Hi. I'm your host, Dave Cap. And this is future. Your radio. Each episode we're breaking down One new thing. One cool new finding that's happening in the world of horribles. The world of voice technology. How are these world starting to intersect? How are these world starting to collide? What cool things are gonna come from this intersection of technology without further ado? Let's get on with the show. Okay, so we're joined here today by Carrie Roberts. Carrie, tell us a little bit about who you are and what you D'oh!

Thank you, Dave. I'm so excited to be here, So I like to say that I am a brander. I'm a marketer, and I'm a community builder. S o. I work for myself and a company called Brandon Connection. And one of my main clients is Voice Summit. So I helped them with their podcasting strategy as well as lead their marketing for their big event. That'll be in October.

That's awesome. So, uh, you know, I've gotten to know Carrie. She actually brought me on the inside voice podcast. That's sort of like where our relationship started. And, um, I just think that it's so cool because outside of this podcast that she does, she has her own podcasts and then I know that she's the host of another podcast. So podcasting is sort of in her life blood. And I think that I've learned a lot personally from her just the way that she goes about it in post production in the way that she disseminates her podcast. She doesn't really like thoughtful in a meaningful way. And I think that it's incredibly, um, it is a really good way.

I think Thio build a network in I hope to connect that network. I know That's kind of been a big theme for you. And so I'm curious. Like, um, you know, I wanted to bring you on to talk about your experience on the inside voice podcasts and go through some of the different episodes that you've done in the different guests that you've had. But, like, as you've sort of gotten immersed into this world like so many of us, kind of have, um and you've done it, you know, as like being this conduit of, you know, understanding.

Like who people are in different facets. You've actually probably gotten a really wide education, you know, into the whole voice landscape. So I'm curious, like from this first year or so that you've really started toe get involved into this space would have been some of your, like, macro takeaways, Um, you know, and things that you've learned since doing this.

Yeah, well, again, Thank you for the kind words. I appreciate it. I've been personally podcasting for a little over five years, and I took over the inside voice podcasts and leading their strategy and hosting and kind of running it as their form of content, marketing. And one of the things that, um, Pete Erickson, the owner of Waste Summit that he and I share, is this love for connection and community and to really showcase the diverse community that we have in voice technology. When I say divers, that means not only male, female or whatever gender you identify as LGBT Q. Different races,

different backgrounds, but also different elements within voice. So, you know, it's not just developers or CEOs, it's linguists, it's audio engineers, its voice artists. It's startups, it's conversational designers. And so my job is to really make sure that we're hitting that gamma asbestos possible then I think we're doing that. I think we're doing that not only in the podcast with the events that we host, Um And so for me, I personally love hearing what people are passionate about, what makes them great. And for every episode,

I really tried to highlight them as a person first and foremost on, and then the work that they do within voice. And so I think, you know, one of the things that I've noticed kind of overdoing that podcast for the last year or so. Um, is that you know, first of all, there's so many people involved in voice and that it's important for us to learn the different things that there doing on. And so within that also comes Thean importance of inclusivity within voice, you know, talking to people and saying you know Okay, Alexa and Google tend to be a female voice. Well, not everybody wants to hear that or identifies with that or feels comfortable with that. Um,

you know, when you're creating conversations, are you including people in how they speak within their culture within their language? You know, translation is not always direct word for word. It's also the vernacular. And how do we interact with people? Are you including people who have disabilities who have speech impediments? You know that? I think, really thinking about voice in a broader term. Um and really, the big question is how do we include the whole world and make them feel like they matter and that they can interact with voice on a global scale, and that's that's not an easy answer. But it's great to see that people are doing their due diligence to work on that. And I think that's probably the biggest takeaway from the voice standpoint.

Um, when we're looking at the other side from the consumer standpoint, Ah, the challenge there is security. And this is something I think people have heard about for a long time. Of course, people talk about well, you know, your mobile phones already have enough information on you. Why are you worrying about voice? But you know there is concern when you're asking people to use their voice for passwords. Um, you know, how easy is it for somebody toe hack into something to take your important information, your data, your privacy and there is a very high level of concern.

