Reflections from #LS2010

The seven-hour drive back from the conference all by myself was a great time to reflect on my experiences at Learning Solutions 10. At other conferences I've attended, I've been there with colleagues. This time I was all on my own, which forced me to be more outgoing than I normally would be--which, to others, probably isn't incredibly outgoing, but I really tried. And, as a result, I met some awesome people. In the past, I've had very positive experiences at conferences, and left energized and psyched. I had that experience again, but this time there was an extra plus: I have a better understanding of me as an ID and the team I work with. As a team, we've come so far in the five years I've been there, and I've come so far as an individual ID.

I have several thoughts on what I'm taking away from the conference, but this was a major "Ah-ha!" from the solitary drive yesterday. Between Wednesday's Breakfast Byte ("The Art and Science of Storyboarding") and session 506 ("Leadership Techniques to Enable Subject Matter Expert Collaboration" with Jon Aleckson), I've been contemplating how I work with SMEs and other stakeholders. In the storyboarding session, we discussed how we handle SME storyboard review. I mentioned that I've stopped having SMEs look at storyboards. I let them focus on the content, and all the other stuff in my storyboard docs get in the way of the content. Someone asked me, "Aren't they surprised when they see the course?" Well, yes and no. On a recent project, I was working on an eLeanring course and subsequent instructor-led course with the same SMEs. After they signed off on the content for the eLearning, I took it and ran with it with my development team. I was continuing to meet with them on the ILT, so I kept them updated on what we were doing. So, they weren't totally surprised at the end result.

I think what made a difference was with this SME group, we shared a good deal of mutual respect. Until the 506 session, I never really articulated it that way. I just felt my SMEs trusted me. I had worked with one SME before on another project, and I think he was able to understand what I brought to the project as an ID. I'm not sure if it was his attitude/confidence in me that affected the other SMEs, but it made the project go much more smoothly. I have to think on this more and try to determine what I'm doing on projects to encourage this mutual respect. It wasn't always like that for me--I've had some projects where the SMEs and sponsors have been headstrong, showing very little respect to my professional ability and dictating how, in their minds, it should be done. I've had much better experiences recently, so I want to ponder if I've changed my approach (subconsciously) or if maybe my SMEs are getting nicer. If I figure something out, I'll be sure to post it.