The subject matter expert blank page problem (and how we solve it)

As a subject matter expert, being asked to contribute to a blueprint or a storyboard can feel pretty daunting if you've never done it before.

You're an expert in your subject. But knowing what to include in a training module, how to structure it, and what good learning actually looks like? That's a completely different skill set.

I learnt long ago that turning up to a meeting with a blank template and asking "what do we need to cover" is a recipe for a very long, very unproductive meeting.

That’s why Jen and I have a rule: never put a blank page in front of an SME.

This doesn’t just make our meetings more productive, it also respects the SME’s time and focuses their effort on what they do/know best.

What does that look like in practice?

On a recent project with a healthcare client, the content was really complex. Multiple modules, and dense technical information. We knew that walking into a design workshop and asking the team to build a blueprint from scratch wasn't going to work.

So, we did the heavy lifting first.

We went through all of the content ourselves (sifting, structuring … trying to make sense of it!) and came to the workshops with draft blueprints already on the table. Not finished documents. Not decisions already made. Just a solid starting point that gave the team something to react to rather than something to create from nothing.

The difference was huge.

The workshops ran smoothly. The client could focus on what they're actually brilliant at; sense-checking the sequencing, spotting gaps, making sure the content reflected the reality of their world. We got through it faster, the feedback was sharper, and the final modules and program were better for it.

Your SMEs are not learning designers, and they shouldn't need to be. Our job at Learnopolis is to make their contribution as easy and as valuable as possible - not to put them in a room and hope for the best.

Has anyone else found this to be true, either as an SME who's been put on the spot, or as someone trying to get the best out of a subject matter expert? I'd love to hear how others handle it.

Nicola