[019] The First Kiwi

Kiwi is New Zealand's national bird and New Zealanders' nickname for themselves. On 27th February, I delivered a speech titled "The First Kiwi" at the Auckland Advanced Toastmasters Club, paying tribute to my mentor Kingsley Moody. Kingsley was the first Kiwi I met and was revered by many as the father of New Zealand's Toastmasters. He passed away in Auckland in November 2020.

Toastmasters International is a 98-year-old global non-profit organization that helps people improve their presentation skills, communicate leadership, and increase self-confidence. It has more than 15,000 clubs in 149 countries around the world. Since I joined in 2010, my membership experience in the past 12 years has brought me a lot of training and growth. I successfully completed my career transition from a middle and senior manager to a business communication trainer and life coach. The environment of Toastmasters is conducive for growth. In addition to its learning and growth system, there are also role models around the members. Kingsley is the one I admire most. I first met Kingsley in January 2013. He attended the Asia Pacific Leadership Summit in Beijing as a senior leader of Toastmasters New Zealand. I had been with Toastmasters for over two years at the time, and I was fond of photography and volunteered to take pictures for the conference. Because I was thinking of migrating to New Zealand, getting to know someone from New Zealand was lovely, so I met Kingsley. I felt his humility only after talking with him briefly.

I migrated to New Zealand a year later with my wife and daughter. I visited the Toastmasters club nearby, hoping to find one to transfer my membership from China to New Zealand. On a Tuesday night, I went to the Albany Toastmasters Club. When I spoke on the stage, I saw a familiar face in the audience. I was still wondering if it's a passenger on the same plane, the man said, we met at the Toastmasters conference in Beijing. That was Kingsley! I can't believe it was such a coincidence to see him again at my first Toastmasters club visit in New Zealand! At noon the next day, I visited another nearby club called One Hour Toastmasters club. Again, Kingsley was there at the meeting. Gradually I learned that seeing Kingsley on two days at Toastmasters events is way too common. He has been with Toastmasters for over 20 years, and between 2014-2015 he was also the top leader of Toastmasters New Zealand. He was a member of many clubs and spent almost all of his time supporting the growth of each club. Even at the time of his death, he was a member of 9 clubs and worked as an officer in each of them. After transferring my membership, I was involved more deeply in the Toastmasters activities in New Zealand. I have successively held positions such as club officer, Area Director and Division Director, so I have more opportunities to work with Kingsley and sometimes even meet several times a week. The more I get to know him, the more I can appreciate his special character. What I admire the most is his extreme humbleness. Arranging the Chairs Kingsley's humble character can be seen in the little things, such as setting up the venue. Most Toastmasters events require seating before the meeting. Although clubs usually have a particular person in charge of this matter, everyone generally joins hands to do it. Kingsley is always willing to help. Every time I go to an event, in most cases, Kingsley arrives early, and you'll be assured to see him helping with the seating. He used to be the highest-ranking official of the Toastmasters in New Zealand, and he is already 70 years old. He could have commanded or ordered like other elderly people, but the appearance of his chairs is really hard work to outsiders. He was not pretending. A person's character can be reflected in such inconspicuous things as placing a seat. Duty on Booth At the Auckland Career Fair in 2016, New Zealand's Toastmasters Region applied for a booth to let more job seekers understand the benefits of joining Toastmasters. In fact, in my career, there are too many opportunities to give oral presentations. If you can get lasting training in Toastmasters, it will greatly improve your confidence in communication and help your career development.

As a Toastmasters activist, I also signed up for duty at the time. After arriving at the venue, it was no surprise to see Kingsley there, busy arranging the booth. Being Roasted In 2015-2016, I served as the Area Director to support five clubs. Kingsley is a member of a club in my Area (Academic Toastmasters club). I was visiting the club just before I left office and there was a vacant slot in their meeting and they asked if I could give a speech. For me, preparing a speech generally takes days, at the minimum, but I decided to give it a go. I asked them for an Advanced Manual (the speech projects in Toastmasters are all based on a certain study manual), and chose one project: The Roast. In the next half hour, I made some preparations and went on stage, delivered a roast speech titled "Kingsley has No Life", which means that Kingsley does not have his own "normal" life. It's been a few years and I still remember three of my points: First, Kingsley has nothing else to do (all the time at Toastmasters events). Second, Kingsley has no other friends (his friends are all Toastmasters). Third, Kingsley wears nothing else (I see him always in a suit with the Toastmasters badge...). Kingsley sat in the audience and listened, with his iconic smile on his face. I think one of the main reasons why I was able to successfully complete the Roast speech project was that I was very relieved to know that Kingsley would never be offended by my roast, he was so easy-going and humble. Installing a Billboard In July 2018, I started taking the Division Director for Auckland Toastmasters. I was more or less OK at supporting the club's activities, but I had a hard time with things like installing billboards. In the past, I used to advertise club activities in China, but at most, it's a larger poster, I can stick to the door of the building. I have never installed billboards at the side of the main road, let alone in New Zealand. Who am I going to ask for help? Of course, it was Kingsley, who was my official mentor at the time. After the request was made, he agreed as always. We made an appointment to meet at a date and place. I arrived at the place first, and after looking for a long time, I found a parking lot nearby. He just arrived at this time, and I saw him make a beautiful sharp U-turn, and immediately drove the car onto the curb and parked on the grass. It wasn't the same Kingsley I saw on the stage. The trunk was opened, and there were billboards, iron posts, and some tools stacked in the car. The orange iron stuff caught my attention. Kingsley said it was the most important tool he had to install the billboards. This is an iron pipe, one end is blocked, the other end is open, and two very thick handles are welded on the outside. As he spoke, he demonstrated it for me. It turned out that as long as you hold the tool with both hands, even if you operate it alone, you can smash the iron post into the ground, little by little. No wonder he didn't put a ladder in his car, otherwise, he really needed to step on the ladder, and need two people to cooperate to smash the iron post into the ground with a sledgehammer.

