Geraldine Eliot
founder & principal instructional designer
I’ve spent 25+ years doing this work in one form or another – teaching, writing, instructional design, content development – long enough to know the difference between training that looks good in a proposal, training that doesn’t put people to sleep and skills that they can execute in their day to day work right away.
Most of my career has been solving the same problem from different angles: taking what’s in someone’s head or buried in outdated or scattered octopus-like documentation and turning it into content that’s clear, usable, and built for how people actually learn and work.
I’ve had the privilege of working with a variety of clients and partners, from government to non-profits and the private sector, on material that I’m truly proud of. Whether it’s courses on climate change for Metro Vancouver, sustainability for The Co-operators, health equity for the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health (say that five times fast!), or supporting sales teams with Customer Education materials at Eminence Organic Skin Care, I work with a sense of humour, an eye for budget, and a strong focus on overarching organizational goals and strategy.
I also developed and taught BCIT’s Using AI for Technical Writing course – the first AI course built into their tech writing program – because I wanted to actually understand responsible AI adoption before coaching anyone else through it.
why ‘outspan’?
The name comes from my South African roots – outspan is an old word for unyoking the oxen, stopping the wagon, and letting everyone rest before moving on. I chose it because that’s exactly what good learning and development and grounded AI adoption should do: create the pause that lets people actually absorb something, build a real habit, or adopt a new way of working, rather than rushing straight from one initiative to the next.