Everything they need is in there. That’s exactly the problem.
It lands in your inbox on a Tuesday afternoon. A folder link, a 40-page PDF, or both. Your SME’s note says, “Everything you need is in here.” Launch is in three weeks.
Your SME isn’t wrong. Everything really is in there. The policy, its history, the exception to it, and a slide deck from a 2021 conference that may or may not still apply.
This is the moment when a lot of courses go sideways. Not because anyone did anything wrong, but because the brain dump quietly becomes the outline. Here’s what I do instead.
The First Question Isn’t About the Content
Before I read anything closely, I ask one question: what behavior are we trying to change? What should someone do differently on Monday because of this training?
Then every piece of that brain dump gets the same test. Does it support that behavior? If it does, it stays. If it’s helpful but not essential, it moves to a job aid or a resource page. If it doesn’t support the behavior at all, it doesn’t make the cut.
That one question does more for the final course than any design decision I’ll make later.
Where AI Earns Its Place
Sorting 40 pages against a learning goal is slow, careful work. It’s also exactly the kind of first pass AI is good at.
When it’s one large document, I use Claude or Microsoft Copilot. When it’s a pile of documents from different people, Copilot in OneNote or NotebookLM works well for pulling ideas together across sources and building a mind map, so I can see the shape of the content before I touch it.
The ask is simple. I give the tool the learning goal and have it sort the content into three groups:
- What do learners need to do on the job?
- What’s helpful reference?
- What doesn’t support the goal?
Then, I ask the AI to explain each choice.
Here’s the part that matters. AI does the first sort. I make the calls. It doesn’t know that one policy is changing in January, or that experienced staff skip step four in real life, or that learners already covered half of this in orientation. That context is mine, and it’s where my expertise shows up.
One honest note: Use the tool your organization approves. If your SME’s content is confidential, that matters more than which tool is best. For a lot of in-house teams, that means Copilot, and that works fine.
Then, Canva Makes it Visible
Once the content is sorted, if this will be a Rise output, I create a Content Design Document (CDD), or if it is Vyond, Synthesia, or Storyline, I design a rough storyboard in Canva either using Whiteboards, or a slide deck. One frame/slide for each thing the learner needs to do, with the content that supports it underneath. Boxes, headings, a few notes. It’s not polished, and it’s not supposed to be.
This step is the one I’d never skip. An SME can’t react to a table of text they can’t picture. They can react to a picture.
Why Your SME Needs to See it Early
When your SME sees 40 pages become 10 slides, the conversation changes. Instead of “this isn’t what I imagined” three weeks from now, you get “should this come earlier?” this week.
And when they ask where their favorite section went, you have an answer that isn’t your opinion. It’s tied to the behavior you agreed on. That’s your thinking made visible, to someone who usually only sees the slides.
The brain dump was never the course. It’s the raw material, and you know the difference.
Pick your Spark
Here’s my challenge for you this week. Pick at least ONE that feels right, but still a little out of your comfort zone. The kind that makes you a little squeamish, but not the kind that makes you want to hide under your desk.
- Quiet: Before you open your SME’s files on your next project, write one sentence describing the behavior you’re trying to change.
- Brave: Run your next content dump through your approved AI tool using the three-group sort, then compare its sort to your own.
- Bold: Show your SME a rough Canva storyboard before you build anything, and ask what’s missing.
Try it this week!
About Dani Watkins
Dani is the founder of #IgniteLearning and the owner of Zenith Performance Solutions. She’s an instructional designer, trainer, and eLearning developer who creates practical resources for in-house L&D professionals, and she presents regularly for Training Magazine.
Portions of this article were drafted, outlined, or edited with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools. The final content has been thoroughly reviewed, verified, and approved by human editors, who assume full editorial responsibility for its publication.