+61 422 722 539

Lake Cathie, NSW

Joel Smith

training, communications & media

story

experience

software

skills

references

A Life and Career in Communications

accidental rodeo clown

My career started before I even knew it when I fell into becoming a rodeo clown at age three.

I won a costume contest when my mum dressed me up as our local rodeo’s star clown, Wilbur Plaugher.

It turned out I had a natural comfort in front of crowds and was able to take direction, so Wilbur put me in his show. I have been the last clown out of the clown car!

Soon I outgrew the rodeo and went on to acting. For a few years I had a running gig as the mascot for our local newspaper, The Morning Sun, appearing in tv adverts, print ads and event appearances.

Over the years I worked regularly with one director who treated me like more than an actor. He brought me to the other side of the camera, explained the process behind what we were doing, teaching me cinematic communication at age five.

My acting jobs eventually, uhh…jumped the shark, and I left it behind. But video was in my blood.

actor in the newsroom

I returned to my roots at university. The defiant teenager in me lead a path to the journalism department at Colorado State University, where I thought I’d learn to fight for truth and justice.

But after studying print and radio journalism I found a home in the video department, where I realised I already knew what I loved to do – make movies!

So while my classmates worked to become reporters I turned in documentaries and short films instead, and got flying marks doing so.

My thesis documentary was even featured at the local museum for years after.

Flood of ‘97 , my thesis documentary played in the local museum for years later.

novice in the deep end

Cover of Rocky Mountain Bullhorn newspaper, showing three people, one with a video camera, another pointing into the distance and the third looking up at the other two

The rules (and tools) of media production changed entirely while I was at uni. And by the time I graduated, a 22-year-old kid, armed with blissful ignorance and a few thousand bucks from his grandma could start his own production company.
So that’s what I did.

Sagacity Productions was born, and I flailed my way through being an entrepreneur before I had the good sense to know what I didn’t know.

Being in over your head is great…as long as you never look down.

all the lovely hats

It eventually occurred to me that I could probably learn more about…everything, from someone else. So I looked for my first big boy job, and found it back in my hometown.

I joined the Office of Public Communications for the City of Colorado Springs, and was handed a video department to run – including an entire TV channel!. This time though, I had a mentor.

Over seven years, beyond learning to be a broadcast engineer, live event producer, podcasting & streaming pioneer, and all the other roles, my mentor instilled in me two more things: how to lead a collaborative team, and a deep conviction for community service.

I was really proud of who I’d become and the work we’d done.
But then I went to Europe and fell in love with an Aussie…

Long-form documentary about the effects of methamphetamine (ice) on the community gained national reach.

I wrote, directed, shot and edited this.

at home in the chocolate factory

I decided to gamble everything for love and move to Australia.
But what would I do for work?

A friend I’d met while making a do cumentary for Colorado Springs was an executive at Apple, and she invited me to peek inside the ‘chocolate factory’ that is my favourite company.
But what could I do for Apple?

They flew me to California, and after running their gauntlet, informed me that I had what it took to be an instructional designer, aka: trainer.
Boy, were they right!

Landing in Australia, with a new fiancé in one hand and a new career in the other, I went back to school, learning all things facilitation, presentation, instructional design and Apple. And then went to work, teaching customers how to use their tech and the team how to sell it.

The values and excellence of Apple fit me like a glove. But their remuneration is right down the middle. And we wanted to keep my wife home with our kids while they were young. So I went looking for a new challenge.

a technology-communication-instructional-design smoothie!

Two overlapping book covers for Melanoma Principles & Practices and Melanoma Essentials by Melanoma Institute Australia

The Associate Director of Melanoma Institute Australia had a vision to create a first-of-its-kind melanoma treatment guide for GPs on the iPad. But he needed someone who could write, video, animate, design, produce and collaborate his vision into Apple technology.
Turns out I could do all that, and did.

Over three years I worked closely with the entire MIA organisation, including Australian’s of the Year, Dr. Georgina Long and Professor Richard Scolyer, to produce what became two, massive, deeply interactive digital books, Melanoma Principles & Practices for specialists, and Melanoma Essentials for GPs.

Along the way I also built the institute a new website, intranet and app.

a startup, for real this time

Two friends decided to start a training reinforcement platform. But they needed someone who had deep multi-media instructional design skills, who could lead a team and who could also lend them a bit of Apple innovation secret sauce.
Turns out I could do all that, and did.

