YIBC: The speakers rated

TheBusinessDesk.com’s David Parkin and Ian Briggs rate the speakers at the Yorkshire International Business Convention 2010:

Brian Blessed:

The miner’s son from Mexborough brought the house down with a performance which matched anything delivered on the stage throughout a glittering career.

After an unsure start, the 73-year-old’s boundless enthusiasm and energy, coupled with his trademark booming voice which recounted tales of inspiration from his life, had delegates captivated and thinking how they could take Blessed’s messages back into their workplaces.   

The reason why many delegates said YIBC 2010 had been one of the best ever.

Rating: Nine out of 10

Chris Hutcheson:

Hutcheson quipped that he had practised his speech to much acclaim earlier in the day in front of 300 seagulls at YIBC’s sister event in Bridlington.

But if Gordon Ramsay’s business partner and father-in-law delivered his sermon on customer service techniques in the same monotone manner as he did at the convention, it’s likely the seagulls will have flown away after five minutes to no doubt pursue more interesting activities.

There’s no question customer service, or the lack of it, is vital to any business but surely not vital enough for 40 minutes immediately following a long lunch at which  delegates no doubt quaffed a few glasses of wine.

What the audience wanted were tales of Gordon Ramsay’s rise to fame and famous temper from a man with intimate knowledge of both. What they got was an easy excuse for an afternoon snooze.   

Rating: Two out of 10

Rene Carayol:

Always a hit with delegates because of his passionate, no-nonsense approach, Carayol provided the serious but necessary take on how business leaders can emerge stronger from the recession.

Using the recent example of BP on how not to lead a company out of a crisis, Carayol’s enthusiasm and sound business advice saw delegates making copious notes to take back to the office and use in their own organisations.

Carayol insisted that there had to be more leadership, rather than management, during a recession and delegates no doubt took that lesson, among others, from this interesting, lively and informative speech.

Rating: Seven out of 10 

Michelle Mone:

The businesswoman tells an engaging story of her rags to riches rise from a Glasgow tenement via teenage modelling work to the creator of the Ultimo bra which she has turned into a £55m business.

Mone, who is not yet 40 has had a remarkable career and her speech was sprinkled with celebrity names she has worked with including Sir Richard Branson and Rod Stewart as well as Yorkshire-born former Spice Girl Mel B who has modelled Ultimo undies.

Rating: Eight out of 10

Peter Burkill:

His quick thinking under pressure saved the lives of 150 passengers and crew on a BA Boeing 777 plane which he crashed landed at Heathrow airport after it developed a fault.

Unfortunately he didn’t have the skills to communicate the story to the YIBC audience and stretched what could have taken 10 minutes into a half-hour speech which included many technical details and even what meal he had ordered on board.

He only caputured people’s attention at the end when he got quite emotional.

Rating: Four out of 10

Sir David Frost:

He was billed as having interviewed the last seven US presidents and the last seven UK prime ministers but his speech contained nothing of these experiences and was a disappointment.

Sir David opted instead to include quotable gaffes and stories which many may have read in the pages of Private Eye.

His anecdotes made mention of Edward Heath, George Brown and Gilbert Harding – men who were old even in the 1960s.

Only in the short question and answer session at the end did he reveal a little of his amazing career experiences such as the momentous interview with the disgraced Richard Nixon which was turned into a Hollywood film.

He finished his speech half-an-hour earlier than scheduled, leaving convention chief Mike Firth to sprint for the podium to bring the event to a close.

Rating:  Five out of 10

Were you at YIBC. Do you agree or disagree with our ratings? Please leave your comments below.