Socially Entertaining Media

One of my favorite moments last week was XM Sirius radio talk show host Gayle King's admission that she needed help from her listeners, as she didn't understand Gov. Sarah Palin's farewell speech.  She was trying to figure out the major points in the rambling speech.  Her confusion was genuine and amusing at the same time.  It definitely took a village to explain the speech, which is the sign of bad communications in general. We coach speakers all the time to plan up-front what messages they want to convey and then employ a good editor to make sure their presentation clearly delivers and backs up those messages.  It's probable that this speech tried to convey too many messages and missed the necessary editing step that could have made it clearer to all of its audiences. 

However, the brave new world of social media has turned the confusing speech into an art form.   Television talk show host Conan O'Brien said he's figured out why Governor Palin's speeches are confusing.  They are meant to be poems. To prove his point, he asked one of my favorites, William Shatner, to demonstrate.  With a background of bongos, Shatner recited segments from the farewell speech. 

He followed this up last night on the Tonight Show by reading the Governor's tweets as poetry.  Now that's an entertaining and original use of social media -- but, corporate speakers, please don't try this at home, unless you have William Shatner on retainer.