THE
NATIONAL Why wouldn’t you LEAP?
choose
2016
extraordinary
JCI UK wins big at the JCI European Conference 2016, Tamepre, Finland!
www.jciuk.org.uk
Wheelchair Athlete David Weir MBE to speak at JCI UK National Convention 2016
Summer 2016
Welcome Dear JCI members, senators and friends The first half of 2016 has absolutely flown by. We had a great kick off at our January Inspiration Day, an exciting visit from the JCI World President in March and three fantastic national academies, which saw members throw themselves into learning new marketing, public speaking and training skills. Most importantly our chambers around the country have been putting on events, running projects and enabling their members to expand their network. Their successes were recognised at the European Conference in Finland, where we won three awards, came second in the public speaking and French debating competitions and were shortlisted for many more. Why do we do all this? To provide our members with development opportunities. Not just to attend fantastic, inspiring, fun training sessions, but to then be able to put those new skills into practice by working on projects and taking on leadership roles in the organisation. That is the JCI difference. The chance to experiment, push ourselves outside of our comfort zones and gain practical experience in a safe and supportive environment. So that when exciting opportunities come around in our personal and professional lives, we can put our hands up and confidently say “I can do that!”. Attending events is great, but if you’re a member who has not yet got involved in some way in actually helping to run those events, projects or your local chamber, then you are not yet making the very most of your membership. I can say from personal experience that it is through this kind of involvement that you build your confidence, discover abilities you never thought possible and build deep and lasting friendships with fellow members. Yes it might be uncomfortable at first and require effort, but this is what choosing extraordinary is all about – taking the harder path to achieve something most others can only dream of. And you never know...one day you may find yourself on stage at a European Conference, clutching an award in recognition of what you have achieved. Best wishes
Sarah Beckwith 2016 JCI UK National President Senator #71411
Contents JCI UK Events Diary Page 1 Training Academy Page 2 How to Take Back Your Morning Page 3 How to Reduce Your Stress Levels Page 4 How We Became An Award Winning Chamber Page 5 The Impact of the World President Pages 6 -7 JCI EC16 - What does the National President do? Pages 8 -9 JCI National Convention 2016 Page 10 JCI TOYP Page 11 Arguing - Fun and a Learning Experience Page 12 Public Speaking: Build the Confidence Page 13 4 Weeks with JCI Southampton Page 14
Designer - Ryan Pilkington Editor - Mark Smith
JCI UK Events Diary JCI UK Leadership Academy LEAP - Leadership Excellence in Action Programme August 19 - August 21 Birmingham
JCI Ireland National Convention October 21 Galway, Ireland
JCI UK National Conference November 25 - November 27 Manchester
JCI UK AGM September 17 Swindon
JCI World Congress October 30 - November 4 Quebec, Canada
More information and events can be found at: www.jciuk.org.uk/events
JCI UK AGM The Annual General Meeting of JCI UK will this year be held on 17th September and hosted by JCI Swindon. The AGM is where strategic decisions about the future of JCI UK are made, including the election of the 2017 National Board team and the vote to decide where 2017 National Convention will be held. As well as the formal proceedings of the AGM, there will also be the opportunity to share your ideas and help plan for 2017. All members are welcome to attend and Local Presidents (or their proxies) and National Board will be representing our members. The JCI UK AGM will be held in Swindon with more details to be released shortly.
