Steve Smith Profile Picture

Keynote SpeakerSteve Smith

Britain's most succesful high-jumper

Recently voted the Academy of Chief Executives Speaker of the year, Steve Smith is one of the country’s best and most sought after motivational speakers. He has extensive experience of working with leading corporate organisations and elite level sport, in particular premier league football. Despite being considered too short to... Read More

Biography

Recently voted the Academy of Chief Executives Speaker of the year, Steve Smith is one of the country’s best and most sought after motivational speakers. He has extensive experience of working with leading corporate organisations and elite level sport, in particular premier league football.

Despite being considered too short to be a world class high jumper, he is still Britain’s most successful ever jumper having won a medal in every major championship including the Olympic Games and his British record has now stood untouched for an incredible 18 years.

 

Well known as an athlete who always delivered when it really mattered, his ability to respond to the pressure situation of an all or nothing third attempt was key to his success and gained him a reputation as one of the toughest mental competitors on the circuit.

 

Steve was the inspirational captain of the British team for the European Championships in 1998. His rousing team talk set the tone for Britain’s most successful ever championships. A ruptured Achilles tendon finished Steve’s career in 1999 at a time when he was the World number one and was seen by many as the favourite for the Sydney Olympics.

 

Since retirement he has gone on to be a successful restaurateur and a broadcaster for Sky, Channel 4 and the BBC.

"Steve Smith was on stage for about an hour and it completely flew by, he captured the audience attention completely and held it all the way through. The mixture of humour, Steve's personal story and the video clips made the presentation spot on for the audience. A lot of colleagues have said that this was the highlight of their day, and the best motivational speaker that they had heard. Steve's presentation came across as very fresh, passionate, full of energy and enthusiasm and ultimately inspirational. Exactly what we were looking for on the day. I have already recommended Steve to colleagues in Barclaycard." Barclaycard
"The feedback from the team at Boots after Steve spoke at our communications event was overwhelmingly positive. Steve is a very engaging speaker and has a fantastic ability to draw parallels between his experiences as a top class athlete and the challenges of the commercial world. He was able to inspire a diverse (and sometimes cynical!) cross-section of people with everybody coming away from the event feeling energised and motivated. I'm now looking at opportunities build on the fantastic success of this initial event." Boots - Head of Technical and Consumer Evaluation New Products
"Exceptional, inspirational, motivational ¡V never were such adjectives more true than in Steve¡'s case. His story did more to set a positive mood and create a real sense of excitement than any of our own internal presentations ever could." Linedata - Managing Director (North Europe)
Steve Smith gave a fantastic input to my staff training day. He was inspirational and even engaged with the most cynical of my staff! They were able to relate to the sporting context and compare their own work and personal motivation in a really interactive and positive way. We would have all been happy to ask questions all day! Metropolitan Police
"Steve's input has had a lasting effect on the morale and feeling of positivity amongst the staff and that was the main objective of the day ¡V they were buzzing the following day and were full of praise for his presentation." Inspector, Training and Development

Popular Talks by Steve Smith

  • Motivation