- After Dinner Speakers
Topics:
- Leadership
- Motivation & Teamwork
- Sport
Graham Poll
Graham Poll is an excellent after dinner speaker combining his sporting experiences with his experiences of the sales world, producing a humorous and insightful view of the importance of motivation, teamwork and leadership.
Infamous Ref
Graham is the most well known and most experienced English football referee of all time. Whilst his achievements are considerable, including the last FA Cup Final at Wembley stadium in 2000 and the first referee to reach the milestone of refereeing 300 Premier League matches he will always be remembered for issuing one player with 3 yellow cards at a World Cup match during the 2006 final competition in Germany 2006.
Life Outside the Game
Educated at Alleyne’s School in Stevenage, Poll achieved 8 GCE O level passes and 2 A level passes in Mathematics and English. Motivated to achieve at the earliest possible age, Poll left education to follow a highly successful sales career in the FMCG marketplace after learning the principles of selling in the business to business world of office equipment with Canon UK Ltd.
An excellent communicator and presenter, he quickly progressed to first and then second line management and for 7 years oversaw a rapidly expanding direct sales force at Coty UK alongside his refereeing career. Forced to leave full time employment in 1999 due to his dedication to achieving world recognition in football, Poll started his own business with another ex- sales director from Hays and fellow International referee, Graham Barber. Together they developed an internet site which they negotiated the sale of for £1.5m in 2001 before becoming a full time professional referee.
