Voice Agent Interoperability Workshop

An online workshop by invitation to discuss the interoperability of voice applications.

SOLD OUT. Review session video recordings on this page available June 18.

Perceived problem: voice applications on different platforms cannot easily communicate and share data. For example, a shopping application on platform A cannot invoke a payment application on platform B, provide it with billing information, and then receive results of the payment application before continuing with fulfilment processing.

Workshop goal: to explore various approaches for implementing interoperability of voice applications within and across platforms.

The Open Voice Network will use knowledge from this workshop to assist in designing a standards-based approach to voice application interoperability.

Thank you to our selected presenters and moderators. Each talk will be 15 minutes + 5 minutes for Q&A. Recordings will be available following the workshop.
Workshop Program | June 15-17, 2021 | 7:00-9:00 AM PST

JUNE 15 | THEME: UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM | Host: James A. Larson, Speech Technology Conference, US

7:00 PSTWelcome and workshop challengeJon Stine, Open Voice Network, USA
7:10 PSTConversational interoperability: the need and approachesShyamala Prayaga, Ford Motor Company, USA and James A Larson, SpeechTEK Conference, USA
7:35 PSTThe future of interoperable conversational agents – and why this is so importantIan Utile, CEO, Attn.live; Susan Bearden, Director of Digital Programs at InnovateEDU; Bradley Metrock, CEO, Score Publishing; Moderated by Jon Stine, Open Voice Network
8:00 PSTBreakout rooms (40 min) \\*\*What are the opportunities?\*\*Breakout Room 1 Moderator: Shyamala Prayaga, Ford Motor Company, USA
Breakout Room 2 Moderator: Chris Parker, ebullient.com, The Netherlands
Breakout Room 3 Moderator: David Attwater, Talkmap Inc., UK
8:40 PSTBreakout reports & peaking points for The Voice Agent Interoperability ManifestoMaarten Lens-FitzGerald, Project Zilver, The Netherlands
9:00 PSTOptional break out rooms for Special Interest Groups

JUNE 16 | THEME: IDENTIFY CANDIDATE SOLUTIONS | Host: Shyamala Prayaga, Ford Motor Company, US

7:00 PSTVoice user interfaces for interoperable voice agentsMichael McTear, Ulster University, Northern Ireland
7:20 PSTKey IssuesDavid Attwater, Talkmap Inc., UK
7:40 PSTISO compatible standard for voice agentsTobias Martens, Whoelse.ai, Germany
8:00 PSTBreakout rooms (40 min) \\*\*What are the technical and standards challenges?\*\*Breakout Room 1 Moderator: Michael McTear, Ulster University, Northern Ireland; Scribe: Emily Banzhaf
Breakout Room 2 Moderator: John Trammell, Target, USA; Scribe: Oita Coleman
Breakout Room 3 Moderator: James A. Larson, Speech Technologies Conference, USA; Scribe: Jon Stine
8:40 PSTBreakout reports and update wording of voice agent manifestoMaarten Lens-FitzGerald, Project Zilver, The Netherlands
9:00 PSTOptional breakout rooms for special interest groups

JUNE 17 | THEME: MOVE FORWARD | Host: David Attwater of Talkmap Inc.

7:00 PSTWhat we can learn from Amazon ViiMichael McTear, Ulster University, Northern Ireland
7:20 PSTMagenta: our journey, and the future of voice assistanceBernhard Hochstätter, Deutsche Telekom, Germany
7:40 PSTAreas of IPA standardizationDirk Schnelle-Walka, Modality.ai, Germany
8:00 PSTThe danger of digital whispers: understanding the dimensions of trust in interoperable voice agentsLeigh Clark, Swansea University, UK
8:20 PSTInteractive Conversational agents at the BBCChris Dix, Head of Architecture at BBC, UK
8:40 PSTAccept manifesto, next steps, and review of workshop challengeJon Stine, Open Voice Network, USA

Program Committee:

James A. Larson, Program Co-chair, Speech Technology Conference
Deborah Dahl, Principal, Conversational Technologies
David Attwater, Senior Scientist, Enterprise Integration Group
Maarten Lens-FitzGerald, Consultant, Author, Podcaster
Chris Parker, Technical Architect, Entrepreneur