From a consumer standpoint off. How are the big companies doing this? How our Amazon and Google and Samsung keeping the Donna protected, but also every single person that's doing voice. If you are a start up or you own an agency or you're doing it on your own, you know, how are you proving to your clients and the consumers that you're keeping their data and their information safe and it won't get hacked into?

Yeah, you touched on a lot of different things there. I think first and foremost, it's really cool that because that that is something that I've noticed about your podcast is it's really, really diverse. And it's just like you said, it's not necessarily like just the people, but it's also their backgrounds in their interests, because I think that one of the biggest like takeaways that I had when I went to these different shows like I went to the ah Lexie conference, which is now project voice, And then I went to voice some, it was just the wide variety of different people, like kind of coming into this space for different things, just like you said, like people with a linguist, background developers, designers.

So I think it's so cool that it is like this melting pot. And I think that the most insightful, um, sort of I think findings that people have come across have been when you have, like, this crossover, like you have people that are applying everything that they know in the linguistics world. And then you have the conversational designers that air coming in and when they're all starting to, like, fuse their knowledge together. I think that's where some of the most interesting thing has come about and, you know, going off of the point that you made around security in privacy. I think it's really important that this is something that is really centric to the whole conversation right now. I think it's top of mind that a lot of people are realizing that, like,

I think, a lot of the people that are attending these kind of conferences are, um they share the same sentiments you know, they are concerned about, um where is the state of going? What is this data gonna be used for? Are we comfortable with sharing the level of this data like I still go back Thio the first Alexa Conference that I went thio where Brian Ramli was speaking. And my big thing that I kept coming back to is like he kept saying that we'll need tohave the's like, really deep relationships with voice assistance in order for them to be more impactful. So therefore they're gonna need a, like, a deeper level of contextual understanding about the user. But I feel like that's that runs counter to trust and security. So, like, I'm only gonna be able to and I'm only gonna be comfortable with sharing sensitive information that would make my voice assistant and even better assistant if I if I trust all of that. So I totally agree with you that I think those air really critical pieces like as this formative period of time while this technology is being built. So I wanted Thio because you've done so many podcasts and you've brought on so many awesome guess I thought that what would be kind of fun to do while you're on here is to go through some of the different episodes that you've done and just go guessed my guest and just have you share like either ah key takeaway. Something you learned from that person or just something that you really enjoyed about that person in the conversation. Where

you going? Of course I would love to do

that. Okay, So I know that you shared today on Lengthen or Twitter. I saw it somewhere about the vendor media people. And so I've had a chance to meet Claire Mitchell and, uh, Patrick. So let's start with Patrick. I know that you've done an episode with him. Patrick Givens. Give me something from that episode.

Yeah, I think you know Ah, I just want to save Intermedia. A lot of people got into voice because of Gary Vaynerchuk. Myself included. That's where I first heard about it. And there's so much hype about Gary, and he's an amazing person. But I think, you know, we really want to highlight that The people on his team are equally as amazing and equally as passionate. Um, and Patrick, really, he's excited about stuff on the go here. A bull is a lot of the space that you're in specifically, um,

and he also kind of came from an artistic background on. I love that he is willing to kind of reach out and say, Hey, if you guys have questions like let's collaborate, let's interact. And so it's not just about okay, were Vader media, and we're gonna do our own thing. It's like we wanna work with everybody. And so I love that. He kind of mixes his artistic background, his ability to connect with others and then his personal passion within voice about how it's gonna be so much more on the go, how we're gonna be using more terrible's and what that's going to look like.

Awesome. Okay, clear. Mitchell?

Yeah. Claire, also with Vader media. Um, when I first met her, I thought one of the coolest things about her was that she is also a drummer. Um, so she, too, has this very creative background, and she has a personal passion for really blending art and science. So music and film and a fax. And how does that work with boys? Um, and her recent podcast on inside boys really talked about, um, the state of design.

You know where it is, where it's heading. She mentioned, you know, being able to have something in your voice device if the battery is low instead of saying It's low toe, have a sound, you know? How do we kind of make it more effective in the design? A little bit better?

Awesome. Very cool. Um, how about Alon Alon Guinness? Murthy?

