Profanity? Know Your Audience!

I'm trying something a little different this semester in my Oral Communications class at Wayne State University.  Students are being asked to attend public speaking events on or around campus so that they can learn from presenters with various communication styles.   Mort Meisner of Mort Meisner Associates was speaking on campus to students majoring in Public Relations and so I alerted my students about this opportunity.  I was even lucky enough to be able to attend his presentation myself.

Mort is a real pro when it comes to delivering presentations.  He is dynamic, conversational and a natural story teller.  He encouraged questions throughout his talk and handled them with skill and honesty.

His message was direct:  be persistent in forging relationships with people in the industry.  He cautioned the students that they needed to be ready to go to any lengths to meet people and ask for career assistance.  He advised them to "do everything but stalk, or else you are being lazy."

Mort has a direct, flamboyant and colorful manner of presenting.  But he didn't use profanity in his colorful stories.  At least not until he did one thing first.

At the most dramatic part of one of his many stories, Mort stopped and asked the audience of college students a question.  He asked if they were bothered by profanity.  Nobody was.  But then Mort asked the audience that question a second time - wanting to make sure that nobody would be offended by the words he was about to say.

Knowing his audience, Mort probably guessed nobody would object.  Profanity is much more prevalent in society today than when I was an undergraduate.  But kudos to him for checking - not once, but twice - before continuing on with the story.

Was the profanity absolutely necessary to understanding the message?  Probably not.  But it did convey to the audience that he was passionate about helping those who are just starting out in the field.  The use of profanity was deliberate and appropriate.  It never hurts to ask first.