In this episode, Teri talks about everything that has gone on in the first year since launching the Alexa in Canada podcast, blog and community, and everything that is to come.

Happy Birthday Alexa in Canada!

When Teri launched the podcast/blog, Amazon had not announced that Alexa was coming to Canada. He was interested in voice technology, did some research and discovered that there were no resources in Canada for people to learn about Amazon Alexa, so he decided to create the blog and started documenting all that he was learning about Amazon Alexa.

Highlights

  • When Amazon officially announced Alexa into Canada, Canadians weren’t getting the same devices that people in the United States got. The only devices they had in the market were the Echo Dot, the Echo, and the Echo Plus.
  • A lot of Canadians wanted access to the other devices and so they choose to set their addresses to the United States so they could access the devices in the US and use all the skills and features available in the US.
  • Canada used to be a couple months behind with features and there was very limited functionality.
  • Now we have the Echo Dot, Echo, Echo Spot (the first screen one that was introduced), Echo Plus, Echo Show, and the Echo Sub (a subwoofer). Amazon Alexa has also been put into many other different devices and components in Canadian homes like light switches, thermostats, audio speakers, and many more.

How Canadians are Embracing the Technology

  • It took Americans approximately 3 years to reach a 7% market adoption rate.
  • The adoption rate in Canada is at 8% within less than a year.

The Alexa in Canada Community

  • Teri has made some incredible connections and met some incredible people in the voice first space that have taught him so much about voice technology.
  • The podcast has now been downloaded more than 25,000 times in approximately 40 countries around the world.
  • The biggest listenership is in Canada, but Americans form about 50% of the listenership of Canadians. For every 100 Canadian listeners, there are 50 American listeners.
  • The Alexa in Canada Facebook group has grown to over 1,000 people. Community members always take time to answer each other’s questions.
  • There is a mailing list and can be signed up on the home page at AlexaInCanada.ca

The Flash Briefing

  • To learn more about voice technology and Amazon Alexa, Teri started the Voice in Canada flash briefing with the core goal of updating people on what is going on in the Amazon Alexa world on a daily basis.
  • He spent a lot of time learning how to launch a flash briefing.
  • With the support and great reviews of listeners, the flash briefing became the “Number 1 Rated Flash Briefing in Canada” and has maintained that since its inception.
  • The flash briefing has so far been downloaded almost 60,000 times and has been listened to in approximately 20 different countries.
  • People wanted detailed advice on how to create a flash briefing which prompted him to create a course called “Flash Briefing Formula”. He has received great reviews on the course.

I love getting up and speaking, and teaching about this voice technology

Tutorials

  • Teri created tutorials on the website to help people figure out how to set up devices.
  • When new features came out Teri would update the tutorials to keep up with that.
  • He also created a tutorial on “how to create a flash briefing”

Networking and Speaking at Conferences

  • The networks Teri has built with different people in the voice first space have led to him being invited to speak at different conferences.
  • Teri joined the VoiceFirst.fm Podcast Network.
  • He has guest lectured through video at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology for a marketing class. He taught about flash briefings.

The Voice First Health Podcast

  • Due to his background in healthcare as a physician, he was looking for an opportunity to join his passions of technology, education, and healthcare which led him to start this podcast.
  • It’s also part of the VoiceFirst.fm Podcast Network.
  • Teri’s goal through the podcast is to learn about what is going on in healthcare with regards to voice technology. He interviews some of the leaders that are doing remarkable things, research, and creating incredible products that are going to transform the way we experience healthcare.
  • He has spoken and keynoted at several medical conferences.

Next Project for Teri

  • It’s hard for people to discover good quality flash briefings on the Amazon skill store because the numbers are growing rapidly. One has to scroll through those lists to find what they need and it’s not a very user-friendly process.
  • Teri is about to launch a resource that people can go to to get high quality and vetted flash briefings that will provide value, excellent content and professionally produced. There will be different categories and they will cover different topics.

List of resources mentioned in this episode:

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