Page 8 - 2019 March Voices

COVER STORY

What is your favorite Toastmaster

experience?

I don’t know what to do with the category
“favorite.” As I thought of an answer, labels
such as “exhilarating,” “touching,” and
“meaningful” came to mind. The one I

most often talk about is in the category of
“exhilarating.” It occurred on Saturday,
August 17, 1992, in Las Vegas, Nevada, when
the contest chair announced the 1992 World

Champion of Public Speaking.

How has Toastmasters impacted your life? What is your greatest lesson learned on the

road to World Champion of Public Speaking?
The impact on my life of my membership in
Toastmasters is immeasurable. I can offer what I The objective for participating in the contest

know, but the unknown wraps around the globe. should not be about winning. It should be about
People now laugh during my presentations. giving something of value to the audience and
(Some may also laugh at my presentations.) I won having fun doing so.
the World Championship of Public Speaking in
1992. I now earn money speaking. I developed Is there something you know now that you

the confidence to write and publish my thoughts; wish you knew then?
I’ve been selling my books and recorded speeches
for nearly twenty-two years. I have mentored No. What I know now emerged from what I

others in public speaking—individuals from learned then. ‘Then’ had to come first.
elementary schools to corporate boardrooms.
My mentoring has helped high school students Why did you become a professional speaker?

earn over $100,000 in cash and scholarships
from participation in speech contests. I have had My decision to speak professional was

the chance to speak to and befriend people from suggested by a well wisher (whose identity I don’t
nine countries. I have unquestionable evidence know) who congratulated me for winning the
that my life has made a meaningful difference regional contest in 1991. She asserted that people
in the lives of others. I doubt that I would have would pay hundreds of dollars to hear someone

done any of this if I had limited myself to my like me speak. It wasn’t that I wanted the money;
comfortable, prestigious civil service job with it was the indication that people found value in
the State of California. what I had to say.

8 ONE COMMUNITY