Community Showcase: Bridget Manley

Luis Malbas  
Thanks for listening to the training, learning and development community podcast. My name is Luis Malbas. And this podcast focuses on exploring topics and people of interest in the learning and development space, and hopefully provide you with inspiration, focus and a sense of community in your career. Bridget Manley was our latest member showcase guest and was an interesting one at that. With a background in teaching and journalism. She found instructional design and hasn't looked back. Now a business owner with her husband, they're both producing lnd services and products for ascendant design and training. It was really interesting to hear how Bridgette evolved to this point. She basically decided she was unemployable and had to go the freelance route. And now she's a busy business owner making her own schedule. Give this one a listen, I think you'll enjoy it. And if you find value in our content, please consider supporting us with a membership. Go to that TL DC comm slash join, sign up and get access to hundreds of our recorded videos, free entry to all of our live virtual conferences and events and more. Your support helps us continue to build community and share valuable resources for l&d professionals around the world. Thanks for listening. Hello, everybody. Welcome to the training, learning and development community. Happy Wednesday to you out there. Yeah, we have nice. This is sort of a later broadcast that we're doing today. I know it's like 3pm here on the on the West Coast. I'm sure it's later for you folks out there. Let's see who's in Oh, Quetzal is here and Lisa Crockett Kristin Beale, Atlanta. Chris. Great to have you here. Today we are talking with Bridget manly, who is an instructional designer has her own company. I think it was was it with your husband to send a training and design, design and training. Designing training. Sorry. And, and yeah, I've got a group of questions as Bridget, we're gonna just talk about her background. And LMD looks like she's already had some really interesting experiences. I think that that's kind of the case with everybody that comes on to this broadcast. I mean, last one we had was former NASA instructional designer, just all kinds of different things. So yeah, if any of you have questions that you want to add into the Ask a Question area, just go to the bottom of the screen, click in there, just add your questions. It'll also ask you prompt you if you want to add it as a question in the chat area, too. So yes, Lisa, we are rocket scientists. So yeah. All right, Bridget, thanks for doing this today. I'm really looking forward to having the conversation with you. And yeah, we just have a bunch of questions. We'll just start out, get right into it. Where did it all start? Where did your journey into l&d Begin?

Bridget Manley  
That's a good question. Um, I probably I'd say it probably started in earnest. In 2016. I was a freelance writer at that point, doing mostly journalism and writing for trade magazines in the cannabis industry, which was still very new at the time. And the client I was working for, he also did instructional design, and he was doing training for bud tenders. Or those are the people who work in dispensaries and actually, you know, sell you products. And so he said, Hey, I know you're a writer, can you write a storyboard, and I'm like, I don't know what that is. But it sounds like fun. And so I ended up writing, you know, free storyboards for just basic budtender training. So it was all about like customer service, compliance, you know, things like that. And I really enjoyed it, because it helped me actually apply my background, which was like an English, of course, I started as an English major. But I also had an emphasis in secondary education. So I got to use some of my education background in a way that I had never used before. And at that time, I didn't even know an instructional designer was a Java thing. But I was like, I really like this. I would like to keep doing this if I can. So that was my first project. And I gradually started kind of falling more into it as I went along.

Luis Malbas  
So how did that journalism background help you with, with what you're doing now as an instructional designer? Yeah.

Bridget Manley  
When I was a journalist, kind of a big part of my job was just falling headfirst into something I knew nothing about and figuring it out very quickly, and then basically teaching it to somebody else. And as an instructional designer, that's a lot of my daily work to where I'm, you know, falling headfirst into something I don't know, whether it's somebody's workflow, or specific type of software or specific management concepts, figuring it out talking to people who know doing my own research, and then turning that around and teaching other people how to do that thing. So it really gave me a lot of skill talking to subject matter experts. You know, of course, a lot of being a journalist is talking to sources and extracting information from them while also trying to manage their knowledge. So you don't flood the reader or in this case, a learner with a lot of things that may not be relevant to their work. So kind of walking that, you know, kind of walking that line. Yeah, that was a big

