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JCI Barnsley President Kirstie Barnett (left) delivers the Make a Difference award to Charlie Pearson. 

Kirstie has this to say about Charlie:

"Charlie joined in January 2012 and has taken an active role from the word go. She contributes at council meetings, events, and on all our social media platforms.

Charlie has worked hard to raise the awareness of JCI Barnsley in the local media and has taken on the lead role in running our community project for 2012, Barnsleys Hidden Heroes. She has featured on local community radio and also secured support from Barnsley Chronicle to help publicise our community project for the full duration of the campaign. She also secured us an art gallery exhibition for the campaign entries in the Barnsley Civic theatre for 1 month!

Charlie runs her own business providing business to business photography so networking is a key element to generating business. She attends several local networking events and not only does she promote her own business but that of JCI Barnsley at every opportunity. Just this month she met 2 people at a networking event, who then came to our personal development launch night and within 7 days both have signed up for JCI membership!

Charlie's attitude & enthusiasm to JCI Barnsley is infectious and if we could bottle it and sell it I know there would be a thriving JCI chamber in every town & city across the UK. I would personally like to thank her for her contributions to JCI Barnsley in the past 3 months."

Congratulations Charlie!

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One of my goals for this year is to make it more visible to members what it is really like to be a National President. Demystify it a bit, set expectations and explain what the role really is about. Or at least what the role is about for me. The hard work and the glamour.

Every National President and the year for every National President is different. As on the local level, we have the one year to lead rule. Every National President work with a different team of national board members, local presidents and other national presidents. So I must underline that this is how my year is going, not how every year is going. 

We are all members, and I'm a member just like you. In JCI we don't have an organisation running our organisation for us. We run our own organisations. This is often fun to explain to others who think that being NP is something I get paid to do. Its not. Just like all other members, this is something I do on the side of my work and private life (not that there's time for much other private life at the moment).

Mondays I write emails to Local Presidents and National Board. Local Presidents get an email called the JCI UK Monday Email and it pulls together everything they need to know from my side with regards to upcoming events, reminders, things that are underway that I'd like them to know about, and a bit about what I've been up to since last week. I try to keep the Monday email the only email Local Presidents receive from me, this way I won't swamp them and they also know that this email is important to read. Some of the Local Presidents respond immediately, and its always nice to hear from them.

This Monday I didn't really have any updates for Local Presidents, so instead I asked the Local Presidents to go out and enjoy the sun. I wanted to send an email, so that they didn't have to think they'd missed it or that it would be delayed. National Board got a bit more of an email from me, this is because we're having a meeting in a couple of weeks and there's things I need everyone to prepare.

On Tuesdays I get the JCI Europe Tuesday mail from the wonderful Sara Rueckriman in the JCI Europe office in Berlin. This is an email with practical information and to-dos to National Presidents. For example reminders to send in our reports, delegate forms, register for events and other updates from JCI international head quarters.This email I forward to those on National Board who either needs to see it or would like to see it. If its something about membership I forward the email to membership director Sarah Beckwith, if its about international events I forward to international director Tim Metcalfe etc. etc.

Otherwise on Tuesdays, and the rest of the week for that sake, I respond to emails and queries from members, Local Presidents and potential partners. I try to catch up on phone with Local Presidents and National Board now and then. Its always good to actually speak, not just email, though finding time in everyone's diary is often quite a challenge.

This Tuesday I got a couple of really exciting emails regarding partnerships that I'm hoping to be able to roll out to the membership soon. One is looking for JCI members to give advise to aspiring business people and another from AIESEC, an organisation we have a global partnership with, looking at how we can take the global partnership local here in the UK.

I also got an email from JCI Sheffield with a video they've made from the visit of the JCI World President in February. Its always nice to find things like that in your inbox and it made me so proud to be able to send it on to the World President himself, who got very happy. Well done JCI Sheffield!

I also helped out JCI Europe Training Commissioner Aude Simone with the first JCI Europe Training newsletter. As I've worked a lot with newsletters through JCI, this is relatively easy to do and is hopefully going to be a great resource for JCI Trainers in Europe. I'm passionate about training and take any opportunity I can to get involved. And of course, its always nice to be able to help someone.

