Written by IBMBA Sherry Wu
The International Business Bachelor Program at the College of Management invited Dr. Hedy Ho, Senior executive of Microsoft ASIA, to deliver a guest lecture on “Effective Communication (Effective Communication – communicating with Purpose)” during the Writing and Presentation in English course on 20th November 2023.
Dr. Ho was born in Beijing and raised in Hong Kong. She has an MBA from the University of Hull, UK, and a DBA from Macquarie University, Australia. Dr. Ho previously worked at IBM and joined Microsoft in 2003 and became the Chief Operating Officer for Microsoft Taiwan in November 2018. With over 20 years of IT management experience, Dr. Ho has been stationed in several countries, and therefore gaining extensive cross-national and cross-cultural communication expertise. Besides being a business strategist, she is also an advocate for Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), a motivational speaker, educator, and mentor.
Dr. Ho began the guest speaker session with the title: “Effective Communication – communicating with Purpose”. Students were grouped into teams of three and each had different roles: 1) communicator; 2) questioner; and 3) observer. The motive of each group was to practice effective communication while sharing personal stories during the workshop activity Dr. Ho prepared. Practical scenario exercises were conducted where each group’s communicator had to imagine meeting a stranger in an elevator and effectively use one minute to tell a story or introduce themselves to the stranger. This exercise incorporated 3C communication techniques: Connection, Clarity, and Confidence. Students shared various stories ranging from last week’s holiday experiences to simple self-introductions accompanied by a humorous song, which brought laughter to the entire class. Some also shared their interests and personalities. In the latter part of the session, Dr. Ho engaged students in a discussion on “Why AI cannot replace ME?” – to explore their views of this current hot topic which is artificial intelligence. Students were divided into seven groups, each delivering a 5-minute short speech with an attention-grabbing title. Discussions revolved around the differences between Artificial and Human intelligence. Most groups emphasized on the importance emotional and warmth attributes which are unique to us human beings. Following their AI cannot replace me short presentations, each student was asked to vote for their favorite group, which stimulated a competitive atmosphere and further enriched the discussions during this brilliant exercise Dr. Ho brought to this course that morning.
Ryan Brading, the course instructor, remarked that Dr. Ho’s dynamic and lively approach not only engaged students in improving their communication and expressive skills, but also guided them to discover effective ways of interacting within small groups. Understanding and utilizing the most effective means of communication proved to be highly crucial for this English Presentation and Writing course, and significantly beneficial for students actively engaged in university studies and numerous discussions.
