Alexa In Canada: Amazon Alexa And Echo Skills, Tips, And Tricks For Canadians

In this episode, Teri welcomes Bianca Phillips, a lawyer and leader/researcher in the area of digital health law making, and the founder of the Electronic Health Consulting Group.Welcome, Bianca!Bianca is also the host of the Voice of Law Podcast and she advocates for a future where telemedicine will allow for access to healthcare no matter where one lives, where wearables will allow people to predict the onset of disease before it happens, and where clinical outcomes will be improved due to precision and personalized medicine. She believes that the digital health future should balance the needs of both patients and healthcare providers by placing evidence-based approaches and civil rights considerations at the core of digital health law-making. She aims to be a prominent voice for a Digital Health School of Thought founded on these principles.The Legal Perspective of What’s Going On with COVID-19She’s been reading articles around how governments have been tracking and tracing people’s movements to curb the s

In this episode, Teri shares part 2 of the coaching call he did with Lucien Lu where Lucien shares what it was like successfully setting up his flash briefing.Listen in and Learn!Lucien is an extraordinarily talented and creative filmmaker, pianist and a vital member of the Alexa in Canada team. When he is not busy capturing the best content and producing premier videos for Alexa in Canada, he and his team are creating videos to build brands. His motto is: “Let’s tell your story right, 1 video, 1 podcast, 1 post at a time.” He has been studying and playing piano for 20 years and is becoming well known for teaching piano online. He’s also very successful on TikTok.The DiscoveriesAt first he thought he did something wrong because he couldn’t locate his flash briefing online but he realized that he had registered it under the US. That means that all his content will be set up for the US. He will have to go to his Alexa skill developer console and create a new skill where he will choose English-Canada so that his

In this episode, Teri shares a coaching call he did with Lucien Lu to take him through how to set up his own flash briefing.Listen in and Learn!Lucien is an extraordinarily talented and creative filmmaker, pianist and a vital member of the Alexa in Canada team. When he is not busy capturing the best content and producing premier videos for Alexa in Canada, he and his team are creating videos to build brands. His motto is: “Let’s tell your story right, 1 video, 1 podcast, 1 post at a time.” He has been studying and playing piano for 20 years and is becoming well known for teaching piano online. He’s also very successful on TikTok.Purpose of His Flash BriefingLucien wants to set up his own flash briefing to give daily advice to people who want to learn piano.He hopes it will help people become better musicians.His flash briefing will be geared towards beginners who are just starting out with learning piano.He has discovered that a lot of adults and kids are learning piano through apps, and so he is very confide

In this episode, Teri shares a recording of his recent webinar where Roger Kibbe spoke about the different types of skills that we can potentially use with our Echo devices.Enjoy!Roger is the Senior Developer Evangelist at Viv Labs which develops the conversational AI technology that powers Samsung Bixby. He has been working in tech for over 20 years as a consultant, technical architect and strategist, and founder of a voice startup. A big-picture thinker and achiever, Roger is passionate about using technology as an enabler of great people experiences. An accomplished speaker and a proven thought-leader, He enjoys sharing his fountain of knowledge with others and has presented at some of the most prominent voice and AI conferences in America, including Voice Summit, Project Voice, Samsung SDC, Dreamforce and VMWorld.Teri hosted the webinar on March 25th, and it was all about voice technology and the Coronavirus, and how we can use this technology to help us in what we are experiencing today. H

In this episode, Teri is welcomed by Keri Roberts on the Inside Voice Podcast to talk about a whole host of topics around voice technology.Enjoy the Conversation!Teri is a sports exercise physician and clinical assistant professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He is the founder of Voice First Health, the leading podcast about the intersection of voice first technology and healthcare. He is also the founder of Alexa in Canada, the leading Amazon Alexa resource for Canadians.He is an award winning TEDx and keynote speaker, Amazon Alexa champion, educator, consultant, podcaster and briefcaster who loves sharing his excitement for artificial intelligence and voice first technology. He is the host of both his podcasts, and the daily Voice in Canada flash briefing, which is the number one rated Amazon Alex flash briefing and new skill in Canada.Becoming an Alexa ChampionTeri was recently named an Alexa champion due to his last few years of content development around Amazon Alexa and voice tech

