, but Voice is more consumer oriented because an individual doesn’t need a laptop or any knowledge about how the web works.
Voice is going to be the next WWW.

Getting involved with the Alexa Conference

When he was approached by Bradley Metrock to contribute to the organization of the conference, he jumped on-board because his goal is always to help educate the community. They decided to create a track on healthcare and bring in real-world applications of voice.
He will be doing a panel session where they will have both vendors and end-users talking about real-world application of voice.

List of resources mentioned in this episode:

Other Useful resources:

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

Previous Episode

Design for Voice with Jeremy Wilken

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...

Next Episode

2019 Top Ten Amazon Alexa Skills in Canada

In this episode, Teri does a countdown of the 2019 Top Ten Amazon Alexa Skills in Canada.

Teri went into the Canadian Amazon Skill Store and sorted the skills by top reviews which means that they are the skills that you the users have rated as the top skills. Teri had done a similar countdown months ago and interestingly some of the skills are still in the list, but there are some new ones, and the skill that takes the number one spot is actually brand new.

Before we proceed, one small caveat: Teri selected the skills based on how interactive they are and not just sound effects. He decided to sort the skills this way so you can see Alexa at her best. With that in mind, time to countdown the top ten!

Ready? Here we go! The Top Ten Amazon Alexa Skills in Canada!

#10 AnyPod by Harrison Digital Media

Are you looking for a great skill to listen to podcasts on Alexa? It was the number 10 skill six months, so it’s holding steady. This is the best skills for listening to podcasts through your Alexa devices. Their description reads, “AnyPod lets you play any podcast. Enrich yourself with thousands of comedy, drama, music, tech, news, education, and pop culture audio programs” Once you open the skill, you can play a particular podcast title. You can say, “Next or Previous” You can say, “Fast forward two minutes” You can say, “Rewind thirty seconds” It also keeps track of where you are in your podcast.

#9 Skyrim Very Special Edition by Bethesda Game Studios

This is a new skill on the list. It has some mature content so it when you first start it, it will ask you if it is okay to start the skill based on the fact that it has some mature content. It’s an interactive game where the user explores Skyrim using the power of their voice. It has various quests, the user goes into dungeons, and they have different weapons and spells. The user encounters different people. It’s given in Alexa’s voice which means it is a text to speech type of a skill which can be a bit tiresome and difficult for a user to continue being engaged with it. The timing of the way she says sentences and phrases can be heard to understand.

#8 TED Talks by TED Conferences

If you’re interested in TED Talks, this is the skill for you. This was the number 8 skill six months ago. It’s a catalogue of all TED Talks and they describe as, “Explore TED's vast library of inspiring talks and ideas worth spreading by world-renowned speakers and thought leaders from around the globe. You can play the latest TED talk, play random TED talks, or search for talks by topic or by speaker name. You can also play talks that are funny, inspiring, persuasive, courageous, or jaw-dropping. New TED talks are available every weekday and are always free to the world!”

#7 Work Smart Live Smart with Beverly Beuermann-King by 5 Star Briefing

This is a new skill on the list. It is the first of two flash briefings that are on this list of 2019 Top Skills for Canada. This skill is all about giving you tips on how to work and live smart. It’s description on Amazon reads,

“Would you like to live your life with less stress and more happiness? Discover how to take small steps towards a healthier, happier, less-stress you. Stress is a powerful force in life. It can bring about illness, destroy relationships and cause chaos. There is not a one-size-fits-all coping strategy for dealing with stress. Our goal is to put a plan together that helps us to deal with the sources of stress, take care of ourselves during those stressful time and allows us to reach out to those around us for support. The Work Smart Live Smart flash briefing focuses on helping you to Harness Your Energy and Build Your Resiliency!”

#6 Voice in Canada Flash Briefing by Voice in Canada

This is the other flash briefing on the list and it’s by Teri Fisher. It is the number one flash briefing in Canada. It’s all about providing you with tips, tricks, the latest news, deals, and all types of information related to using your Alexa device in Canada.

#5 True or False? by labworks.io ltd

This skill as on the list last time and it’s a fun “True or False” trivia game. There are a lot of different topics that you can pick from. You can pick from a random topic and it will go ahead and ask you “True or False” questions. You can play against other people (multiple players) or you can choose a particular topic. You can also learn some interesting facts from playing this game.

#4 Would You Rather for Family by Voice Games

This was the number one rated skill 6 months ago. It’s a game where the user is asked whether they would rather do one of two different things, activities or choices. There are different categories, either random questions/topics or Disney questions/topics. You can play al...