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Ever since I joined JCI last year I have been looking forward to attending the marketing academy. I may work in marketing in my career, but I believe that it is one of those industry's that you can never know it all and there is always something to learn. The event finally came round and I was so excited to attend, I had sent my questionnaire answers back to Claire and picked out my marketing examples that I would present to everyone on the first day.

I arrived at the event after a little bit of drama on the road, but once I had a coffee in hand and had settled into my place I felt the happiness and positivity that I always get when attending a JCI event. We started with introductions around the room and followed with the presentation of the marketing materials that we had each brought along with us. Mine consisted of the powerhouse brand that is Tiffany's where you do not even need to see a logo, you can just recognise them with their brand colour. I also showed a few other articles from premium US brands that I have been impressed by, along with the mighty Virgin Media new ad campaign.

Our first session covered PR and was brought to us by the wonderfully enthusiastic Kate Senter. This session definitely set the scene and the mood for the rest of the weekend! We learnt about how to structure and write a press release, along with how to distribute it to the relevant contacts and media organisations. The next session of the day was with the fantastic multi-media business Oxyfire, who we are lucky enough to have locally. Their session was very interactive and taught us how to produce short promotional clips, along with all the tips and hints that you may ever need to know. We definitely learnt some interesting facts about our team and had a lot of fun!

Once we had tucked into the lovely lunch that had been put on by the Holiday Inn Express we were treated to a really fun energizer session with Sandra, which definitely woke us back up and prepared us for the afternoon ahead. The afternoon started with a session on branding with Claire and left me feeling secure in the knowledge that I am not the only one that feels so strongly about brand consistency and how it can be effectively used to make any company successful and respected in their relevant sector. This session was followed by a really fun and interactive session on stakeholder management with Lisa Price and saw us selecting our team by choosing a smartie from the colourful  array on each of our tables. It was definitely a great learning experience for everyone in the room and got everyone thinking about how they could take back the principals and processes to their local chambers!

The day was brought to a close with us being split into our teams for the Sunday presentation and I was to be part of 'Little Town', which was a chamber looking to increase their membership. We carried out our brainstorming in the final hour and started to put together a structure for our presentation. We then bid farewell to each other for the evening and pressed pause awaiting day two.

It was not long until we were back in the room at the Holiday Inn Express and beginning our second day! This started with a fantastic talk on social media by Kym Hall. I had met Kym with Kate at a local event the month before and realised that she had to be at our marketing academy! She definitely proved how social media can be used to make your business successful and be seen on a global scale. I think she definitely converted the suspicious social media attendees in the room and showed them how easy and cost effectively it could be done. Who would have thought that there would be so much energy and enthusiasm at that time on a Sunday morning!

We were then introduced to the JCI website platform by Solveig which was definitely useful for not only the marketing committee members but any JCI member. It helped anyone with little or no website experience to really find out how current websites are edited and maintained. This was definitely useful as there were a lot of questions and best practices shared between the group.

Our final session of the program was brought to us by Kate and taught us how to monitor and manage our marketing activity. It was a fantastic program and allowed the whole group to have a "round the table" discussion and share our experience and ideas. I think that sometimes companies believe that this cannot be done and make it much more difficult than it really needs to be. However I think that this session reassured everyone in the room that it is a lot easier than it used to be and should definitely be followed in their own role/chamber.

It was then time to move back into our groups and complete our presentation. My team found that even though it sounded like we had plenty of time to prepare for the task in-hand, that we still worked to the wire. It was such a fantastic end to the weekend to see everyone presenting their marketing plans and campaigns and it really showed how far everyone had come.

Once the presentations were complete it was time to graduate and we were presented with our certificates by Claire, Kate and Solveig. I think everyone felt such a fantastic sense of achievement and could go away and put into practice all of the wonderful skills that they had learnt.

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Since taking the step to join national board I have been really looking forward to working with my co-director, Kate Senter, to organise the 2012 JCI UK Marketing Academy. As part of our commitment to raising the profile of JCI UK we have spent the last three months organising a jam packed weekend. To say we were excited was an understatement!

The 19 delegates at this year's academy had a really broad knowledge of knowledge of marketing which created a fantastic opportunity for members to come together to learn and share our combined experience and knowledge of marketing. This can benefit each of us as individuals, our local chambers and the organisations we work for.

The training sessions covered by Kate, Claire and Lisa Price (2009 President, JCI Sheffield) included PR, branding, stakeholder engagement, the marketing mix and measuring our successes. We were also lucky to have local multi-media business, Oxyfire, and social media guru Kym Hall, from iheartbusiness, to join us to share their insights into their areas of specialism.

Oxyfire delivered a fun and interactive session on how to produce short promotional clips for use online and it was great to see members practising interviewing each other and filming at the same time.

Kym Hall has the most amount of energy I think I have ever seen, certainly for 9:00am on a Sunday morning! She delivered a whistle stop tour of her amazing journey to setting up her international social media company, giving members lots of hints and tips along the way.