In this episode, Teri will talk about what’s going in the world, and specifically about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic and how voice technology could be used to help in the fight against it. Let's Do This!With the epidemic leading to people being told to practice social distancing, Teri has been considering how voice technology can lessen the problems people are facing with that. He will share the five different ways that he thinks voice technology can have a profound impact on what we are experiencing today with the epidemic. Some of the solutions are futuristic but they have a lot of potential going forward.And the Five Ways Are:#1 - Voice Enabling Diverse GadgetsThis is voice enabling gadgets that we touch every day including kiosks, ATMs, elevator controls, and others. This is already being done today and it definitely helps with curbing the spread of the coronavirus.#2 - A Coronavirus Flash BriefingThis would be very beneficial in delivering accurate information about what is happening with the

In this episode, Teri is welcomed by Nick Myers on the Artificial Podcast to talk about flash briefings and healthcare.Enjoy the Conversation!Teri is a sports exercise physician and clinical assistant professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He is the founder of Voice First Health, the leading podcast about the intersection of voice first technology and healthcare. He is also the founder of Alexa in Canada, the leading Amazon Alexa resource for Canadians. He is an award winning TEDx and keynote speaker, Amazon Alexa champion, educator, consultant, podcaster and briefcaster who loves sharing his excitement for artificial intelligence and voice first technology. He is the host of both his podcasts, and the daily Voice in Canada flash briefing, which is the number one rated Amazon Alex flash briefing and new skill in Canada.Early InspirationTeri had an interest in voice tech from a young age when he used to play with radio control cards.He had an interest in digital photography, video editin

In this episode, Teri welcomes Patrick Givens, the VP of Smart Innovation and the head of VaynerSmart, VaynerMedia's IoT and emerging tech division.Welcome, Patrick!Patrick is the lead development of VaynerMedia's global voice-first marketing programs, creating some of the most widely used interactive voice experiences for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, and developing a first-of-its-kind Voice AOR model to integrate these emerging channels into client business strategies from inception.Prior to joining VaynerMedia in 2016, Patrick led innovations strategy, brand planning, and client relationships at some of the world's leading advertising agencies, developing innovative marketing products, brands, and new businesses for clients ranging from Fortune 500s to new-to-world startups. As a speaker, he's addressed the values of a "user-led, technology-enabled," approach to innovation at events such as SXSW, AdWeek, Social Media Week, and many more.How VaynerMedia Got Involved in VoiceIt all arose very organicall

In this episode, Teri welcomes Ben Fisher, the Founder and CEO of MagicCo, a voice technology consultancy that helps brands and enterprises implement voice assistant technologies.Welcome, Ben!Ben previously served as Chief Technology Officer of Doable Innovation and Waywire Networks. He comes on to talk about what it’s like to make Alexa skills in Canada, and talk about a really cool Alexa skill that they’ve done with Reebok Canada to to really develop Reebok’s brand in the US and Canada.BackgroundHe was the CTO of a lot of startups in New York and even worked in a few ad agencies in a technical capacity.He started MagicCo four years ago to be a place where people in advertising and technical people could gather to do cool stuff for brands. They focus solely on voice.How Voice Became a Part of Canadians’ LivesPeople in the US were doing things in voice in 2017 and by 2018 people were starting businesses around it.In Canada, it wasn’t until late 2018 that people started developing an interest in smart speakers

In this episode, Teri has a conversation with Keri Roberts, a brand and content strategist, podcast consultant, and the host of the Inside Voice Podcast.Welcome, Keri!Teri sat down with Keri at Project Voice 2020 and recorded their conversation. The Inside Voice Podcast features people who are doing all kinds of incredible things throughout the voice industry. The podcast also happens to be main content that is produced by Voice Summit, the biggest voice conference that is put on annually.BackgroundShe started out as a dancer and actually has a degree in dance.She also worked in health and fitness for a long time and even owned a dance studio, but she realized that she wanted to do more on branding and content marketing strategy. She really loves the branding aspect of it.She heard about voice technology from Gary Vaynerchuk about 3 years ago and just fell in love with it. He talked about how we could connect with voice and Keri did some research on that and came across Voice Summit.She went to the first Voic

