Online communities for voice developers & conversation designers

Slack groups

There are many active slack groups filled to the brim with voice tech developers and designers, ready to lend a hand and answer your questions. To join any of these groups, just visit the link below and enter your email address to request an invitation. You’ll soon receive an email granting you access.

• Alexa Slack – a huge group full of Alexa developers
• Google Slack – a group for Google Actions developers
• Voice Tech Global – an active Slack community of voice technology enthusiasts
• Voice First Slack – another Slack group of passionate voice entrepreneurs and industry watchers
• Voicebot.ai Slack – a private invite-only group; contact the Voicebot team for access

WhatsApp group

• Voice2.io – this is a friendly and active group of mostly Brits, working with Voice and Conversational AI. Moderated by James Poulter of Vixen Labs, and Will Harvey.

Facebook groups

Facebook groups for developers

If you’re still using Facebook then you’re in luck, as there are a number of large and lively groups of skill and action builders there. To gain access, simply request to join the group and answer the easy screening questions.

• Voiceflow Community – a large and active group of people developing voice apps on Voiceflow, with a great community spirit.
• Voice Entrepreneur Community – this group is much quieter since the host left, however people still post and respond everyday.
• Voice Technology Community – a new group for voice tech fans, moderated by the Voice Tech Podcast.
• Amazon Echo and Alexa Skills Developers – the Facebook group for Alexa developers.
• Voice Developers (#voicedevs) – here’s another group, aimed more generally at anyone developing voice apps.

Facebook groups for end-users

These groups are frequented by end users of the two major smart speaker platforms. These are great for getting a feel for how people are using the tech in the real world, and soliciting feedback on live voice apps.

• Google Home Users Group – a community for discussions about Google Home, Google Nest, and related smart home accessories, plus news, reviews, tips, and tutorials.
• Amazon Echo Dot Users – for users of Amazon devices to share their experiences and ask questions.
• Amazon Echo, Dot, Alexa & Skills for Blind & Partially Sighted – a community of blind and partially sighted users, sharing the Alexa skills that meet their needs, and what’s missing in the voice ecosystem.

Reddit subreddits

Reddit communities for developers

Subreddits can be joined instantly with a click of a button. The following communities are aimed at voice techies involved in building voice enabled products. The names are self-explanatory, but we explain them anyway.

• /r/VoiceTech/ – the official subreddit of the Voice Tech Podcast, and one of the best for all things voice tech (if we do say so ourselves).
• /r/AmazonEchoDev/ – the subreddit for Alexa developers building skills on the Amazon platform.
• /r/GoogleAssistantDev/ – a subreddit owned and moderated by Googlers and Google Developer Experts.
• /r/Mycroftai/ – A subreddit for Mycroft AI users and developers.
• /r/Bixby/ – a direct line to the Samsung Bixby developer team.
• /r/LanguageTechnology/ – a large and well-established subreddit for Natural Language Processing (NLP) practitioners and linguists.
• /r/speechrecognition/ – a modest community of machine learning and speech science experts, involved in training speech to text (STT) systems.
• /r/Chatbots/ – this is the subreddit to join to discuss text-based conversational interfaces.

Reddit communities for end-users

In contrast to the above communities, the following are end-user focused and contain hoards of voice platform fanboys and fangirls. If you have a question about how to use a particular voice assistant, or are looking for a someone to test your skill/action, these subreddits might be a great place to start.

1. /r/alexa/ – a huge community of Amazon Alexa fans, sharing tips and stories, and seeking help.
2. /r/amazonecho/ – an even bigger community of Amazon Echo users.
3. /r/googlehome/ – a massive user community for Google Home, Google Nest and Google Assistant, sharing information, tips, bugs, new features, requests, and more.
4. /r/googleassistant/ – a small but very active community of Google Assistant users.
5. /r/HomePod/ – a subreddit of dedicated Apple HomePod fans.

Twitter list

While not exactly a group, Twitter is home to almost every thought leader in the Voice Tech space.

• Voice Tech Twitter list – This list, curated by me (@VoiceTechCarl), contains over five hundred #voicefirst experts. It’s certainly not exhaustive, but subscribing to this list (or following everyone in it) will plunge you into a 24/7 stream of content and discussion, and help you find more people and companies to follow.

Discord group

• Voice developer Discord group – the honourable mention goes to this small group on Discord.