This Tuesday I also got to catch up with some friends over dinner. By coincidence these friends are also JCI members, but we talked surprisingly little about JCI. We talked mostly about the upcoming wedding for JCI London President Simon Bucknall, and the situation in Eyad Hamouieh's home country, Syria. Which btw is complicated. That is Syria, not Eyad.

Apparently I had a very busy Tuesday!

This Wednesday I went to a JCI London open evening. JCI London is my home Chamber so I do my best to come to events, though I must admit its not always easy. This evening I managed to combine three things into one - inviting my mentee to the evening (I mentor an AIESEC member through JCI London) and also a potential partner and get the opportunity to meet almost 90 interested potential members. Well done JCI London! More than 120 people had signed up to the event, and though I don't know how many actually turned up, it was many! I had lots of great discussions with potential members.

The question I got the most from potential members was "are you enjoying it?" and it was nice to hear that they all said everyone they'd talked to in JCI is enjoying it (well, why else would we both pay membership *and* work as hard as we do if we didn't enjoy it?). Typically for London there were people from all around the world, I even managed to meet some Norwegians!

On Wednesday I also printed off the award certificates for the next Make A Difference award winners. Local Presidents and other members nominate people who they feel deserve the award. This month I've received a couple of really deserving nominations, so there will be two people getting this recognition for March. But shhhh! its a secret who they are just yet...

I also made an effort on facebook. Its the JCI Impact Month this month and so I wanted to make sure all the Local Presidents are aware and upload their projects on the www.jci.cc website to gain visibility also internationally.

On Thursday I went to Southampton and another open evening with potential members and partners. JCI Southampton President Drew Charman picked me up from the train station, then we went to the venue to meet the members and others. I think around 30 people came (we were competing against a very nice and sunny afternoon), and it was just the perfect number to be able to have great and proper discussions with almost everyone there. After the event Drew, myself and some other members/non-members went for a Thai dinner and got to continue our discussions about social media, JCI and almost everything else.

I really enjoy meeting new and potential members. I've been told that my passion for JCI really comes through when I talk about the organisation and I hope that my passion can inspire others to get involved.

It was really nice to catch up with Southampton President Drew and hear how things are going in Southampton. Loads of good stuff under way and a glamorous ball planned for July 20th!

Also on Thursday I had to write an article for a Norwegian newspaper. Its my local newspaper and I've been writing for them since 7 years. I only write once a month, but even that feels too often sometimes. The hard bit isn't the writing, the hard bit is deciding what to write about. Its quite funny when I get home, despite not having lived in Malvik (yes, that's both my name and where I'm from, quite common in Norway) since 18 years, everyone knows me and what I've been up to ;).

This Friday I travelled from Southampton really early morning. Poor Drew had to wake up an hour earlier than normal to get me to the train. Once back from Southampton I went straight to work. I work partly from home, so its nice and easy.

Friday afternoon, my lunch hour, I had a meeting with Onur, business manager from AIESEC UK. How can we take the global JCI/AIESEC partnership and make it local here in the UK? The meeting was really good and really interesting and we'll both be bringing a draft of a cooporation agreement back to our respective organisations soon. The agreement is set to be quite concrete, with targets, mutual projects and cross promotion, which is great!

Saturday I travelled to Boston (Lincolnshire, not the US) for their President's Dinner. Tracy Anderson was a brilliant President in 2011 and it was great to hear about her accomplishments and help her hand out very well deserved awards. It was also great to get to catch up with 2011 JCI UK National President Allison Cowell and other members of National Board. 

JCI Boston had a great year in 2011 with 4 new members, £852.77 raised for Nothing But Net, two national awards and lots of activities both in JCI and in Boston. I look forward to seeing how they will do this year as its definitively a buzz going!

The dinner was at the New England Hotel, an old style charming hotel. The food was brilliant, and lots of it, and Alli was a great MC for the evening, Mad Hatters Hat and all. 

Sunday morning I got up (relatively) early for a breakfast at the New England Hotel in Boston and joined a group of otherwise hung over JCI members that didn't go to bed before several hours after me Saturday night. After breakfast Emma Eastwood and I explored Boston (both the shops open on Sundays and the famous Boston Stomp) before we both headed home, me to London and Emma to Leeds. 

Every second Sunday National Board has a conference call. This is because we're meeting less often this year than before, we have to find other ways to stay in touch. Conference calls, skype and reports are ways to make sure we stay in touch.

