Testimonials

Kevin is a champion. A skilled and polished speaker. His message of perseverance and motivation resonate in his speaking abilities. His use of humor and drama kept me and my colleagues riveted. We look forward to inviting Kevin back to speak at Northwestern Mutual.
- John W. Wright, II, CLU, ChFC, Northwestern Mutual

I have been following Kevin’s speaking career for over a year since he addressed the Mequon Sunrise Rotary Club, of which I am an officer. My wife and I have driven to see Kevin present at regional speech contests for Toastmasters throughout Wisconsin. Kevin’s recent speech to my clients will be etched upon my mind as one of the best presentations I have ever seen in my life. Kevin has a special gift and through his story he will pass on lessons he has learned about humility, anger, passion, perseverance, and learning to be true to oneself. At the end of Kevin’s event, there was a line that formed to see him as if he were a famous celebrity. It was at that point that I realized how magnificent Kevin really is!
- Daniel T. O’Connor, Financial Consultant, RBC Dain Rauscher

Kevin truly moved the audience, while he gave his personal insight into living with visual impairments. His message was both entertaining and inspirational.
- Christine Martin, Office of Diversity, Marian College

Kevin’s heartfelt message challenged and inspired us to move beyond our real and/or imagined limitations to embrace the full gift life offers. His story and continuing quest to live a meaningful and fulfilling life spoke powerfully to all, especially our students. Kevin’s self confident manner, sensitivity toward us, and great wit come across to the audience so well. His engaging style keeps the listener tuned in and deeply interested. An audience of more than 100 heard Kevin’s presentation and responded throughout the day with expressions of appreciation and celebration. Comments from the audience that day and days following included: Kevin is an awesome speaker. He is one of the most inspiring speakers I have ever heard. His words inspire me to do more with my life. I have renewed courage to face my fears. Kevin reminded us all of why we need each other. Kevin is a wonderful mentor for all people.
- Rev. Mary Council-Austin, Special Assistant to the President for Diversity Marian College

As you know, we received a huge amount of compliments on your presentation. I went to the board meeting this morning and we received another round of applause from the board members. Jennifer, who was sitting on your left, said that there was not a dry eye in the room. That you were extremely inspirational and motivational.

Everyone was extremely impressed with your talents !!!

Thank you again so much.
- Lori Skerencak, The Krizek Group, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network

This letter is to recommend Kevin Meyers as an inspiring and encouraging speaker.

Kevin spoke at the Center for Creative Learning (October 23, 2003) about his life challenges, having lost his sight in a boating accident, and learning to make a path of the bricks of his challenges, instead of allowing them to become a wall that kept him from life.

The audience was very much entranced with Kevin’s dynamic presentation. Their attention was riveted on him and afterwards they spoke of the inspiration and awareness Kevin brought to them through his speech. They enjoyed his sense of humor and the opportunity to ask him questions (both in the official Q&A time as well as during the reception that followed). It was clear that Kevin persuaded them to treat everyone as a valuable person, whether or not they had apparent handicaps, and to care for themselves as well.

I would be most honored to have Kevin do more presentations at the Center and will recommend him as a speaker to my personal contacts, in corporations and associations. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Kevin’s gifts as a speaker.

Sincerely,
Patricia Clason, Director, Center for Creative Learning

Hi Kevin, my name is George Galewski from the Waukesha Sunrise Rotary Club. Thank you for your inspirational message today. Through God, with God and in God we can accomplish anything if we believe and trust him, you are a living testimony of that. I am passing your information on to my wife's company where she is the human resource manager. I wish you many future blessings! Thank You.
- George Galewski, Financial Advisor, UBS Financial Services Inc., B6 Branch

Hi Kevin,
We have not formally met, yet I have some positive feedback for you on a presentation that you made at the Wauwatosa Rotary meeting on Wednesday this week.

This is coming from my father who has been a rotary member for 50 years and rarely misses a Wednesday meeting. He heard your presentation and thought it was great. He said you captured the crowd from the very beginning and held their attention up to the end. He said people were so taken with what you were saying and your delivery that you could hear a pin drop in the audience. He said it was a very motivating and inspirational presentation and he was very glad he was there to hear you speak.

My dad doesn't usually pass along this information. He made the connection between you and I when the Northwestern Mutual reference came up. He just called wondering if I knew you (come on, there are only 2000 people on this campus, like you and I have nothing better to do than to socialize with everyone else, right?) and to pass along his thoughts on your presentation. Since he said such glowing things about your presentation, I knew I had to pass along his thoughts.
- MaryAnne Roethle, Manager of Enterprise Server Team, Northwestern Mutual

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter of support for Kevin Meyers to be certified by Toastmasters International is a delight to write. As a professional teacher educator, and public speaker myself, I am certainly well qualified to adjudge a speaker’s abilities. Kevin Meyers’ abilities to communicate were exemplary; he demonstrated effective leadership, knowledge, with a level of self-confidence that reflected a high degree of personal growth. Mr. Meyers spoke to approximately 35 students enrolled in the course, The Exceptional Individual at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee this Fall. Mr. Meyers’ speech was devoted to explaining the educational needs of people with visual impairments and recommending information to sighted individuals about what to know and expect when talking, working or just getting to know someone who is blind. I have chosen to share excerpts from students’ evaluations of his presentation to illustrate his effectiveness as a speaker.

