This document summarizes an Amazon Alexa workshop at WebSummit. Attendees are instructed to open developer and AWS accounts and check in at a URL. The workshop will be led by Andrea Muttoni, an Amazon Alexa evangelist.

1. Welcome to the
Amazon Alexa Workshop
Wi-Fi Name: #WebSummit
If you want to follow along:
1. Open/create your account at developer.amazon.com
2. Open/create your account at aws.amazon.com
3. Check in at bit.ly/websummitskills
Andrea Muttoni
Technical Evangelist, Amazon Alexa @muttonia

2. Please Check-in
bit.ly/websummitskills

3. A QUICK STEP BACK

4. Source: Star Trek IV (20th Century Fox), 1986

6. Alexa, add “book flight” to my Todo list1Locate Phone1
Unlock Phone2
Locate and open appropriate app3
Find right To-do list, tap “Add Todo”4
Type name of task, tap “Done”5
Exit app / close phone6
Put away phone7
The “modern” way Easier, faster & more natural way
ADDING A TO DO

7. Alexa, turn off the bedroom light1
Locate Phone1
Unlock Phone2
Locate and open appropriate app3
Navigate to appropriate bulb/room4
Tap “turn off light”5
Exit app / close phone6
Put away phone7
The “modern” way
Easier, faster & more natural way
Get up and walk to lights1
Turn light switch(es) to “Off”2
The old way
TURNING OFF THE LIGHTS

8. “Get me a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Lisbon
leaving tomorrow morning for less than €200”
3
4
5
8
7
9
1
2
Frankfurt
Lisbon
6
Frankfurt - Lisbon

13. Create Great Content:
ASK is how you connect
to your consumer
Unparalleled Distribution:
AVS allows your content
to be everywhere
Alexa
Skills Kit
Alexa
Voice Service

14. Alexa has Skills

15. Custom Skills Smart Home Flash Briefings
Einschlafgeräusche
Chefkoch
MyTaxi
Deutsche Bahn
Philips Hue
Innogy SmartHome
OSRAM Lightify
Tado
Alexa, open Sleep Sounds
Alexa, order a cab with MyTaxi
Alexa, turn off the lights
Alexa, lock the front door
Alexa, give me my flash briefing
Alexa, what’s up?
Tagesschau in 100 Sekunden
n-tv
Bild
Spiegel Online

16. This image
cannot currently
be displayed.

18. You Pass Back a Textual or
Audio Response
You Pass Back a Graphical
Response
Alexa sends Customer
Intent to Your Service
Your Service
processes
Request
User Makes a
Request
Audio Stream is
sent up to Alexa
Alexa Converts Text-to-Speech
(TTS) & Renders Graphical
Component
Respond to Intent
through Text & Visual
Alexa Identifies Skill & Recognizes
Intent Through ASR & NLU

19. +
developer.amazon.com
Programming Logic
aws.amazon.com
Voice User Interface

20. VUI Configure Test PublishCode

21. Alexa, ask Lisbon Guide to give me an activity
wake word utteranceInvocation namelaunch
Utterances and Intents

22. Utterances and Intents
Recommend an Attraction
utterance
Alexa, ask for an activity from Lisbon Guide
wake word Invocation namelaunch utterance

23. Utterances and Intents
Recommend an Attraction
utterance
Alexa, ask for an activity from Lisbon Guide
wake word Invocation namelaunch utterance
AttractionIntent
Intent

24. Built-in Slots
{distance: “4”}
slot value
Give me an activity within four kilometers
slot value
AttractionIntent
Intent
utterance

25. Tell me about golfing within four kilometers
slot value
Custom Slots
AttractionIntent
Intent
slot value
{distance: “4”}
slot value
{activity: “golfing”}
slot value

26. You Pass Back a Textual or
Audio Response
You Pass Back a Graphical
Response
Your Service
processes
Request
User Makes a
Request
Audio Stream is
sent up to Alexa
Alexa Converts Text-to-Speech
(TTS) & Renders Graphical
Component
JSON IN/
JSON OUT
Alexa Identifies Skill & Recognizes
Intent Through ASR & NLU

27. How Do I Respond
Prompt Type: Question or Statement
var handlers = {
'AttractionIntent': function () {
this.response.speak(speechOutput).listen(reprompt);
Interaction will terminate. Interaction remains open, waiting for respond.
this.emit(':responseReady');
},
...

