Three Kings CLub

I interviewed The Three Kings of Toastmasters, Kevin, Steve and Phil. The Bishop, Father Ted, of 30 years faithful service, was not in attendance.

I asked similar questions of the Three Kings, but received very diverse answers.

Steve, 25 year veteran, had visited two other Toastmaster Clubs before settling with Three Kings. After the death of his father, he sought to develop his personal and professional strengths and abilities. He discovered that it was enjoyable and profitable to belong to Toastmasters, and he quickly saw the benefits to his professional life in relating to others at work, both in large groups, and with one-to-one. The formality of the Toastmaster Business session was useful as he used agendas and spoke on the behalf of others in his workplace.

Phil, the youngest veteran of 16 years, had sought out public speaking as a skill he wanted to develop. As a lover of ideas, Phil saw that many people he conversed with lacked the confidence to broach their ideas in a more public realm, and he wanted to be able to develop his own skills in a warm, accepting environment, as well as encouraging other shy people to express themselves. Phil has appreciated how being a member of Toastmasters encourages thoughtful listening, and developing personal learning through watching the growth in others.

Kevin has been with Three Kings for 20 years, but also belonged to another club for 12 years, as well as co-founding three other clubs. He remembers his first attempt at public speaking, at age 10, when he stood unprepared before the school in place of another. He was a stutterer, and had no confidence in front of others. Years later, invited to Toastmasters, he sat at the back, took up the challenge to give a 90 second Table Topic, and continued on for 8 minutes! He was shaking, stuttering, petrified and perspiring! But he did it. After a devastating evaluation, he thought, “I can learn from this,” and has been back ever since.

“Why do you all come back?” I asked. Two words sum it all up: input and output. All Three Kings spoke about continually learning, growing, developing. And all Three spoke fulsomely of the joy it gave them to see others develop in confidence, skill and eloquence. Intellectual stimulation played a part: “Better than TV, and even better than reading. Like being part of a novel which leads who knows where?” said Kevin.

Highlights mentioned by two of the Kings were: to help in the development of a speaker, who had competed at the International Contest and won First Place. As well as being Kings, the Three had all enjoyed playing their part as Club President and filling other Offices. They had achieved different experiences within Toastmasters, from repeating Competent Communicator Manuals, through to Kevin holding all Offices, being Area Governor, District Public Relations Officer, and currently District Education Ambassador, a newly created position. Kevin has won National Toastmaster of the Year four times, as well as many times within the club.

What next? These Three Kings will not abdicate. Steve wants to keep on encouraging others by improving on his evaluations, Phil will keep on developing his ideas and testing them in his speeches, and Kevin, who went to 35 countries and 45 cities to speak to princes and paupers, will continue to set new goals and encourage others to join him in his outworking of the Toastmaster legacy of 90 years – to help people to speak and lead effectively.