At Yarno I was employee no. 2. And over the course of years we forged a profitable business out of nothing.

My job was to help lead a team to create the content that would package training courses into short, daily learning quizzes, and deliver customers data insights into what their teams did and did not know.

And being a small team, we all helped with marketing.

It was a rewarding ride. But Emily and I wanted our boys to grow up near family. So I let it go, built a house and moved the family north.

independent learning professional

As our home construction commenced, I thought about my next moves.

While Yarno was a great experience, I’d maintained a deep interest in the next level of instructional; quiz-based knowledge reinforcement certainly has its place, but my mind and passions turned towards deep, root-cause analysis behaviour-change instructional design. So I set up a consultancy to pursue that curiosity.

Over the coming years, I hand-picked projects and clients, selecting those that were focused on wholistic, science-based training, while avoiding reactionary death-by-PowerPoint projects.

I continue to maintain that consultancy, that touches all aspects of my skills, under the name idStudios.

failing is it’s own reward?

Contemporary portrait of Joel Smith. Smiling at the camera, he wears glasses and a blue oxford shirt.

Soon after settling in the mid-north coast of New South Wales, I was approached by a friend from my hometown for a startup project that would pull together several of my talents: technology training, communications, and leadership.

It sounded too interesting to pass up, so for the next 2+ years, we worked to build OnRamp Academy, a technology tutoring service for seniors.

I wrote the business plan, defined the learning model and training program, designed the brand, built the information systems, recruited the launch team, collaborated on a marketing plan, and courted investors. In the end, though, our runway wasn’t long enough, and we had to abort.

I certainly learned a lot from the journey. And they say you’ll always regret the shots you never take. Well, I certainly look forward to arriving at that sentiment.

For now, I continue with my idStudios work, tackling innovative instructional design projects while remaining vigilant for the next opportunity to grow my talents.