29. Lab
alexa.design/labs-local

30. Let’s keep in touch à WebSummit QR Code
Get started:
alexa.design/build
Public Slides:
alexa.design/slides
@muttonia

31. Welcome to the
Amazon Alexa Workshop (Intermediate)
Wi-Fi Name: #WebSummit
If you want to follow along:
1. Open/create your account at developer.amazon.com
2. Open/create your account at aws.amazon.com
3. Check in at bit.ly/websummitskills
Andrea Muttoni
Technical Evangelist, Amazon Alexa @muttonia

32. QUICK RECAP

33. HOW TO BUILD A GOOD
VOICE EXPERIENCE

34. EASIER FASTER
MORE
NATURAL
CHOOSE VOICE WHEN IT IS…

35. • Can handle more info
• More familiar
• Harder to get lost
• Provides flexibility
T O U C H v s . V O I C E
• Faster
• Less cumbersome
• Ambient
• Removes noise

36. START WITH PEOPLE, NOT COMPUTERS
Source: BBC Prototyping for Voice - bit.ly/bbc-vui

37. SKETCH OUT THE HAPPY PATH

38. Utterances and Intents
SaveHaircutIntent
Intent
I got my haircut today
utterance
Alexa, tell Barber I got my haircut today
wake word Utterancelaunch Invocation name

39. I got my haircut two weeks ago
slot value
Custom Slots
SaveHaircutIntent
Intent
{haircut_date: “2017-08-22T00:00:00.000Z”}
slot value

40. GROUP EXERCISE: CONVERT SCRIPT TO VUI

42. Skillinator.io

43. Choose Your Invocation Name Carefully
Alexa, open {INVOCATION_NAME}
Alexa, tell {INVOCATION_NAME} to {COMMAND}
Alexa, {INVOCATION_NAME}

44. Handle Under/Over-answering
Munich
Where would you
like to go?
Munich, tonight at 6 pmVS
Where would you
like to go?
When? Ok, done!

45. Handle Corrections From the User
I confirm.
So your final order is:
1 currywurst, correct?
Actually, make it large.VS
So your final order is:
1 currywurst, correct?

46. Be Brief
the
1 breath
TEST
So your final order is:
1 large curry wurst,
correct?
So I will now recap what you ordered: You
ordered 1 large currywurst. Please say yes
if you want to confirm this order, or say no
to change it. You can also add French fries
for 2 euros or a milkshake for 1 euro.
Thank you for choosing Uber Wurst. Check
out our Facebook page at uberwurst.de/fb.
Leave a like!

47. Present Definitive Choices
Would you like
some currywurst or
bratwurst?
We have currywurst
or bratwurst. Which
one would you like?
Yes…? Currywurst!

48. Ears expect variety
Eyes expect uniformity
Sure
Yeah
OK
Yes
Write for the EARS, not the EYES

49. Avoid odd phrasing
Make it clear when a response is needed
Don’t assume the user knows what to do
Clearly present options
Keep it brief; brevity is king
Avoid too many choices
Obtain information one piece at a time
And don’t forget to speak naturally
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
alexa.design/guide
Adopt Voice Design Best Practices

50. The Skill Surprises and Delights Customers
Persistence
Welcome back!

51. The Skill Minimizes Friction
Account Linking & User ID

52. The Skill Minimizes Friction
Permissions

53. The Skill Is Consistently Reliable
Technology and Metrics

54. SSML
bit.ly/alexa-ssml

55. Skill Name vs Invocation Name
Skill name
Invocation name

56. Leverage the Beta Functionality
Give up to 500 users early access to your Skill
Even just a few users will catch majority of issues – use
it!

57. Let’s keep in touch à WebSummit QR Code
Get started:
alexa.design/build
Public Slides:
alexa.design/slides
@muttonia