Kingsley is really an all-rounder, not only a good speaker but also a handyman! Helping to the Best At the end of 2018, I started forming a new Toastmasters club at my daughter's school. To charter the club, I need 20 members. When we recruited 19 people and we were one last person, a prospect appeared. Her name is Kitty, and she was a member of the nearby Massey University Club many years ago before taking a long break. According to Toastmasters regulations, former members can be reinstated without payment new member fee. If I can help find her previous membership number, she'll save $20 and have a better chance of joining us. I thought at the time, I didn't know anyone at the International Headquarters, so I might as well ask Kingsley first. I know Kingsley used to be a member of the Massey University club, maybe he still keeps the record. I didn't want to bother him with such trivial matters. After all, he was the highest-ranking leader of Toastmasters in New Zealand, and he was swamped. But I asked anyway, and he took the trouble to get my request and quickly helped me find the information I needed. I think he must have searched the previous database. He is such a person who always tries his best to meet the needs of others. With the 20th founding members, the Toastmasters at Kristin club we plan to establish was officially chartered on 6th June 2019. Encouraging Taking Responsibility After the Kristin Club was established, Kingsley still came to our events from time to time. At the Christmas event in 2019, when he learned that our Vice President Membership was still vacant and that I had worked hard as the founding president of the club for a long time and could not persuade anyone to take the position, Kingsley got up on the spot and introduced the role to the members. He expressed the importance of this role to the development of the club, as well as the training that can be obtained from it encouraging the members to take it up. At this time, a miracle happened. A member was inspired by Kingsley and bravely volunteered to accept the challenge. After voting on the spot, she became the first VP Membership of our club. After training and growing up, she is now the president of our club in for 2021 to 2022, and her enthusiasm infects every member of the club. She is Kitty, the 20th founding member who I asked Kingsley to help find membership information.

Provoking for Growth As my mentor, Kingsley would meet and talk to me regularly. I remember that day in a McDonald's, we ordered snacks and drinks, and I started pouring bitter water after seated. It was the early days of the Kristin Club, and most of the members were still unfamiliar with the Toastmasters club operation. Many times I felt uneasy and worried about a lot of things. But I have to travel to China, during which the speech contests take place. I was worried that the club's speech contest would not be organized because of my absence. Hearing my concerns, Kingsley asked me, what can you do to allow the club to hold contests even when you are not there? This sentence enlightened me and shifted my attention suddenly from worrying to the possibilities to how to help new members familiarize themselves with the process as soon as possible and take up the role of organizing the contests. Looking back now, this question from Kingsley helped me grow. Not only did the club's competitions go well without my presence, but it also accelerated the growth of new members of the club. Supporting When Needed In March 2019, Kingsley helped me host a speech contest during an emergency. At the time I was the Division Director supporting activities for 20 clubs in five Areas. In one competition season, the competition in Area A was well organized, with many contestants participating, with all the judges and officials; while Area E was facing difficulties, no one signed up for the competition, and there were not many people to support. Kingsley and I were both supporting at the Area A competition one day. I received phone call from Area E Director, saying that there might be a person in his Area could compete, and asked if we could use the supporting team in Area A. I have obtained the consent of the Area A Director, and the judges, timekeepers, etc. can all be reused. But there is also a lack of a Contest Chair. Of course, I know that asking for support requires early notice, which is etiquette. Who can I ask in such an emergency? Hesitantly, I asked Kingsley if he was OK to help: If this contestant show up on the day, can you be the Table Topic contest Chair for me? Kingsley didn't even have any hesitation and agreed immediately. What makes me gratified is that the only contestant did show up. Kingsley presided the contest seamlessly, so Area E had at least one contest held in that season. (According to the Toastmasters competition rules, even if only one person participates, the competition needs to be held, and only after so, the winner can enter the next high-level competition.) Inspiring Forever On the afternoon of 5th December 2020, Kingsley's memorial service was held in the Glenfield War Memorial Hall, where he often attended Toastmasters events. The memorial service was packed with people. Pre-arranged speeches followed one another, recalling their memories with Kingsley and confiding their thoughts on Kingsley. There were speeches that left the audience with hilarious reminiscences of their time with Kingsley, and speeches that were poignant. I sent an email to the organizing committee in advance to apply to speak, but maybe because of the large number of people who asked, I didn't get the chance to speak at Kingsley's Memorial Service.

On the day of the memorial service, I brought the camera I used to take pictures when I first met Kingsley, and once again volunteered as a photographer. Saying farewell to him using the way I first met him was a special arrangement. He is no longer in the photo, only his portrait.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to deliver a speech paying tribute to Kingsley at the Auckland Advanced Toastmasters Club. This club was also one of Kingsley's former clubs. My presentation reminded them of the time they had together with Kingsley, it resonated and reminisced. Kingsley, the first Kiwi I knew, I admired and missed! In the more than seven years since I first met him, I have had the opportunity as an apprentice to be inspired by his guidance and feel his words and deeds. There is nothing earth-shattering that emerges from the memories and his past, but the humility that he naturally reveals in those small bits and pieces makes me admire him even more. Although Kingsley is gone, his character will continue to influence and inspire me.