The
JCI UK Training Academy Following the launch of the National Training Team in the autumn of 2015 the next step towards developing our future Trainers in JCU UK was the creation of the first National Training Academy. This took place in Birmingham on 4th and 5th June and saw10 delegates from across the country attend and graduate. The academy was designed and delivered by two of JCI’s experienced trainers, Emma Eastwood and Sarah Beckwith as well as Martin Gustafsson from JCI Sweden. During the academy participants learnt about the learning cycle and how different people learn in different ways. Of course, there is no better way of learning how to deliver training than to actually practice. Over the weekend delegates worked in teams to design a 30 minute training module which was delivered to the rest of the group and feedback was given as to how these modules could be improved for the future. Following completion of the academy three of the participants now meet the criteria to join the National Training Team (NTT) and these three are Mark Smith (JCI Sheffield), Michaela Schaller (JCI Manchester) and James Lambert (JCI Southampton). Another few members are working towards completing the necessary experience to enable them to join the NTT. A massive thank you to Emma, Sarah and Martin for all their hard work in creating this academy and for the passion and enthusiasm with which they delivered it. Also thanks to the JCI UK Foundation for their financial assistance and to BPP Birmingham for the use of their amazing training facilities. If you have any questions about the National Training Team, the Training Academy or any other aspect of Personal Development please contact James Lambert the JCI UK Personal Development Director for 2016 by email at james. lambert@jciuk.org.uk
How to Take Back Your Morning Mornings. Some people love them and some people hate them. If you hate mornings then this article will share with you how you can maximize your mornings and make sure that you start your day off productively! It’s fact that morning people are more productive and more successful and some studies even show they’re friendlier! Reclaim your morning with our top tips!
At Work / University:
The Night before:
2. Manage your energy. Try blocking out tasks for certain times of the day. For example, keep the morning in the office open to tasks that are more fun, lively and creative to ensure you don’t fall into a rut. Try setting a timer on your computer ir phone for the task at hand and try to finish it within that time frame. This will keep you focused and you can turn it into a little competition with yourself.
1. Plan ahead. Don’t start your day off stressed because you can’t find your tie or your folder. Get things ready before you head to bed. Set your folder, bags, clothes and grooming kit ready for the morning ahead. There’s already one less thing to worry about in the morning and it means you’ll have more time for your breakfast or even more sleep. If you take a packed lunch to work or to university then make this the night before too. 2. Rethink your alarm. Try getting up a little earlier. You’ll have more time in your day and that can only mean you’ll get more done. Think of you’re ‘to do’ list getting shorter and shorter each day. One app (IOS and Android) that works well to ensure you wake up is Puzzle Alarm. The alarm is set to whatever time you like and you have to solve the puzzle to turn the alarm off. Multiple difficulties are available but make sure they aren’t too easy! After you wake up: 1. Set a routine. Start each day the same. This may sound a little boring but it will cue your brain to move onto the next goal automatically meaning you’ll have a little more headspace. Try starting the day with 10 minutes of meditation to start off your day with a calm and balanced feeling. 2. Use your first 15 minutes carefully. Try using the first 15 minutes to get the most important things on your to do list sorted early on. This means that one of the most daunting things on your list, or the biggest on your list will be at least started. Don’t use this time for emails! Emails will only distract you and get you stuck into a rut for the day. Save these for lunchtime or mid afternoon if you can.
1. Do something important. First things first, sometimes called ‘Eat Your Frog’. Start the day at the office with a milestone, something creative or the job your dreading to get your brain in gear and keep you motivated.
There are many more ways of getting your mornings back in order. Try having a run in the morning or a walk around the block to clear your head after waking up. Do you have any morning routines you like to follow or any tips you’d like to share on how you took back your mornings? Email in and let us know at info@jciuk. org.uk Enjoy your new stress free, organized morning!
