The Art of Oratory - Interview with Pokeno Toastmasters Mentor Mike Diggins.

Members of Toastmasters come from all walks of life, all nationalities, cultures, and age groups. They are among the most stimulating interesting people I've ever met. I've been a Toastmaster for 10 years now and am very grateful for the multitudes of Toastmasters who have encouraged my personal journey, and the mentors who guided me to start a Toastmasters club to service the North Waikato region.

One such guiding light is Mike Diggins, Pokeno Toastmasters mentor, who was the first person who advised me to open a local club. People ask me all the time what Toastmasters is about, why I joined, and what I hoped to achieve by joining. I thought the best way to answer these questions was to interview members so they could share their Toastmasters story. Here is Mikes interview.

If you ever have the privilege to hear Mike speak, you'll know how entertaining, elegant, eloquent, and articulate he can be. Mike is magical. I've never met anyone quite like him. I can honestly say meeting Mike changed my life. Pokeno Toastmasters is privileged to have 3 mentors, Neil Stitchbury, and our Kaumatua Selwyn Screen, and Mike Diggins. I thank Mike from the bottom of my heart for all he has done for Pokeno Toastmasters, and for being a role model, a master of the Oratory Arts.

1.     Tell us about yourself please. Who are you? 

Good question. In November it will be 42 years since we landed at Mangere with a six-pack of Leopard to drink in the customs queue. At some point, I felt I’d come home and that has only intensified. I describe myself sometimes as a Kiwi who happened to be on their OE at birth. My Manawhenua is Surrey, in the south of England, but when I was 16 London stole a lot of our land. We had to suck that up because we didn’t have a Treaty. I’m not sure I’ve ever grown up but I grew older in the 60s on a mixture of the Goon Show and pop culture; then Monty Python came along and sealed the deal. I hated secondary education apart from the really crazy teachers – several were dealing with PTSD from World War II but we couldn’t spell PTSD then – but found motivation by starting work as an industrial chemist. A few years later I got into IT, or ICT as they call it now, and stopped burning holes in my shirts (and myself). I enjoy trying things that haven’t been tried before, especially in the communication field; I’m utterly addicted to seeing the lights come on in others. I passed my use-by date a while ago and had to admit that I wasn’t quick enough for the corporate field, even in local government. That’s why I hassled my way into the Webmaster role for our District, it keeps me thinking, which some regard as dangerous. A while ago, Aroha called me a “maverick”. I rather like that.

2.     Toastmasters is primarily about education, acquiring leadership and communication skills. Why did you join Toastmasters? What did you hope to gain?

I really don’t know. I guess I’m still looking, trying out stuff, but Toastmasters has given me an interest in communication. I know why I joined, though. The project manager I worked with over five years changed. He went from a mouse that people took the mickey out of for falling asleep in client meetings to a leader who not only told me what he wanted me to achieve but showed why it would help to achieve it. I asked him how come the change and he gave me a card with Toastmasters on it. I called the 0800 number (you could do that in those days) and visited the club that gave me upbeat answers. At the meeting, I heard a very good speaker practicing to be a World Champion and thought “No way – I could never do that”. Must have been thinking out loud because the member next to me said “Maybe not – but the question is, do you want to try?”. I decided to give it a go, joined on the spot and the rest is history. If I ever find what I hoped to gain, I’ll re-post this answer.

3.     How many Toastmasters clubs do you belong to? If you are a member of            more than one club why did you join multiple clubs? What do you get out of your club or clubs?

Four. Maungakiekie is my home club and I can’t imagine not being a member there. Silver Service took three years to reel me in when I got my first award; it has always helped the District out so you get to find out what’s going on. Ecocity I joined when I started working for local government as it gave me access to people at Waitakere that I needed to get to know. Since then it has become “The club that can” – always struggling to keep afloat, always focused on what each member wants to get from their membership. The Wiri Ramblers I helped start in 2011 when I moved offices to Manukau. In 2003 at a Club Clinic, we looked at a big hole in club density in South Auckland and decided that would be culturally difficult. But I always knew South Auckland needed to find its voice and the Ramblers helped that to happen. We provided resources to the other clubs that started for the Pacific community; now those clubs provide resources to the District. I’m rather glad I played a small part in helping that happen.

