Blog

By Jodie Houlden.

Joining JCI little over a month ago, I hadn't really anticipated competing in the regional Extempore (off the cuff public speaking) competition. I'm a planner when it comes to presenting. The thought of standing in front of a group of people, unprepared, expected to talk for any length of time about random objects or ideas would usually bring me out in a rash.

Thats the peculiar thing about JCI though; the support, enthusiasm and can do attitude it fosters encourages you to do things you wouldn't usually consider, and I'm quickly finding the benefits are tenfold.

The entire evening turned out to be so much fun. As always an upbeat friendly environment greeted me, with familiar faces amongst the crowd. Just chatting before the event offered a great networking opportunity, although it felt entirely social. There's such a mix of expertise and experience amongst the members its hard not to come away with food for thought, a new idea or feedback on your ventures. Its like free business advice and market research rolled into one; and its so informal your smiling all the way.  

Participating in the competition was only ever aimed to force myself out of the comfort zone. I didn't expect to get past the first round to be honest. It was a huge surprise to find myself in the final with two longer standing members of the JCI network, who I have to say, were fantastic! In the end I didn't win, but who cares? I learnt A LOT in the snippet of a couple of hours and my confidence enjoyed a massive boost thanks to the experience.      

When I joined JCI, I didn't really anticipate the range of varied activities and opportunities that would open up to me so immediately. My original thoughts were along the lines of: 'Few network events, few training opps, chance to meet new people and make some contacts, only £8 a month? Sounds like a bargain....' And it is. But it's had so much more value than I could have predicted. You're really made to feel a part of things, so it's entirely up to you how much you get involved.

I look forwards to the upcoming events and hope to get more out of the social, business and personal development programs JCI offers. And I'm sure I will.

Read more

JCI Barnsley member Emma Labedzki gives her view on her first JCI Yorkshire event.

JCI Yorkshire's ‘Big Supper' brought together members from the JCI communities of Barnsley, Sheffield, Leeds and Boston for a networking and team building event centred on the theme of ‘Active Listening'.

During the first part of the evening, JCI Sheffield 2012 President Sandra Pilarczyk delivered a presentation on the five stages of listening, focusing on the importance of positive body language, use of open-ended questions and paying attention to a person's mental state to engage better and improve communications. This was explored further through a brief exercise where participants were asked to pair up and share life experiences for two minutes each, with the added restriction of not being able to convey any emotion whilst listening to their partner - a difficult situation which felt alien as the natural reaction would be to show interest by responding to their words - this led to the assertion that listening is done through the eyes, the ears and the heart and provided the perfect platform for ‘Samba Tim' to share his unique style of drumming to see who really had been listening!

As a fervent supporter of Barnsley Football Club, my previous experiences of samba ‘music' before tonight were restricted to the refrains of "Brazil, it's just like watching Brazil" reverberating around the stands of Oakwell during the club's epic 1996/97 promotion season, so I was intrigued to find out how the style had evolved in the town since then and take advantage of the chance to make some samba music of my own!

Louder Than Life's ‘Samba Tim' introduced everyone to the surdo, tamborin, agogo bells and the ganza - the four main instruments that make up the percussion section - through a series of interactive "hands-on" exercises that involved mirroring rhythms, vocals and dancing ... yes, that's right dancing! Anyone who knows me well will tell you that I move with all the finesse and co-ordination of ‘Bambi-on-ice' when my feet hear a beat - ‘think school disco side-shuffle circa 1989 and you pretty much get the idea - still, JCI is all about pushing boundaries, stepping outside of your comfort zone and taking part in new experiences that you would otherwise not get the chance to be involved with and tonight's program certainly challenged and inspired in a fun and motivational way!

I'm really looking forward to future JCI events like this one and the chance to meet again with some of the lovely people that I spoke with tonight from JCI Boston, JCI Leeds and JCI Sheffield.

Read more

By Gemma Fletcher

Leeds, bar and a chance to talk about JCI is all I needed to convince me to make my way across to Leeds ( well the 2 mins from my office) to attend JCI Leeds New Members evening!

It was a great chance to catch up with friends and meet new people in a relaxed environment. I am always surprised by the number of people I know at these events and it is great to see people who you don't get to see on a regular basis.

With the wine flowing and the WII going the competitive spurt came out amongst the members. As I left to catch my train boys v girls pool was starting to get heated! Hopefully the none members will be convinced!

Read more

By Gemma Fletcher

Community chocolate, now that really is the answer. JCI Doncaster are supporting charity through chocolate this year, having recently held a charity chocolate tasting evening.

Having raced to the train to make sure I didn't miss my chance to taste some Thorton's chocolate, I finally found the little shop after receiving some great directions from JCI Doncaster President Katie Ogley.

Thornton's chocolates are one of those childhood memories that we all have; everyone remembers getting an egg with their name on from their parents or grandparents. JCI Doncaster transported members back to their childhood giving them the opportunity to ice their own egg.

I played the role of the dutiful sister icing an egg for my brother, but in true JCI style I couldn't resist a little of branding and iced my very own JCI Easter egg.

The evening was a great success and lots of money was raised for Thornton's chosen charity the NSPCC. Who can say no to an evening of charity and chocolate!

Read more