Best Practices for Engaging Skills + Tips to Increase Skill Retention

Featuring:

Aariv Modi, 12 year old Alexa Speaker

Perhaps one of the most anticipated talks, we have the privilege to hear from a young Alexa expert. With just 2 years of Alexa development experience, he has already published 5 Alexa skills and spoken at global conferences including Project Voice and VOICE Global 2020. Not only does he speak on Alexa skills but he actively contributes to the voice ecosystem through his blog and YouTube channel.

At a young age, Aariv’s dad introduced him to an online block-based programming tool. Once he got comfortable, he joined Khan Academy and used websites like Cloud Guru and Codeacademy to learn about more complex concepts such as JavaScript, Node.js and AWS.

The Alexa Skills he has created include:

• Kids Advice
• Meal Buddy
• STEM Party
• Word Party
• Wheel of Fun

To make your Alexa skills more engagement, Aariv recommends using Speech Synthesis Markup Language. You can use SSML in your output speech response to control how Alexa generates the speech. For example, you can add pauses and other speech effects. He goes on to encourage speech cons, polly voices, sound effects and APL to increase engagement. To improve retention, Aariv recommends minimal friction, high quality content, triggers, personalization and feedback.