When was your last Subject Matter Expert (SME) meeting? How did it go? Was it a painful experience for both of you? If so, this episode is for you!

What's Happening in The Lounge today?

I'm excited to bring you this impromptu chat with my new friend Sean Hickey. Sean is a master at working with people. He's incredibly personable and a joy to spend time with. I've had the privilege of spending time with him at two separate conferences, the Ohio ATD Tech days last September and the March 2019 Learning Solutions conference where he and my friend Cara North presented a fun and engaging session - and where they won BEST OF SHOW at DemoFest for their fun game on question pitfalls and the mayhem that comes from ill prepared multiple choice questions.

Sean and Cara win Best of Show at Learning Solutions 19 DemoFest

This episode isn't about assessment or evaluation - instead we're going to dive deep into the tips that Sean has for working effectively with your SMEs to help you and them get the most of your often limited time together.

It's a fun conversation - I had to cut out a lot of my giggles because Sean makes me big belly laugh to the point I sounded like I might need emergency medical attention. So what did we talk about ? Here's a little list.

In this episode:

What is a subject matter expert (SME)Sharing the importance of your workAre SMEs critical to our project success?How to build rapport with SMEsIdeas to deal with conflict between various groupsUsing humour / humorWorking from a state of agreementIdeas to reduce stress when SMEs time is “side of the desk”Sean’s process for engagement, formal and informal communicationDealing with the “unnecessary” Things you can do to motivate attendance (I’m not ashamed to admit to bribing folks with food!)Understand the small picture (how their actions impact the new employee)Sean’s process for continuous relationship buildingProbing questionsImpostor syndrome and SMEsGiving the SMEs value to take awayThe 3-Ps of service

About Sean Hickey

Sean Hickey

Sean Hickey is Lead Curriculum Developer and an instructional designer at Ohio State’s Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE). As part of his role, he facilitates item-writing workshops for statewide career-tech end-of-course tests and industry credentialing exams, and develops eLearning materials for teachers and subject-matter experts. Sean was previously an instructional designer at McGraw-Hill Education, where he partnered with Apple in the creation of the first-generation of interactive iPad textbooks. He has taught educational technology courses and is actively involved in several instructional design groups and associations at both the state and national level.

Find Sean on Social

You can find Sean on twitter @mshEducation, as well as at various edtech or learning and development conferences throughout the country.