Lord Peter Mandelson – The Third Man – Effective Speaking – Lessons to be learned from a Master Communicator
Hi – Whatever you think of Peter Mandelson, there is no denying the role he played in shaping the Labour Party and politics in the UK over the last 15 years.
Peter is a Master communicator with clear abilities in effective speaking and communication fully commensurate with the positions and roles that he undertook. As you can see below I went to see him speak.
Mandelson has just published his memoirs in his book The Third Man and not surprisingly they have created some controversy.
The book is described as Mandelson’s; “personal story of a life played out in the backroom, and then on the frontline, of the Labour party.”
I went to see Peter Mandelson at an event in London run by The Times newspaper and Foyles which took the form of an interview on stage by Times columnist James Harding.
Putting aside the politics, and even the personal issues covered, it was a MasterClass in how to have an audience eating out of your hand and contained lessons in speaking and communication for us all.
It is said that when you want to know how to do something you simply need to find someone who is good at it and role model or copy them.
So what did Peter do, how did he do it, and what can you learn from him regarding speaking to an audience and dealing with interviewer and audience questions?
The Speaking Well advocates 7 paths to Speaking Well and all 7 of these paths where strongly in evidence as Peter answered James’s questions and those of the audience.
Here is how Peter addressed 2 of the 7 Paths to Speaking Well, Path 5 (Body & Movement) and Path 7 (Did you Communicate?).
Path 5 - His chair was facing the left hand side of the audience which would have made it easy for him to just focus on this half of the audience. However, he took time to deliberately look to the right side of the audience, often holding his gaze there.
Audiences are more responsive to, and have a tendency believe someone who connects with them using eye contact, which is part of The Speaking Well’s ‘Body & Movement’ Path. Peter clearly connected with all sides of the audience.
Peter also has the knack of making it seem that he is looking directly at you, therefore drawing you in to what he is saying. I’ve only seen this on a few occasions before and was quite an achievement with an audience that numbered in the many hundreds.
Path 7 – So, did Peter communicate?
To put this same question in another way;
Did the audience understand his message and get his point?
I think most people there would have been more sympathetic to his views after listening to him speak but there was something else as well, something really, really, really, really important. Look I’ve used four ‘reallys’, so you know this point must be important.
Peter established a need in the audience that would only be satisfied if they knew more about what was going on behind the scenes of British politics, if they were privy to the inside story, so to speak.
This need would only be fulfilled when you read and of course bought his book.
The lesson is that as a speaker you can establish a need, a want, and a desire in your audience that they then have a deep wish to fulfil. If you then explain to your audience how it is you that can fulfil that need they will be eating out of your hand.
So, yes definitely, Peter communicated and got his points across very well and this all this leads to another question for you!
You need to be a better more confident and effective speaker and communicator, but how?
You need to use all 7 Paths to Speaking Well to be truely good at effective speaking and presenting.
It’s simple to do this; just join us at The Speaking Well, and we will show you how you can become a great and confident speaker .
Hey, I’ve built the need and told you how I can make it happen for you. May be I also learned something from Peter Mandelson.
Speak to you soon;
Alan McMahon