How to Reduce Your Stress Levels In today’s world we are ever connected. In most part this is amazing. We can constantly be moving forward, building our businesses, making more contacts and be ever learning. But it’s easy for this 24/7 connection to make us feel more stressed than ever. In this article I will share with you simple ways in which you can destress your life, or at least your day, so that you can clear your mind and begin getting your to do list and your life back on track. These may seem like very simple tricks and ones that you’ve probably come across before but they do work. Instead of just thinking “oh it’s this again” try them first. Do them a couple of times when you feel stressed and you’ll soon be seeing a happier person in the mirror! 1. Organize Your Space. A messy desk will make your day harder to get through. You’ll no longer have to hunt for that form or a pen. While your at it why not spend 10 minutes - 20 minutes clearing your computer of old files and duplicates? Think of the time you’ll save by not having to search through all of those junk files! 2. Move. Sitting around all day everyday can make us feel lethargic and unmotivated. This doesn’t mean you have to run a marathon every morning but simply taking the stairs more than you do the lift at work will help. Taking this further you could take five minutes in the morning to do a little yoga or just stretch to loosen up your muscles for the day! 3. Planning for the day. Easier said than done we know but think of the time you’ll save in the morning when you wake up and your all ready to just get ready and go! More time for you means less time rushing around trying to find your keys, wallet and socks. Make a space for all of your bits for the day, your watch, your laptop, your keys, wallet and what you’ll wear for the day. Use it as a one stop shop for your day. 4. Headspace. When we’re connected all of the time it’s becoming harder and harder for us to have ‘us’ time. This free app available for IOS and Android will help you literally take 10 minutes out of your day and do nothing. Literally nothing. I love this app and it does help to clear your head, lets yours thoughts come and
go, become more conscious of me and what I feel like. You get 10 free sessions with a subscription available for loads more sessions with different themes. But you can just replay the free 10 ones over and over like I do! 5. Set yourself a timer. When we have so many tasks on at once it can end up being one task taking up the majority of the time meaning we don’t get lots of time for the other tasks. Making us stressed. Set a realistic time to get a task done. For example, 5 minutes to send an email. 1 hour - 1 1/2 hours to set some Facebook posts up. This will keep you motivated to get the job done within the time frame. Plus it feels great when you do get your task done in the time frame. You can even make a game out of it! Treat yourself if you manage to beat the timer! Just don’t rush your tasks, you’ll spend more of your time rectifying your mistakes! Using these simple techniques can really educe your stress levels day to day. There are loads of more ways you can reduce them further that haven’t been mentioned in this article such as take 10 deep breaths, eat more fruit and spend more of your time outdoors. Do you have any good tips for relieving stress? Let us know either on our Facebook page, Twitter (@JCIUK) or email marketing@jciuk.org.uk Enjoy your less stressful day!
How We Became an Award Winning Chamber We’re owed a good news story. One that demonstrates how we love and unite with Europe, even outside the EU. Three JCI Manchester members were among the UK delegation to the recent 2,000-strong European Convention in Finland.
and we were successful at engaging corporate partners from Manchester’s young professionals community, keen to extend their networks. (It certainly helped having an important regional law firm run by a former chamber president!)
It was a packed few days, meeting new friends, creating new ideas and sipping new award-winning gins. We drew great value from the workshops, the high-profile speakers and, yes, even the pricey Scandinavian drinks!
Our final tips if you’re trying to grow an enterprise (with hardly any budget!):
The highlights for Manchester were winning a European award for our efforts in growing the chamber, and our member Ilona Alcock coming a narrow second in the European public speaking competition with two showstopping speeches. How did we earn our award? I knew you’d ask. I joined JCI Manchester in 2010, when there were only a handful of members. Now our events are sell-outs (say, 40 to seminars, 70 to socials, and 300 to our young talent awards dinner). It’s right to consider that six-year timeframe, because that’s the key to growing our chamber. It took a few years: various teams but an unbroken campaign. Before we could build our brand, we had to ensure that our events were of high quality, advertised well in advance, and hardly ever cancelled. We managed to attract good board members (competent, proactive and already well-networked) with the challenge of growing a chamber. Our awards are now in their seventh year and have been terrific in raising brand awareness and media coverage. Our themed socials have always been popular; they might not be at the heart of our purpose as JCI, but they’re great for networking and they get people through the doors, whom we can then introduce to our personal development and charity projects. Then came our brand growth. Social media helped (mainly Twitter for us, @JCIManchester) but the most powerful tool remains human contact. A good reputation for events travelled out by word of mouth,
