International Public Speaking Competition alumnus and Hong Kong native Christian Suen tells us about the unexpected benefits of taking part
How did you get involved with the ESU’s Public Speaking Competition?
I started doing public speaking in my first or second year of secondary school. In my fifth year, I joined the Hong Kong team and later took part in a competition with the Hong Kong Federation Youth Group, where the winner gets to represent Hong Kong in the ESU’s IPSC in London. That same year, I also did the 21st Century Cup competition in China, which I also won, and so I was given the option of whether I wanted to represent China or Hong Kong. I chose Hong Kong and came to London in 2019 but unfortunately didn’t make it into the grand finals.
What stood out about the competition for you?
The whole thing was very cool. I remember we had to give our speeches in a very grand, historic building [the ESU’s Dartmouth House] and we went on lots of activities too. The mentors – who, as university students, seemed so mature to us back then, though I now realise they were only a couple of years older than us – were really good, too. I definitely learned a lot from them. But I think the main thing was just getting to know people from so many different countries. Not many people can say that they have a friend from Estonia or from Mauritius. Everyone had such interesting backgrounds in terms of culture, obviously, but also in terms of where they were in life and what they wanted to do after school. We still follow each other on Instagram and are in touch on a group chat, and I’ve even met up with a couple of participants in their home countries, which has been great.
What did you get out of it in terms of skills?
Hong Kong places a great deal of importance on extra-curricular activities, but to me, public speaking is more of a life skill than an extra-curricular. You’re really just learning how to better communicate and deliver your ideas, though it certainly helps with research skills and analytical thinking too. As I’ve progressed in my career (a degree at Cambridge followed by posts at McKinsey and now at Mandarin Oriental), I’ve found there are times when you do need to do little bits of public speaking here and there, so having this experience has been really helpful.
The IPSC was also really good for helping me to learn networking skills, if that’s the right word. Life is full of situations where you are thrown together with others, whom you don’t know, for a similar purpose. Working out how to break the ice, how to socialise and get to know people has been a skill that I learned at the IPSC and which has been hugely beneficial to me in adult life.