Luis Malbas  
thing. And so you started doing curriculum management or what was it? Yeah, curriculum management for clear cannabis incorporated. Now, that particular like, okay, so we haven't had anybody from the cannabis industry on CLDC that I know of anyway, I live in Northern California. So the cannabis industry is like, I mean, I have dispensaries everywhere around me in the small town that I live in here in Northern California. But creating curriculum, what types of things were you having to, you know, to pull together? When you were when you were building that stuff? Yeah,

Bridget Manley  
um, a lot of it was compliance training, since cannabis is probably one of the, you know, one of the more heavily regulated industries in the US right now. So a lot of it was compliance, specifically to state regulations. And because, of course, it's not legal. Federally, every state has its own regulations. So a lot of it was, you know, figuring out what is legal in one state versus another. And the company I worked for, they licensed intellectual property to cannabis infused product manufacturers. So a lot of my work was also creating training around those actual products. In this case, it was mostly like, you know, vape pens and such that were infused with cannabis distillate. So was talking about the product specs, you know, how to use it, you know, questions customers ask a lot of it was, you know, sales training. But some of it was also manufacturing training as well, in terms of the specs to manufacture this product. And that was actually a lot of fun. I, I really enjoyed kind of seeing how the sausage is made, as it were, and seeing all the steps that go into, you know, taking cannabis flour, and, you know, distilling it down to its essence and then putting that into a product. That was a lot of fun.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, like Lisa says, that must have been fascinating it. It does sound interesting to me, too. And, and do you still do any work in that industry? Now,

Bridget Manley  
I do kind of more kind of a step back from that, instead of training on actual products. My main thing right now is helping companies train on software for their clientele are, you know, excuse me, for their employees? So a lot of it is is like Team straining or Salesforce. But kind of more like the internal management of those companies. Yeah,

Luis Malbas  
I see. Interesting. It, just because that seems like it would be a pretty, I don't know, interesting niche to sort of be in? I don't know, I've just never seen anybody else doing instructional design for the cannabis industry. And it's like, I don't know if you're it but

Bridget Manley  
no, I don't see many of me out there. So yeah, I don't know. I mean, just to clarify, actually, my biggest client now is the company I used to work with before. com. And they're a great, you know, you know, great clients to work with. So it's kind of a continuity kind of thing. But But yeah, most of it is just now just software training.

Luis Malbas  
Excellent. So really got into l&d You know, you started out as a journalist, English major, but then, you know, you have that background in education as well. What was it? What was it? What was the thing that you like the most about being in this in this space?

Bridget Manley  
Um, yeah, I think, for me right now, and of course, it kind of changes I think, the more you get into it, but um, right now, I like building stuff I like I like making, you know, say like elearning modules, or videos or job aids, and just being alone in my little room and just kind of listen to my music and just being in the zone and building something. That's been one of my favorite parts. But I also like actually going out and talking to learners as well. One of the things I, you know, I did before as a curriculum manager was, I would actually, you know, go and interview some of the users who would be using, you know, the, you know, basically the training that we will be giving them, one of the biggest trainings we did was on a software compliance platform, and talking to them about how this software integrates with their daily life, and what are some of the tips and tricks or things you look out for, and just seeing the workflow and seeing how people do their work and kind of being in that environment? Of course, cannabis is something I'm really not familiar with. I mean, it's not legal in my state, I was never really in that subculture. But it was fascinating to go and talk to people who do this for a living and just see how, you know, I mean, sale the culture is different and see how they talk and think differently. It was really a lot of fun.

Luis Malbas  
That's great. And then also you've kind of got the the headphone gamer headset going. So you've obviously got some Mojo there. So are you is like elearning your favorite thing or like sort of, are you more inclined to do the development stuff or what is it that you really like to do?