Yes. So Alanis from India. And he reached out to me and he is doing actually just passed. He just did a developer event. He was just named an Alexa champion as well. Um, he is somebody who he's intact. But he is just so excited about Amazon Alexa and what boys can do. And he is out there in India educating his community because he wants to. And I just want to say there's a lot of Alexa champions and Google developer experts. You know, a lot of these people are not getting paid. They're doing it because they're passionate about it. Um, and they want to share and they want to educate. And I love that Amazon and Google recognizing them that for that and so he's doing that he is excited not only within his own company that he works at, but he's hosting events and he's teaching other people, and I love that for him to share what's going on in India on the show was great.

Yeah, it's really interesting. Just as a quick, like side note, I think it was Bradley Met Rock mentioned that his, um, his podcast like thesis largest audience that he has outside of the U. S. Is India. And so I've heard, like, a lot of anecdotal things, where it sounds like voice in particular is really popular in India. So it's it's interesting to hear that I'll definitely have to go check out that episode.

Yeah, it's I mean, it's huge in India and specifically with Amazon. Alexa, I think you know, I've personally learned there are certain countries that are more Google heavy and more Amazon heavy and that just dependent on where the devices are. Um and so yeah, they I mean, their country is using it. You know, I think I think in a bigger consumer stamp point, then America probably is at this point. So it was great to kind of hear his feedback as well.

Yeah, kind of going off of that. Um, you know, to your point, Uh, the next person I have is cane simms. Um, and I think it's interesting, because when I was at project voice here in January, I went to, um it was like voice abroad. It was a panel, and it was like a kn um it was Evelyn Been. It was James Poulter. And it waas, uh,

who was the other one? It was blanking on who the other person was, but drawn Vonk from from Denmark. I'm sorry from Holland and people, and but it was really interesting to hear you say that because I wasn't quite aware of, uh, you know, certain functionality isn't available in some of these different countries, and some of the devices aren't even available. So there really are, like, pockets of countries where Google is the foreign away, the preferred device and then others where Alexa is. So anyway, going back to Cain. Simms, what was your what were some of your takeaways with your chat from cane?

Yeah, I You know, somebody had asked me, you know, do you know anyone in voice that, like, knows about all the technology and pain, was the first person that came to mind? Um, you know, he is First of all, I had seen him online. I love the bold yellow. I'm I'm a brand person. So I just love that he saw himself. Um, and we connected.

I mean, his level of education and knowledge that he has across the board on voice as a whole is tremendous. Um, I really think that he just has a vast knowledge, you know, he's not focusing on just Amazon or just Google limit. He's talking about Samsung. He's talking about the potential for where Apple and Cortana are at an even Facebook portal. I mean, so I think you know, he is somebody who really gets it on a very broad scale, Um, and is looking at it as a whole. And so I think if you have questions about voice technology overall, he is definitely the person to go to.

Yeah. No, that yellow is like the signature cane soon's Haver, And he was wearing that he was rocking it out of Project boys. So that's awesome. Okay, um, Micah Coppins

Myka Copans has first of all, an amazing amount of energy and zest for life. So when I interviewed her, I'd love that. And she was really talking about her episodes about putting the u in conversational design, and she really kind of brought to light to me, which I started using now is that a lot of times when people do like, ah personas, you know, you're trying to say, Well, who am I trying to reach? A lot of times people are putting in, you know, ah, white female age 35 has two kids. And she's like she just reminded me like That's really not what's important.

You know? It's really about What is it that person wants? What did the value? It doesn't have to be so specific based on gender an age. There's just a lot more things that are important and really thinking about your user. Um, when she said that to me, I was like, Oh my gosh, my mind was blank So I was like, She's so right. It's something that I speak to now because I've seen it in my own life. I've I've attracted clients that, um, all have the same values, but they're different ages and different backgrounds and different parts of life,

but they all need and want the same thing. So she really talked about really thinking about your user. Um, not as just this kind of physical being, but what's really important to them. What do they value?

Very cool. Um, how about Joan? But Jurich

So Joan, she is the creator of women and voice. And then, of course, she isa linguist. And there's a lot of work for the company she works for. Um, she is just somebody who's not only knowledgeable in linguistics and conversational design, and I think sometimes it gets pushed aside because she leads women and voice. She really? I mean, that's her specialty. That's what she does. She started women invoice because she felt like, you know, where are the women here? How can we connect?

