as ‘a woman who has broad intellectual interests and is accomplished in areas of both the arts and the sciences’.
In Toastmasters International, District 84, one such woman is our own Kathleen ‘Kathy’ Kershaw.
Ask different people to describe Kathy, and you’re likely to get as many different answers as you have people. Answers you might hear include “She’s a techno-geek”; “She’s a killer Zumba instructor”; “She’s a fierce competitor”; “She’s an accomplished Toastmaster”; “She’s a software engineer who used to work on Disney animated features such as ‘Mulan’”; “She’s been an instructor at Valencia College”; “She’s ten pounds of fun in a five-pound bag”, and “She is an amazing friend.”
Something few people know is that, as a SAIC software engineer in the National Security arena, Kathleen works at the very serious business of building simulators for vehicles and equipment that do improvised explosive device (IED) and mine clearing, creating the hardware and software with virtual mines and virtual IEDs. While she may describe herself as a ‘geek’, others describe her as a very talented and professional engineer. The work she is doing is vital to the safety of our armed forces as well as innocent civilians in war-ravaged countries throughout the Middle East and around the globe.
Hmmm. That’s interesting, you might be thinking. However, why do I describe Kathy as a Renaissance woman? Check out what Ms. Kershaw has been up to lately, and judge for yourself!
If your first encounter with Kathy was at this past ‘Once Upon A Time…A District 84 Fairy Tale Conference’, you might have seen three excellent examples of her wide-ranging interests and accomplishments firsthand.
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| Kathleen Kershaw and Scott Hoehn |
The First example would have come at the Hall of Fame, where Scott Hoehn, last year’s District 84 Governor, awarded Kathleen the prestigious “Division Governor of the Year Award” for her work as Division C Governor for 2010-2011. “I was surprised,” she said. “All the Division Governors were working their booties off. I was speechless.”
For anyone that knows Kathleen, ‘speechless’ is a word that would rarely be used to describe her. However, her atypical reaction may be a hint to how deeply she values her Toastmasters experience. While Toastmasters, unlike her professional environment, is a place where Kathy can relax and let her personality shine through, her commitment to TI, and the energy and enthusiasm she brings to our organization, come straight from the heart.
“Our team took off before the term (July 2010 – June 2011) even started, and didn’t stop!” she explained. “Our Division was President’s Distinguished immediately, a month before any other Division was anything else.” Kathy credits her hard-working Area Governors for Division C’s early and continuing success. Branding played a key role in the group’s team-spirit. Who will ever forget Division C: The Cocktail Division? (And yes, Kathleen, some of us did copy you – we saw a good thing, and jumped on board!)
The next example of Kathy Kershaw’s wide-ranging talents would have come Saturday evening, when you learned she was a contestant in the Humorous Speech Contest. She entertained our group of 250 Toastmasters and guests with a speech entitled “Skating Lessons,” about her foray into what was, for her a very foreign world of ice hockey. In the broader sense, the speech was all about the lengths we go in order to ‘fit in’. She kept us laughing, and perhaps left a bit of herself inside each of her listeners.
Typical of Kathy, she is more than willing to share some of what she learned as a speech contestant with her fellow Toastmasters. That is simply how she rolls.
“The speech started off some time ago as the “Your Body Speaks” project out of the CC manual,” she explained. “I gave the speech, over a two year period, about ten times.”
Originally, she has competed in the International Speech Contest, reaching the Area level. While she served consecutive terms as an Area Governor and then a Division Governor, she was not permitted to compete under the TI rules that forbid District officers from participating in speech contests.
Since she does not hold a District office this year, she was once more free to compete, and jumped back into the fray with gusto. She says she dusted her old speech off, and proceeded to rewrite, and rewrite, and rewrite.