Bridget Manley  
Oh, Um, at this point is probably elearning. Yeah, more like the development actually kind of, you know, like, you know, getting in the back end and solving problems, the thing that drives other people crazy like in storyline or Captivate I mean, they still drive me crazy, but I love it. It's weird. My dad used to be a mechanic and he will, you know, I mean kind of on his own time. And he would always complain about what wasn't working, but he kept doing it. So you could tell that he loved it. And it's kind of the same thing with me. Like sometimes it drives me nuts, but I I really enjoy it.

Luis Malbas  
And your developer platform of choice.

Bridget Manley  
Um, I would have to say right now it would be Articulate Storyline. I think that's the best one I've used so far. Yeah. What other ones I've used. I've used Captivate captivates kind of a different animal. Takes a little bit of extra time and patience. But you can get the same thing done, you know?

Luis Malbas  
Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Very nice. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Vanessa is in here, saying storyline be driving me crazy lately. I hear that a lot from people. Yeah. Especially lately. I don't know if there was like a new release or something. But for some reason, it feels like storyline has been a little aggravating to a lot of folks out there. So that's sort of interesting to me.

Bridget Manley  
From an A Beta, you know, everything else changing?

Luis Malbas  
Yeah. So anything that you wish you had known when you'd started out your career now that you are like a legit instructional designer? Anything that you'd like, tell yourself whatever it was, how long ago? Five years ago? Yeah,

Bridget Manley  
I think I think the main thing I would tell myself would to, you know, would have been to get involved with a community like this of like minded practitioners. When I started out, I was completely like, you know, you know, lone wolf mentality, I'm on my own, I'm figuring it out, which was fine. But as I'm starting to actually, you know, like, you'll get connected with communities in the industry, I'm realizing how much I've learned and how much that's accelerated my career. Yeah. And I think if I had done that a little earlier, I probably would have moved, you know, quite a bit farther than I did. But yeah, live in LA, right.

Luis Malbas  
No, I totally agree. You know, and just sort of a side thing, one of the things I think that is important about participating in communities that is also takes you away from participating in sort of useless activity, right, like Doom scrolling or doing things that just you as a, you know, as a human individual. So if you're just stayed focus on more of your professional development, your career, like, stay there, you know, just get off of Twitter, I think you'll probably do a lot better. That's great. Yeah. So any kind of projects that you're working on right now that you can tell us about?

Bridget Manley  
Yeah, I'm working on some training for Microsoft Teams. So I'm learning all about teams and the Microsoft infrastructure and kind of how that ties into that. So that's been kind of, I don't know, I guess you call it like an unofficial master's degree in, in Microsoft. But that's been a lot of fun. And with that, I'm doing mostly, you know, basically, like screen share videos and job aids. So it's very, like, you know, like faster development, not necessarily elearning. But I'm learning a lot about, you know, basically like video editing and design. I'm getting into Shotcut and OBS Studio, which are both open source tools that I really am, you know, getting a lot of value out of right now.

Luis Malbas  
What do you say? Shortcut?

Bridget Manley  
Shortcut? Yeah, it's it's basically an open source alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro. It's very simple. But if you are new to video editing, like I am, I think you get a lot of value out of it, just because you don't get overwhelmed with all the things you know, it's just very basic,

Luis Malbas  
right? It's kind of like, I just cannot do premiere. As long as I have Camtasia available to me, I just like, stick with that. Versus premiere, even though I've done a couple projects in Premiere, is just the simplicity of Camtasia is what I I just need to get stuff done. So back to that regularly. That's great. So wait, why are you? Um, why are you working with these projects? Are there? Is there a particular you know, are you working on something using all of these things like teams and shotput and OBS?

Bridget Manley  
Yeah, actually, I'm using Shotcut and OBS OBS to create training for Microsoft Teams. So basically, helping a company you know, train, you know, train their employees on how to use Microsoft Teams, which it sounds simple, but teams is one of those platforms where it's it's open ended, you can do anything, it's a bug and a feature. So a lot of it is you know, you know, training people on how it works in their organization and giving people a clear path for you know, this is the best way to do ABC.

