The Faculty of Finance held “Finance Elite Time” Seminar (in English) in the afternoon of 12 April 2023. Ms. Celia Lao, Chairman of Macau Sunrise Academic Association, CEO of AirAsia Hong Kong & Macau, and General Manager of China, AirAsia Digital & Cargo, were invited to deliver a speech titled “Presentation Skills and Leadership”. Students in the BAE Finance Elite Cohort of all four grades participated in the event. Chairman of Macau Asset Management Association and Honorary Chairman of Macau Sunrise Academic Association, Dr. John Chu, Dean Adrian Cheung, Associate Dean Eva Khong and Lecturer Simon Sou of Faculty of Finance also attended the seminar.
Associate Dean Eva Khong expressed her gratitude to the guests for their support and introduced Ms. Celia Lao to the teachers and students. Ms. Lao has over 15 year experience in aviation management. She is currently responsible for driving AirAsia digital & cargo business in China, Hong Kong & Macau. She has made great contributions to further AirAsia’s presence in Greater China by taking different management positions in areas of commercial strategy, government & airport affairs, regulatory compliance, and operations management. She has been awarded the Nobel Laureates Honorary Award “2019 Asian Outstanding Leadership for Women” and Guangdong-HK-Macau Greater Bay Area Outstanding Entrepreneur “Best CSR Award”.
Citing the words of several management experts, Mr. Lao stated that there are only three things that happen naturally in organizations: friction, confusion and underperformance, and everything else needs leadership while failing organizations are often over-managed or under-led, and to be successful leaders, you need to lead yourself at least 40 percent of the time. Mr. Lao shared three strategies of self-leadership, namely self-awareness, self-reflection and self-regulation.
Then, Mr. Lao explained the principles of public speaking to the students. Focusing on a topic, sharing examples, and asking questions to arouse the curiosity of the audience. Then, analyze the topic step by step from the perspective of the audience, and lastly share your personal thoughts. She shared three effective tips: Use body language, find the audience who agrees with you, and be yourself. She also pointed out the need to be concise, maintain eye contact with the audience, and control the speech tone, speed and pauses.
Most people are scared of public speaking because of the Amygdala in the brain, which is part of the limbic system that is in charge of negative emotions such as anxiety, impatience, fright and fear. The best way to overcome fear of reputational damage is to make it a habit. Basal Ganglia controls the autonomic nervous system and governs habitual behavior, and thus there's only one recipe for getting comfortable with speaking: learn by doing.
After the sharing, students actively posed questions and interacted with Ms. Lao. The series of "Finance Elite Time" events focus on the characteristic education theme of the Finance Elite Cohort and on various learning and development issues that students care about, invite famous academic teachers and students to fully participate in the discussion, and improve students' international vision.