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!

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.

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.

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.

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