Luis Malbas  
Did you have any familiarity with teams prior?

Bridget Manley  
A little bit, my husband and I use it in our company, but I'm definitely learning a lot more now. That I'm creating training for somebody else.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah. And isn't that great? cuz you're going to be I mean, that's like some professional development right there, being able to, to study about the tools and actually implement them into your own systems. I think that's one of the big benefits of working on projects like that. That's great. So how about a project that you're especially proud of that that you might be able to share with us? Yeah,

Bridget Manley  
I would say it was probably like my first real big contract. It was basically sub contracting. And I was, you know, doing storyboards. It was for hospitals that were applying a new strategy for reducing patient harm. It's called the high reliability organizing, and it's a concept. It's basically a whole philosophy of management that comes out of high risk industries, like aviation, and you know, nuclear power plants. And it's all about how you think about your work in your life and how you notice knew or kind of, you know, subtle nuances that might, you know, alert you to larger problems down the road. So it was a pretty big project, it was about, I don't know, five or six courses. But I learned a lot about high reliability organizing, which I really find fascinating. And it was my first really big build, I was really proud of what I was able to do specifically in finding ways to have practitioners apply what they learn and reflect on how these principles apply to their daily life.

Luis Malbas  
What was it built on on top of its, can you tell us?

Bridget Manley  
I you know, I'm actually not sure. I was just doing storyboards. So I was very, very far into the design. I didn't do any of the development, but I'm assuming it was something like maybe Captivate or storyline I'm not, not quite sure, but it was definitely a learning

Luis Malbas  
of it. So um, Wow, I love the mug I just saw Big Thank you. Okay, Captain America pop up there. And like, yes.

Bridget Manley  
You are a geek. Yes, very much. So. Yeah.

Luis Malbas  
Um, all right. Cool. So, and your professional development? Is there any particular like, how do you? How do you stay on top of the latest and greatest in the things that you need to know?

Bridget Manley  
Yeah, to be honest, that's one probably like, you know, it's probably one of my, you know, biggest areas of weakness right now. I mean, I get so stuck in just the daily grind, that I need to remind myself to step back and like, see what's going on. I do say, though, that like, you know, communities like this, and like, on Slack really helped me, you know, keep up with what other people are talking about. And, you know, what are some of the new problems people are, you know, like people are solving, I've definitely got a backlog of books I want to read, and webinars I want to go to. So that's probably going to be one of the things as I start, you know, kind of stabilizing as a business owner being able to set aside more time for that kind of development.

Luis Malbas  
Do you ever do the conference thing?

Bridget Manley  
I haven't yet. Well, no, I shouldn't say that. I went to the accessibility conference you guys hosted last year, which was amazing. And I've done a couple other virtual conferences. I haven't actually gone to an in person one yet. So it's on my list.

Luis Malbas  
Yeah, no, they're, they're a lot of fun. And it's where I started from. So it's always it's, it's sort of strange not having it. But you know, at some point, I think we were talking a little bit about that in the, in the green warm room. So how about this one? This is one of my favorite questions, but what is something that you do for work that is really challenging for you? Yeah,

Bridget Manley  
um, I think, for me, right now, it's project management. It's, it's having all the pieces lined out, making sure everyone is informed about what's you know, what's due when what needs reviewed, what's in progress. It's something I am still working on, I'm still developing tools and strategies and mindsets for for managing that. I have a little bit of experience with that, in my journalism background, I was once tasked with editing, you know, basically a big magazine that our newspaper put out every year, and I ate my lunch for the first half of the project. But towards the end, I started developing systems and processes for managing and I'm kind of in that stage now. With, you know, instructional design, like what works for me, and how do I track this? You know,

Luis Malbas  
Wow, that's great. And if there is, like, sort of one thing that you would just, if you could just do all the time, you know, one part of your job that you could do all the time, what would that be?

