Here are some of the clients I have worked with and for.
Helen PalmerHelen is an open constant adventurous learner – and for this I have much admiration. She creatively and generously shares her stories and experiments of learning, her progress on learning adventures, and insights from learning. There’s always a nugget of something priceless to take away – giving me inspiration to keep going or an idea to apply in my own learning adventures. You too can have access to this treasure trove of knowledge by subscribing to her blog. Thanks Helen for the potent impact you’ve had on my professional life!
Dr Fatena El-Masri, Ph.D.
I know Helen for a long time. She is a very professional and an excellent writer. She loves training and speaking at conferences. Thank you Helen for all your help. RegardsI know Helen for a long time. She is a very professional and an excellent writer. She loves training and speaking at conferences.
Jonathan Senior
Helen provided interesting and innovative content on Funky Thinkers. She is good fun to work with and I hope to do so again soon.Helen provided interesting and innovative content on Funky Thinkers. She is good fun to work with and I hope to do so again soon.
David Holzmer, Ph.D.
Helen is amazing and I don’t know how she does it! She seems to understand more about how adults learn and grow than anyone I have ever encountered. This gift is underscored by an openness, generosity, and sense of possibility that infuses every conversation I have with her. On a more pragmatic level, Helen’s insight into social technologies and the process of social learning has awakened me to new possibilities for my own work and how I share it. In addition, she has this intuitive ability to present things in simple, sequential terms that make it possible to easily understand and apply concepts/processes that would otherwise be too complex or abstruse for me to grasp otherwise. I can’t wait for our next meeting!
Alec Couros
I first came to know Helen through her participation and leadership in an educational technology MOOC that I initiated in 2013. Helen was one of the first individuals that I’ve ever known to take principles from connectivist MOOC pedagogies and apply them in the corporate training world. Her ability to make these connections across sectors was one of the reasons I’ve been so impressed by her work. Additionally, Helen’s active participation in this MOOC and in our mutual networks now five years later has proven her incredible desire to stay on the cutting edge of technology & pedagogy. If you work with Helen, expect the very best. She is my unconditional recommendation.
Chelsea Peitz
Helen is one of the most well-versed and well-rounded learning professional I’ve ever encountered. Her passion for continued learning and sharing of her experiences is what makes her such an incredible practitioner. Helen is a multi-talented business and communication savvy expert in her field!
Paulette Jewell
I worked with Helen in the lead up to the implementation of IAG’s curation and social collaboration platform SAP Jam and the few months that followed to help support the business to adopt and build new skills in curation. Helen took the time to understand the business from its people. She spent many an hour understanding the development opportunities within the business using our current systems, she was always innovative and thinking outside the square to come up with new ways to help the business and our team. She has made the implementation of this system and the intended adoption that much smoother, she was always open and would always go the extra mile to market and adopt the system and support myself and the team. I would highly recommend Helen for any social platform learning role.
Christopher Marrs
Helen is a sincere, compassionate and extremely insightful learning professional.
I encountered her work when she spoke at SOPAC 2016, Australia’s largest and most respected internal audit conference, and can vividly recall her insights on structuring a powerful network. Since then, she has generously shared her time and expertise with her personal qualities and professional ability held in high regard. I have no hesitation in recommending Helen and her thought leadership across social networking and leadership development.Helen is a sincere, compassionate and extremely insightful learning professional.
I encountered her work when she spoke at SOPAC 2016, Australia’s largest and most respected internal audit conference, and can vividly recall her insights on structuring a powerful network. Since then, she has generously shared her time and expertise with her personal qualities and professional ability held in high regard. I have no hesitation in recommending Helen and her thought leadership across social networking and leadership development.Helen is a sincere, compassionate and extremely insightful learning professional.
Lauren Carnegie
Helen was recently on a panel discussing the topic of Learning Communities – Shaping the Future of Learning as part of an AITD event in Geelong. Helen is easy to work with, enthusiastic, pragmatic and really knows her stuff. Helen has her finger on the pulse, and practices what she preaches when it comes to learning, performance and how to get the most out of technology. Thank you very much Helen for being part of making the event so successful!
Victoria Fullard
Helen was a very popular guest panelist at our recent breakfast seminar in Melbourne. Her wealth of knowledge and experience offered the audience some robust insight into how they can think about implementing better learning in their own organisation. Helen is personable and very professional to work with – her thought-leadership means she is a must to have on any conference panel, or as a speaker. I look forward to working with her again.
