However, there was one omission that I would include in the list and that would be the Pyeongchang Olympic bid team who presented in Durban, South Africa last July.
These guys were outstanding and their communication was brilliant. It would be great to see more Korean people effectively communicating globally in 2012, and I hope that I will be able to help this wonderful country (South Korea) to be a nation of global communicators.
We are pleased to welcome back Carl Pullein, presentations expert and trainer to many large companies here in Korea. We originally were planning to have a 15 minute interview, but Carl was so good that we talked for almost 30 minutes! So we decided to separate his interview into two parts.
The main reason we were going to do this interview was to get Carl’s opinion on the recent presentations given by Korea during the Winter Olympic bidding process. In particular, we wanted Carl’s opinion on Korean President Myung-Bak Lee and Olympic figure skating champion Yuna Kim’s presentations.
Koreans around the world were, I’m sure, very curious how good President Lee would be giving an English presentation and Koreans were likely equally curious how good their favourite daughter, Yuna Kim, would be. It would be one of the first opportunities to hear Yuna speak at length in English, so people were really excited.
Anyway, Carl Pullein gave us some great insights and presentation tips and we’re sure you will find his interview interesting and educational… Maybe even fun, as Liam and I are in this one together. Enjoy and let us know what you think and if you have any questions.
As everyone now knows, Pyeongchang, South Korea won the bid to hold the 2018 Winter Olympics. In order to win the final vote all candidate cities had to deliver a final presentation.
For South Korea two people stood out for me: President Lee Myung Park (이명박) and Olympic Champion Skater Yuna Kim (김연아) and I want to take this opportunity to show you why these two people really helped to put Pyeongchang at the top of the voting list.
First let us take a look at President Lee Myung Park’s presentation.
President Lee had a shaky start, he was nervous and he started out speaking a little too fast. But after about 45 seconds you can see he is into a nice rhythm and his speech has slowed down.
The words he used were wonderfully inspirational and he tells the story of South Korea’s first entry into the Winter Olympics with three skaters and one coach. The story is wonderfully inspiring and really gets your attention.
His body language is perfect for such an important presentation. His eyes are on his audience and he is looking around at the whole audience not just a few in the middle. He is smiling (almost) and you can’t help but be charmed by this speech.
I accept his pronunciation is not perfect, but once he had slowed down, his words were clear and very easy to follow.
“During a 17-hour flight from Seoul, Lee said he practiced his English-language presentation so diligently his throat ached. From Sunday through Tuesday, Lee attended two dress rehearsals for the presentation and “sliced up his 24 hours” to meet as many IOC members as possible”
It really does take that kind of dedication and determination to achieve something like this and I take my hat off to President Lee Myung Park
Now, let us take a look at Yuna Kim’s presentation.
Yuna Kim’s English is very good. Her pronunciation and confidence when speaking here really comes across. She looks relaxed even though she really must have been nervous and she is smiling, looking at the audience and her natural charisma, charm and showmanship really comes through.
One of the best things about this presentation is the way she tells her story, how it inspired her, and how it can inspire future generations. She uses images from her own life to make the presentation much more personal and to touch the emotions of the IOC members. It worked and was truly inspiring to anyone who watching and listening to it.
If I have any criticism at all about her presentation is was that it sounded just a little too well prepared. There were no “umm’s” or “errr’s” which could have helped to make it sound a little more natural. But that maybe just me being a little too critical.
I know the final presentation was not about just these two people, but these two people really shone in my eyes. All the presenters for the Pyeongchang bid were excellent. They spoke in English and they clearly practiced very well. It is something that all Korean people can be very proud of.
It really does show that stories in presentations can help you to achieve great things, in this case winning an Olympic bid, but they can also help you and your company to achieve great things also. Make the stories personal – like Yuna Kim – or about your company (or country like President Lee) but make sure you put those stories into your presentation.
Always remember to smile, look at your audience (not bury your head into your notes or script), make your audience love you and if it really means a lot to you, practice like you have never practiced before.
Congratulations to everyone involved in the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic bid, you were great.