Um, and it blew up within a year. And so I think, you know, that's That's just like an added bonus toe what she does and the community that she's built. I mean, I told her one of the coolest things for me at Voice Summit this past July. The amount of women that came up to me were like, Where is the women and voice table? Where is it? Like I want to find out? I mean, talk about branding. I mean, people were looking for her for the community. She was funny.

She is like, you know, people come up and hug me, and she's like, I don't even know where they are. But they feel like they know her because they feel a sense of connection. So not only is she great at this kind of back inside of the conversational dining, the linguistics and what she does on an everyday basis, but she's really wonderful about bringing the community together, not just women I know they've rebranded a little bit too really again. Include anyone that wants to be a part of it. Um and so I think you know, she's knowledgeable and she's a really carrying person.

Very cool. Um, how about Kiki?

So, Kiki, um she is and she's retired. And I found her because she was doing some really cool things on Alexa Amazon Alexa when it first started and she retired and she had gotten an Alexa for her birthday and she was like like, I wonder if I could do a skill. And at the time, flash briefings were considered skills and her whole thing was that she created this flash briefing called Black History every day. She really hated that. It was only the month of February, the shortest month of the year that was dedicated to black history and that it was, you know, only the same kind of four people that were talked about. And she's like, You know, there's a lot more people in this arena. They're doing great things. And so she decided every single day she would kind of put out this Ah,

little note within in flash briefing to say, Here's somebody you should know about on what she learned was that, you know, black history is so much more and people were like, Well, I'm half Asian and half black like How do I identify? And so she kind of expanded her reach of like black history is so much bigger than people realize, and her goal of really educating the world on it and making people feel like a connection again. That just resonates with me as a person. So I love that she didn't let age stop her. She didn't let the fact that she is not in technology stop her. She did something because it was important to her. Um, and she's built this community of fans and people excited, and she's been really trying toe get involved in more schools as well.

I think that's so cool and like just going off of the whole flash briefing thing like I've said it before. But I think that it's such a tremendous opportunity to for anyone and I love that. You mentioned like, you know, somebody that's like not a technology person or a computer person. Um, the beauty of flash briefings, In my opinion, a somebody that has been doing it for a while is that you basically get somebody's here every single day, if you choose to and it. I think there's something that's really intimate about that where you do create like this strong connection, I think between the listener and the host and like I get messages all the time from people like commenting on stuff. And it's just a awesome way toe really engage people, and I think people feel as if it's a really 1 to 1 medium and it's cool here, like so she's got this, you know, black history every day and you know so it's just an endless feed of all kinds of interesting things that relate to black history,

and I think that what's cool about that is, You can kind of imagine, like so many different types of flash briefings in that same vein where it's, you know, it's educational. It's somebody that's running it. That's really passionate. So I just think that there's just a huge ocean opportunity as it relates to that. So quick little tangent there. Um, okay, well, how about Brett Kinsela? The host of the voice bade podcast in one of the most well known people in the voice space. What? What did you learn from Brad?

You know, I think when anybody is referring, just like we talked about Cane Simms, I think when anybody is talking about stats or news, you know, it generally goes back to Brett Kinsela. I mean, every single person I'll talk to him like, Oh, well, envoy spot It said this on. It's now become like the standard um, which, you know, I'm sure, is a lot of pressure in some ways. But he has lived up to it,

Um, and his team that supports him to put out that content again. It's coming from a place of that's his background. That's his knowledge. That's his excitement. He, too, loves podcasting, loves going deep dives into having conversations about technology. Um, and I think, you know, I was so impressed with him, you know, the couple of times I met him cause similar to Joan When I was that boy summit, people were like Brett,

like, getting very excited, you know, like he's a celebrity And I went up and introduced myself and again Just so nice, so nice, so humble, so kind, you know? And there was a lot going on, you know, that week and people coming up to him. So I think, not only is he putting out, you know, some of the best kind of statistics and and, um, news content within voice that so many people are referring Thio. But he really wants to connect. He's really just very kind and humble, and I appreciate that side of him as well.

Awesome. All right, Last but not least, the winner of the 2019 favorite episode of the year and somebody from my world the world of, you know, hearing healthcare and audiology and hearing aids in a pew.