Otherwise on Sundays I typically spend the day either wrapping up a weekend JCI event, travelling home (hoping trains run as they should), and in the afternoon I try to catch up on washing my clothes and cleaning my house and other things that's been lagging. Though often I'm just tired and once I get home I end up on the sofa with a glass of wine and the latest episode of Dancing on Ice.

This Sunday I travelled down from Boston after the amazing President's dinner (well done JCI Boston!), had the conference call with National Board, and then I travelled to Stansted to spend the night there before catching a really early flight to Denmark to visit my boyfriend, Soren. 

So this is how my week went. A quite typical week filled with both small and big things. Its great to see all the interest JCI is getting from other organisations and potential members and the engagement we have on the ground in Local Chambers. It really makes all the work worth it. So thank you everyone!

Yours,

Solveig Malvik
JCI UK National President
Senator #70867
Certified National Trainer
solveig.malvik@jciuk.org.uk

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JCI Cambridge members James Mitchell received the Make A Difference Award for February 2012. 

JCI Cambridge President Patrick McCrae said when nominating James for the award:

"...his efforts over the past month and a bit are stellar; he is working well with everyone on the committee and is really on point with my vision for the chamber this year. His enthusiasm is inspired and I sometimes wonder where he gets his energy from. I know James has aspirations to run JCI Cambridge and indeed get involved on a national scale in the future – he is cutting his cloth in his role as Business Director this year and doing a bloody good job of it."

 Congratulations James! 

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JCI UK has been approached with a very exciting opportunity for JCI members all across the UK.

The Sport and Recreation Alliance is looking for potential board members for the various organisations it works with, people with experience from outside sports, to get involved and contribute positively on the boards of sport and recreational organisations across the UK.

Being a board member is a very rewarding experience, so read more to see what this all means.

Click here to download a flier from the Sport and Recreation Alliance.

What is the Sport and Recreation Alliance?

The Sport and Recreation Alliance is the umbrella organisation for the governing and representative bodies of sport and recreation in the UK and represents more than 320 members - organisations like The FA, the Rugby Football Union, UK Athletics, the Ramblers, British Rowing and the Royal Academy of Dance . The role of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, like every trade association, is to speak up on their behalf, represent their views and to provide them with services which make their life easier.

What does the Sport and Recreation Alliance do?

The members are the governing bodies of sport and recreation. Their job is to run their sport or activity, promote participation and set the rules and conditions under which it takes place.

The job of  the Sport and Recreation Alliance is to make that job as easy as possible. THey represent their views to people who make decisions; promote the interests of sport and recreation so that as many people as possible know about their work;  campaign on issues affecting our members.

Board members for Sport

The project recruits professionals who are looking to put their valuable skills into sport and recreation organisations as a Board member.

On joining the project, the participant will be asked to complete a form which gives more details on the experiences and skills. They will receive invites to training courses, events and will be kept on a database so that when vacancies arise to be a Board member, they will be matched against any suitable vacancies using the information from the form when they joined the project. If they are matched, we will send them the specification and applicant process for each post, and it is then their decision whether they apply or not, none of their personal details will be given to recruiting organisations.

There will not be any need for the applicants to have played or been involved with the sport or recreation activity in the past, they are there to bring their professional skills. There are several requirements that will be put on sports organisations in the future to look to broaden their Board compositions, and we are running this project to assist them in doing this.

We believe that being a Board member is a rewarding experience, and that both parties benefit from the involvement of people like your members. We are also talking to companies such as Boots and Unilever about becoming involved in the project as a CSR concern.

What people say about getting involved:

Marzena Bogdanowicz - Director with responsibility for marketing- Volleyball England
Being a Board member provides a unique insight into the world of a National Governing Body that is trying to punch above its weight alongside the frontline sports of football, rugby and cricket. The additional pressures of administration and governance that is incumbent to those who are receivers of government and lottery funding opens a different world to that which most in private or other companies are used to. With the upcoming London, the growth of the NGB is critical in preparation for the added publicity it will receive. It is an honour and opportunity to be part of this wave of interest in Olympic sport.

Pauline Connington - Rounders England Elected Director
There's been so many fabulous developments, such as the new logo, the new website and the new head office. I'm proud to be a Rounders England board member and to make a contribution to the growth and development of Rounders England.

