Preparing for the Expert Studios

<aside> 🗺️ Why are there Expert Studios in this Bootcamp?

Real-world problems are messy. They involve people, technologies and the environment, all connected together with complex relationships. No one person can ever have all the knowledge and expertise to effectively and efficiently identify and understand those complex relationships.

If you want to get good at tackling complex real-world problems, one skillset you will need to develop is your ability to identify and effectively engage “experts” who can help you from across a wide range of disciplines and sectors.

The Expert Studios in this bootcamp are designed to help you develop this skillset in a structured and support environment.

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<aside> 🗺️ How do the Expert Studios work?

We have curated and assembled for you a diverse group of talented professionals from across a wide range of disciplines and sectors – and from around the world. A subset of these experts will meet with your Team during the Expert Studio to provide mentorships and support for your team with where you are at in your project.

<aside> 💡 During each Expert Studio your team will have a series of three (3) meetings – each twenty minutes long – with a specific expert or pair of experts.

Below is advice on how to make the best use of those twenty minutes; along with an explanation of why we make the meetings twenty minutes.

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<aside> 🗺️ Making the most out of 20 minutes

<aside> 🤔 You and your team are responsible for making the most of the meetings with the experts! This means coming 💯 prepared → and then being effective, efficient and adaptable with time and discussion topics during the meeting.

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<aside> ‼️ Be sure to start and finish your meeting on time.

When an expert gives their valuable time to support you, be sure to show that you respect the person’s time.

This means being 💯 on time and prepared for each meeting – and finishing the meeting politely and promptly when the time is up!

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Preparing ahead of the meeting

To get the most out of any short meeting with an expert, it is important to start with effective preparation. The following is our recommended approach.

Prepare a few focused questions for each expert
- Prepare your two or three most important questions in advance, making sure they are as clear and focused as possible → and know who is going ask them!
- Review the expert profiles to know the questions each expert is likely to be able to help you with the most.
Be ready to QUICKLY introduce the whole team, and problem statement (including relevant stakeholders and design criteria)
- You do not want to spend a lot of time introducing yourself and your problem.
- The value of the meeting comes from the experts speaking, not you → but you are responsible for giving the expert the information they need to know to share their expertise and experience with you!
<aside> ⏰ Recommended timing for the start of each meeting

We recommend you come prepared to:
1. introduce the whole team in less than 60 seconds; then
2. introduce your problem statement in less than 120 seconds; then
3. ask one or two focused questions you’ve prepared for that specific expert (or pair of experts) in less than 60 seconds.
This means you have given the experts all the basic information they need in less than three minutes, and you can get into the valuable part of the meeting – which is the expert sharing their thoughts and experience!

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Ensure you have defined roles for everyone on the team
- Who will kick-off the introductions?
- Who will ask the first question?
- When the discussion gets going, who is going to lead which parts?
- Who is going to be taking notes?
<aside> 🤔 Consider rotating roles across your meetings

This both allows you to divide up the preparation work most effectively, and ensures everyone gets a chance to develop their skills.

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Have a discussion – don’t treat it as just a Q&A process

You are far more likely to get valuable information from a dynamic conversation than from just asking a series of pre-prepared questions. In that regard, a good quote to remember is:

“Planning is essential; plans are irrelevant”

– US President Dwight D. Eisenhower

What that means: all the preparation you have done (i.e. your “planning”) means you should know in advance what you hope to get out of each meeting with the experts; but once the discussion gets going, you don’t want to be too rigid in with follow-up questions you ask (i.e. your “plan”). The expert(s) may lead you down entirely different questions or avenues of discussion – and you should be flexible enough to see if/how they can be valuable for you.

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<aside> 🤔 Why are the meetings twenty minutes?

In the real-world knowledge professionals – i.e. the type of “experts” in any discipline or sector you want to speak with – are almost always busy people. That means they likely have limited time, and receive lots of emails. From that perspective, you can see why sending a knowledge professional a long email asking a whole lot of questions… is not likely to get the response or answers you’re hoping for!

That said, even the busiest professionals are normally flattered to be asked for their expert opinion and advice – and most will be happy to help if they can… and if it doesn’t take too long!

When the ask is short and professional – say, for just 20 minutes of their time for a focused conversation – the changes of a positive response go up significantly!
There is never any guarantee, of course; but developing the skill of making the most out of focused 20 minute meetings is great way to maximise the opportunity when someone does say yes. </aside>