Peter Vidmar Speaker Biography
Olympic Gold Medal Gymnast and Motivational Expert
Peter Vidmar is the highest scoring American gymnast in Olympic history. The winner of numerous national and international titles, he finished his successful career at the 1984 Olympic Games.
Career Highlights
As the USA men’s gymnastics team captain, he led his teammates to America’s first ever team gold medal, with their stunning upset victory over the defending world champions, the People’s Republic of China. He went on to win the silver medal in the individual all-around competition (the first American to have won an Olympic All-Around medal), and with a perfect score of 10, captured the gold medal on the pommel horse.
Olympic Contributions
Peter continues to contribute to the Olympic movement today. He is the Chairman of the Board of USA Gymnastics, the national governing body of gymnastics in the United States; has served as the Co-Chairman of the US Olympic Committee Summer Sports Summit, an annual series of workshops designed to prepare America’s medal hopefuls to win gold in future Olympics; serves as a USOC Olympic Ambassador, helping to prepare all of America’s athletes on working with the media and to represent the United States with character and respect.
Post-Competitive Career
For many years, Peter has also worked as the gymnastics commentator for CBS Sports and ESPN. He continues to work as a journalist, broadcaster, and corporate spokesperson at each summer Olympics. Peter has served on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports & Nutrition; serves as the Vice Chair of the California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness & Sports; is the Vice President of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games;serves in his hometown as Vice President of the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation; and is Chair of the Los Angeles “Ready, Set, Gold!” Program.
Other Accolades
Peter is one of only three athletes inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame twice; first as an individual, then as a member of the historic 1984 USA men’s gymnastics team.
Book
He is also the author of Risk, Originality, and Virtuosity: The Keys to a Perfect 10.
Motivational Speaker
Peter is a powerful and entertaining speaker at corporate meetings and trade shows. With over two decades of experience for hundreds of corporations and professional associations, he has helped people throughout the country realize and fulfill their own potential. He does much more than just speak about his experiences. In his inspiring, humorous, and entertaining presentations, he also performs live demonstrations of his Olympic routine on the pommel horse, to drive home his message. He exhibits the three components of a perfect score in gymnastics – Risk, Originality and Virtuosity (ROV) – and discusses how these principles apply to success in business and life. Peter’s message brings something unique and refreshing to the corporate arena.
Peter Vidmar Speaking Topics
Motivation — ROV... Risk, Originality and Virtuosity
In his powerful keynote presentation, Peter converts Olympic Gold into corporate wisdom. With a live demonstration on the pommel horse, artfully blended into his speech, Peter uses the ROV principles to vividly describe requirements for a perfect 10 in business and in life. Audiences gain fresh perspectives on reaching higher levels of performance, using their creativity to separate them from the competition, and perfecting their needed skills on a daily basis. As Peter says, "If you want to be at your best when it really matters, you've got to be at your best every time." Humor, relevance to his audience, high energy, drama and standing ovations are all characteristic of this presentation.
Teamwork — Getting your Team on the Podium
Gymnastics, while a team sport, is based entirely on a collection of individual performances for it's outcome. At the Olympic Games, while he was competing with his teammates, Peter was simultaneously competing against them for individual medals. So how did these athletes work together on a daily basis for the benefit of the team? Using the ROV principles, Peter answers this important question, describing the tools he and his teammates applied, every day, to reach the top of the Olympic Podium, both as a team and as individuals.
Innovation — Pushing The Envelope
One of the reasons gymnastics is the most watched event of the Olympic Games is that the viewer can always expect something new and different from the athletes. Gymnasts are masters at pushing the envelope, as they constantly try to reinvent their athletic art form. Innovation also involves some risk, and Peter shows how the judging category of ROV: Risk, Originality, and Virtuosity, became a mandate for constant change in his sport. In describing how we need to stop playing catch up with the competition, Peter says, "A perfect 10 just a few years ago may only score an 8.5 today. If I don't innovate, I'll be left behind very quickly!"
Overcoming the Odds - World Class Performance in any Environment
You don’t need to tell Olympians that some things don’t always go according to plan. Every athlete has had to deal with setbacks and changing conditions. If organizations and individuals are going to thrive in any environment, they will need to take calculated risks, continually innovate, and take their products or service to entirely new levels of performance. This process never ends. Using his effective ROV principles, Peter vividly describes the lessons learned from setbacks and mistakes, how to fuel the creative process, and how to achieve world class performance, even when circumstances are less than desirable. Peter’s personal experiences, as well as those of recent Olympic athletes help to reinforce the message that with proper planning and focused drive, we can overcome hardships and achieve results that elevate us above the rest of our competitors.
Margins of Victory: There's No Silver in Sales
The Olympic experience serves as a great allegory for human aspirations. Scoreboards, stopwatches, measuring tapes, and concrete identifiable results make it easier to quantify the human experience and distinguish what works from what doesn’t. However, there is one important difference between the Olympic Games and the business world. When it comes to sales, there is no silver medal for second place. Either the customer purchases your product or service, or your competitor’s. Second place might as well be last place. And the decision to purchase from someone else may have been based on the smallest item or detail. So it is vital your sales team understands the value of the little extra effort, the critical importance of attention to details, and what this could mean to your company’s success. With over 25 years of experience presenting to the world’s top companies, double Olympic gold medalist Peter Vidmar will teach your sales force that if you want to achieve a “perfect 10” for the customer, you need to think, plan, and prepare like an Olympic champion. Why an Olympic champion? There were approximately 10,500 athletes at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and 302 gold medals were awarded. With approximately 6.675 billion people in the world, the odds of being an Olympic athlete are 636,000 to 1. But to win gold is an astounding 22 million to 1. Just like an Olympic gold medalist, you want your sales team to rise above the competition, no matter what the odds are.
Getting your Team on the Podium
Gymnastics is a team sport where the outcome is based entirely on a collection of individual performances. Asks Peter, "At the Olympic Games, while I am competing with my teammates, I am simultaneously competing against them for the individual medals. So how do we work together on a daily basis for the benefit of the team?" Using his ROV principles, Peter describes the tools his team needed to apply, every day, to reach the top of the Olympic Podium, as a team and as individuals.
Peter Vidmar Books
Risk, Originality & Virtuosity: The Keys to a Perfect 10
Purchase BookPeter Vidmar Videos
Peter Vidmar Speaker Testimonials
"Your keynote presentation was awesome! I received great feedback from our people. You impressed our organization with your passion and enthusiasm for something you believe in and how that determination created your success in the Olympics and beyond. Your presence made our meeting very, very special. Although you've been a perennial speaker at our Northwestern Mutual regional meetings, your message is timeless and is more powerful each time."
- | Northwestern Mutual Financial Network
"Your motivating and inspiring address on Risk, Originality, and Virtuosity contributed to tremendous results. We cannot tell you how many times we heard our partners say that this was the single best industry event they had ever attended. And many of them shared that your performance was a highlight for them — energizing, relevant, and completely engrossing. The experiences you bring as an Olympian and your ability to clearly communicate principles to achieving excellence is truly inspiring regardless of your industry or focus. We look forward to working with you in the future."
- | Intuit Master Builder
"I've worked with many professional speakers during the past 15 years, but never has one been so concerned about his clients as Peter Vidmar was."
- | Sprint
Peter could not have done a better job closing out our series of events. His insights, anecdotes, wisdom and wit will long resonate with my colleagues."
- | Disney