1. Get some training on how to write press releases. (JCI ran a seminar on this last year.) A good press release has to be succinct, open with key details, and then tell a good story. Include quotes. 2. Blitz the free media – blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook. Remember to keep it on brand, but also fresh, punchy, personal and interesting. Otherwise it’ll get lost in the noise. 3. Make your own luck. Get to events where your ideal customers would be. Talk to everyone, positively and helpfully. Before long you’ll be in the right place at the right time. 4. Nurture any media contacts. They love to be invited places for free! 5. Surround yourself with good people. People who want to muck in. Point them at what makes them passionate – everything else can be learnt. So our growth has been a long-term project. And it’s taken effort. But I’ve developed so much on that journey, made friends all over the UK and internationally, and capped it all off with a European award. Plenty to blow away the news blues. Paul Widger 2016 President JCI Manchester
The
Impact of the World President Visit
We were delighted to welcome 2016 JCI World President Paschal Dike from JCI Nigeria to visit JCI UK back in March 2016. He visited JCI London and JCI Sheffield. Now four months on, we caught up with JCI Sheffield to see what impact and legacy President Paschal’s visit had on the Chamber. For President Paschal’s trip to Sheffield, 2016 Local President Gareth Carson and his team arranged a series of meetings with several key partners in Sheffield to showcase some of the organisations that JCI Sheffield currently works with but also where further opportunities to collaborate exist. JCI Sheffield introduced World President Paschal Dike, National President Sarah Beckwith and Yorkshire Regional Group Chair Phil Cockayne to the 2016 President of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry Jillian Thomas as well as Tom Sutton from the Membership Team. In this meeting, both parties shared joint challenges and opportunities of membership recruitment and retention and discussed emerging issues including the devolution deal where central government plans to give more power to local
regions like the Sheffield City Region in order to grow the economy and create more jobs. President Paschal was pleased to see the strong links JCI Sheffield have with their local Chamber of Commerce and encouraged other JCI Chambers to develop links with their local Chamber. Four months since the visit, Gareth Carson says “following President Paschal’s visit, we have continued to have a good working relationship with the Chamber and are pleased they are running a workshop for us at our forthcoming Business Academy in September. We are also looking at how we can support their Business Awards later in the year”. Another key partner the team met with on President Paschal’s visit was with the Chief Executive Sue White of Voluntary Action Sheffield (VAS). Most towns and cities have a Voluntary Action (VA) or a Council for Voluntary Services (CVS) and whilst they may vary in what they do, their focus is to provide infrastructure support for the voluntary and community sector, promote volunteering and active citizenship and strive for social inclusion of marginalised groups.
Voluntary Action Sheffield celebrate their 90th anniversary this year as JCI Sheffield start to prepare to celebrate their 90th year next year of operating in Sheffield, making them the longest serving active chamber in the UK.  As a result of the meeting, four months on, JCI Sheffield have been supporting VAS with a variety of projects including assisting with their voluntary sector awards planned for later in the year, to recognise active citizenship. Gareth has joined a steering group for this project and has already been a useful member, sharing key contacts that JCI Sheffield has in order to look at venues and sponsorship to support this event. One of the highlights from President Paschal’s visit, was the question and answer session that he, Sarah Beckwith, Phil Cockayne and Gareth Carson did with members from Yorkshire chambers. Members really welcomed the opportunity to meet President Paschal and ask him questions about all sorts of topics and to hear about his JCI journey. Not every member that attended has yet been able to go to an international event in JCI, but they felt this gave a good insight into how valuable such an experience would be. Mark Smith 2016 Immediate Past President JCI Sheffield
JCI European Conference 2016
