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Effective Speaking – What We Can Learn From Peter Mandelson, Both A Communicator And Public Speaking Expert And The Third Man

18th September, 2010 - Posted by health news - No Comments

Whatever you think of Peter Mandelson, there is no denying both the role he has played in shaping the Labour Party and politics in the UK over the last 15 years and his effective speaking and public speaking abilities. Lord Mandelson has recently published The Third Man, an account of time at the centre and the relationship between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

I went to see Peter at an event in London run by The Times newspaper and Foyles Bookshop at which his effective speaking abilities were very much in evidence The evening took the form of an interview on stage by Times columnist James Harding and, putting aside the politics, and even the personal issues covered, it was a Master Class in both how to have an audience eating out of your hand and in effective speaking.

When we want to know how to do something we no longer need to reinvent the wheel. We can simply role model an expert and in this case the expert at effective speaking and public speaking is Mandelson. What can we all learn from him regards effective speaking.

There are seven paths to effective speaking and it was clear to me that he followed all seven when addressing his audience. Here I’d like to concentrate on just two of these. Path 1 – Be well organised and Path 4 – Words and language

Here is how Peter addressed these two paths to effective speaking;

Path 1 – He was well prepared and knew his stuff.

Rather then jumping in to answer a question either from James Harding or from the audience, he paused for between 2 to 4 seconds, to give himself time to think and only then answered.

An interesting point regarding being well organized for an effective speaking event was this. The interviewer explained to the audience that their questions should not be speeches or statements and should be short and to the point. If he hadn’t done this the evening might have run over time or, sin of sins, it might have been boring. It all ended on time and was a lively and interesting experience.

Path 4 – He cleverly chose his words regarding his subject matter to appeal to his audience. A must for effective speaking.

In addition though he is clearly a thinker and highly intelligent he, maybe surprisingly, used language that was very easily understood rather than being difficult to follow.

Surprisingly he used self deprecating humour to good effect although he managed to make himself look good.

How someone can do this was one lesson that I took from seeing an effective speaking and public speaking expert operate.

To summarize, two things I’d like to highlight that we can learn from Peter Mandelson are these; first for really effective speaking when answering questions from the stage, or in a presentation, take your time, stay calm, and give yourself time to think and secondly, keep your words and language at a level that can be understood by all. If you do these two things you too can be an expert at effective speaking and public speaking.

Learn the Art of Effective Speaking – Secrets and Strategies of the Very Best Speakers in the World. Go to www.thespeakingwell.co.uk to find out more.