Is it okay to include a risque element within a speech if it beautifully illustrates a point?
I took a chance and delivered a risque speech in Zoom rated “R,” or at least a strong “PG.” I couldn’t resist because the “blue” joke illustrated perfectly an aspect of my speech about miscommunication.
Toastmasters
In Toastmasters, there is a myth that there are three topics never to be discussed in Toastmaster meetings:
Politics, sex, and religion.
However, I recently learned that it is not true. It is up to a Toastmaster CLUB to decide which topics to ban from their meetings. In this particular meeting – a dinner club meeting on a Saturday night – I felt relatively safe with the examples I planned to illustrate my points.
I wrote in my introduction that the speech was rated “R,” – so my Zoom audience was forewarned. My talk included visuals – a big stretch for me to share my screen in Zoom. That in addition to the risky risque joke made me a tad bit apprehensive.
I would love to share the video of my talk, But I cannot. It was taped in Zoom’s “gallery view.” That means the face of everyone listening shows. I know of a few who would not want a video of their face listening to a risque joke plastered all over the internet. So, I stripped the visual and kept the audio in the video. You can hear the talk, but not see it. My visuals- all text-based – I show in this post below. Here we go:
The Three “A’s” of Miscommunication
The title of my talk is, ” Three “A’s” of Miscommunication.” They are assumptions, abbreviations, and acronyms.
ASSUMPTIONS
So for the first “A” of miscommunication, Assumptions, I shared my risque joke. The punch line involves Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton. You can listen to the joke in the audio-video. I won’t spell it out here. If you do listen, you will appreciate how beautifully it illustrates my point about the problem with making assumptions.
ABBREVIATIONS
The second “A” of miscommunication is Abbreviations. I once abbreviated a confirmation of a breakfast date set the following morning with my technically-challenged brother. It was received with great confusion and alarm. The abbreviated confirmation looked like this:
“‘K. C U N AM. TX”
My brother had no idea what I was trying to say. “WHAT?” he responded with alarm. “Are you having a stroke? Is your computer having a stroke? And what the hell does Texas have to do with anything?” Ooops. There is that pesky abbreviation problem! So I spelled it out:
“Okay. I will see you in the morning. Thanks.”
ACRONYMS
The third “A” of miscommunication is Acronyms. In this illustrating story, a share of how a friend asked to meet me at a Starbucks in Thousand Oaks. She wrote,
“The Starbucks is across the street from the World Trust Foundation building.”
Not familiar with Thousand Oaks, and certainly not the World Trust Foundation building, in our chat I typed,
“WTF?”
Again. TMy response was met with alarm. That’s when I remembered that acronyms are problematic. – so I spelled out
“Where is the World Trust Foundation building?”
The Reception
There was a great deal of laughter in response to my illustrations. (Most were muted, so you don’t hear the laughter. However, I could see them smiling and laughing in the video. Many felt my illustrations clearly demonstrated the challenge with those pesky three “A’s” of miscommunication.
However, one person emailed me privately and shamed me. But only one person.
Just FYI and another important thing to consider about quotes
The quote I repeat several times in the talk is a paraphrase of Bernard Shaw’s famous quote. His quote is, “ The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” My rendition of it is, “The greatest problem of communication is the illusion it has taken place.” Someone said I should indicate the source of my quotes. I explained that my quote is different from Bernard Shaw’s. But I realized that in the future I should probably clarify when I am paraphrasing a famous quote to avoid confusion or judgment.
The speech
Anyhow, here it is an AUDIO ONLY video of “The Three “A’s” of Miscommunication.” Enjoy!
