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Data Visualization in Health Care Seminar

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Understanding how to clearly present data is an indispensable skill for today’s medical professionals. On June 19, AmCham Taipei’s Pharmaceuticals & Public Health Joint Committee was grateful to host Ms. Katia Santome, Solution Designer of Z&A Knowledge Solutions for a seminar workshop on transforming complicated medical information into simple, clear, and valuable insight.

With attendees representing various firms from across Taiwan, participants learned to structure and visualize information using a step-by-step ideation process.

Ms. Katia Santome, an expert on information design and data visualization, encouraged participants to think about the broader message behind the data that we are intending to share. “This allows for greater intentionality around the visual we create, helping us to be both consistent and clear with our message,” she said. After deciding on a concrete idea, the presenter should focus on which details to share. This allows for intentional categorizing of ideas, which will help to make the information presented easier to understand. Thirdly, it is important to arrange key details by time, quantity, category or preference, so that the audience can convey concepts in a more simplistic way. Finally, Ms. Santome encouraged participants to focus on the structure of the data that will best demonstrate the relationship between the details. For example, while maps, charts, diagrams, or tables can convey the exact same information, these different data structures give the presentation a completely different feel.

Especially in the medical industry, professionals are tasked with condensing extremely complex and nuanced information into easily digestible concepts for presentation to students and patients alike. Ms. Santome guided participants through group discussions regarding how to make information more accessible and digestible. “Using simple processes, we can successfully condense difficult ideas into easy to understand visuals,” she noted. Ms. Santome left attendees with the following take-home messages:

  • Structure your thoughts: Make sure to get your thoughts and ideas on paper before you begin creating a visualization. Not only will this give your message consistency, but it will help save time when using digital software to create visuals.
  • Remove noise: By using icons, images, and other visual guides instead of text, participants learned how to cut down extraneous information in order to hone readers’ attention on the details that really matter. Removing text, grid-lines, and emphasizing key elements are all great ways to improve the clarity of one’s message.
  • Be creative: Only by thinking outside of the box can we fully re-structure information in meaningful ways for our audience. Using color and animation can truly elevate a presentation, making even the most complicated statistics accessible to everyone.

“Make sure you think through your ideas before you start!” Santome encouraged the audience. “Otherwise, your presentation will appear messy and inconsistent. It’s best to be intentional about how you use data visualizations”.

Feedback on the workshop was overwhelmingly positive. “This was the most practical workshop in the medical field I have attended in my entire life,” commented one participant upon the workshop’s conclusion. “The takeaways are extremely applicable — I learned so much in such a short space of time!”

Developing Habits to Improve Leadership Presence

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Presence has become a critical factor for today’s professionals. How you present yourself to others and having the ability to make lasting impressions is crucial to your success.

With the aim to provide development tools for business leaders, AmCham Taipei invited Rober Iyer, Executive and Training Coach of Inspiyer, to conduct a half-day seminar on “Executive Presence: 5 Steps to Creating Leadership Presence” at the Chamber’s Lincoln Room.

Iyer explained that leadership presence is a blend of how you present yourself, make people feel, and effectively communicate to others. He highlighted qualities leaders should have to develop presence:

  • Communication: clearly using verbal and non-verbal communication
  • Character/Substance: showing warmth, knowledge, wisdom
  • Authenticity: staying true to yourself and others, creating trust
  • Attentiveness: staying attuned to the current moment during communication
  • Confidence: knowing yourself; staying cool under pressure
  • Connectedness: having the ability to feel bonded to others

Using the example of the first televised Presidential debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, Iyer demonstrated the impact first impressions can make on election outcomes. As the story goes, those who listened to the debate on the radio thought Nixon won, while those who watched the debate on television believed Kennedy won. Attendees were asked to observe the two candidates’ body language and behavior to learn the importance of non-verbal communication.

In the second half of the seminar, Iyer discussed the power of non-verbal communications and shared a few tips on using body language to improve presence.

The Lincoln Room is made possible by the generosity of a number of sponsoring companies:

Interested in attending our events? Join us at other upcoming events, click here.

Note: AmCham events are intended primarily for AmCham members and their guests. Many events are open to members’ guests and other non-members, but the attendance of any non-member must be approved in advance. AmCham reserves the right not to admit a non-member to any event without explanation. 

