In this episode, Teri welcomes Pete Erickson (again!), organizer of the Voice Summit, and founder of Modev. Pete shares with us his key takeaways from the event. Pete and Teri also look ahead at what Voice Summit 2019 might look like.
Stick around to the end of the episode. Teri has an special announcement for you.
Welcome Pete Erickson!
Why Newark?
On one of their first conversations, Pete and Amazon, the conference’s kick-off sponsor, assembled a list of 30 cities. After some analysis, they managed to narrow it down to four cities: Newark, New York, Philadelphia, and L.A. A competitive process then began, where each city would identify what it could bring to the event. Newark’s response just blew the Pete away. The city gave Modev a community-based response, and as Modev was looking for a long time partner, they felt Newark was the right choice. They confirmed this on their first sight-visit, when they saw the thriving industries there.
How many people attended Voice Summit 2018?
At the time the agreement with the city was reached, only five months remained until the start date. The goal was to have 1500, maybe 2000 registrants. Pete was extremely pleased when he was informed they had 2777 registrants for the event. This number does not include a few hundred people that attended the Startup Expo and the VIP reception with the Mayor the night before. Overall, over 3000 people attended the event.
How were the speakers and the sessions organized?
More than guiding the conversations around voice technology, Pete believes in letting the industry tell him what’s important from a programming standpoint. After evaluating submission for talks, scoring them and weighing them, Pete’s team was able to put together a nice representation of what people care about when it comes to voice technology. But, more than specific sessions, Pete was interested in the conversations people were having. Accessibility and aging being two of the topics he was surprised, and pleased, that got traction.
What has been the feedback on the conference, and how can people interact with it, now that it is over?
Pete has received an incredible amount of unsolicited feedback from people telling him they had a great time, via Twitter, LinkedIn, Slack and his personal email. People who missed the conference or who want to relive it can go to voicesummit.ai to check out the photos of the conference. Some talks will be made available in a couple of weeks as well.
What’s the plan for next year?
For next year, Pete expects to have at least 12,000 people in attendance. He would like to make it a city-wide event with more live music and entertainment, making it a technology conference with some entertainment sprinkled in. He also wants to make it a week-long event and expects it will still take place on the same dates, from July 22nd to July 29th. Pete believes the world needs this event as it is the perfect way to bring together the amazing community of voice-first technology.
And now, for the special announcement!
Today, on Tuesday August 7th, I’ll be speaking on Voice of Healthcare Summit. In addition to continuing this podcast, I welcome you to check my new podcast, Voice First Health, your best resource if you are interested in the intersection between voice and healthcare.
List of resources mentioned in this episode:
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