Town Square C was filled to capacity on April 23 when a panel of BCIT alumni spoke about their experiences regarding communication in the workplace. Organized by the Communication Department’s Curriculum Committee, alumni Jarell Alvarez, Taryn Antalek, Bryant Lee, and Jeet Sivia shared the various tools they use to communicate with their work teams, their superiors, and their clients. (Two of the alumni, Jarell and Jeet, also teach at BCIT.)
The panel answered questions about what defines excellent communication skills, and what kinds of interpersonal skills they value in their current positions. They explained why different tools work better in different situations, and how they modify their tone and style of communicating depending on the relationship they have with the people to whom they are texting, talking, or presenting.
We learned that one organization relies heavily on Zoom for its internal meetings for the benefit of a team member who is deaf, because Zoom’s AI-generated transcript is remarkably accurate. We also learned that memos are not completely archaic—the format may have changed, but entities like municipal governments still uses memos to communicate with construction companies.
The panel talked briefly about how Covid-19 has changed workplace communication and what they did to accommodate those changes, particularly the shift to video calls. They stressed that networking is still one of the most fundamental communication skills and it’s important to make face-to-face connections, which can’t be done with the camera turned off during video meetings.
AI was a running theme throughout the presentation. While every member of the panel said it is a useful tool and had lots of examples of how AI helps them work better and faster, they all agreed that it is not a replacement for human creativity.
Food for Thought sessions are hosted by BCIT Library and the Learning and Teaching Centre throughout the academic year, and are opportunities for faculty and staff to showcase research, learning and teaching practice, student support services, and innovation at BCIT. The sessions are hosted on Teams and in-person at the Library Summit Centre (where a light lunch is provided). A calendar of upcoming sessions and recordings of previous sessions are available on the Library Food for Thought SharePoint page.
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