What's it like to work with me?

I call a spade a shovel and I’m not into telling you what you want to hear. I am good at listening though, and will help you create the experience you and your clients need – not what I THINK you should have. Your circus, your monkeys.

I focus on results, and know that things don’t always go to plan. Most importantly, direction changes are welcomed, and my job is done when YOU’RE happy and confident that the product meets your needs and exceeds your expectations.

Ready to work with me?

With 25 years of qualifications and experience in teaching and learning in the international market, I have products and services that can help with your specific project requirements.

If you're in the business of sharing your passion, expertise and knowledge . . . I'm in the business of making that actually happen.

Work with me if...

You have lots of learning content ready, but you know it needs a revamp.
You have lots more content lurking in your archives, hard drives (or still stuck in your head!) that you KNOW you should be doing something more with.
You don't have enough time or know-how to put it all together in a way that gets real results for your clients.
You need a reliable team to help you pull it all together.
You're feeling a bit disorganised or in procrasti-baking/cleaning mode when it comes to tackling this project.
You know you can do it, you just need a gentle, friendly, flexible kick up the proverbial from someone who has done it hundreds of times already.

Don't work with me if...

You’re a killer presenter who can engage an audience from wo to go.
You don’t work well with someone giving you work to do and deadlines to get it done.
You've got an awesome team of VAs, designers and producers ready to create best practice resources.

Here's what we can create together:

The best way to do that,

is to make sure we follow best practice adult learning principles, which in short, include the four stages below:

Stage 1: Design Your Product

What product are you going to create?

How does it work?

How is it delivered?

What can your clients expect?

Are you catering for different learning styles?

Do you have a complete user experience plan?

Stage 2: Write your Curriculum

What are you going to cover in terms of outcomes, theory, examples, activities?

How much content do you have and can you find it all easily?

Why do they need this content? How will it change their business or lives?

How will you motivate them to complete the learning content?

Stage 3: Build Your Resources

How are you going to create the presentations, workbooks, activity resources, tapescripts, audios, videos?

Do you know how to structure materials for maximum engagement?

Are your teaching skills best practice for adult learning?

Do you want to avoid death by powerpoint?

Stage 4: Review your Content

Are you improving your content every time it’s delivered?

Are you collecting feedback before, during and after the learning experience?

Do you know how and when to process and address the suggestions you receive?

Do you have content that needs a complete overhaul?

Not sure what that means? Or what it would look like for your organisation? Let me explain in a little more detail.

There are four main stages to creating quality learning resources.

We’ll work together – from wherever you’re at – to ensure the project is completed on time, on budget, and does exactly the job you need it to. Use the expander buttons in the boxes below, to read in more detail about the 4 stages.

Stage 1: Design Your Product

This stage is where we do all the critical thinking around what learning products you're going to create from your knowledge - how they fit together in your business plan, the complimentary products you can create to flesh out your sales funnel, the expectations around exactly what you're delivering, and how it's going to work for you and your clients.

Without this stage it's a bit like building a house on rocky foundations; it's bound to fall over at some point down the track as it hasn't been thought through thoroughly enough (now there's a tongue twister for you!)

To begin with, to get the best outcome possible for your clients, we will first help you get 100% clear on exactly what it is you’re building. Like with any project, if you get the planning stage right, you’re building on the most solid foundation possible and are well on your way to building quality learning resources.

Get 100% clarity on the outcomes that you and your organisation want to achieve from building your learning products.
Decide on the most effective learning product and delivery mechanism for your content and audience; (training materials suitable for online, face to face, groups or individuals).
Map the profiles of your learners so that you can match a learning product with their specific learning styles and anticipated knowledge outcomes.
Examine your existing collateral and IP for use in your learning products.
Set clear expectations of the learning experience to ensure raving reviews and fewer refund requests.

