Here’s a simple — almost poetic — example of how a simple explanation can change people’s expectations.

Last Friday, as millions of Americans gathered around their television sets to watch the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics, there was one question on everyone’s mind: “How are the Canadians going to top what the Chinese did in Beijing in 2008?”The Beijing Opening Ceremony was a super-spectacular, eye popping extravaganza watched by 2 billion people. There were 15,000 performers and a budget of $100+ million vs. Vancouver’s paltry $25 to $30 million. Can you imagine what the guy tasked with creating the next Olympics’ opening ceremonies a mere two years later was feeling after Beijing? 

Apparently just fine. As Vancouver ceremony mastermind David Atkins told Today Show’s Matt Lauer on the Friday morning before the Big Event, when he saw the ceremonies in Beijing he actually felt relieved. Relieved, he said, because he intended his design to go “in a different direction.” It would be more “intimate,” “personal,” and “emotional.” 

He told viewers he wasn’t going to even attempt to out-do Beijing. That completely changed my expectations of the event, which, as promised, was beautiful and intimate and emotional (K. D. Lang’s rendition of “Hallelujah” is still playing in my head). By resetting expectations, Atkins totally diffused my “can you top this” outlook on the Opening Ceremonies. Maybe it was spin. Maybe it really was how he felt. But Atkins compelled viewers to see the event with a fresh perspective, on its own merits, without making comparisons to something he could never achieve.

I’m thinking he’d make any media trainer proud.