This post is one in a series that answers questions from viewers of the January 28 KnowledgeVision Google Hangout where we talked about the challenges of working with SMEs.

Question from Sarah:

Do you have a set of questions you use for most information-gathering sessions?

Yes. I have standard set of opening and closing questions leftover from my reporter days, and they are good ones when you are gathering info for a training program too.

For the standard first question, check their name, spelling, title, division, business unit, contact info just to make sure those things are correct. It seems like a simple thing, but it is good to have it. If you are an internal to the organization, you will probably have those things at your fingertips, but if you are an outside training organization, you want to double check your information with your client. More than once, a person’s job title changed from the time a training project started and to the time it was completed.

For the standard last question,  ask them what you didn’t ask them. For example, say, “Is there anything else you can think of that I didn’t ask you that is important for the learner to know? What would you like the learner to know that we haven’t covered?” This is a good question because you may find out that their mind goes somewhere else completely on the matter, and you can pick up some good information with that last question. Assume you don’t know what you don’t know.

As for the messy middle, if I don’t know the topic or the person, I will ask for materials to study before I meet with them. Ask for  journal articles, checklists, slide presentations and, any material they may have in their files to give you some grounding in the topic. And then, I develop a set of questions out of those materials.

Preparation can make the interview process go more quickly and smoothly than if you enter an informational session with your subject matter expert without doing your homework first.