In this episode, Teri welcomes Jeferson Valadares, the CEO and Co-founder of Doppio Games, a voice-first game studio based in Lisbon, Portugal.Welcome, Jeferson!Jeferson was the lead designer on the studio's debut title “The Vortex”, available for Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and smartphones. Before Doppio, Jeferson was the VP/GM of mobile at Bandai Namco, studio GM at Electronic Arts and executive producer at BioWare in San Francisco; Studio director at Playfish and creative director at EA Mobile in London; and game development director at Digital Chocolate's Sumea studio in Helsinki.He has spoken many times at the Game Developers Conference and is an active member of the developer community. He is also one of the founders of IGDA Online Games SIG, and was involved in the publishing of their 2005 Mobile Games Whitepaper.BackgroundHe’s been making games for 20 years and currently likes making games for voice platforms.He used to make mobile games and moved up in his profession to work with EA Mobile, Playfi

In this episode, Teri welcomes Amanda de Souza, a Senior Producer at Verizon Media Studios (HuffPost Canada, Yahoo!, RYOT). Welcome, Amanda!Amanda produces, hosts, shoots, and edits videos for HuffPost Canada, and also hosts, writes, and produces the HuffPost Canada Splash Daily News Flash Briefing for Google Home and Alexa. The flash briefing achieved 20% audience growth in the third quarter of 2019 and is sponsored by VW. Amanda produces and consults on short, long form and docuseries video content for Verizon Media brands, including HuffPost Canada, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Canada Sports, Yahoo! Finance.She also manages, trains and mentors reporters and production teams to excel under tight deadlines, and innovates and consults on branded content video series with RYOT Studios.BackgroundShe’s been with HuffPost (Now Verizon Media) for about 4 years.She loves audio/video storytelling and has been doing audio and video for almost a decade.When the opportunity came up to host the HuffPost Canada Splash Daily

Top Tips for Voice in the Roaring 20sIn 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 BriefingsWhile 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 bes

In this episode, Teri will share his experience at the recent Project Voice 2020 and give us some of the highlights of the event.He met so many like-minded people at the event, listened in on some sessions and participated in others. Bradley Metrock and his team did a great job organizing and coordinating the event. Teri had a videographer following him around for the entire duration of the event so he could capture as much content as possible to share with the Alexa in Canada audience. He was awarded the Flash Briefing of the Year award at the event.Welcome and Enjoy!Teri made a couple of short clips of his conversations with the people he met at the event, and the include:Scot Westwater from Pragmatic DigitalScot and his wife Susan are the founders of Pragmatic Digital and they just recently released a book that they did the book signing for at the event.They also recently released a new program called Voice Masters.They are focused on creating strategies for voice. They help businesses figure out what

In this episode, Teri welcomes Audrey Arbeeny, the Founder/CEO and Emmy Award-Winning Executive Producer/Creative Director for Audiobrain, a globally recognized sonic branding boutique dedicated to the intentional development of music and sound.Welcome, Audrey!Audrey is the brain behind sonic branding and is highly skilled in many areas of sonic branding development and implementation. She oversees Audiobrain’s projects from start to finish, coordinating logistics, strategy, experience design, resources, and talent. In addition, Audrey oversees Audiobrain’s ongoing research in areas of psychoacoustics and biomusicology.Audiobrain has consistently stayed leaders in this field through innovation, research, education, advanced technological skills, and forward-thinking initiatives for some of the world’s largest brands.She comes on to the show to talk about the importance of sonic branding and how her and her team at Audiobrain have completely recreated the sound of the Alexa in Canada brand. She will also

