How proud we all are that Poland is MIPIM's “Guest of Honor” this year – now, the message that Poland was the only EU country to avoid recession, that it is a great place to invest – in real estate and in other sectors – and that it has a bright future, will all be heard loud and clear, right?

Well, only really if you speak Polish.

On Tuesday, Poland had the honor of co-opening the huge real estate event with a set of four talks that were to be a focus of the first day. The first was a speech by Rafał Baniak, undersecretary of state in the Economy Ministry, and the second a speech by Sławomir Majman, head of PAIiIZ. The third and fourth Poland-focused events were panel discussions, one which was moderated by myself, on Poland’s investment attractiveness.

The session I led was the only event of the four conducted completely in English.

Undersecretary Baniak’s speech – though full of positive economic data – failed to impress. Visibly sweating in front of the crowd of 200 or so, he droned on in a monotone Polish, only to look up from his notes once every few minutes. Mr Majman’s speech was more upbeat and entertaining. But after an introduction of two or three sentences in English, Mr Majman turned to the audience and asked: “Now, who here speaks Polish? Raise your hand.” After determining that the majority in the audience were Polish speakers, he continued for the rest of his speech in Polish.

Admittedly, there was a translator (who before the speeches was visibly upset, complaining to organizers that she had not received “a scrap” of preparation material from the undersecretary), so those who did not speak Polish could listen in on earphones.  But the prolific use of Polish seemed to turn away foreign-language speakers, with only a handful of foreign journalists staying on to watch the final panel. There was a palpable atmosphere of Poles speaking to Poles, for Poles.

The post-event cocktail was poorly attended – again, mostly by Poles.

All of this begs the question as to whether Poland is really making the most of the spotlight that has been cast upon it for MIPIM. It is an unprecedented opportunity – to showcase its potential to foreign investors not familiar to the market, not to brag to those who already know. The constant use of Polish comes off as standoffish, whereas English use might have generated more interest – and would have showcased Poland’s ability to use the most investor-friendly tool of all – speaking the world’s lingua franca.

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On a separate but related note, Poland’s city stands are impressive – large, modern set-ups with scale models of Euro 2012 stadiums, television displays and even bartenders. But there seem to be few new investors visiting. Just this morning, on a visit to the level just below where Gdańsk, Kraków, Poznań, Wrocław and Warsaw are located, I found a packed room of visitors flocking to the Moscow, Seoul, Frankfurt and Vienna stands. The Polish area upstairs was much emptier. The people who were there were hardly new to Poland as an investment destination. Most of the visitors were either speaking Polish, or recognizable to anyone in the market as those of businesspeople from Warsaw.

Whether this is due to the ubiquitous use of Polish at Poland-focused events is doubtful, but it’s hard to find another reason. Perhaps traffic will pick up in the days to come.