Outputs from this session:

Course Outline describing full expectations of the Learning Product,
Personalised Content and Task Planner, complete with Module Overview
'DIY' or 'Done With You' Curriculum and Resources Development Plan

How long does this take?

At least a half day session. To really understand the ins and outs of the products you're creating, whether they're fully suited to your clients and the professionals who will be facilitating them, their pricing structures, the way they'll be delivered, and the expectations including but not limited to communication, resources provided, contact time, equipment required, assessments or practical tasks and interaction with the facilitators, takes time. It's as simple as that. Often times clients will arrive at this session with a firm idea on what they think they're creating - and walk out with a completely different plan that is much better suited to their needs, and the needs of their clients. Quality takes time, as does a Content and Task Planner personalised to the product you're going to create.

Stage 2: Write your Curriculum

In this stage we create a complete blueprint for your learning materials. You work with me, or along side me, to extract all the language needed to create a full overview of all the content and language required to build your sales pages, opt-ins and learning resources.

Without this stage it's near on impossible to get a proper overview of your content - without this it's impossible to tell whether there are gaps, duplications or whether the program is robust. It's like having a roadmap for your content - without it, you get very lost, very quickly!

I will help you map out your learning content to the specific requirements of both your business and your clients’ needs. This will focus on (but not be limited to):

Getting 100% clarity on exactly what your clients are going to learn and achieve from participating with your learning products.
Building a framework so that you see the top level overview of all learning content to ensure no gaps or double ups exist.
Synthesising your IP, knowledge base, case studies and activities into clear, practical, results-oriented outcomes, which your clients take immediate action on.
Creating a central, easily accessible knowledge hub so that creating, storing, delivering and reviewing your learning content is a simple and efficient process.
Getting the knowledge out of your existing presentations, manuals, brochures, hard-drives and the heads of the experts in your organisation.
Training your professionals with the skills to create ongoing learning content long after the initial coaching process has completed.

Outputs from this session:

Content and Task Planner complete with:
- Marketing language (required for articles, sales pages and other promotional materials including sales videos),
- Outcome statements (major and minor depending on depth of curriculum),
- Learning content (scaffolded to include best practice adult learning structure),
- Outcomes based activity plans (ready to be created into Workbooks or Activity booklets),
- Resource Planner (to track progress on learning materials development, and link to learning resources).

From this document, my team of resource creation specialists can extract the information needed to create a full suite of branded, consistently structured learning resources (presentations, workbooks) - see the next stage: 'Building your Resources'.

How long does this take?

It really depends on how much knowledge you can bring to the table, and how quickly. It also depends on whether you have pre-existing materials, activities, outcome statements and a working knowledge of how you're going to use your content in a group environment, or if creating online resources, how the resources will work without you there to facilitate the process. It also depends on how long the modules are and how much content is contained within each one of them. Your first half day session you will see how much we can achieve and you will be assigned the task of bringing as much information to the next session as possible. Often times during these sessions we are working on the activity books at the same time so the process is streamlined, well thought through and efficient should you choose to have the resources finessed by our learning resources graphic designer.

Stage 3: Build your Learning Materials

To ensure you get the best outcome possible in delivering your product, we will ensure you the crucial skill sets required to deliver a quality learning experience, every time you create learning resources.

This is the part where you actually get the physical learning materials produced - you can either DIY now that you have a solid Content and Task Planner, OR employ my team and I to fast track the process for you.

With a fully completed Content and Task Planner, we can have your materials produced within a matter of days. Wouldn't that take a bit of pressure off?

This stage will focus on (but not be limited to):

Transforming you (the content expert) into a teaching and learning expert, by training you in the base skills essential for effective adult learning:
- how to structure materials for maximum engagement online or offline.
- how to create visual aids to ensure the user experience facilitates the highest level of engagement possible
- how to apply verbal & non-verbal communication techniques to ensure the delivery of the content enhances the learning experience.
Reviewing your learning content from an international, cross cultural perspective to avoid unnecessarily alienating your learners.
Evaluating every learning experience delivered by your organisation, so that you can process and implement review feedback, so as to build a culture of continuous improvement.