In this episode, Teri welcomes Julie Daniel Davis, a leader in the voice education space and the Director of Instructional Technology and Innovation at a private school in Chattanooga, Tennessee.Welcome, Julie!She is a go-to EdTech guru and has been doing a lot of work in her school by helping to implement voice technology in a safe and effective manner for her students. Julie has also been speaking in multiple places about the same and comes on to talk about education and using voice technology to help fulfill educational goals.Taking Advantage of Voice Technology for EducationShe spoke at the first Alexa Conference (now known as Project Voice) in Chattanooga, TN in 2019.By sharing some of the blogposts she had written about using Alexa to explain her interest, Bradley Metrock, the event coordinator of the conference, not only invited her to take part in the conference, but also asked her to be a speaker.She asked Bradley if an educator could just sit in the back of the room and observe. She had be

In this final podcast episode for 2019, Teri will recap what has been going on in the Alexa in Canada community and brand over the past year. Teri will highlight all that has happened with the Alexa in Canada Podcast and Alexa in Canada Facebook community, and also thank you the listeners for your support. Enjoy!The Highlights:#1: Alexa in Canada PodcastEpisodes are currently released on a weekly basis, and Teri had the opportunity to interview a lot of great and interesting thought leaders throughout the year.You can check out the podcast's top ten most popular episodes at AlexainCanada.ca/106Teri also did an episode on the top ten Amazon Alexa skills that are available in Canada.#2: The Voice in Canada flash briefing It has been running consecutively for 681 days, and Teri is so pleased that listeners continue to tune in and send in a lot of great feedback.The flash briefing has been the number one rated flash briefing and number one rated new skill in Canada. It reached the 100 review milestone o

In this episode, Teri will do a recap of the ten best episodes of the Alexa in Canada podcast in 2019. These episodes will be great for anyone who wants to learn more about how they can get started with their Amazon Alexa device. They are based on the podcast episodes that have been downloaded the most and they are all accessible at AlexainCanada.ca. And the 10th Most Listened Episode is!#10: 73 - Voice Design with Obeid Ahmed of BotmockObeid is an entrepreneur, mentor, and technologist, and has been involved in a lot of early stage startups.He came on the show to talk about Botmock, a platform he created to allow people to publish skills to Alexa and other platforms. Botmock is designed to create conversations between a user and Alexa in a simpler drag and drop editor, so the user doesn’t really need to know code to do it.Botmock allows developers to share their prototypes and get feedback all in one centralized location. It’s helping companies and individuals build better voice experiences.Obeid h

In this episode, Teri welcomes Dr. Simon Landry, an expert audiologist, to share his insights into the market trends of what is happening in the voice space.Welcome, Dr. Landry!Dr. Landry has an amazing background as an audiologist and academic, and has applied his skills in not only creating some amazing Alexa skills, but also in creating an incredible resource for people in the voice space under the brand of Voice Market Data.He combines his expertise with statistics, and allows us to look at the data of the skills we have in the market, find market trends, and identify opportunities in the voice space. He is an Acadian and is very passionate about empowering francophones in minority situations (Acadians being one of them).Background and Getting into VoiceHe has a PhD in Audiology and was at one point one of the global experts in how sound interacts with other senses to form our perception.He worked with a VR startup where they were trying to help people touch virtual objects. His interest in breaking

In this holiday themed episode, Teri will talk about the ten different ways that we can make our holidays a little bit more fun using Alexa. There are so many ways that we can use Alexa to make our holidays more fun. Teri will just give us a taste of what we can do and a lot of these are ideas that Amazon came up with. Do you have some more ideas that you can share? Reach out at @DrTeriFisher on Twitter.Here we go:1. Alexa, Start the Holiday PartyThis is asking Alexa to set up a routine that automatically triggers all the things that you want to happen when you say the words, “Start the holiday party”For example, you can set it up to turn on your favorite holiday music, change the light colors in your home (if you’ve got different colored lights), dim lights, turn some lights off and others on, and so many other things.2. The Drop-In FeatureThis is useful if you have distant family. It allows you to drop in on those family members that may not be able to visit you. These people could be in the same neigh