What does the National President do? You may have read previous blogs about international JCI events from participants, full of stories of inspiring keynote speakers, motivational training sessions and much networking with JCI members from all over the world at fun-filled parties. Whilst all of this is the main thrust of these events, the experience for national presidents and their deputies in quite different, although no less inspiring and tiring! So what is it that a national president does at a European Conference? I arrived into Tampere gone midnight after delayed flights on 14 June. A few hours sleep later and I was up and dressed in business attire for my first meeting at 7.45am, a pre-meet with some fellow national presidents and deputies before our formal National Presidents Meeting began at 9am. This involved discussing current issues in the worldwide organisation and producing a report which would be sent to the international board of directors for consideration at their midyear meeting. I then caught up with another fellow national president over lunch to share experiences and we both then chatted to the chair of the conference, Executive Vice President, Jef Hendrickx to get some advice on the forthcoming meetings. A quick walk took me back to the JCI
UK base hotel where we had a briefing for the delegation of members and senators on highlights of the conference. It was then a change into my finest national colours themed black tie to head to the opening ceremony. Waiting in line for quite a while (United Kingdom is the last national organisation in Europe alphabetically) to then head out on stage to be introduced to a crowd of over 1,000 people was definitely one of the most surreal experiences of my life. Hearing the cheer and seeing the mass of union jackage from the JCI UK delegation in front of me was a very exhilarating moment. Thursday began with Deputy National President, Michael and I attending the energising morning show, where (as always) a large and enthusiastic UK contingent showed up to hear about some of the projects and initiatives being undertaken by JCI around the world. We then headed off for a meeting with our NOM2NOM (national twinning) buddies before attending a lunch celebrating next year’s European Conference in Switzerland. It was then time to take our place in the conference assembly. This is where we hear reports from the international board of directors and headquarters, find out about which
countries are hosting upcoming events and vote on motions regarding the future direction of the organisation. I then dashed off to the first round of the public speaking competition to support our brilliant entrant Ilona Alcock, who breezed through to the finals. The long day was not over yet, as I headed over to a reception hosted by the City of Tampere in their town hall, followed by the Latvian/Canadian party.
coffee and a brainstorming session between national presidents and the board of directors. It was then finally time for a relaxing lunch with no responsibilities with the senators and even a quick rest, before getting ready for the gala dinner. It was great to meet with the JCI UK delegation for pre-gala drinks to catch up on their activities during the conference and give out the traditional “not the awards”.
Friday was another day jam-packed full of meetings: with World President Paschal Dike and other representatives from the international board, with our assigned Vice President Kaspar Ilves and our European Development Councillor Annalisa Schembri. Each meeting was a chance to express the views of JCI UK, hear updates on initiatives from other parts of the organisation and work together on taking JCI forwards. The afternoon was filled with another conference assembly, including the hard fought public speaking competition finals. Afterwards another dash back to the hotel for a quick change before heading out to meet our friends from the Scotland, Ireland and Malta delegations for a bite to eat and catch up before the Swiss party.
After four days of meetings, Michael and I entering the gala for a night of celebrations
Conference Assembly Conference assemblies were over, but that didn’t mean an end to the meetings – Saturday morning saw me at the Twinning Ceremony where JCI Southampton twinned with Belgian chamber JCI Kortrijk, then on to another catch up over
This was my eighth JCI European Conference and the gala was by far one of the best I’ve been to. The venue looked spectacular, we were greeted with a welcome alley of JCI Tampere members in white tuxedos and the entertainment was brilliantly different. Of course, to top it all off, I had the great pleasure of accompanying JCI UK’s award winners from JCI Manchester (Best Local Growth and Development Programme), JCI London (Best Long Term Community Programme) and JCI Southampton (Most Outstanding New Member – Celestine Onomo) up on stage. These awards were recognition of much hard work by our members, in many cases over several years and it was wonderful to celebrate with everyone there. JCI UK has a reputation for perhaps not being one of the largest organisations in Europe, but always one of the loudest and most impactful and I couldn’t be prouder to have led the UK delegation at EC 2016.
British Paralympic Wheelchair Athlete David Weir MBE to speak at JCI UK National Convention 2016
Dinner. With plenty of surprises in store we’re certain you’ll have a ball at this year’s convention hosted by JCI Manchester.
