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Whether you realize it now, or realize it years from now, your business needs an Alexa Skill. If not to reach your target audience, then to do business more efficiently and improve operations. A year or so ago I found a tool called "Storyline." It promised building Custom Alexa Skills without coding. It didn't work. In the last year, it has rebranded to Voiceflow and now works like a charm. Other Data Driven Daily Tips show how to use Voiceflow to create and test your Alexa Skill. But when it came down to actually publishing the skill live to the Alexa Skill Store, I still wasn't ready to throw a party. But it worked, and now I am not only throwing parties, but I'm challenging myself to build at least one new Alexa Skill for business per week. Here's how.

What is Voice User Interface Design or VUI? It's a new buzz word in the design world, and it has to do with thinking through and planning out the user experience related to a voice-based application, like an Alexa Skill, Google Home Action or a Chat bot of some kind.  While I suppose it could include AI (artificial intelligence), it actually really just can start with designing the experience behind a simple scripted conversation with the user. A really nice software platform to build custom Alexa Skills and Google Home Actions (in Beta) without coding is Voiceflow. Voiceflow has a great testing capability, where you can easily run through simulations and conversational scenarios to experience your Alexa Skill or Google Home Action before you publish it.  The Alexa Skills Developer Console also has a really cool testing feature. After you publish from Voiceflow to the Alexa Skills Developer Console, you can validate that it will work with Alexa by using your microphone and saying actual prompts, and hearing Alexa's reply.

What is Voice User Interface Design or VUI? It's a new buzz word in the design world, and it has to do with thinking through and planning out the user experience related to a voice-based application, like an Alexa Skill, Google Home Action or a Chat bot of some kind.  While I suppose it could include AI (artificial intelligence), it actually really just can start with designing the experience behind a simple scripted conversation with the user. A really nice software platform to build custom Alexa Skills and Google Home Actions (in Beta) without coding is Voiceflow. In this video, I explain/show how to use Voiceflow to design and create an Alexa Skill without coding.

This episode is me getting PUMPED on an Instagram Story about the launch of a shiny new Alexa Flash Briefing for entrepreneur Danielle McGee and her business Black Business Boom, highlighting Black-owned Businesses in Middle Tennessee. Enjoy!

Hey Alexa, Open Nashville Voice Conference. The Nashville Voice Conference has launched the first ever Alexa Skill dedicated to communicating with attendees of an upcoming event, as well as speakers, staff and media. “I believe we are the first, but I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong!” said Paul Hickey, Founder of Nashville Voice Conference and CEO/Founder of Data Driven Design. “If you’re an attendee, a facilitator, staff working the event or media, you can actually go to Talk.NashvilleVoiceConference.com and interact with the Nashville Voice Conference Alexa Skill to find out key information about the event as well as personalized assignments.”

In this episode I talk about how I tested my first custom Alexa Skill right on the Amazon Developer Console, a great tool. Tune in to learn more.

As a kid I loved Hip-Hop and Basketball. Listen to a snippet of my story on how those two passions have helped my career in business. And there's a special treat at the end!

Do you know what Alexa For Business is? Do you know what a custom Alexa Skill is? You probably only think of Alexa for playing music at home or playing games, but you need to think of it for your business. Specifically, how you can train your large organization using a custom Alexa Skill only available to particular employees of your company. Listen in. I promise it's good.

Do you know what Alexa For Business is? Do you know what a custom Alexa Skill is? You probably only think of Alexa for playing music at home or playing games, but you need to think of it for your business. Specifically, how you can train your large sales force using a custom Alexa Skill only available to particular employees of your company. Listen in. I promise it's good.

This is the fully detailed, step-by-step version of Episode 214.  Starting from nothing, in Segment 1, I show you how to create a Gmail account.  In Segment 2, I show you how to use that Gmail account to create an Anchor.fm account, then create your podcast, your first episode, and get your podcast published on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and more. In Segment 3, I show you how to find your Anchor.fm RSS feed, create an Amazon Alexa Skills Developer Account, and submit your Anchor.fm RSS feed as your Alexa Flash Briefing Skill feed. In Segment 4, I show you how to validate, test, and submit your Flash Briefing Skill to the Alexa Skills Store, and how to have you and your customers/clients/audience add it to your live device.