Coaching Your Team to Improve Performance and Succeed

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While all leaders should have the skills to manage, train, and teach, effective leaders also possess the ability to motivate and inspire teams to perform at higher levels.

On August 22, William Zyzo, Managing Director of Z&A Knowledge Solutions and Advisor to AmCham Taipei’s Advanced Learning Lab, conducted a half-day workshop at the Chamber’s Lincoln Room. Zyzo provided a blueprint for team-coaching skills that drive team-level engagement, collaboration, and performance.

Opening the session, Zyzo asked the audience to consider the differences among managing, training, and teaching. He explained team-coaching as a continuous process that could involve managing, training, and teaching at any given time. Throughout the workshop, the audience participated in real-time polls and was divided into groups to discuss case study questions.

The workshop provided a framework of useful tools for the coaching process that leaders can apply to the workplace in order to strengthen overall organizational performance.

The Lincoln Room is made possible by the generosity of a number of sponsoring companies:

Interested in attending our events? Join us at other upcoming events, click here.

Note: AmCham events are intended primarily for AmCham members and their guests. Many events are open to members’ guests and other non-members, but the attendance of any non-member must be approved in advance. AmCham reserves the right not to admit a non-member to any event without explanation. 

Brand Building in the Digital Era

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Today’s increasingly digital world demands new ways to build and manage brands. To ensure brand relevance, brand building calls for a new approach to connect and deliver brand behavior and experiences.

On July 27, Simon Koh, founder of Big Data Play Brand, to make a Chinese-language presentation entitled “大數據狂潮下的品牌策略” (Brand Strategies Under the Big Data Frenzy) at the AmCham Taipei’s Lincoln Room. He provided an overview of brand management fundamentals to give attendees a full understanding of how to build a compelling brand and how branding has changed in recent years.

Koh described four types of brands 1) Asset-Driven, 2) Service-Driven, 3) Technology-Driven, and 4) Network-Driven to showcase examples of different business models. A network-driven brand involves brand building through different platforms and ecosystems. In a disruptive era, consumers are exposed to more than 3,500 brands on a daily basis, compared to 2,000 brands just a decade ago. He noted that customers may experience a certain brand through multiple channels and touchpoints, sometimes even in a non-physical world, where machines and algorithms are responsible for deciding the role of the brand.

Koh stressed that in order to transform a brand and build relevance, an organization must understand its market, leverage new tools, generate insights, and measure its success.

From left to right: AmCham Taipei President William Foreman and speaker Simon Koh, founder of Big Data Play Brand.

The Lincoln Room is made possible by the generosity of a number of sponsoring companies:

Interested in attending our events? Join us at other upcoming events, click here.

Note: AmCham events are intended primarily for AmCham members and their guests. Many events are open to members’ guests and other non-members, but the attendance of any non-member must be approved in advance. AmCham reserves the right not to admit a non-member to any event without explanation. 

Cross Cultural Leadership and Blind Spots

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The presentation at an AmCham Special Luncheon on April 18 at Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel focused on the role of effective leadership in enhancing employee engagement. The speaker, Gerard Hei, is CEO of Dale Carnegie Taiwan.

The presentation, “Uncovering Leadership Blind Spots and Discovering the Pathway to Motivating Your Employees,” first established why engagement is so important. It significantly impacts absenteeism, turnover, productivity, profitability, sales, and quality. There are three kinds of employees: fully engaged, partially engaged, and disengaged. According to a global study, in Taiwan only 8% of employees are rated as fully engaged, compared to 29% globally, while 44% are disengaged, much more than the 24% globally.

The way to increase employee motivation and business results is to provide employees with more effective leaders, said Hei. When employees are very satisfied with their immediate supervisor and with senior leaders, many more are fully engaged and very few are disengaged.

Leaders need to do four key things to inspire and motivate their employees:

  • Express sincere praise and appreciation
  • Demonstrate honesty and integrity
  • Freely admit when they are wrong
  • Listen to and value employees’ opinions

From left to right: AmCham’s Public Health Committee Co-Chair Joyce Lee, General Manager, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Taiwan) Ltd.; AmCham Taipei President William Foreman; Speaker Gerard Hei, CEO of Dale Carnegie Taiwan; AmCham’s HR Committee Co-Chair Monica Han, Country HR Leader, 3M Taiwan Ltd.

