The Art of Working with Subject Matter Experts: Building Productive Partnerships

You know the scenario: you need to develop training on a complex topic, but the subject matter experts (SMEs) who hold that critical knowledge are busy, hard to engage, or struggle to translate their expertise into learner-friendly content. It’s a common challenge faced by L&D professionals regardless of experience level.

Working effectively with SMEs isn’t just about extracting information—it’s about building relationships that transform technical expertise into impactful learning experiences. When these partnerships falter, projects stall, content quality suffers, and frustration mounts on both sides.

That’s why this Coffee Chat is all about “The Art of Working with Subject Matter Experts: Building Productive Partnerships.”

In this coffee chat, we’ll tackle the challenges of working with SMEs and share practical strategies for successful collaboration. We’ll explore how to establish clear roles, facilitate knowledge extraction, and maintain productive relationships throughout the development process. Whether you’re working with reluctant SMEs or managing those who want to include everything, this session will equip you with approaches to navigate these partnerships effectively.

What you can expect:

1. Setting the Foundation: Strategies for establishing clear expectations and building rapport with SMEs from day one
2. Effective Knowledge Extraction: Techniques for asking the right questions and getting beyond “the curse of knowledge”
3. Managing Difficult Situations: Approaches for working with resistant, overly technical, or time-constrained SMEs
4. Maintaining the Relationship: Tips for keeping SMEs engaged throughout the development process and for future projects

Join us on March 18, 2025, at 11am CST to share experiences and learn techniques for transforming SME relationships from challenging to collaborative!

Register now and enhance your ability to work with SMEs to create truly effective learning!

Can’t Make It In Person? No Worries, We’ve Got Your Back! Register And Receive The Following:

✅ Access to the Learning Rebels resource page with all the extra goodies

✅ Copy of the video recording

✅ Copy of the chatbox transcription

✅ Copy of the full session transcript & summary

✅ Additional resources such as books, articles, and handouts