Every business owner I talk to in Queenstown says some version of the same thing… “I know we should be posting more, I just never get to it.”
It’s not a talent problem. It’s not even really a gear problem. Most people are carrying a better camera in their pocket than I started my career with! The problem is that content never makes it onto anyone’s actual to-do list. So it either doesn’t happen, or it all lands on the owner at 9pm.
That’s the problem The Content Engine was built to fix. And in August, I got to run it for the first time with the Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce.
The brief: give busy teams a system, not just a camera class
The Chamber was keen to build a workshop series with me that was practical for members. Not straight theory, not “10 hacks to go viral”… something people could walk out of the workshop with and apply to their actual business and own workflows.
Before the first session, every participant filled in an onboarding survey. The answers were almost word for word what I hear from clients:
1x
Most were posting once a week or less, and some rarely or never
3/5
Smartphone camera confidence sat around 3 out of 5.
1-2
Most had tried editing on their phone a few times and posted one or two Reels
Time
And the single biggest thing stopping them? Time. Followed closely by confidence and not having a clear plan.
One business put it perfectly. Their goal was to:
"enable our staff to create some content with a clear strategy by giving them some skills to contribute."
How the Content Engine workshop series ran
The series ran over two weeks, built so busy people could actually keep up.
Before day one: 2 short webinars. Rather than spending the first hour of a live session on basics, I recorded two pre-course webinars people could watch at home. Everyone arrived with the same foundations, and our time in the room went on hands-on practice.
Session one: Capture photos and learn about posting photo carousels. Learning to see your own business the way a customer does and communicate a message across multiple images. We focused on considering the light and time of day, composition and point of view, photographing your team and or products, and shooting stills. Some teams practised outside, others practised indoors..
Between sessions: continue to capture their own photos within their business, and come prepared with video ideas they want to practise filming for session 2.
I also gave away a DJI Osmo Mobile 8P Creator Combo gimbal kit on day two, which went down VERY well.
The hard part: one room, very different businesses
What participants took home
This is the bit I’m most proud of solving.
The room had a solo consultant less than a year into business sitting next to a 6 to 15 person professional services team. One person needed confidence talking to camera. The other needed a way for several staff to contribute without it turning into chaos.
On top of that, one team rotated people between sessions, so not everyone saw both days. And every single person was time poor… which was the exact problem we were there to fix!
A few things made it work:
– The onboarding survey shaped the content. I knew each person’s phone model, platforms, comfort level and the one story they’d been meaning to tell before they walked in. So examples were THEIR examples, not generic ones.
– The webinars levelled the room. Everyone started session one from the same place, whatever their experience.
– Content Themes work at any size. A solo operator and a team of fifteen both need to know what they post about and why. Same framework, different scale.
– Teams got roles, not just skills. For the bigger business, we talked about who captures, who edits and who posts, so content didn’t fall back on one person.
– Everything was sent home. Slides and recordings went to every participant, so anyone who missed a session could catch up.
- – Two pre-course webinars to rewatch any time
- – The full session slides as PDFs
- – Their own Content Themes and a content calendar
- – Images shot during the hands-on capture block
- – Partner discounts from Noel Leeming on two “Step Up Kits” for anyone ready to invest in gear
- – A 30-day check-in, plus a free debrief and planning session to keep things on track
The result: a partnership that's growing
- The Chamber was really pleased with how the series landed, and we’ve agreed to keep working together. From February 2027, we’ll run a monthly 4-hour smartphone content workshop through the Chamber, built for whole teams of up to 12 people.
- The series also travelled further than I expected. Another regional chamber got in touch after seeing it, and a referral who missed the sign-up asked for a private one-to-one version.
Want your team creating content in-house?
Book a free 45-minute discovery call and I’ll tell you honestly which option fits, or whether you don’t need one yet.