This stage can also include Project Management: including introduction to, training and supervision of contractors outsourced for final resource production.

Possible outputs:

Sales video scripts
Presentations
Runsheets
Scripts
Tapescripts
Audio recordings
Video training
Tutorials
Lesson/Workshop Plans
Workbooks or activity booklets
Finished learning resources depending on the needs of your clients

How long does this take?

Again, it really depends on how much work you want to put in, and how much you want to outsource. During the sessions we can work out exactly how much your budget will allow and how much work you'll need to put in to finish off the project. Most of my clients choose to have a lot of the 'grunt' work completed by the learning resources developer I've been working with since the start of my business. We've developed a strong working relationship and she has produced countless professional standard workbooks and presentations for my clients.

Stage 4: Review your Existing Content

This stage is usually reserved for courses which have run at least once, live with an online or face to face group who has given feedback.

Are you ready for a Course Review?

If you have an existing course that’s not reaching the mark, or you know it could be a lot better than it currently is, you might be feeling a bit overwhelmed by the process of getting stuck into a full review and revamp. I hear you. I've been there, and a Course Review might help. Contact me for more information.

What do you get when you work with me?

Personalised Action Plan

For moving forward with your content and task planning and creation. No more confusion, overwhelm and stress regarding what to do next, or how to go about creating a learning experience that you KNOW is going to change lives.

A mentor who cares

Creating Quality Learning Experiences, and helping others OUT of their overwhelm and into a calm, organised, RELIEVED headspace, is what I excel at – my clients refer to me as a cheerleader for content creation – I’m there every step of the way – especially when the going gets tough!

A team of professionals

I’ve spent the past 5 years building a team of professionals I know, like and trust, so whether you need copy-editing, graphic design, video editing or web development, I have professionals I will work with, to get your project done RIGHT the first time.

Personalised Action Plan

Confidence

Know your learning materials are 5 star quality. Know you have the skills to deliver it well. Start falling back in love with what you do – the content, how it can change lives, and getting that message out there to the people who need it the most.

Focus

Stop second guessing yourself and stressing out about what you should be doing next. Start focusing on creating awesome content (which you’re best at doing anyway).

Maria brings a wealth of international education and training experience

I have worked closely with Maria over the past 18 months in my role as Registered Training Organisation Manager. Maria has worked with the organisation over this time on various learning resource development projects, and specifically with our Learning & Organisational Development department over a 4 month period.

During her time working with our department, Maria has created online professional development modules of self directed learning for our trainers, focusing on best practice teaching and feedback strategies. In that role Maria has worked with our team to create an engaging and solid curriculum, tailored to the needs of our training staff and produced a set of high quality learning materials including interactive online learning modules, workbooks and teacher training guides. During this time Maria met all timelines, maintained strong long lines of communication and was able to keep our team on task and motivated.

The resources have been piloted by a multi-cultural group of staff, who have challenged the content and nature of the assessment tasks; Maria has worked alongside these staff members to create highly positive outcomes and the changes in staff performance as a result is testimony to her ability to communicate and negotiate effectively with a diverse group of stakeholders. Maria is able to overcome the obstacles of distance and I personally often felt that when communicating with her in a digital environment that she was right in the room with me, such is her down to earth nature and communication skills.

Maria brings a wealth of international education and training experience, flexibility, a good sense of humour and a commitment to produce the highest quality products possible.

MAREE CLEAVER RTO MANAGER

Who I've worked with

Austraining International, Adelaide
Behaviour Tonics, Perth
Cash Converters National Conference, Perth
Coffey International, Brisbane
Curtin University, Perth
Deakin University, Melbourne
Department of Fire and Emergency Services, Perth
Developmental Disability WA, Perth
ILUKA, Perth
Polytechnic West, Perth
Vizcom Technologies, Perth
WA Individualised Services, Perth
WATESOL, Perth
Wellness Designs, Brisbane

Need some specific examples?