Marilyn Snider
Helen worked with me to extend my understanding about tools for social learning. She shared her rich knowledge of social media, highlighting the learning opportunities created by sharing through using those new found skills. Her keen diagnosis of the issues at hand, her systematic program planning designed for success and collaborative approach to learning, ensure that desired goals are achieved. Helen’s an organized communicator, supportive mentor and skilled capacity builder-the consummate professional. I warmly recommend Helen to all organisations ready to explore the benefits of tools for social learning.
Paul Batfay
I worked with Helen Blunden for several years at NAB. Being based in Sydney for most of that time, my collaboration was mostly through Yammer with the Melbourne-based Helen. In that time, Helen was one of the most active people on the network; sharing her IP, collaborating and providing thought-leadership. It was only when I moved to Melbourne 6 months ago to the same building as Helen that I realised exactly how much voluntary coaching, training and mentoring Helen also provided outside of her core roles. I was so impressed, I asked Helen to run a how-to session on Twitter for the IAF Vic Chapter. It was a big success. I recommend Helen unreservedly, firstly on the basis of character. Helen acts in accordance with her personal values, I trust her and she is a lovely person to work with. Secondly, on the basis of her courage. In seeing opportunities to leverage the potential of the ESN at NAB, Helen worked out loud, experimented and brought others – such as myself and enterprise leaders – into these advancements. Genuine ‘digital leadership’. Thirdly, for Helen’s combination of business acumen and her network. In Helen’s contributions to strategic business discussions and L & D policy setting, Helen was the sense-maker between current and future state. All of this quite publicly on Yammer too. Read Helen’s blog and you will get the same feel. A conversation with Helen will validate the above for you.
Rachel Curnow
When I reached out to Helen to leverage her knowledge around Yammer and social learning/networking I was taken back by her passion and energy for engaging on Yammer and social media. Helen kindly offered to run a webinar with the Graduate cohort and was able to tell the story in a way that connected with the audience. The feedback from the session was outstanding, demonstrating how effectively Helen was able to connect with the participants. As a result of the webinar, the activity by the group on Yammer has increased. Helen encouraged the Graduates to work out loud, with a week now being dedicated to driving this at the end of July. The webinar has been fundamental in driving these outcomes.
Jasmine Malki
As a group of Learning and Development managers working in law firms, we invited Helen to speak to us about how we may use Twitter for our own professional development and to help lawyers in our firms to do the same. Helen facilitated an engaging, practical and hands on workshop that had us tweeting, following, hashtagging and storifying in no time. Helen used powerful storytelling to demonstrate the capability of Twitter to help us connect, learn and collaborate. Above all, Helen has a way of making even the rustiest dinosaur feel at ease and give Twitter a go! Helen walks her talk and is ahead of the game in the Australian L&D profession when it comes to utilising digital tools to drive collaboration, learning and ultimately productivity in busy workplaces.
Con Sotidis
Helen is a committed and dedicated learning professional. Her knowledge of all things L&D is very sharp. She is very well connected across L&D social media platforms and is able to reach out and interact with a cross section of individuals. Helen’s biggest strength is to demonstrate to organisations and individual the power of social interaction as part of a learning intervention. She is a major advocate of YAMMER having successfully implemented this tool at the National Australia Bank. She facilitated a course for ATO L&D professionals on Twitter 101: Twitter as a Professional Development tool. The course was very well received and feedback on Helen’s presentation style was very favourable. Helen is also the founder of Third Place Meet Up – a regular meeting of L&D professionals in their home state where they can network and interact on all things L&D in a friendly and sales free environment. Helen’s passion for L&D is undeniable and I highly recommend her as a knowledgable and capable L&D professional.
Michael Pretty
I worked with Helen on the Store Manager Onboarding Project and Helen’s work was exceptional. The quality, quantity and thoughtfulness of her work made my job very easy on this project. I would highly recommend Helen due to her pro-active, progressive approach, which always considered virtual and non-virtual solutions to problems, and the quality of what she delivers. Helen was a pleasure to work with and I would welcome her working with me on another piece of work in the future.
Rhonda Sparks-Tranks
Helen led a professional development event for the International Association of Facilitators – Victoria Chapter. the topic was “Twitter 101 – how to use Twitter for professional networking and professional development”. By the end of the evening she had a room full of converts able to use Twitter, finding professional development opportunities and amazed at how they can use Twitter in ways they hadn’t imagined. Thank you Helen – you were fresh, inspiring and professional.