Experience

Same as appears on resume

My idStudios projects have focused on an array of instructional design projects, ranging from the development of a sales methodology with a sales guru client to coach driver onboarding and safety & compliance training.
My most interesting projects as idStudios have come in aviation, where I became enthusiastic about the power of force function checklists as means of dramatically reducing human error.
I’ve enjoyed having my own consultancy both in that I can be selective in who I work with, and I am able to personally attend to every aspect of the project from end-to-end, tapping into all my project management abilities, from communications and service delivery to writing, design, and media production.
For each client, I follow a meticulous process:
1. Deep discovery needs analysis.
2. Behavioural blockage root cause analysis
3. Measurable, behaviour-based outcome metric development
4. Change Management and Program Rollout planning
5. Build scaffold of understanding to keep learners in zone of proximal development
6. Construct and deliver discovery-based primary learning experiences
7. Design and deploy mobile, spaced repetition learning reinforcement
8. Post-program reporting and outcome metric analysis
Key Competencies:
- Instructional Design
- Project Management
- Campaign Strategy and Design
- Written Communication
- Visual Communication
- Customer Service
- Report Writing and Design
Inspired by my experience at Apple, a friend and I founded a startup focused on providing seniors a better way to learn technology skills through one-on-one personalised tutoring via video screen sharing over the internet.
We adopted a research-based methodology to investigate the need and planned to use those same methods to demonstrate efficacy and drive growth.
Over the course of about two years I used:
- data analysis to identify research trends and inform the business model,
- instructional design to define the learning model and training program for tutors,
- my leadership ability to recruit and motivate a founding team,
- technology and design skills to build the information architecture,
- visual and written communication skills to outline and populate a marketing plan, and
- presentation design and delivery skills to promote the business and seek out interest.
In the end, while our conviction for the potential of the idea never wavered, we simply ran out of runway before we could find funding.
Key Competencies:
- Leadership
- Communication
- Strategic Planning
- Collaboration
- Networking
- Recruitment
- Perseverance
I joined Yarno on the ground floor as employee number 2. We had an idea for a quiz-based training reinforcement platform, but it didn’t yet exist. So before we could sell it we had to build it. Through an incredible multidisciplinary, collaborative effort of computer science, UX and instructional design we built something out of nothing.
Once we’d landed some customers, my job was to lead service delivery. My team engaged clients directly, first diving deep to learn their needs and training goals, and then creating content in Yarno to reinforce their training.
After content creation the job turned to data analysis to deliver clients insights into what their team did and did not understand, and iterate the content accordingly.
Key Competencies:
- Leadership
- Communication
- Facilitation
- Presentation
- Collaboration
- Project Management
- Strategic Thinking
- Data Analysis
Joining MIA was the chance to put together most my skills to date – communication, technology, instructional design and collaboration – on three major projects.
- Melanoma Treatment Guide eBooks | Project Lead, Editor
  Working directly with the Associate Director to realise his vision of a ground-breaking, multimedia melanoma treatment guide on the iPad, I coordinated contribution from over 15 authors, while designing all layout and interactive elements personally. I also wrote the communication and marketing plan. In the end we produced two volumes, one for specialists and another for GPs.
- MIA Website Redesign | Project Lead
  I lead a comprehensive deconstruction and reconstruction of the institute website. First I communicated the need for change to gain buy-in from all levels of the organisation. Then worked directly with stakeholders, developers and contributors to define a user experience and create a modern web presence. The result: engagement increased three-fold and online donations rose over 100% year-on-year.
- Intranet Development and Deployment | Project Lead
  I built a collaborative intranet from scratch and tailored internal engagement strategies for diverse audiences ranging from the Board and CEO through to receptionists.
Key Competencies:
- Collaboration
- Strategic Planning
- Interpersonal Agility
- Organisational Agility
- Graphic Design
- Webdesign
- Information Architecture Design
- Technology Learning
I arrived in Sydney with nothing but my Australian fiancé and an opportunity to peek inside the ‘Chocolate Factory’ of my favourite company. I had no idea what job I’d do, but they weren’t bothered, because Apple could see what I could not – I was a born leader and teacher. And they showed me how.
In my time two roles were key to my development:
- Lead Creative | Team Leader, Strategist, Facilitator, Project Manager
  Arriving at Apple was like coming home: it fit my values and sensibilities like a glove, and it didn’t take me long to thrive. The opportunity to help open a second store with my own team of trainers arrived within a couple years. And it was here that my potential bloomed. The store leader brought me along for an adventure like no other that saw me riding shotgun for the full leadership experience. For a solid year we captured Apple’s credo in a bottle. Hands-down the best year of my career…
- Core Trainer | Planner, Coordinator and Facilitator
  I was privileged to be deeply involved in the planning and delivery of Apple’s onboarding training for the Sydney Market. Being trusted with guarding The Experience for new recruits was like being trusted to guard the secret gem that is Apple’s culture. And I took to it passionately, ensuring that every moment and detail was looked after. What I learnt running those trainings echoes with me in every with facilitation I run and presentation I give.
Key Competencies:
- Leadership
- Technical Learning
- Instructional Design
- Dealing With Ambiguity
- Motivating Others
- Developing Direct Reports
- Presentational Skills
Colorado Springs is a medium-sized city, and my hometown. After uni I returned home for an incredible opportunity to lead and manage their video communication division and cable television channel from infancy to an award-winning level during the digital video revolution and first emergence of valid online engagement tools. I oversaw all aspects creative, technical, operational and interpersonal.
- Created Sustainable Production Team | Manager and Executive Producer
  Video was a side project for the city when I arrived. Doing all the things myself, I demonstrated the benefit of a larger video communication division to City Council and the Communications Manager. With their green light, I recruited and trained a team to fulfil all demands of the city’s video communication needs from writing and preproduction through to broadcast and on-demand distribution.
- Launched City’s On-Demand Video Offering | Project Lead
  In the early 00’s streaming video was bleeding edge. YouTube did not exist, and few organisations, let alone municipalities were offering much. Recognising the potential to reach a much larger audience and serve a public good, I collaborated with the IT department to offer on-demand original programming and Council meetings – including the ability to jump specific agenda items – both on the city website and through the mysterious new medium of podcasting.
- Produced ‘Meth: A Social Plague’ Community Engagement Initiative
  The community was grappling with a severe methamphetamine (ice) crisis. We felt we needed to do something to start a dialogue. I wrote, directed, shot and edited a powerful documentary about the effects of meth on the community. Together, we persuaded the local TV affiliates to broadcast it on the same night at the same time. This had never happened before in this market outside a presidential address. We also lead community conversations and distributed thousands of DVD’s to communities across the country.
Key Competencies:
- Leadership
- Project Management
- Strategic Planning
- Developing Direct Reports
- Organisational Agility
- Technical Learning
- Interdepartmental Collaboration