I worked with Debbie and her team to create an 8 part animated video series from a 25 page policy on Alcohol and Other Drugs, for a large, state wide government department.

Full of energy, accurate and engaging

As the project manager for the Alcohol and Other Drugs management policy implementation project I chose Maria to work with because during our initial meeting she claimed to be highly motivated, professional and passionate about her work. The project has now been completed and Maria was true to her word, she was full of energy and ideas and clearly loved the work she did which resulted in an educational package which is accurate, engaging and suitable for a diverse audience of over 30,000 people.

DEBBIE GASKIN PROJECT MANAGER

Ready to get started?

Let’s talk practicalities and pricing (because I know that’s the bottom line). You can work with me on any of the 4 stages of learning materials development, and I have a few levels of support I can provide.

It’s like having an L&D expert on call, without having to go through the rigmarole of employing someone on a long term basis. Packages (samples below) can be created to suit your specific organisation’s needs; we can work on any or all of the following stages intensively, or at your own speed.

Stage 1: Design Your Product

What are you going to create, and what can your clients expect? Do you have a complete user experience plan?

Stage 2: Write your Curriculum

What are you going to cover in terms of outcomes, theory, examples, activities? How much content do you have and can you find it all easily?

Stage 3: Build Your Resources

How are you going to create the presentations, workbooks, activity resources, tapescripts, audios, videos? Will they be best practice for adult learning?

Stage 4: Review your Content

Are you improving your content every time it’s delivered? Do you have content that needs a complete overhaul?

Learning Product Development Plan

$2495 AUD

Content Development

POA

Curriculum: theory, outcomes, demonstrations
Assessment: activities, tasks, quizzes
Content: slide decks, scripts, workbooks
Delivery: presentation skills, user experience
Feedback: evaluation, review mechanisms
Daily email support as required

Project Management

POA

Not sure what you need?

All good. Some times you just need a few hours of strategic planning, sometimes you need a short term consultant to manage a project. I hear you. Book your Complimentary 15 minute Strategy Session so I can help you move forward with your content and delivery plans. Every client is different, every solution is different.

Impeccable approach ... an exceptionally high standard of work

Maria is effervescent, passionate and energetic with the resilience to focus tirelessly until the job is done. She is a compassionate person who considers issues and challenges from a holistic perspective ensuring outcomes and decisions are inclusive of all stakeholders. Maria’s impeccable approach and keen attention to detail culminates in an exceptionally high standard of work in terms of presentation and output.

SONIA FERNS MANAGER COURSE REVIEW, CURTIN UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIA

I worked with Tony and his team to bring some pizazz to a week long professional development and strategy conference for the managers of Cash Converters, a national company.

I would highly recommend... an absolute pleasure to work with

What a Sensational Session!!!

Maria presented an empowering session on “Presentations that Engage, Inspire and Motivate” to both my HR team and National Operational leaders. The value was unanimous and all participants, including myself, were impressed with the delivery, structure and excitement created by Maria. All participants regularly develop and deliver presentations on a day-to-day basis and at the end of this session, all participants were able to identify a number of opportunities to improve and enhance the quality of training and presentations being delivered within the business.

So if you need to re-energise and empower your HR team or Business leaders to become better presenters, even if they have been doing it for years, then I would highly recommend Maria and this workshop.

Thank you Maria for being so effective in your delivery and an absolute pleasure to work with – I will certainly look forward to booking you again.

TONY BOUTOUBIA NATIONAL HR MANAGER, CASH COVERTERS

In short, learning and education lights me up - and I want your learning resources to light your clients up too.

Founder and Director
SELECT Consultants Pty Ltd trading as Create Real Change™
ABN: 46 161 932 305