4.    When did you first attend a Toastmasters meeting and what did you think of it? Why did you stay? What advice would you give someone thinking of joining Toastmasters?

My first meeting was in 1998, should have been 1978. Joining I covered earlier and I guess that covers what I thought of it as well. Staying – because Toastmasters at some point stopped being a course in public speaking and became a part of the way I do things. As Confucius said, “Find a job you love and you’ll never work again”. I guess I’ve become fascinated with the way people communicate and how we help each other grow – across ages, across cultures, across all the traditional divides. Perhaps because we have a common interest spurred by adopting our common mission. As to advice: “I have never found anyone that Toastmasters couldn’t help in some way. Just come along to a club or two for a look; if you like what you see, ask to join. I know some who have outgrown Toastmasters, but I have yet to meet a member who regretted joining.”

5.   What impact has Toastmasters had on your personal and professional life?

Firstly, its made my wife a toast-widow and over the years she has come to accept that. Toastmasters is described as “a gym for the mind” and “a safe place to make mistakes”, but what it gives you varies over the years. First you take the skills you need then you learn to give back to the organisation as the level at which you are comfortable. After that – it would be a long list. For example, in the Webmaster role I have been able to keep my professional skills alive long after they were viable commercially. I’m not as quick as I was, and that’s OK with Toastmasters. I can still be a useful part of the organisation, and that has helped me deal with the depression that comes after retirement from a professionally successful role. If I was backed in a corner and asked for one effect I’d have to say I like myself more than I used to because I understand myself better. Everything else comes from there.

6.   What are your future life goals and how do you think Toastmasters can help you achieve them?

Goals is a tricky one in later life, because they are things you haven’t done yet. I would like to see, for myself, the earth from space. That’s unlikely because I’d have to get fit and richer than I am first. I can live without making that one. I’d like to be a better swimmer than I am now, I think. I grew up on a main road out of London and my parents decided that a bike was incompatible with continued living. Unintentionally, that reason scared the crap out of me so I never learned to ride one. I’d like to do that. I could name a lot more, but Toastmasters has instilled an enjoyment of volunteering; I’d like to extend that. Perhaps we have a new puppy that doesn’t know he’s destined to be a therapy dog; I don’t know. I guess these are more dreams than goals and I’ve never really gone for goals in a professional “I’m going for world domination by following these 10 simple rules” way. In support roles, that is pretty meaningless; you mostly just try and help improve people’s understanding and enjoyment of what they are doing. Maybe improving the District website can be a goal; nailing its accessibility will be a DTM project, I know that much. And showing people how to enjoy the education programme if I can get them to show me what’s confusing them. One more, and I credit Bright Williams – the last serving Anzac – with this one. He was asked at 107 the secret of his long life. “Just kept breathing, I guess” he said. That’s a goal to aim for.

7.   What has been your greatest memory since joining Toastmasters?

Four spring to mind. 2001, the Ministry of Māori Affairs confirming that all the records of the Māori Land Court (back to the Land Wars) were available digitally and indexed properly. I wrote the indexing software. 2006, The Defence Force confirming that all personnel records, back to the Boer War, of those who enlisted had been indexed and could form a base into which people could pour their memories. I wrote that software, too - that was a good one. 2003, learning that running four concurrent speechcraft courses wasn’t a great idea – but if things turned to quicksand there were Toastmasters who would help pull you out. Two District Governors, in that case. And 2019 (September 19), when we learned that the six months that had gone into breaking the 126 hour world record for continuous public speaking by a group had been worth the stress and sleepless nights. Don’t ask me to pick just one – no way.