CloudTalk: Amazon Alexa – Building Your Own Voice Application

During this session, we are going to focus on the newest and oldest concept in software: voice interaction. We have spent years getting it wrong, and with the advent of devices like the Amazon Echo, we can finally get conversational voice interactions right. We will start with an overview of what a voice user interface (VUI) looks like, and the dive into the tools you can use to build your first voice applications.

Jeff Blankenburg spent the early part of his career in digital advertising, building websites for Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Ford Motor Company, among others. He also spent 8 years at Microsoft, primarily as an evangelist for any new technology he could get his hands on. Today, he works on the Amazon Alexa team helping developers make Alexa even smarter. Jeff has also spoken at conferences all over the world, including London, Munich, Seattle, Chicago, and New York. He just keynoted the Techorama conference in Belgium, and That Conference in Wisconsin, in addition to giving over 500 presentations in the last 10 years. While most of these presentations have focused on software development techniques and technologies, he also focuses on more of the soft skills that we all face as software professionals, on topics like “Fear” and “You Have Too Much Time.” He also serves as an organizer for the Stir Trek conference. On the academic front, Jeff holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Ohio’s Bowling Green State University.

Sponsor: Amazon and Agitare Technologies

Food and drink will be served