What makes artificial agents intelligent? We perform group thought experiments where we assume that individual technical or resource obstacles can be removed. What if we could find (or build) vast amounts of marked conversational data and “remember” all individual user-agent interactions over all time? What if speech synthesis could be as subtle and nuanced as human speech? What if speech recognition worked at human levels of accuracy? What if we could add some new magical component? Where is the biggest gap in today’s intelligent, conversational, synthetic agent platform?

How can speech technologies improve the experience of interacting with an ebook, insert and review verbal annotations from other readers, enhance dialogue with the ebook’s characters, and listen to a speech synthesized version with multiple voices? Let your imagination take over during this brainstorming discussion.

Technology transactions are critical to permit best-of-breed technologies to work together in a commercial product. Some entrepreneurs seek only to develop solutions to problems, while larger enterprises seek to develop enduring platforms. This discussion lays out the basics of a technology license transaction, then discusses initiation of negotiations and realistic expectations.

Agents can have a major impact on callers’ overall impression of a user interface (and—by extension—the company and brand). This session discusses examples of agent training that either complement the efforts of the VUI design, or undermine it. A targeted checklist of solutions is generated that attendees can immediately apply to their contact center strategy. Vendors can also gain insight on how to add this often-missed item to their toolbox of customer solutions.

Leading analysts predict that mobile phones will overtake PCs as the dominant web access device worldwide by 2013. In this session, we'll discuss UI design fro mobile customer self-service, developing native apps for Android and iOS, as well as the future of HTML5.

Unlike many professions, there’s no traditional educational path to becoming a speech application developer or VUI designer. Some developers have backgrounds in related fields like linguistics, psychology, or computer science and learn the specifics of speech application development on the job. This session discusses how current application developers learned their skills, what they wish they knew more about, existing educational resources—including online, vendor-specific, and university-based options—and what other resources are needed that aren’t currently available.

This presentation discusses the various methods for removing sensitive information to satisfy the requirements of widely accepted data security standards such as the Payment Card Industry (PCI DSS). It also discusses important metrics that allow call centers to understand the trade-offs in trying to remove sensitive information from their call recordings.

It has been a busy year for the world of patents and speech! The American Invents Act finally passed last fall, Nuance acquired Vlingo after a contentious litigation, and new patents are issuing every month in speech technologies. How do these items affect the future of the speech world? JOin us to ask questions and debate the effects of patents and speech inquiring minds!

The America Invents Act of 2011 is the first major change in U.S. patent law in more than 50 years. Changes as the “first to file” and post-grant review will alter the balance between early stage and mature companies. This session answers the following questions: What are the significant changes from the perspective of technologies? What strategies should be adopted to best take advantage of the law? What problems are addressed by the patent reform law? What are the best practices for protecting IP and gaining a competitive advantage? What are some strategies for exploiting the America Invents Act?

Will contracting with a hosted service provider reduce your overall telecommunications costs? An effective analysis of the decision points must include an examination of all factors relevant to your specific enterprise operations, infrastructure and corporate culture. Attendees will discuss specific relevant factors that must be considered in short and long term decisions. Share their own recent experiences and discuss alternatives.

We’ll scour the exhibit floor and sessions, highlighting key topics for deeper discussion. This session will have us exploring together what’s really hot and what’s not.  Come to this session to find out what is and will be the most talked about issues. Application design? Cross channel experiences? Marketing with personal assistant model applications? Speech in the cloud? Analytics? Developments on voice on mobile devices?

A growing number of IVR systems that use computer-generated speech provide a “face” using an animated avatar with lip-synced speech. (See www.speechtek.com/europe2010/avatar for examples.) The primary motivation is to more fully engage the user by using eyes as well as ears. Does doing so help or hinder communication between user and computer? Are avatars important in an eyes-busy situation such as driving? Should the avatar be humanlike or clearly a cartoon? Express your opinion.