I read the appeal for Independent Board Directors on the Rounders England website in May 2009. I made tentative enquiries, showing my interest in the position and then completed the Skills Matrix forms. I was invited for interview and offered (and accepted) the position of Appointed Director at the Rounders England board meeting in July 2009. I felt that I had the skills necessary to make a contribution to the Rounders England board. I also knew that I would find the work varied, interesting and rewarding.

To get involved, email governance@sportandrecreation.org.uk

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The Presidential recognition award "Make a difference" for January goes to Sandra Pilarczyk, 2012 President JCI Sheffield.

Sandra has gone above and beyond for JCI UK in January helping us find a great (and cheap) venue for Inspiration Day which again helped us kick start JCI Birmingham, Sandra organised a brilliant World President visit in Sheffield, motivated a record number of members to take their Friday night off from the club and the pub and also found us a great deal for a hotel in London for the WP, an item that has traditionally been very expensive.

Thank you Sandra! You made a difference in 2012!

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...and I don't mean myself ;)

JCI UK recently had the honour of hosting the 2012 JCI World President, Mr Bertolt Daems, from the Netherlands, 9-10 February 2012.

Among other we took the President to meet youth in Stratford, London, who proudly claimed "JCI changed my life!", to meet the Deputy Director of the Commonwealth Foundation, meet members both in London and Sheffield, help distribute donated duvets and pillows to a shelter project in Sheffield and even go on a morning run (or walk) with the JCI Sheffield Running for Nets team.

Hosting a JCI President (that's their real title, I am the "JCI UK President", the World President is simply the "JCI President") is always fun. Its also always a lot of work. But in the end, it is always a great experience and an honour.

As the National President I was expected to be the host and to accompany the President on his travels across the UK. So in addition to all the events and meetings it is also an opportunity for two people to get to know each other and (hopefully) get comfortable with each other.

I am personally very interested in the process of people getting to know each other, of people becoming friends. The President had no choice but to spend the two days with me, and so we better get comfortable, quick. 

As you can see in the picture, we made friends and I must testify that the President is an incredibly inspiring person. I think that all the members who heard the President speak will agree with me. President Bertolt has true passion behind what he does, he has brilliant ideas for where the organisation should go and the impact it needs to make in its local communities in order to make a difference, and he also listens to members and is willing to spend time understanding what they are doing on the ground.

There are some blog posts coming about what the President did while in the UK, so I am not going to spoil the surprise. I personally got to spend two days with an amazing person and I am both happy that I got this opportunity and sad that it went a tiny bit too fast.

Yours,

Solveig Malvik
2012 JCI UK National President
Senator #70867

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It was a long weekend, but it passed too quickly! This last weekend JCI UK National Board for 2012 had our first proper meeting as National Board and team.

And we focused a lot on the team. Looking at personalities, values, where we think the UK and JCI in the UK will go, and what we would be if we were to be an app...We laughed a lot and amazingly despite working from 10am to 7pm on Saturday, the talk and mood was still going strong when we went for dinner later Saturday night.

Saturday night did not get late, because we all had an early start Sunday morning. Sunday started with website training, then planning the whole year.

Overall we did a lot of planning, a lot of discussing, and a lot of trying to get our heads around how things will work in 2012.

On Sunday the project leaders joined us and were able to pull together the whole year from January to December and look at what has to happen when. We have lots of exciting plans to launch at Inspiration Day and in our email newsletters to all of our dear members.

A big thank you to Steven Vandevelde, RGC North and General Manager Holiday Inn Sheffield for allowing us to use his hotel the whole weekend.

Pulling together the plan for the year

Musical chairs

Feedback and encouragement is also needed

Discussing plans of actions for 2012

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This weekend I had my first full weekend of JCI engagements as JCI UK National President. The first weekend of many to come. I think I have a free weekend some time in May, otherwise my weekends are filled with National Board meetings, international meetings, training weekends and international conventions. All good fun and all of it things I'm really looking forward to.

The weekend started in Barnsley with the JCI Barnsley 60th Annual Dinner. JCI Barnsley as always did a brilliant job with good speeches, good food and good people. It is no little feat to celebrate a 60th anniversary. How many other clubs and organisations, even companies, do you know that has survived for 60 years? 

The weekend continued at the British Senate Drumming Out in Northampton. 2011 JCI UK National President Allison Cowell gave a speech at the dinner drumming out 2011 Senate Chair David Butcher, while I gave a speech at the breakfast the next day, drumming in 2012 Senate Chair Julie Blakey.

