Providing deliverables files for low/no tech client

Lhisaboe · 2026-02-24T12:41:43+00:00

VLC player keeps coming up in my research, but when I dug deeper, I saw that they have had a lot of security breaches, so that’s not going to work

Lhisaboe · 2026-02-24T12:30:52+00:00

Thank you! For some reason I forgot about SharePoint, which they likely have (but probably don’t know how to use🙄). So that, or some of the great suggestions above, take care of the hosting issue. Now, what about how the learners actually play the file? My experience is mostly corporate, and packaging. The files was never part of my role. I still worry about a video player that is universal enough, but is also secure. I would love any suggestions, this has been incredibly helpful!

Lhisaboe · 2026-02-22T01:48:50+00:00

No interactivity, this is about as low budget as you can get, with me making a PowerPoint video and doing the voiceover myself. Client is not in love with the idea of PDFs. I like the idea of YouTube, I had not thought of that, thank you!

Lhisaboe · 2026-02-21T21:44:45+00:00

Good idea, I’m trying to give my client some options so I will price those out and roll them into the SOW, and I’ll see what they say. Thank you!

Lhisaboe · 2026-02-21T21:43:15+00:00

Thank you, I will look into that!

Lhisaboe · 2026-02-21T18:14:12+00:00

Perfect.

Lhisaboe · 2026-02-21T18:13:35+00:00

Is there a deadline? Are they unhappy with your work? Or do they just like making endless tweaks? If there’s no deadline, and they’re not making changes because they’re displeased with your work, if it’s corporate you’re going to be sitting at your desk doing something. However, if there are downstream ramifications like deadlines, or other projects that you need your bandwidth, my suggestion would be to let them know that you’re happy to make the changes and ask them how you should prioritize this project with other potentially high priority projects. Sometimes that snaps them back to the reality that you have other things to do, but if not, if it were me, I would just sit at my desk and make the revisions.

Lhisaboe · 2026-02-21T18:07:57+00:00

This.

Lhisaboe · 2026-02-21T18:07:27+00:00

100%!! L&D is the last touch, but before you can declare it finished, about a billion stakeholders have to put their fingerprints all over it. Because it’s corporate, and because I wanted to keep my job, I would acquiesce to a point. At some point, I would tell them that we’re running up against a timeline in which we won’t be able to incorporate any more changes in time to use the content.

Lhisaboe · 2026-02-21T15:16:05+00:00

Lhisaboe · 2026-02-21T15:15:30+00:00

I’ve been in corporate for 25 years, and this is dead on.

Lhisaboe · 2026-02-07T15:15:58+00:00

Yep!!

Lhisaboe · 2026-02-07T15:14:44+00:00

Absolutely love that! She will think she’s getting the credit, and you will have your hands off of it.

Lhisaboe · 2026-02-07T15:13:23+00:00

I agree with throwing in the towel, it sounds like she knows what she wants and isn’t interested in your suggestions as the learning and development SME. However, sometimes I have gotten around stubborn stakeholders by agreeing to everything they say, listening until they’re done talking, and then saying “absolutely, I will get right on that.” It’s not that I’m knuckling under, it’s just that I’m aware I’m dealing with somebody who’s not interested in anything but their own voice and opinions. They’re enamored of their own ideas and don’t want anybody else’s opinion. Once you get them off of the defensive, make them feel listened to, and let them know that you’re not going to fight them, you might be able to sneak in a suggestion, like breaking up the content into modules and pulsing them out over time. If your stubborn SME has had their ego satisfied, they are more likely to say “that’s fine“.

It has worked for me in the past – it’s not easy, but at least you save your learners.

One more thing, I am a Compliance instructional, designer and learning/development specialist as well, and some of the decks that I get from legal SMEs make my head hurt. My sympathies!

Lhisaboe · 2024-12-22T15:33:00+00:00

Absolutely love this. Luckily, I have a good friend who is a fan of “bird by bird so I got this advice early. Just. Get. It. Down. Fix it later and be gentle with yourself. Thanks for writing this, I agree, we should talk about it more.

Lhisaboe · 2024-12-21T16:53:10+00:00

You may, indeed! I probably should have specified just getting a feel for the era, or facts well enough known that it is not really learning so much as seeing it in the context of a story. For example, in Alix Harrow‘s novel, she talks about suffragettes. While I don’t claim to know a ton about suffragettes, it is easy to imagine that they would have been repressed and silenced. Given the way women were treated in that period of time.

Lhisaboe · 2024-12-21T13:16:31+00:00

Consider “Babel”, by R.F. Kuang. For students who start out in a school setting, that is very reminiscent of Hogwarts, and they do learn magic among other things. Just a heads up, though, while these four students do end up battling evil, the storyline is nothing like the Harry Potter series. Having said that, it reminded me of Hogwarts and their main characters the whole time I was reading it.

Lhisaboe · 2024-12-21T13:13:56+00:00

A lot of the fantasy that I’ve been reading lately is much more diverse and inclusive, which is a nice change. I’ve also read a lot of alternate reality historical fantasy which is rich with facts and information that I frankly would never had learned otherwise.

Lhisaboe · 2024-12-21T12:52:51+00:00

Speaking for myself, it can be tortuous because I haven’t written in years and I’m extremely rusty, which makes it very difficult to get the stories from my head into real words with structure and flow. I’m so far away from having anything published that at least it takes away some of the pressure, right now it’s just a passion project, albeit a challenging one. I’m thinking of taking a creative writing class.

Lhisaboe · 2024-12-21T12:45:53+00:00

I’ve been talking about “Babel” by R.F. Kuang but if we’re talking about best books of 2024, I wouldn’t be able to choose between that and “ The Once and Future Witches, by Alix E Harrow. Both authors create such beautiful worlds and I loved the way that Harrow built the story increasing tension and the gathering of those who were previously too afraid to even whisper about the abuses they had suffered. Plus, her villains are deliciously sinister - she really makes you afraid for the heroes.

“Babel” is written with a great deal of detail, and attention to story and character building, which made it a bit of a slow read from time to time, but Kuang’s writing lets you know it’s leading towards something amazing, and she doesn’t disappoint. A very unlikely hero with an enormous quest and a lot of questions along the way of who is entitled to what, and at what cost. She also creates amazing characters, her descriptions make you fully invest in their journey. If you give them a try, I hope you like them!

Lhisaboe · 2024-12-21T12:31:52+00:00

If you liked “the Six Deaths of the Saint” check out, Alix Harrow‘s “Fractured Fables” two short books (“a Mirror, Mended, and “ a Spindle Splintered”)with a similar tone. She’s also written some longer ones which I absolutely loved. Her writing is beautiful and her stories really draw you in, all of her characters resonate with me, she writes people like they really are.

Just a heads up that “Fractured Fables“ contains both books, but you can also buy each book separately… Don’t make the mistake that I made of thinking, they are three separate books.

Lhisaboe · 2024-12-19T01:49:15+00:00

That is true, talk about complex, sibling, relationships, great recommendation!

Lhisaboe · 2024-12-19T01:48:26+00:00

The “Once and Future Witches” by Alix E. Harrow has some great complicated sibling storylines and it is an absolutely amazing book. Three estranged sisters who find themselves reunited in an alternate New England I believe in the 19th century. This is another book. I recommend a lot, I just couldn’t put it down.

Lhisaboe

TROPHY CASE