Belen Bilgic Schneider | Services

See how I put it to work:

• Strategic Communications Specialist
  Good ideas become Ah-HAH Revelations when presented well. With my help, you will share information in a more effective, concise, now-I-get-it way.
• Change Management & Coaching
  Inspire your people to embrace change and embark on a path to constant self-improvement. C’mon — I’ll show you the way!
• Courseware Design & Training Materials
  Courseware production, Art Direction & creative team management, off-shoring strategy and implementation…and more!
• Design, Development, & Marketing, Oh My!
  With over 17 years in the field, I can provide comprehensive marketing services or hone in on your specific need.

You need to communicate something critical for your organization or department. The focus, organization, and visual execution of that communication is paramount to your success. And yet, how many bad PowerPoint decks have you been subjected to in “critical” presentations? How many long, tedious documents have you slogged through, hoping to grab a key piece of information quickly?

Presenting information in easily scannable, visually engaging ways enhances your ability to communicate quickly and effectively. Sometimes that involves the creation of info graphics to demonstrate a complex concept, but just as often, it’s about a good layout, consistent use of visual cues, and carefully considering how to distill your information to fit your target audience.

My background is perfectly tailored to meet these challenges. With roots in visual design, advanced expertise in Microsoft Office products, an affinity for information architecture and analysis, and an in-the-trenches understanding of the challenges that face managers and leaders as they communicate big ideas in tangible ways, I can offer help at almost any level – strategic, analytical, template & process development, as well as full production.

You’ve seen it over and over in the workplace: change is one of the most unnerving, dreaded, and resisted requests made of an employee, department, or organization. Even if you aren’t facing a major organizational change, it’s challenging to motivate yourself or others to embrace change as part of our evolution…and yet, employees who recognize the impact it will have, identify and build the skills they need to respond to it, and embark on a path of self-awareness, openness, and constant improvement will be more satisfied with their jobs and experience faster career growth.

As a manager, how do you encourage your people to follow that path? It’s a delicate balance of knowing and sharing the objectives they must meet, while empowering them to gain skills and mindsets to achieve those goals in a way that plays to their strengths. To do it effectively, it’s a constant learning curve for both you and the employee because the path looks a little different for each person.

Of all the work I’ve done, I am most proud of my time transforming a creative team through a fundamental organizational change, ultimately resulting in a team brimming with high-performing, satisfied, effective individuals. The work I did with them became my passion, and was something I shared with other managers as they approached our mutual challenge. Today, I apply those same approaches to change management consulting, team communication enhancement, and overall communication and people-management coaching for managers at all levels.

The Learning & Development industry is a highly rewarding sector for creative professionals. Each day, we are given real-world obstacles to break down and de-mystify for busy people trying to do their job well. Visual and interactive aspects of those solutions can have a huge impact in how well a course or tool is received by it’s audience, and designing materials that meet learning objectives, while considering the end user’s daily plight, product usability, and learner engagement is a worthy challenge.

I’ve been fortunate to ride in many seats in the training industry: I created and taught software classes; provided graphic design for courseware and training materials; managed production resources and off-shore vendors in large courseware initiatives; hired, trained and managed creative professionals who built training materials; and created and implemented processes for creating an efficient, effective, cross-functional production environment. In addition, my own experience managing the professional development of my team and creating blended learning curricula to close our gaps provided me with sobering ground-level experience on both a strategic and tactical level.

Do you want a website and you already have everything planned out? OK – let’s build a website. Do you need help figuring out what technology best fits your needs? OK – let’s evaluate your situation. Do you need a hand putting together a holistic corporate image – new logo, print collateral, website and all? OK – let’s see where you are starting from and what best captures the essence of your company.

For more than 17 years, I’ve been working with clients to evaluate and create effective marketing and design solutions. In that time, I’ve dabbled in a bit of everything, and my clients have reaped the benefits of my jack-of-all-trades knowledge and skills. I pride myself on my talent for listening carefully, thinking critically, and presenting end results that exceed my client’s expectations – whether it is a website, print piece, brand identity, or copywriting that captures the essence of their message.

Learning Map Architecture & Designin progress

Employees at a Fortune 500 company are overwhelmed with the disjointed array of 600+ mandatory and optional learning opportunities, and the company is seeking to create a streamlined, consolidated view of available learning by role and competency.

The goal is to architect and visualize a proof of concept, offering a snapshot of how this monumental task could be accomplished. Presenting this well is a critical goal for our executive, ultimately resulting in gaining senior stakeholder support for the initiative…and fundamentally changing every employee’s learning and development experience.

Supporting the department’s employees and consultants, I am:

• reviewing course, role & competency data and analyzing information architecture solutions
• gathering information on stakeholder goals and end-user needs
• creating visual models for user flow and information display, utilizing PowerPoint for presentation capability
• gathering and documenting limitations and specs for data output
• communicating potential build needs with client’s development team

Branding Packagein progress

A nutrition consultant is beginning her journey through building her business.

I am:

• consulting on business names and tag lines
• creating a logo and other branding materials
• consulting on marketing methods and self-promotion venues

Production Analysis & Direction, Project Management, Art Directionrecently completed

A small development company is strained under the e-learning production demands of a large non-profit organization. The timelines are tight, the course specs are highly interactive, and the team is driven to keep the quality high.

For the development company, I am:

• analyzing and implementing streamlined processes to maximize efficiency and minimize churn
• acting as the Point of Contact with the end client, ensuring communication and information flow is pro-active and risk-minded
• managing project tasks and administration, as well as evaluating, architecting production flow, and signing off on client project plans
• empowering the team to prepare as much as possible for production, lessening the burden of tight timelines
• bridging communication between the Instructional Designer and the development team, translating “ID-speak” into “Dev-speak”, and ensuring the development team is employing e-learning best practices
• providing Art Direction for creative resources
• wireframing and creating specs for complex interactive activities, ensuring good usability and clarity for the dev team

In addition, the end-client’s production demands were high for all parties involved. In an effort to find viable ways to meet production goals, I am also:

• outlining production standards that should be applied to all projects
• leading the coordination of a multi-development-vendor production solution
• defining a Production Director role that acts as a hub for multi-vendor teams, ensuring consistency, teamwork and streamlined development protocols