Bridget Manley  
Um, that's a good question. I think. I think it would be like, you know, building eLearning at this point, really, I just like solving problems. I like getting in there and like, you know, like, you know, basically with the triggers and getting into the back end and seeing how it works and testing it. I just get to you know, again, sit alone in my room and just have my headphones on and listen to my music and I can do that for you know, hours at a time. That's great.

Luis Malbas  
Is there anything like lately that you've been using that? Well, you mentioned shot cut. You know, and then I think most folks in the audience probably know all about OBS. But is there anything recently that you may have been playing around with that you are you know, the You find particularly useful or fun? Um,

Bridget Manley  
let's see, that's a good question. My husband is actually like, and he's a software developer, and he's been developing tools, actually custom tools that I've been using, we're hoping to eventually be able to, you know, put them on the market for other people. But, you know, you know, things with like, you know, caption editing and, you know, making bulk changes to PowerPoint, things like that. So that is one of the advantages of having a software designer, as your business partner is you can say, hey, I have this problem, can you fix it? And he's like, Yes, I can.

Luis Malbas  
Wow. And I was gonna ask about that. What I mean, for, for your company, what specifically does your husband do?

Bridget Manley  
He, his main wheelhouse is software development. So kind of what we're planning is to have like a kind of a, you know, to, you know, two departments services, which is my side, and then products, which is his side. So it's kind of interesting in the fact that the service side is almost like lead for the products development. So I can see if there is an opening, you know, or like a need that's not being filled with current technology, whatever. And then we can strategize in terms of what we might be able to do to fill that gap.

Luis Malbas  
Wow. Yeah, really, really interesting. I'm gonna have to keep an eye on you. Yeah, just don't build an LMS. We've got too many of those out there.

Bridget Manley  
Too many? Yeah, no, I totally agree.

Luis Malbas  
Now, um, you had mentioned you went to AI, DC 21, our accessibility event? Why did you What was it? Why were you interested in going to that particular event?

Bridget Manley  
At the time I was subcontracting with the company that had just started doing accessibility retrofits for some of their clients, and I knew nothing about accessibility were very little, I mean, I knew enough to be proficient, but I was like, I, you know, I need to learn more. And so I saw that, you know, TL DC had something on that. And it was really fascinating to hear perspectives, particularly from people who do have disabilities or have different abilities and talking about their user experience with with using, you know, tools that are or are not, you know, Made with accessibility in mind. So, I've kept that in mind, as I've developed to try to, you know, be empathetic to people who have different needs, and, you know, don't use the technology in the same way I do, you know,

Luis Malbas  
yeah, no, definitely. That was a really eye opening event for me as well. And I felt so honored that actually prepared we're able to produce it at the LDC tomorrow, we are actually having bello Miguel SIPRI, Ani, who, who was blind, and he's going to be in a, I'm just going to be talking with him about digital inclusion and, and that's going to be tomorrow. So, you know, tune into that one, if you'd like to hear his perspective. He's really interesting, because he came from a background of Silicon Valley, he was a Silicon Valley person, tech system admin, and then he lost his sight and he kind of had to, you know, change up his career. So little, little pitch for tomorrow's event as well. Alright, so um, if you weren't an l&d professional, what do you think you'd be?

Bridget Manley  
Yeah, um, I think I probably be an ESL teacher, or, you know, English as a second language. Before I started developing, you know, full time and became a full time, you know, l&d professional, I was teaching English as a second language online to Chinese students. I really enjoyed it. I mean, I love language. I might also have been a linguist. Maybe if I knew that was a thing. I might have been a comic book artists. I don't know. I like writing and drawing. If I had known about comic books back, or at least if I had been as immersed in it as I am now, there's a good chance I'd probably be at least trying to get into comics industry, honestly.

