Liz Myers was an Alexa Evangelist from 2016-2017 who introduced the Alexa Skills Kit to Germany, training thousands of developers. Alexa now speaks 6 languages and is available in 60 countries, with over 50,000 skills worldwide. Voice interfaces like Alexa are becoming more common in daily life across domains like smart home, automotive, business, entertainment and more. The document discusses some popular news and entertainment skills, highlighting features that make them engaging, and notes continued growth opportunities for voice as the technology advances.

1. Voice UI & the Media: opportunity and
inspiration for your next project.
scree Liz Myers was an Alexa Evangelist from May
2016 - June 2017 - during this time she also
introduced the Alexa Skills Kit to Germany -
training thousands of developers how to build
skills for Alexa. As they say at Amazon, we
really did: “Work Hard, Have Fun, and Make
History”.
Two years ago, we made the first 400 skills
together - now there are over 4k in the
German catalogue and more than 50k
worldwide. Alexa speaks 6 languages and
Echo devices are available in 60 countries.
The numbers are mind-boggling - but what
this means is that Alexa has really taken off.
Voice UI is fast becoming part of our “Alltag”
or every day lives.
In fact, a wider variety of domains and use
cases are beginning to emerge. Some of
these include: smart home, automotive,
business, entertainment, travel, healthcare,
education, and games.

2. Here are some of the apps or skills most
frequently used by customers in Germany and
Austria every day.
Now let's take a look at a few of my favorite
news and entertainment skills. I would like
to share a few observations about what
makes these skills engaging for your
audiences.
Jeopardy pulls you right into the show with its
sound effects, celebrity voices, and brisk-
game play. Playing with family or friends
makes it a social experience too (just like with
a studio audience). The game makes good
use of contextual clues (prime member/
subscriber, last played, played today, currrent
score) so it feels like it's tailor-made just for
you.
In this skill, I like how they set expectations
and have broken out favorite show
segments for easy access. For example, we
hear at the beginning - “... would you like to
hear the monologue, Jimmy’s thank you
notes, find out which guests will be on the
show, or get show info? The shorter segments
are also easier to share with others - a
technique used by MSNBC News App as well.

3. Oprah’s column: “What I Know for Sure"
makes a great Alexa skill and provides a
much-needed respite from world news
(meditation/relaxation skills are currently
trending in the app store). The skill is well
made - with Gail King as host and Oprah
reading her column aloud. (Alexa fades into
the background. Media companies can let rich
content be the star of the show).
This skill provides an excellent example of
in-skill monetization opportunities & voice
purchasing as well. “For more ... just say,
order CD...”.
One of the most important recent
announcements is the new Echo Show and
APL (Alexa Presentation Language - built-in
to Adobe XD) This means that Designers
now have the tools to create visual UI/UX
along with dialog design.
Here's a short demo of a designer prototyping
a voice experience in Adobe XD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=CvpVMbuegVs
In order to get started building skills for Alexa -
you need 3 things:
1) Free Developer Account
2) Free Tier AWS Account
3) Access to GitHub (templates, cookbook,
and blueprints)

4. There are also a few (free) training
opportunities coming up....
Even though Alexa has gained enormous
traction in recent months - there’s still much
room to grow. I hope this has inspired your
thinking about opportunities for your brand.
It’s still Day One for voice interfaces and I’m
excited to see (and hear!) what you build.
If you have further questions, or would like to
book a workshop or demo - Liz can be
reached by email: liz@TheAlexpert.io.
Thank you/vielen Dank!