What Does the Conversational Audio Outlook Sound Like, According to Google? Attend VOICE 2021 to Hear More

When you think of conversational technologies, Google Assistant naturally comes to mind. This year’s VOICE 2021 will feature three prominent leaders from the technology company shaping the future of voice. Here’s a sneak preview of who they are, what they’ll be talking about and why you won’t want to miss them:

• Jessica Dene Earley-Cha is a Developer Relations Engineer for Google Assistant. She has been teaching developers how to build voice applications and App Actions for over three years. She enjoys connecting with developers and future developers. Before attending a software Bootcamp in 2015, Jessica worked in the non-profit sector for over ten years, primarily helping at-risk female youths and adults with mental health challenges.

• Mike Bifulco is a developer, designer, and creator of things, working as a Developer Relations Engineer on the Google Assistant team. His background is in entrepreneurship, user experience design, and software development. He previously worked at Microsoft and Aquent Gymnasium and was co-founder and CEO of smpl.

• Toni Klopfenstein is a Developer Relations Engineer for Google Assistant, focused primarily on Smart Home and IoT platforms. She has been involved with open-source hardware for over a decade, including her previous work at SparkFun Electronics and the Open Source Hardware Association, and enjoys mentoring and teaching.

What do these three people have in common, aside from being involved in deploying game-changing voice tech at Google? They will all be joining us at VOICE 2021, taking place both in-person in Arlington, Va. and virtually, Dec. 7-8, for a shared session, entitled Multiple Ways to Build for Google Assistant, that focuses on the fundamentals of building Google Assistant Actions.

Figuring out where to begin

Transitioning from a traditional computer interface to a conversational interface can significantly enhance the customer experience. That’s why many, if not most, organizations are at the very least exploring that avenue. That’s already a big step forward, and it all but guarantees conversational voice tech’s growth. 

But as a developer wanting to get into voice, it can be a daunting task to figure out where to start. You already know you want to integrate your content with Google Assistant and provide rich and immersive conversational experiences, but you likely still have many questions.

• What types of Actions are available?
• Do I need to code them from scratch?
• What kinds of tools are available to build Conversational Actions?

In a nutshell, you’re wondering what the journey into conversational audio might look like.

This shared talk featuring top talent straight from Google will provide you with an overview of the tech and provide answers to the most pressing questions you may have. Together, they will define and suggest different development journeys according to your goals (web development, Android app development, or building Actions from scratch).

You’ll also learn how to make your existing content readily available on the platform and how to interact with that content through a conversational interface to provide unforgettable customer experiences.

But that’s not all…

Jessica Dene Earley-Cha and Mike Bifulco will also be giving independent talks after the above. Both Dene Early-Cha and Bifulco’s talks provide a deeper examination of building Actions for Google Assistant. Anyone wanting to dig a little deeper in this space should definitely attend.

Jessica Dene Earley-Cha  - Integrate Android Apps with Google Assistant using App Actions

On December 7th, at 3 PM, Jessica Dene Earley-Cha will be sharing her insights into Google App Actions. App Actions expand the reach of your Android apps by enabling users to use their voice and speak simple commands to launch apps directly into specific app features through Google Assistant. 

She will provide an overview of Google Assistant’s intent mapping and Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and other key concepts to facilitate adding a layer of voice commands to your Android apps. 

Dene Earley-Cha has been teaching developers how to build voice applications and App Actions for over three years. She not only knows what she’s talking about but also knows how to communicate that knowledge in a clear and easy-to-understand manner. Who better to teach you how to provide your apps with rich conversational experiences? Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to learn how to use voice to quickly jump to the activities in your app where engagement matters most.

Mike Bifulco - SSML Features for Conversational Actions

The following day, on December 8th, at 1:45 PM, Mike Bifulco will be giving a talk on the Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) features built-in to Google Assistant.

The Speech Synthesis Markup Language Specification is an XML-based markup language designed to generate synthetic speech for Web and other applications. SSML provides authors of synthesizable content with a standard way to control some aspects of the generated speech, such as pronunciation, volume, pitch, rate, etc., across various platforms.

In his talk, Bifulco will explain how to create Conversational Actions in Google Assistant that feel like an actual human-to-human conversation. His focus will be on showing attendees how to use Action Builder’s SSML declarations for the following tags:

• <voice> - Enables you to use more than a single voice within an Action.
• <lang> - Allows your Action to include text in multiple languages within the same SSML request.
• <phoneme> - Can be used to produce custom pronunciations of words inline.
• <duration> - Allows Google Assistant to read durations correctly.

Anyone seeking to create realistic and immersive voice experiences should come away with some valuable insights.

Whether you’re looking to understand the fundamentals of voice integration through Google Assistant or whether you want to further your knowledge by taking a deeper dive into some of the critical aspects of creating natural and memorable customer voice experiences - or both! - you won’t want to miss the chance to listen to what these engaging speakers have to say.

Hear Jessica Dene Earley-Cha, Mike Bifulco, and Toni Klopfenstein speak at VOICE 2021. View the schedule and join VOICE 2021 - the only conversation poised to shape