Above and beyond any adaptation I think Kevin himself was the best thing of the class. I can honestly say I left class a little different that day. It made me think of how small some things and problems of mine are. I don’t have as much doubt in myself anymore. Seeing (no pun intended) someone like Kevin and hearing about all he accomplished even though he is unable to see anymore was just amazing. I think he, more than any speaker so far, had the full attention of all students. Thank you for giving us the chance to meet him, and thanks to him for being a wonderful inspiration.

I agree with you 100% that it doesn’t matter how we arrive at our goal, only that we get there. I admire your determination for getting through college and even with the barriers you faced graduating with high honors. You are an inspiration. You absolutely awed and inspired me.

The speech of Kevin was illuminating to me. He certainly changed my perception of what I think people can accomplish and achieve. I will take this into my teaching of drama….not to have limits on the learning of others.

In short, Kevin is a skilled speaker, a leader, and a risk-taker. His motivational and informative speech showed open-mindedness, humility, kindness, and talent. His manner of spreading his message left all in the audience changed. Kevin’s message is invaluable; he is deserving of full endorsement by your organization. If there is additional information that I could provide, please let me know.
- Maureen W. Keyes, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

The presentation was captivating and well put together. The students were very intentive and interested.  Their reactions to his story ranged from tears to laughter.
- Jennifer Haynes and Cindy Hertzberg

Students were riveted to him and his message which is really saying a lot about the topic as well as his presentation skills. If you are at all familiar with middle school students you will appreciate the difficulty of keeping them interested for 50 minutes as Kevin did. I have seen a definite change in attitudes of my graduating senior students since meeting and listening to Kevin. They are definitely giving more thought to their future, post high school period. The information he provided in his presentation was not only informing but also motivational. I believe it gave them the push they needed to see themselves as having the ability to succeed post graduation. Students told me they were very happy to hear a blind adult tell other students there was “nothing wrong” with them and they should be treated just as any other peer.
- Chris Lukasavige, teacher of vision impaired
Racine Unified School District, Special Education Department, Brown Diagnostic Center

The content of his presentation provides a very realistic message regarding self- reflection and the importance of eliminating self-pity from our lives. He has the ability to hold the attention of the students (which ranged in age from 11 to 21) as well as that of teachers. His presentation was very well organized, well paced, offering Power Point slides including video. Throughout the day each presentation (6) contained the same passion and energy as the first. He responded to every question with the utmost of respect. I have spent my career teaching and training young adults. Kevin not only delivers a very heart felt message but also provided me with some great ideas to incorporate into my own teaching.
- Terry Mammel, Orientation and mobility specialist
Racine Unified School District, Special Education Department, Brown Diagnostic Center

Kevin, thanks again for a wonderful presentation to our youth last night. Your message was right on target, and I know those who were there will remember it for a very long time. My family all gave glowing comments.
- Ken Elbert, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Kevin’s presentation rings true for all of us whether it is a physical, emotional, or attitudinal brick that keeps us from action. Our audience at the Youth Leadership Forum was diverse with young people, legislators, businessmen and businesswomen. Each person that I talked with after the event stated that they had thought about a personal experience of their own during Kevin’s presentation and could relate to his message and suggestions for personal change. Kevin’s presentations are motivational, humorous, and just plain cool as he talks about his career in racing speedboats.
- Brenda Oswald, Executive Director,
State of Wyoming Governor’s Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities

Kevin was a motivated, inspiring person to learn from. They absorbed your lessons and will apply many of your ideas to their own lives. Your contribution of time, patients, laughter, and knowledge helped the delegates to become more confident in who they are and what they can achieve.
- Jamie Staunton, Youth Leadership Coordinator, Governor's Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities

Kevin presented at our Network Office Day on December 6th, 2006. We had more than 200 people present at this event. The audience found his presentation to be very inspirational and motivational.

Kevin found a unique way of connecting with everyone in the room. He made a great impact on people's vision. He spoke of how to overcome objectives and how to approach challenges with excitement.
- Brad P. Seitzinger, CLU, ChFC, Managing Partner

The last week in June, I held a Youth Leadership Summit, and had the honor of having Kevin Meyers as a speaker for the event. Mr. Meyers' presentation was called The Bricks of Life and was an inspirational seminar and discussion on picking up the pieces after one of life's unexpected turns.
The students at the summit were all young people with disabilities and the seminar was not only motivational for them but entertaining as well.

The students rated The Bricks of Life as their top most favored session of the whole week-long summit and made such comments as "Kevin and The Bricks of Life was my favorite session because he had a lot of energy and I enjoyed the message that he brought because it showed power." The students also felt well informed by Mr. Meyers' session as shown by such comments as, "Kevin's presentation made me know how to be a better person" and "What I learned from Kevin was if you fail, it is like a brick wall. If you try your best you can knock it down no matter what."
- Alie Kriofske Mainella, Youth Leadership Specialist