SpeechTEK Conference Will Be More “Customer Friendly” Than Ever

SpeechTEK Conference Will Be More “Customer Friendly” Than Ever

When the worldwide community of speech technology practitioners first started meeting in New York in 1995 for what has become an annual event, SpeechTEK focused primarily on how to make the technology work for practical, everyday uses. Today, with speech applications found across the entire spectrum of business services and customer relations, discussions at the 13th Annual SpeechTEK Conference and Exposition (August 20-23, New York Marriott Marquis) will focus on rapid advancements in existing technologies and new applications coming to market on a regular basis.

Organizers of the 2007 SpeechTEK Conference have made sure attendees will have plenty of opportunities to explore how organizations are using speech and the experiences they have had in deploying speech applications.

The perspective of the end-user, whether it is a company deploying a speech application or a customer interface, is a pervasive theme throughout the numerous seminars and presentations at SpeechTEK. For more information, a complete agenda and registration, visit www.speechtek.com.

The market for speech technology is up 100% in the last two years, topping $1 billion in 2006. Borrowing the language coined by SpeechTEK keynote speaker Malcolm Gladwell (Tuesday, August 21, 9:00 AM), speech technology has clearly reached the tipping point.

Consider, for example, Wednesday’s featured keynote is Customer Conversations (August 22, 9:00 AM) where representatives of Wachovia Bank, AOL, and United Airlines will discuss how their companies reached important decisions about speech products, how their systems are working, and what challenges they faced.

Ryan Fox, senior vice president of Web/IVR Customer Service for Wachovia Bank; Scott Abbott, program director of eSupport Platforms for AOL; and Sanjay Nair, managing director of Customer Contact Strategy and Performance for United Airlines will discuss how they are coping with the challenges of procurement, deployment and implementation of speech systems.

All three presenters will be available in breakout sessions after the keynote for conversations on their experiences.

SpeechTEK University (Thursday, August 23) is a “graduate school” for companies considering a speech application or looking to increase their knowledge base. SpeechTEK University courses are in-depth seminars on topics of special interest to speech technology and information technology specialists.

Over a dozen Customer Case Studies will cover actual experiences organizations are having with real applications. Company representatives responsible for applications will discuss problems encountered and how they were solved, what technologies have worked for them, and benefits they are realizing using speech.

Google’s Mike Cohen, keynoting on Monday (August 20, 9:00 AM), will discuss Google’s experiences with speech and the company’s general philosophy and approach to speech services. Google recently released its first speech application, GOOG411, a spoken interface to Google Maps providing voice-enabled telephone access for searching businesses by category or name, connecting to a business and getting SMS to your phone with details.

Gladwell is widely credited with having a gift for generating value by interpreting groundbreaking research in psychology, sociology, and neurology and applying it to business. His books are on the recommended reading lists at many companies and business schools.

Time Magazine named Gladwell one of its “100 Most Influential People” in 2005. Fast Company Magazine has called Gladwell “a rock star, a spiritual leader, a stud.” In a 2005 profile, “The Gladwell Effect,” New York Book Review editor Rachel Donadio described Gladwell as possibly being the “Dale Carnegie, or perhaps the Norman Vincent Peale, of the iPod generation.”