It was a great experience and it's a good feeling thinking that in 10, 20 or 50 years it is us sitting there sharing memories of our active days.

I lost count over the weekend how many times I was asked how my year is going so far, and all of two weeks in, I could answer honestly that so far I'm having fun, having a great time, working with amazing people.

I hope you've all signed up for Inspiration Day in Birmingham the 28th of January. We have more than 40 sign ups, and even guests from as far as Mongolia and Finland. If you haven't, sign up before 22nd January!

See you soon!

solveig.malvik@jciuk.org.uk

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Dear JCI UK Members, Senators and Friends.

Well this is it .... I really can't believe I am writing my last message to you as JCI UK National President!

So let's start with some facts;

• I believe I am the first non Senator National President to have spoken at the Senate Drumming out breakfast
• One week later I was made a Senator - which was fantastic
• This year I have travelled 17,503 miles on behalf of JCI UK
• I have visited all chambers in the UK, with the exception of JCI Portsmouth
• I think I have grown as a person, and no not just in size because of all the great food, drink and hospitality I have received!
• I have to be honest and say I still don't enjoy public speaking, but I don't get anywhere near as nervous as I did, I may be ready to try it without a script soon!?!?
• I have graduated from JCI Presenter, and JCI Achieve during the year.
• I gave my first 'official' training session this year during the Local Leaders weekend
• The Alli Clap is now a well known phrase and well used action!
• I have had the most amazing experience of my life.
• JCI UK has grown by more than 25%
• JCI UK received recognition in Brussels at World Congress for achieving 100% efficiency this year
• JCI UK has raised more than $32k for the Nothing But Nets Campaign this year
• JCI UK has 2 new chambers on the verge of staring, and there are some talks underway about a couple of others
• JCI UK has 'Excelled in 2011'

The last weekend of November was the JCI UK National Convention, and wow what a weekend. The weekend was hosted by JCI Yorkshire and was held in Sheffield. The Conference team did a fantastic job, and it was made all the better by the brilliant delegates, who really got involved and took advantage of the opportunities on offer during the weekend. It was great to see so many different people playing a part in the weekend from hosting a session, taking part in the competitions and delivering training. It was also brilliant to see so many members of the British Senate in Sheffield too, and to see them right in the heart of it with the JCI UK members.

The weekend was jam packed but my favourite part of the weekend was Saturday night....the prestigious awards ceremony. It was great to be able to recognise so many individuals and chambers for their phenomenal efforts this year. But it was not just the award winners that I was proud of, it was each and every person who has helped to make 2011 such a great year.

It was all happening on Saturday night, after the awards ceremony, I had the massively great honour of announcing 4 individuals as Senators, and therefore, life long members of JCI, Paul Thwaite, Lorna Bainbridge, Julia Goodfellow-Smith, and our 2012 National President Solveig Malvik.

It was then time for the moment I had not been looking forward to ...... the passing of the Chain, I've become rather attached to the chain! From the photo's I have seen it looks like Solveig and I are high fiving on the stage, but no that was me officially swearing her in to office.

All that was left for us to do was to party to the live band, who were fantastic, and then party some more at the after party.

It was an amazing night, and the reaction in the room when I finished my speech is something that will stay with me forever - THANK YOU.

All in all it was a brilliant end to a brilliant year.

A couple of weeks ago I was really chuffed to have been able to attend the JCI Achieve course that was run in Sheffield. I had heard such good things of the course that I was really pleased that I got the chance to attend it. Maggie and Lesley from JCI Scotland braced the wind and the snow and came down to deliver the course, and it was cracking. It's always great to get together with other Jaycees and bounce around ideas and get all motivated to go back to you home chamber and make a difference. But, can you believe I have been a member for all this time and never attended an official course, and this year, my busiest year in JCI, I have managed to attend two - brilliant!!

So all that is left for me to say is, thank you for all of your support and hard work this year, I hope you have had as good a year as I have had, and I am really looking forward to see what great things we can achieve in Chapter 2012.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas, a great New Year, and I look forward to seeing you soon.

JCI UK - we've 'Excelled in 2011'

Cheers

Alli

JCI UK National President
Email: allison.cowell@jciuk.org.uk
Senator # 70323

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