We recently wrapped up AWS re:Invent 2018, where the Alexa team engaged with the largest gathering of global Amazon developers. With over 100 technical sessions, this was Alexa’s biggest AWS re:Invent ever. Our favorite sessions included hands-in training workshops, interactive chalk talks, breakout sessions, and builder sessions to help developers dive deep into various voice design topics.
If you weren’t able to attend all the Alexa sessions you wanted this year, or you were following AWS re:Invent activities at home, we’re excited to share that the presentation slides and recordings for breakout sessions are now available for you to enjoy.
Check out the videos below to watch our top Alexa sessions from AWS re:Invent. We also share a variety of resources applicable to each session to help you start applying the concepts shared during the session right away.
Chief Alexa Evangelist Dave Isbitski (@thedavedev) gets you up to speed on the current voice-first movement and conversational AI trends. He also shares a demonstrations of some of the latest Alexa features and devices. Learn about the new Alexa Skills Kit (ASK) multimodal framework, the Alexa Presentation Language (APL), Alexa skill fulfillment and consumables for customers, and some of the latest device offerings utilizing the Alexa Voice Service (AVS) and the new Alexa Gadgets Toolkit.
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Alexa Evangelist Jeff Blankenburg (@jeffblankenburg) talks about how you can leverage Alexa in-skill purchasing (ISP), Amazon Pay, and developer reporting tools to help unlock premium digital content in a custom voice experience. You will discover how in-skill purchasing gives customers and developers the flexibility to make payments through consumables, subscriptions, and one-time entitlements.
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Watch as Alexa Product Manager Neelam Saboo and Max Child, founder of Volley and creator of Alexa skills Yes Sire and Song Quiz, walk you through the process of designing and adding in-skill purchasing to your skills. Max shares Volley’s in-skill purchasing journey, lessons learned, and best practices.
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This session introduces the Alexa Presentation Language (APL), a new design language that makes it easy to develop interactive voice and touch experiences that are portable to any Alexa-enabled device with a screen. Watch as Arunjeet Singh, senior product manager for Alexa skills, and Alexa Champion Steven Arkonovich, who developed the popular skill Big Sky, as share how Arkonovich used APL to make a voice-first skill visually rich and even more engaging.
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In this session, Rick Carragher – Director of Alexa Smart Home, and Mark Aiken - Principal Software Engineer, walk you through the updates to the Smart Home Skill API, featuring new capability interfaces you can use as building blocks to connect any device to Alexa. You will also learn how to create Alexa skills that contain multiple interaction models to provide a seamless customer experience.
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Games push the boundaries of tech, enabling us to learn from them for a wide range of use cases. In this session, Gal Shenar, founder of Stoked Skills, and Paul Cutsinger (@paulcutsinger), head of developer education at Alexa, talk about designing and implementing in-skill purchasing for successful game skills like “Escape the Room” and “Escape the Airplane.”
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Dylan Zwick (@pulselabs_cpo), chief product officer at Pulse Labs, joins Paul Cutsinger to share the suite of Alexa developer tools you can use to increase productivity when coding, deploying, testing, debugging, and collaborating with others on your skill.
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Alexa Voice Service Solutions Architect Donn Morrill walks you through a deep dive into the system architecture for voice-enabled products with "Alexa Built-In." Watch to learn how to choose the right hardware and software tools, ensure great customer experience with test and certification guidelines, and leverage qualified solution providers to get your products (smart speakers to headphones, screen-based devices to smart home, and more) to market faster.
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Stay in touch with the Alexa team on Twitch to keep learning about voice-design trends and skill-building best practices. Connect with Alexa on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. To get the latest Alexa developer news delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
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