Interested in attending our events? Join us at other upcoming events, click here.

Note: AmCham events are intended primarily for AmCham members and their guests. Many events are open to members’ guests and other non-members, but the attendance of any non-member must be approved in advance. AmCham reserves the right not to admit a non-member to any event without explanation.

The Subtle Arts of Persuasion and Negotiation

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Whatever your position, the ability to communicate, connect, and influence others to achieve your desired outcomes is essential to being successful.

Nick Coburn-Palo, a member of the Taipei American School faculty and Consulting Trainer at UNITAR, held a workshop at the Chamber’s Lincoln Room, entitled “The Subtle Arts of Persuasion and Negotiation” on March 8. The program was aimed at helping individuals develop core skills necessary to persuade and negotiate across a wide variety of potentially contentious situations.

During the session, Coburn-Palo shared with AmCham members and guests the techniques leaders use, in speaking and writing, to influence and persuade others for win-win outcomes. Through different case studies from the worlds of politics, business, and family life, he gave participants a chance to understand human behaviors, how people process information, and when and why negotiations may breakdown.

The session concluded with three key takeaways:

  • Embrace soft variables:  pay attention to personality traits, characteristics, physical space, and time
  • Maintain flexibility: the desired outcome may not be the most advantageous; win-win outcomes sometimes mean getting 50%
  • Remember your audience: negotiations and debates have different audiences – make sure the approach taken is based the audience and context.

Interested in attending our events? Join us at other upcoming events, click here.

Note: AmCham events are intended primarily for AmCham members and their guests. Many events are open to members’ guests and other non-members, but the attendance of any non-member must be approved in advance. AmCham reserves the right not to admit a non-member to any event without explanation.

How to Communicate Better at Work

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In our professional and personal life, effective communication is key to success and happiness. Without open communication, we cannot build lasting relationships and thrive in the workplace.

On August 29, AmCham Taipei’s Advanced Learning Lab invited David Archdall, Teaching Faculty of The School of Life and Co-founder of Abbey Road English, to hold a half-day workshop on “How to Communicate Better at Work.” The workshop, held in the Chamber’s Lincoln Room, addressed some of the greatest challenges we face in modern workplace communication and considered the various facets of our personality in the office.

In this interactive presentation, Archdall used role plays and group exercises to demonstrate the importance of communication and how it can either positively or negatively impact our relationship with others. By becoming more self-aware and “other-aware,” we can reduce communication barriers and develop trusting relationships.

Archdall also examined and highlighted several approaches to help improve workplace communication:

  • Demonstrating respect by being open and paying more attention to our thoughts and feelings
  • Moving beyond task-based relationships and becoming more convincing to others
  • Striking the right balance between self-interest and others’ interests in conflict and negotiation
  • Giving constructive feedback by remaining aware and controlling our assumptions
  • Asking for clarifications when receiving feedback and using the information as a source of growth

Interested in attending our events? Join us at other upcoming events, click here.

Note: AmCham events are intended primarily for AmCham members and their guests. Many events are open to members’ guests and other non-members, but the attendance of any non-member must be approved in advance. AmCham reserves the right not to admit a non-member to any event without explanation.

Advanced Learning Lab: How to Organize Information Logically

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Consider the number of presentations, reports, and emails you watch and read in a week. Each is packed with information: more words and data than you probably care to see. Think of how much time and effort—and misunderstanding—you and your people could save if that information was organized simply, clearly, and logically?

On July 26th, William Zyzo, Managing Director of Z&A Knowledge Solutions held a half-day workshop entitled “How to Organize Information Logically” for AmCham Taipei’s Advanced Learning Lab in the Chamber’s Lincoln Room. In the session, Zyzo shared useful tools and methods on organizing complex business information in digital form — whether that information is placed in an email, document, or presentation slide.

Through case studies and hands-on group exercises, Zyzo introduced the process of organizing information in a way that is not only emotionally appealing but also logically sound, using powerful forms including diagrams, maps, charts, tables, and text. Attendees learned the importance of reducing cognitive load and presenting information in a way that persuades and influences the audience. Throughout the session, Zyzo challenged and encouraged attendees to ask the following questions to determine whether information is well organized:

  • Are the ideas presented using a familiar form?
  • What is the organizing principle?
  • What is the logic: objective or subjective?
  • Which of the seven visualizers are used to visualize the elements?