Kathy writes her speeches out word for word. “I write by hand. If I see it written, I can better remember it. Here’s some free advice – I find that we write more formally than we talk. So, when I’m writing out my speech, I’m saying it out loud, either literally saying it or saying it in my head, to make sure it’s something I might actually speak. I think that’s why some people get tripped up and read their speeches; because what they wrote is not really what they would say.”
She talked about her speech performance preparation.
“I went outside the club two years ago, when I wrote the first draft of this speech, but this time I did most of my preparation in front of a mirror. The most I practiced the speech was on the day of the contest. I stood on the stage and paced it out for an hour. I went through it over and over and over again, and that’s where it gelled – it was then.”
Kathy said she didn’t video record the speech this time, but she had video recorded it two years ago, and had it ‘set in her head’ as to what it looked like.
One of Kathy’s challenges was knowing how much time to allow for audience reaction. She admits that she probably needed to allow more time, but like many of us, couldn’t figure out what to cut out of the speech. “I had (the speech) pretty much at the allotted time, and there wasn’t anything I wanted to get rid of.”
An additional tidbit of advice to future contestants was “When you ask for feedback, be critical of the feedback you get. Don’t just accept it. Know who the person is, and what their style is. I got some feedback on (my speech), and on other speeches, that I wasn’t going to incorporate because it just wouldn’t be me. It wouldn’t be my speech. So, above all else, your speech has to be true to you.”
“Another thing I would tell people to do is to go watch contests,” she added. “See what other people are doing to get prepared for various genres.” Kathy also indicated that she watched videos of the International Speech Contest Champions. She has also purchased some of Darren LaCroix’s (2001 Toastmasters International World Champion of Public Speaking) training materials on how to be funny.
When asked how she calms herself prior to going onstage, Kathy answered, “I remind myself that this is supposed to be fun and that I chose to do this. And I breathe… deep yoga breaths.”
“You know what the most important thing was?” she asked. “Walking on the actual stage. I did it at Area, I did it at Division. Be familiar with the stage, look out on where the people are going to be, and just get used to being there.”
I could hear her chuckling to herself. “I tell you, I had the whole thing choreographed ahead of time,” she said. “The one thing I didn’t choreograph, and I could kick myself, I didn’t choreograph standing there and enjoying the applause. Because I knew I had been so tight on time, I ended it, and I ran off the stage! Then I thought, ‘Wait a minute.’ I realized I should have just stood there and waved!”
What did she think of her experience? “I had so much fun! Oh, my gosh, as soon as it was done, I wanted to do it again!”
Apparently, our District 84 judges were impressed. Kathleen won Third Place in the 2011 District 84 Humorous Speech Contest.
The third conference weekend example of Kathy’s diversity came at the Sunday morning District Executive Council meeting (DEC), where she was introduced as the District 84 Spring Conference Chair. Looking very ‘Neo’-esque in all black, with the obligatory black wrap sunglasses, Kathleen Kershaw announced the theme for our May 2012 Spring Conference, using a plethora of science fiction references during her presentation. Think ‘Star Trek’, ‘Star Wars’, ‘Matrix’, ‘Back to the Future’, ‘2001 A Space Odyssey’, ‘Battlestar Galactica’, ‘Men in Black’, and all things Science Fiction.
Because, guess what? Kathy is a Sci Fi buff, too! Knowing Kathleen, don’t be surprised if you step foot in the Lake Mary Westin Hotel, and find yourself transported into another world. If you’d like to make the journey with her, she is in the process of gathering her Conference Committee. Contact her to let her know you’re interested!
Using jargon from her Ice Hockey exploits, Kathy pulled off a ‘Hat Trick’ at our latest District 84 Conference; she scored three goals! From SAIC software engineer to 2012 District 84Sci Fi Conference Chair; from Hall of Fame Division Governor of the Year to Third Place Winner in the 2011 Humorous Speech Contest – and everything in between –there is no doubt that Kathleen “Kathy” Kershaw is a Toastmasters District 84 Renaissance Woman! We have only to wonder, “What May Come?”
