I had the extreme pleasure of debuting my interactive workshop on voice user interface design, “Giving Voice to Your Voice Designs,” at Interaction ’17 in New York this February. Following the successful launch of this workshop, I am now accepting inquiries about teaching the course in the US or abroad. It’s an excellent choice for maker groups, local design org chapters, or design and technology conferences with workshop tracks.
Upcoming Appearances
I’m delighted to announce the following confirmed workshop events in 2017 – stay tuned for additional announcements coming soon.
- EuroIA (Stockholm, Sweden): September 30, 2017 (half-day workshop)
- Webdagene (Oslo, Norway): October 18, 2017 (full-day workshop)
Previous Appearances
- Puget Sound SIGCHI: June 17, 2017
- UX Lisbon (Lisbon, Portugal): May 24, 2017
- Carnegie Mellon’s Integrated Innovation Institute (Pittsburgh): March 2017
- Interaction ’17 (New York City): February 5, 2017
Logistics
The workshop is available in two formats:
- Lecture format with discussions: 3.5 hours
- Hands-on skill design workshop: 5 hours (includes content from lecture format)
To contact me about booking this live workshop, please email me at cheryl@ideaplatz.com
This course is intended for intermediate level practitioners, but open to all. The lecture/discussion format can be delivered to groups of up to 100, while the hands-on full-day workshop should be capped at 40 or fewer participants.
Participants walk away with a reference handout, example deliverables, and access to the course slides online. During the full day workshop, participants will also begin to design their own skill or feature, with opportunities for collaboration and direct instructor feedback.
For further information about potential speaker fee arrangements, contact me: options include a flat fee or a door split. Bookings outside the Seattle metropolitan area may require additional travel reimbursement. Potential venues should provide internet access, projector/audio/power access for the instructor, and desk space for each participant in the hands-on workshop.
Why Cheryl?
I had the great honor of being the initial product designer and VUI designer for the newly-announced Echo Look at Amazon. My experience with voice user interfaces dates back to my work in 2006 on one of the first voice-enabled titles for the Nintendo DS (Disney Friends). Since then, I’ve had the incredible opportunity to work on voice UI for Alexa, Cortana, and Windows Automotive. I’ve contributed to voice UI for grammar-based systems, natural language systems; games, PCs, cars and consumer devices. I’ve been passionate about VUI for years, but until now working directly on cutting-edge experiences limited my ability to speak on the topic.
In particular, I believe that many designers can add voice design to their existing set of skills with some additional training and subject matter expertise. Voice design as a specialty is where mobile design was 12 years ago: a niche specialty poised to become an industry standard competency. My students can get a leg up on this emerging field by taking the leap with me in a course that provides deeper understanding of the technology – as well as a repeatable design process that can be applied to your voice enabled features. The class is technology-agnostic; the skills can be applied to work on any voice-enabled platform.
Additional Material
I’m sharing some of my thoughts on the state of the voice design specialty on Medium as a followup to Interaction 17. Catch up on the conversation:
Voice User Interface Design: New Solutions to Old Problems (Medium Technology and Front Page selection, featured in Microsoft Design publication)
The Narrowing Rift: Voice UI and Conversational UI
I can also bring these articles to your conference or event as a keynote or talk if desired – reach out to me at cheryl@cherylplatz.com
From Participants
“Thank you for the awesome workshop! I learned so much in half a day and it really got me excited about designing for voice… Thank you again for the great information and guidance.”
“Many thanks for the amazing workshop! It definitely inspired and encouraged me to learn more about voice interface design.”
Fantastic workshops with @muppetaphrodite on Voice UI & with @gradualclearing @sloandr on Accessibility UX Strategy – today @uxlx #UXLX #ux pic.twitter.com/6x3eJTcIXo
— Bojana (@bojanajam) May 24, 2017
Back in Stockholm after #uxlx. My top three: @muppetaphrodite on voice UI, @katymogal on designing negative experience & @JimKalbach on JTBD
— Fabian Segelström (@segelstrom) May 26, 2017
Inspiring talk this morning with @muppetaphrodite about VUI (Voice User Interface). #uxlx pic.twitter.com/ZUEe2XwwTb
— João Piedade (@jp3dro) May 24, 2017