Luis Malbas  
No, that's great. Um, yeah, you are a geek. Yeah, I'm definitely I'm the same side. There was at one point in my life, I sort of like, I want to, I want to draw comics, I want to draw comics, but, you know, but then I really got into writing. I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna write and draw comics, but instead, here I am just hosting TL DC. So, yeah, that's how it works. And let's see, tell me like, is there anything that what keeps you inspired? Like, as far as being an instructional design and a designer and l&d professional, is there something that keeps you that inspires you to keep doing what you do the kind of work you do?

Bridget Manley  
Yeah, um, I think, I think in the last few years, honestly, just seeing, you know, how rapidly things are changing and how and how much people are trying to figure out the world we live in? And what does that mean for our future? And, you know, my husband and I have talked about this a lot where, you know, the future belongs to those who can adapt to it. And I feel that our role, you know, is is partly to help people adapt to made life and whether it's new software, new ways of thinking about your business, new ways of thinking about patient care, whatever it is. You know, I think training and education is really a way to help people become adaptable. I used to work in a library for a short period. of time, and one of my library directors said that libraries help become libraries help people become overcomers. And I feel the same way that l&d We help people overcome challenges, whether personal or professional, so that they can adapt and become successful. And whatever world we end up, you know, we find ourselves in.

Luis Malbas  
Right, right. No, that is wonderful. Thanks for that. Is that okay? If I clip that one, I might have to clip that one and share it out. Because I haven't heard that before. And I totally agree, is, you know, especially with technology, and just the pace of everything in the workplace, instructional designers definitely have a role in being able to help people get through that. Excellent. Um, and last question, if there is one thing that people should know about you, what is it?

Bridget Manley  
Um, I think the main thing would probably be that I'm really an advocate for people who are thinking about owning their own business or start their own business. For me, business ownership has been just an amazing adventure. It's not always been, you know, walk through the park. But I'm really proud of what I've built with my husband. And I'm very proud of the fact that I have created jobs if if no, I mean, I mean, it's just for us, but it still counts. And I think I think we're in a position now again, where things are changing, and people are considering different ways of making a living and being in the world, I think that business ownership is a really empowering way to make a living and add value to your society and your community.

Luis Malbas  
Wow. Is this something that you had considered prior to? I don't know. Like, I mean, did you did you? Did you ever aspire to be a business owner? Or was it just popped up?

Bridget Manley  
I kind of fell into it. No, actually, I, I kind of got pushed into it. I had never saw myself as a business owner before I was very, like, I'm going to work at a job. And I'm going to just do what I'm told, and it'll be fine. And then the library worked at, they had some really big budget cuts, you know, kind of happens. And but it was also, you know, not exactly the best working culture. And I came out of that. And I realized, I'm basically unemployable. So what do I do now? And so I eventually had this realization that I don't really need permission to ask people to do what I know I can do and, you know, to contribute value. And so that kind of pushed me on a journey to thinking about, you know, first freelancing I was a freelancer to start with. And then gradually from that, you know, being a business owner and starting an LLC.

Luis Malbas  
That's amazing. Thanks for sharing that with us. Lisa. I think I should be basically clipping the last 10 minutes and, and posting that out there. Put that to Luis. That was awesome. That's fantastic. Wow. Okay. Well, Bridget, thank you so much for for sharing this time with us answering all of these questions. I really appreciate it. It's so interesting. having you on here. And, of course, like being the first instructional designer that works in the cannabis industry. It'll be interesting to see if any more pop up. That alone is kind of a sort of perks people's ears, I think at least I've gotten a couple messages about that. Anyway, so yeah, very, very cool. So Bridget, thanks again and everybody tomorrow. We've got bello on he is going to be talking about digital inclusion and accessibility. So join us that's an 8am Pacific Time 11am. Eastern broadcast. And with that, thanks, everyone. Thanks again, Bridget. Thank you, Gary. Bye

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