Mark Goold
Helen is a well-rounded digital learning consultant with particular expertise in Virtual Classrooms & Webinars, Social Learning, Social Media for Learning, Multimedia and eLearning. With a passion for learning and over 20 years of experience in L&D, Helen is a step ahead of most learning trends. She has a big online presence in the elearning community and is very effective at using her networks to introduce new ways of thinking. With similar professional interests, it was an absolute pleasure being able to work with someone that is so well-established and highly regarded in the industry.
Cheryle Walker
Helen has a vast knowledge of online learning methodologies and channels and has been a great asset in my team. She is dedicated to finding the best possible solutions for our stakeholders and readily shares her experience both inside and outside the organisation. I recommend Helen as a great consultant and future-focussed L&D practitioner.
Emily Katiforis
I had the absolute pleasure of working with Helen as my direct report as our key instructional designer for Mortgage Services Learning and Development. Helen brought to the team a wealth of knowledge and skill around best practice Instructional Design methodologies to support an agile transformation program of work. Helen actively sought new ways of implementing learning and development to compliment the change strategy for Mortgage Services. Helens attention to detail is to be commended and her personable nature a treat to manage. I would highly recommend Helen for expertise instructional design roles as she is an innovator in her field. I would welcome the opportunity to work with Helen again in the near future.
Nicole McInerney
Helen’s work as an Instructional Designer in the Mortgage Transformation Program has been invaluable. Her ability to partner with stakeholders, investigate and uncover the full depth and bredth of learning gaps has been instrumental in her subsequent development of best practice Learning Pathways for a variety of complicated, intertwined roles in an agile environment. Helen’s consultative and logical approach has embedded her in our team as a high performing colleague. I would welcome the opportunity to work with Helen closely again in any challenging environment where savvy and innovative Learning & Development solutions are required.
Stephen Robinson
I have been fortunate enough to work with Helen in the Mortgage Services Learning and Development team and have found her to be a great source of new and exciting information about L&D.
Helen’s knowledge of her profession is amazing and while she always seeks to further her development she constantly shares those learning / experiences with those around her. This enabled the group to grow thus demonstrating Helen’s commitment to the very ethos of L&D. The Learning and Developing of others. As an ID Helen produces high quality, engaging and easy to use materials for both participant and facilitator. Her calm and attentive style make her a pleasure to work with. Despite our team being geographically separated Helen was always very supportive, available and easy to approach with questions. I would welcome the opportunity to work with Helen again and so would highly recommend her for any Instructional Design role.
Helen’s knowledge of her profession is amazing and while she always seeks to further her development she constantly shares those learning / experiences with those around her. This enabled the group to grow thus demonstrating Helen’s commitment to the very ethos of L&D. The Learning and Developing of others. As an ID Helen produces high quality, engaging and easy to use materials for both participant and facilitator. Her calm and attentive style make her a pleasure to work with. Despite our team being geographically separated Helen was always very supportive, available and easy to approach with questions. I would welcome the opportunity to work with Helen again and so would highly recommend her for any Instructional Design role.
Kieran Keating
I couldn’t recommend Helen more highly, she is just one of those seasoned capability development professionals that delivers a quality product. Helen’s dedication, strong stakeholder management skills and deep learning & development expertise ensures a smooth client experience and the deliver of results.
Rebecca Muir
It has been my pleasure to work with Helen on various instructional design projects for the National Australia Bank. Helen’s organised approach to projects has ensured that we were always able to deliver to the expectations of all stakeholders, and meet some very tight deadlines. Helen’s ability to manage different points of view from various stakeholders is to be commended, and she always acts carefully, considering both people and task. I would have no hesitation in recommending Helen for any project management and learning design role.
Siva Kulasingam
Helen has worked for me over 2 years across a range of learning and development projects. She is an excellent operator, who is highly reliable in managing her time and workload. She is detailed in her instructional design and has developed learning materials for both online and face-to-face delivery. As a colleague, Helen is professional, open to feedback and always looks for ways to improve.
Her strengths are project management, stakeholder management and analytical skills which are evident in her questioning techniques. On particularly difficult projects, Helen was extremely personable, adaptable, and capable of drawing together subject matter from the client. She was also able to work in different teams and deliver high quality outcomes. Overall, I highly recommend Helen to any employer.
Her strengths are project management, stakeholder management and analytical skills which are evident in her questioning techniques. On particularly difficult projects, Helen was extremely personable, adaptable, and capable of drawing together subject matter from the client. She was also able to work in different teams and deliver high quality outcomes. Overall, I highly recommend Helen to any employer.
Charmine Hartel (FASSA, FCAHR, FAHRI, FANZAM, FAIM)
I met Helen in my work with ANZ. I was impressed with her drive to continually develop her knowledge and skills to keep at the leading edge in her field. I found her to be amongst the most informed and science-based practitioners in the area of training and online learning. Helen always showed herself to be the consummate professional, excelling as a communicator, decision-maker, team player and project manager.