Interested in attending our events? Join us at other upcoming events, click here.

Note: AmCham events are intended primarily for AmCham members and their guests. Many events are open to members’ guests and other non-members, but the attendance of any non-member must be approved in advance. AmCham reserves the right not to admit a non-member to any event without explanation.

Digital Marketing Roadmap: 2017 and Beyond

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In this age of digital media, marketers face sharp new challenges, but they are also armed with new tools and techniques to deal with them.

At a two-hour AmCham Taipei “Digital Marketing Roadmap: 2017 and Beyond” workshop on June 14, James Chard, an independent digital media and marketing consultant and former Communications Manager at AmCham Taipei, shared insights on how to form a successful digital marketing strategy. The program included a hands-on group exercise to spark ideas on ways to develop an effective email marketing campaign.

Chard began with an overview on the current state of digital marketing, noting that consumer expectations are higher than ever. As consumer trust continues to decline and consumer savviness increases, marketers must pursue personalized, relevant, and targeted marketing strategies in order to capture and retain consumer attention. Chard highlighted the importance of technology trends in modern day digital marketing, such as the dominant role of mobile communication and the growing significance of video, chat functions, and influencer marketing, among others. He then discussed the “new customer journey,” which has shifted with the evolution of consumer needs and the expanding landscape of technological possibilities.

From left to right: Don Shapiro, Chamber’s Senior Director, James Chard, Independent Digital Media and Marketing Consultant, Andrea Wu, AmCham President

The New* Customer Journey: Pre-Purchase Stages

  1. Engagement – Brand Awareness
  2. Education – Problem Identification
  3. Research – Investigate Solutions
  4. Evaluation – Assess Satisfaction of Needs
  5. Justification – Justify & Quantify Value, the Internal Buy-In
  6. Purchase – Transactional and Transitional Factors

The New* Customer Journey: Post-Purchase Stages

  1. Adoption – Onboarding and Implementation
  2. Retention – Satisfaction and Success
  3. Expansion – Up-sell, Cross-sell
  4. Advocacy – Loyalty and Evangelism (winning the trust battle and getting consumers to spread the word for you)

Chard emphasized the importance of inbound marketing – pulling consumers in organically – rather than outbound marketing, which depends on fighting for consumer attention in a sea of communication messages. He concluded with an analysis of the most powerful tools to boost marketing effectiveness and best practices:

  • Website
  • Content
  • Social media
  • Search
  • Email
  • Ads
  • Marketing Automation
  • Analytics

Interested in attending our events? Join us at other upcoming events, click here.

Note: AmCham events are intended primarily for AmCham members and their guests. Many events are open to members’ guests and other non-members, but the attendance of any non-member must be approved in advance. AmCham reserves the right not to admit a non-member to any event without explanation.

How to Innovate Breakthrough Solutions Using the Design Thinking Framework

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“Design thinking” refers to a powerful methodology for identifying, clarifying, and defining customer problems and then co-creating innovative solutions for which no traditional problem-solving tool can be used. It is one of the most popular courses at Stanford University—among other institutions and companies.

On May 17, AmCham Taipei invited William Zyzo, Managing Director, Z&A Knowledge Solutions / Advisor, Advanced Learning Lab, to host a one-day workshop at the Lincoln Room, “How to Innovate Breakthrough Solutions Using the Design Thinking Framework.”  William Zyzo shared with participants how the design-thinking framework could be used to formulate company-level strategy, create business models, redesign business processes, and develop new products and services.

Participants also learned how to apply the design thinking framework using three actual business cases in order to better understand how this framework could be put to use for their own problems and opportunities at work, including:

  • How to integrate creativity into developing new and innovative products and solutions
  • How to implement and communicate change to design and redesign business processes
  • How to design and redesign business models to generate new opportunities

Participants also learned how to apply the design thinking framework using three actual business cases.

Interested in attending our events? Join us at other upcoming events, click here.

Note: AmCham events are intended primarily for AmCham members and their guests. Many events are open to members’ guests and other non-members, but the attendance of any non-member must be approved in advance. AmCham reserves the right not to admit a non-member to any event without explanation.