So what did the delegates really think? When I got home on Sunday evening nervously read all the feedback forms but I think some of the comments we received speak for themselves really:

"It was really amazing. I really enjoyed it and learnt a lot that I can use in the chamber and in my life. Thank you very much Kate and Claire."

"Really well done, very organised, great content and tasks. Lots of passion from Kate and Claire (and advanced knowledge of the subject)."

"As a new member I was made to feel really welcome - thanks!"

 "I have really enjoyed the academy, lots of ideas to take back to my chamber."

WOW - we were blown away! Thank you to the 19 graduates and all the trainers who made such a fantastic contribution to the weekend.

Claire Evans
Communications Director, JCI UK

PS - We've already been asked if we would consider delivering the academy again in the south, something we are really excited about. If you would be interested in attending the JCI UK Marketing Academy then add a comment to this blog to help us to get the ball rolling.

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This is a guest post on best practices around social networking from Nicole Williams. She shares some great tips about why you should add your volonteer experiences on your LinkedIn profile.

The more I learn about LinkedIn, the happier I am to be working with them. The latest and greatest in their repertoire of new tools? The addition of a volunteer work experience section on your profile. I've always been a big proponent of committing to a cause not only with the view to helping others, but also as a form of career advancement (yes, that's strategic, not shameful).

According to LinkedIn's latest survey results, 89% of respondents had volunteer experience but only 45% include it on their resume. This is crazy low considering they also found that one out of every five hiring managers agree they have hired a candidate because of their volunteer work experience. Your volunteer experience counts and if you don't include it in your profile, on your resume or when you're negotiating for a promotion you're not getting the credit you deserve.

Here are a couple of other reasons you want to get on the volunteer path:

Millions of professionals donate their time volunteering that impacts the lives of others, but it turns out volunteering is as good for your career as it is to those you help. Here’s how:

Helping Others Matters – All that time you spent raising record amounts of money, the year-end event you planned to perfection all felt like real work and…it was. New research from LinkedIn shows that one out of every five hiring managers in the U.S. agree they have hired a candidate because of their volunteer work experience. Your volunteer experience counts and if you don’t include it in your profile, on your resume or when you’re negotiating for a promotion you’re not getting the credit you deserve.

Test-Drive Your Passion – A truism of career success is that passion correlates with talent and talent translates to reward (both financial and emotional).  One of the safest ways of test-driving your passion as a career is to volunteer your talents.  Not only do you get to try your hand at a repertoire of new skills and experiences in a low-risk forum, but you’ll also be showcasing these talents to a whole host of peers who may just happen to have the connections you need to get hired.

You Never Know Who You’re Going to Meet – The majority of career enhancing opportunities come through relationships and volunteering exposes you to people you wouldn’t encounter otherwise.  And get this: volunteer relationships are particularly beneficial since many of the folks you interact with while volunteering are usually driven, conscientious professionals who can be a great referral. Volunteering offers a whole new world of qualified and valuable connections.

Get Noticed / Motivated - The most successful people in the world dedicate their efforts to a cause that extends beyond themselves and your boss and / or hiring manager are well aware of this. In this hypercompetitive world of work, volunteering not only provides you the opportunity to showcase your talents and experiences, but it also allows you to demonstrate compassion and commitment.

Add the new “Volunteer Experience & Causes” field to your LinkedIn Profile now. In the new “Volunteer Experience & Causes” field, LinkedIn members can add volunteer positions, causes they care about, and organizations they support. Make sure you add JCI UK on your profile.

Published with permission from the author.

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The first JCI UK Marketing Academy was held this weekend in Barnsley at the Ardsley House Hotel. 

11 participants representing 8 chambers - half of the chambers in the UK - participated in a weekend packed with trainings and workshops delivered by JCI UK's own trainers.

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JCI UK is launching its first Marketing Academy in the beginning of April. It will be a fun weekend and we are going to learn more about:

• What the JCI brand stands for
• Social media
• LinkedIn
• Blogging
• Word of Mouth marketing
• SEO.

We have all heard about the 4 P's of Marketing: Product, Price, Placement and Promotion. One thing that I think makes JCI stand out is the 5th P: Passion. We have so many passionate members all over the world and it's our members who are attracting more members to join.

During this weekend we will also learn more about the C's of Marketing: Content, Consistency, Communication, Connection and Conversation.

You can sign up and read more about the JCI UK Marketing Academy here. 

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Looking for anything in particular? Need information about JCI branding and maybe an image to go with it? 

Check out the resource pages on our website!

We're constantly adding things, but if you see something missing or think something would be useful to add, let me know!

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The website has been live for almost four months now. Do you like it? Please take the survey and help us make it better!

It is only 9 questions so will only take a moment to do. Go to the survey.

Many thanks from JCI UK

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