Antonio Ortin
Helen produces fantastic work and delivers with results. Her attention to detail is excellent. I truly believe Helen’s strength lies in maintaining the overall picture and strategy in what she delivers. Her positive and total ‘can do’ attitude also contributes to her time-management skills, ensuring she delivers on time.
Lachlan Fairburn
Helen took the lead in redesigning our consumer lending workshop as part of the overall program offering. Helen was able to pick up the content quickly and package it from a combination of workshops totalling 6 days to one single workshop totalling 4 days. Her efforts have contributed to the team being able to halve the travel cost for participants and return over 1000 FTE days back to the business!
Paul Tzotzis
I highly recommend Helen for any instructional design contract she might apply for.
Helen was instrumental in assisting and finally leading the design and development of NAB’s Proficiency Pathways for various roles within NAB Retail and Business Banking. Helen has the ability to pick up concepts quickly and apply her design skills using a systematic and analytical approach. An effective communicator, Helen was able to work with various audience groups to derive and identify core tasks, skills, competencies required in those roles. She is honest, reliable, and focussed in order to meet clients’ expectations and timelines, and at the same time producing quality work of a high standard. She’s also a happy person, fun to work with, and who’s knowledge, skills, and advice I value.
Helen was instrumental in assisting and finally leading the design and development of NAB’s Proficiency Pathways for various roles within NAB Retail and Business Banking. Helen has the ability to pick up concepts quickly and apply her design skills using a systematic and analytical approach. An effective communicator, Helen was able to work with various audience groups to derive and identify core tasks, skills, competencies required in those roles. She is honest, reliable, and focussed in order to meet clients’ expectations and timelines, and at the same time producing quality work of a high standard. She’s also a happy person, fun to work with, and who’s knowledge, skills, and advice I value.
Rodney Beach
Helen is one of the most experienced and professional training and eLearning consultants I’ve worked with over the years. Her strengths are in training needs analysis, consulting, process mapping and project management. Helen has excellent communication skills, and is capable of effectively seeing the forest from the trees. She is very professional, and most importantly, has a true passion for online learning.
Chris Woods
Helen has been a senior Navy Public Affairs Officer for a number of years. She has developed and implemented public affairs training systems to help standardise Navy PA training. Additionally, Helen has deployed on joint Defence exercises to manage public affairs assets and product with great effect. Helen is great to work with and is very professional. I thoroughly endorse Helen as an experienced communication practitioner.
Ben Willee
Helen has bought a huge amount of passion, commitment and discipline to the position of Deputy Director Navy Corporate Communications. She is very focussed on what is best for Navy and Reserve PREL members and has been a pleasure to work with.
Andrew Ragless
Helen provided outstanding support and mentoring to me and other Junior Public Relations Officer during our Reserve Entry Officers’ Course conducted through the Royal Australian Naval College, HMAS Creswell. She continues to provide this support and leadership to the RANR’s Public Relations Branch in her new role as Deputy Director, Navy Corporate Communications.
Greg Scandurra
I have always found Helen to be well prepared, extremely organized and always keen to improve processes and work with others to achieve the team’s goals. Her contribution to our group, particularly since her promotion to her current role, has been even more enhanced and proactive. Helen’s civilian background and personality has enabled her to bring a greater professionalism to the role and manage the team effectively in a happy environment.
Debra Holland
Helen has had a central role in building a support network for Royal Australian Navy Reserve (RANR) Public Affairs officers, many of whom come from a civilian background with little pre exposure to operating within a military environment. Her considered guidance and leadership capabilities together with her background knowledge of the RAN have proven most helpful on more than one occasion.
Helen’s genuine interest in my own professional development within Navy is also much appreciated.
Helen’s genuine interest in my own professional development within Navy is also much appreciated.
Jennifer Coburn
Helen has provided excellent leadership in her role with our Public Speaking Training team, with development of tools for communication and promotion of the program. Her ability to think outside the square in her present role as the President of the Rotary Club of Moorleigh Moorabbin is providing excellent outcomes. Business Networking initiatives are to be highly recommended.
Dick Garner
My contact with Helen has been via our shared interest in Rotary. Helen has undertaken a range of activities in Rotary and is currently the very successful President one of our Melbourne Rotary Clubs. In this role she has introduced a range of innovative ideas to showcase their activities, increase funding and attract more local business people to join Rotary. Rotary needs to clone Helen.