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Thursday 15th March saw JCI Barnsley launch our Personal Development Programme for 2012. The idea behind this year's programme is training to help build confidence in a multitude of areas. The launch night was designed to be a speed pitch session; all trainers were allowed a maximum of 10 minutes each to sell the idea of their session to the Barnsley masses.

The night started with networking over refreshments and nibbles and it was brilliant to see 30 people working the room, making sure no-one was stood alone and everyone was sharing their experiences of JCI or why they have booked onto the launch night.

With an eye on the clock JCI Barnsley President, Kirstie Barnett, was time keeper and MC for the night, keeping the trainers on their toes! It was a great way to entice people into a training session by giving them a teaser of what they could learn if they booked onto the full session.

The sessions will start in April with Setting Goals and Having a Positive Mindset and run through to November where practical advice on presenting and public speaking will be on offer. With an array of different sessions on offer including Brand Me, Why being good is good for business (Corporate Social Responsibility), Networking and Lean and how to apply it to your life, JCI members and Barnsleyites will certainly find something for everyone.

Feedback following the session has been excellent, with people really enjoying the speed pitch style and the chance to learn a little about each session, all in 1 night.

The night was a huge success, there was a great buzz around the room and we even gained a new member too! Not bad for a night's work.

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Members from around the country descended on the Second City on January 28 as 62 members from 12 JCI local chambers met for the annual Inspiration Day in Birmingham.

The inspirational theme was particularly fitting as the host city prepares to re-launch its own chamber next month and we were all on hand happy to offer our support and encouragement.

The theme for this day was "Making a difference" in line with the JCI UK 2012 theme of the same name.  We were also joined by Jukka Vainionpaa- JCI Vice President 2012 to the UK from Finland, Lesley Young- 2012 JCI UN Commissioner , Julia Blakey- British Senate Chair 2012 and members of this year's JCI UK National Board.

Keynote speaker for the morning session was Noam Kostucki, an award winning speaker and co-founder of three social enterprises. Noam is no stranger to making a difference and helping others do the same. Noam talked to the group about a number of issues around taking steps to realise your goals, planning and taking the next step each time you achieve something, constantly challenging yourself and not just settling for achieving. Noam also explored the issue of why do we always write down our vision when pictures say so much more. The room was challenged to draw out the visions we all had for 2012 and show them to each other to see if we could understand them. It was surprising how many people could clearly interpret each other's vision pictures despite some abysmal drawing, mine included! Myself and Debbie each drew out JCI Barnsley's vision for 2012 and I've included it below so everyone can see where we are trying to drive JCI Barnsley this year, while also acting as a reminder throughout the year of just what aim we set ourselves in January 2012.

The afternoon session was about spreading the word about JCI Birmingham and we were tasked to take to the streets of the Second City and do exactly that. When set it did seem an easy task but as the afternoon unfolded it was easy to see that just stopping random people in the street was not as easy as we first thought. By the end of the afternoon coffee shops and pubs had been leafleted, numerous photos of JCI had been tweeted, a list of email addresses had been gathered from potential interested parties and a JCI Birmingham LinkedIn group had been created! Not bad for two hours' work. One group even spelt out JCI in human beings and used leaflets on the floor in JCI lettering to attract passers by - never let it be said JCI members are not creative!

The whole day was a fantastic chance to catch up with friends from other chambers, meet new faces, and swap ideas and success stories. It was great to hear other chambers saying how inspired they were by our start to 2012 and for me that was the highlight of the day, seeing JCI Barnsley as an inspiration to other UK chambers.

Over the next 12 months I will be revisiting my picture vision, reminding myself of the goals I have set myself as well as JCI Barnsley and when I am feeling deflated I will certainly think back to the inspirational words of Noam and my fellow JCI members.

2012 is going to be a fantastic year!!

Kirstie Barnett- 2012 JCI Barnsley President

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JCI Barnsley members gathered together to attend a workshop on change and the way you adapt to it, hosted by personal coach Beth Goddard. Each individual benefited from Beth excellent style of coaching, and her ability to signpost you to answers within yourself to tackle the issues that we each discussed. We participated in group coaching where 1 individual held a discussion with Beth whilst the other members observed, and could offer ideas and support when needed. All members came away with targets to achieve, whether that be around work or personal life but the session certainly gave us all something to think about.

The group found the session really helpful as the unique group coaching opportunity gave us a chance to understand our fellow members better and we are now all able to support each other in achieving our targets over the coming months. Beth's style of approach to coaching, and helping each individual explore the issues in their lives was refreshing, non-pressurizing and comfortable. It really felt like just a chat with someone you've known for ages but someone who asked the right questions to help you understand why you react, feel or act in a certain way. I'm looking forward to catching up with all the members over the coming months to see how the session has helped them make changes to their lives.

http://www.bethgoddard.co.uk

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The weekend of the Regional awards dinner was also the opportunity for those members who plan to hold leadership roles in the future at JCI chambers to attend local leaders training. JCI UK trainers Dan Lally and Emma Eastwood conducted the first newly revised local leaders training.

The training focused on leadership skills which members could take back to their respective chambers. 6 JCI members graduated from this course, including our Deputy President Kirstie Barnett. The training has empowered and enthused Kirstie for her presidential year next year and she is now busy planning a programme of personal development, as well as working with JCI Sheffield to co-ordinate region wide training opportunities.

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By Vicky Savage

How to be inspired? It's a difficult thing to inspire people, but JCI Reading pulled out all the stops to engage and motivate JCI Members for 2011. Over 60 JCI members from all over the UK were in attendance for Inspiration Day.

The day started catching up new and past members and celebrating the previous year's work before our 2011 UK President Alison Cowell had "Ali's hour" which was a fantastic way to start her Back to Basic campaign. It was in this hour that Ali introduced the new amazing JCI UK badge pins (arriving shortly to all JCI Members) JCI Yorkshire did an outstanding "intention to host bid" for National Convention which got everyone excited. It was also an opportunity for Ali to introduce Ismail Haznedar, our 2011 IVP who gave a very inspiring speech on what it means to be a part of JCI.

JCI Reading also arranged for members to take part in Past, Present and Future in which members shared their experience of being part of JCI which definitely confirmed that becoming a member of JCI was definitely a smart move to make.

Phew that was all before lunch!

After lunch Graham Jones, an Internet Psychologist delivered a thought provoking training session on the uses and benefits of Social Media for businesses and blogging is the way forward. After all these speeches what do you need, an activity! JCI reading had put a lot of effort into creating a Social Media themed challenge which saw 10 groups competing around Reading town centre. I have definitely been inspired and soon will be blogging my Presidency year Wordpress here I come ...

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