2022 Resource Guide for Conversation Designers

 

The conversation AI industry is booming: the global conversational AI market size is expected to reach $32.62 billion by 2030, which is a CAGR of 20.0% from 2021 to 2030. Indeed, the world of chatbots, virtual assistants, conversational interfaces, and voice skills is a very exciting place to be right now. The community is growing, new companies are emerging, and new industry initiatives are coming out. So, if you’re looking to join the convo crowd or want to learn more about the field, we’ve put together a list of useful resources that can help your conversation design career.

Conversation design starter pack

This might be a young field, but there are so many great people who want to make life easier for aspiring conversation designers. So, if you’re contemplating a career in conversation design or need a blueprint for your new career, start by reading these articles (also you can just go ahead and follow on social networks the amazing people who authored those pieces):

 

• How To Become a Conversation Designer by Cathy Pearl
• How To Create A Career In Conversational AI by Cobus Greyling
• So you want to be a voice interface designer by Polina Cherkashyna
• A Conversational Design Primer by Cheryl Platz
• Reflecting on 1 year as a full-time conversation designer by Elaine Anzaldo
• VUI Challenge by Jesús Martín

 

Media and podcasts

If you read even one of the articles mentioned above, you’ll end up with a bunch of useful media and podcast recommendations from people who know a thing or two about conversation design. In case you’ve skipped this step, here are some podcasts and media covering voice tech and conversation design that you should bookmark:

 

Voicebot.ai

Founded by Bret Kinsella, Voicebot.ai is one of the most influential media and podcasts in the industry offering the latest news and insights, industry analytics and research, as well as interviews with stellar podcast guests.

 

VUX World

Industry-leading podcast, content platform and consulting service founded by Kane Simms (who’s the Citizen Kane – pun intended – of the voice tech world, so you definitely want to follow him on social media.), VUX World covers various topics from the future of customer service to conversation design and voice interfaces to expert analysis, and more.

 

This Week In Voice VIP

One of the top influencers in the voice industry, Bradley Metrock is the man behind many important projects, including the This Week In Voice podcast and Project Voice events. Bradley also personally crafts and curates the This Week In Voice newsletter that balances the deep industry analysis and challenging concepts with jokes, music, and gifs.

Influencers

The conversation design and voice tech community is full of amazing bright people, who eagerly share their experiences and insights. Sadly, they all won’t fit in this article, but we can tell you where to start. This, of course, doesn’t mean we prefer some over others. Bret Kinsella already did a great job and published a list of influencers in voice tech. So, here are some great people we think you should follow by category:

Conversation design, conversational UI, NLU

• Cathy Pearl
• Cobus Greyling
• Brielle Nikoloff
• Rebecca Evanhoe
• Erika Hall
• Mary Tomasso

Conversation design career

• Hillary Black
• Allys Parsons
• Marc Powell

Vision, insights and inspiration

• Jason F. Gilbert
• Bradley Metrock
• Kane Simms
• Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek 
• Keri Roberts
• Marion Mulder
• Maaike Groenewege

Communities

By now you’re probably wondering where you can meet all these fantastic people we keep mentioning. In today’s digitally-dominated world, it’s easier than ever to mingle with like-minded people. Here are some options for voice tech enthusiasts:

 

Voice Lunch

The Voice Lunch team hosts regular virtual meetings where people can discuss all things voice – from industry trends to mindfulness.

 

Women in Voice

A warm and friendly community, Women in Voice is like Hogwarts for conversation designers: in their slack community help will always be given to those who ask for it. There are virtual meetups and summits, as well as offline events all over the world.

 

Convoclub

Founded by Maaike Groenewege, this is a “community for everything conversation design” with the most adorable tagline “Real people, real knowledge, real imposter syndrome :-)” At Convoclub you can share your knowledge and learnings on conversation design.

 

Education

To help you design better chatbots, voice assistants and skills for them, there are guided courses as well as resources for self-paced education. Check out coursework from Conversation design institute, CareerFoundry, Amazon, LinkedIn, Jesús Martín, and Voxable.

If you like to figure things out on your own, there are entire libraries with resources curated by other conversation designers (we’ve already mentioned most of them):

 

• Conversation Design Resource Guide by Ayesha Saleem
• The library of Maaike Groenewege
• The library of Cathy Pearl
• The library of Benjamin McCulloch

We hope this list will help you jumpstart your career in conversation design or, at least, will save you precious time. You’re sure to build your list over time – as we said, conversation design is a very dynamic field – and we’d love it if you shared it and tagged Tovie AI.