Yes, I love Anna, and I hope she doesn't mind me sharing this little tip it of a story, But I had seen her liking and following what we were doing on Voice Summit. And so I reached out to her and I said, Hey, like I see you like what we're doing. Would you like to be on the show? And she's like, Yes, I'd love to be on And then we get on the Carl and she goes, I don't know if I can bring value to your audience. I'm not really in voice technology on And I said to her, I said, Oh my gosh, you absolutely bring value. First of all,

you're a human being with an opinion. I said, Second of all, you work within the audiologist space. You're working with people who are hard of hearing who, um, have different issues, like you are the perfect person to understand what's going on, and the value that she bought was not only incredible, but it was unique. It was different and the amount of people that were like, Oh my gosh, what an incredible guest. It's not the same five voices we're hearing. It's somebody else who has an opinion. That's Ballad because she's been in this space for so long and the audiology space is part of voice.

So that's what I talk about when the voice community isn't just the CEO of the developer. It's so much larger. Um, and so she brought so much knowledge, and I was just so excited for her to have her moment. And you doing this episode the way you are is getting me so jazzed and so excited because my favorite thing is to really highlight what people are great at an amplified that message. And I think, um, you know, she had that moment, and now you're seeing her potentially write a book and work with other people and talk to people like yourself, and that makes me personally really excited. So that was part of the reason she was my favorite episode of the show within that year. So far.

That's awesome. Well, yeah, I mean, this is Ah, when we were talking prior to the call, I said, You know, I kind of came up with an idea where I want to highlight the catalog of interviews that a lot of these podcasters have done that you yourself. You've had so many awesome conversations, and I can I can imagine that a lot of other podcast host would feel the same way where you do the interview, you share it out that one time, and then it sort of sits out on the shelf. And it's like, How do we like you re amplify some of these conversations that you've had? Because I've listened to a lot of your podcast conversations and they are so good, And so it's always a matter of like,

How do we How do we get these things a little bit more of, Ah, shelf life? And so that's what I wanted to do today. I thought this was excellent. I'm really excited to check out the episodes that I had touched on here that I haven't listened to yet. So I'm personally gonna go and listen to some of those. But I think it's really, really cool what you're doing, Cary. I think that it's extremely valuable. Um, and I love the fact that, you know, is somebody that has been in the voice space for a few years. Um,

I think there was an initial fear that there could be, you know, this could kind of go one of two ways it could be like Kimba and continue to be a really collective, cohesive group that all shares in their knowledge. Or it could be something where you know, it starts to become, you know, isolated and people aren't is willing to share their information. And, um, the knowledge sharing isn't isn't quite what it waas. And I'm really happy that that hasn't been the case that, if anything, over these past few years three group The community just feels to be opening up to include more and more people and that there's totally this, like knowledge sharing, um,

riel open community vibe. And I think that it's largely being spearheaded by people like you that are doing such a good job of bringing more and more people onto the stage to say, like, Let's hear your story because I think that the more diverse that we can appreciate how many different types of walks of life are coming into this really exciting new phase of technology in this new new industry. Um, I think it's just for all the better.

Yeah, no, I thank you. And I couldn't agree more. I think you know one of the reasons I love branding and marketing so much is that it doesn't matter what industry it is. Everybody does have a voice. Everybody does, has something to say and you may have a different opinion and that's OK. That's it makes it beautiful. And I think, you know, understanding that as this voice technology space grows, there's going to be more companies and more people speaking and to just really hold true to what your point of view is and understand that everyone else can shine just a CZ you can. And so I think I I too love the collaborative piece understanding we all have value will have something to offer and so to somebody else. And I try to share that on linked in a CZ well to showcase what everyone else is doing and where can we learn? And I think if we kind of take that attitude, you know it'll be better, not only for ourselves, but it will definitely grow the voice community as well.

I could not agree more with you. So, Carrie, thank you so much for coming on today. Sharing your time with all of us. And thanks for everybody that tuned in. Today we will chat with you next

time. You know what?

Thanks for tuning in today. I hope you enjoyed this episode of future ear radio. For more content like this, just head over to future ear Doc. Oh, where you can read all the articles that I've been writing these past few years on the worlds of voice technology and hear a bles and how the two are beginning to intersect. Thanks for tuning in, and I'll chat with you next time.