David Weir has to date won a total of 6 gold medals at the 2008 and 2012 Paralympic Games and has also won the London Marathon on 6 occasions. Following his return from the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio we hope he will have even more medals to his already impressive collection. David will be joining us on Saturday afternoon for a live interview hosted by award winning entrepreneur, strategist and educator, Professor Vikas Shah. In his journal, ‘Thought Economics” Vikas has interviewed many of the world’s most influential thinkers including Sir Richard Branson, Buzz Aldrin, Maya Angelou, Noam Chomsky and more than 12 Nobel Laureates (a person or organization awarded the Nobel Prize) in economics, sciences and peace building. What is set to be a truly inspirational interview Vikas will explore all the challenges and adventures David has endured throughout his professional sporting career. The audience will be invited to send their questions to jcimanchester@gmail. com in advance of the convention and the best questions will be included into the live interview.
Keep up to date by joining the Facebook event and following us on twitter @JCIUKNC2016.
The JCI UK National Convention will also feature all the usual JCI activities that you would expect from a jam packed convention weekend. You’ll get involved in the national competitions in public speaking, debating and extempore, you’ll have a variety of training sessions and key note speakers and of course an abundance of social activities and the grand finale at the National Awards
Tickets are now on sale and the EARLY BIRD RATE has been EXTENDED to 12th August 2016. So buy your tickets fast!
The
JCI TOYP Ten Outstanding Young People JCI TOYP serves to formally recognize young people who excel in their chosen fields and create positive change. By recognizing these young people, JCI raises the status of socially responsible leaders in this world. The honorees motivate their peers to seek excellence and serve others. Their stories of discovery, determination and ingenuity inspire young people to be better leaders and create better societies.
young persons in the UK, and find this opportunity a great way to showcase the hard work and achievements young people are making across a range of disciplines.�
Since 1983, JCI has honoured nearly 300 individuals from 57 nations. Past recipients of national awards include such well-known personalities as Elvis Presley, Orson Welles, Howard Hughes, Nelson Rockefeller, John F. Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Gerald Ford, Benigno Aquino, Bill Clinton, Jackie Chan and many, many more, all named before the age of 40 and before they had achieved national prominence. Honorees selected in past years have represented the heights of progress in numerous human endeavors. Many have gone on to even greater achievements. All have continued to serve humanity in a great variety of ways.
Do you know someone outstanding aged 18 to 40? Help share their work and dedication and see them recognised for their achievements with JCI. Nominate them online now at www.jciuk.org.uk
Some of the 2015 UK final Ten Outstanding Young Persons awards were awarded to: Luke Addison (Humanitarian and/or voluntary leadership), Lewis Bowen - (Business, economic, and/or entrepreneurial accomplishment) and Jane Burston - (Moral and/or Environmental leadership) amongst others. As a JCI TOYP winner in 2014, I was immensely proud to be listed among the ten most outstanding
Gerard Jones, 2014 UK Ten Outstanding Young Person Honoree
If you are thinking on making a nomination but may not know enough about the person you’d like to nominate to complete the form, you could ask the person you want to nominate for information or alternatively ask somebody else who does know more about the peron to complete the form for you. The deadline for nominations has been extended to the 28th August 2016. If you have queries contact TOYP Project Manager Hannah Woodcock hannah.woodcock@jcileeds.org.uk More information on nomination rules and FAQ’s can also be found at www.jciuk.org.uk
Arguing - Fun and a Learning Experience? A big part of the JCI experience is learning how to be an effective public speaker and even taking part in the range of local, regional, national and international public speaking competitions that are on offer. Whilst speaking off the cuff (extempore style) or joining a team of three to take part in a debate can be a nerve wracking experience, these opportunities teach us as JCI members key communication skills such as thinking on your feet, structuring an argument and talking with passion and conviction. We caught up with JCI UK current world debating runner up champions (they were beaten to the champion title by JCI Sweden at the World Congress in Japan last year), Charlotte Scothern from JCI Rotherham, Mark Smith from JCI Sheffield and Rafael Tselikas from JCI London to pick their brains to ask them their top 9 debating tips. Charlotte says: 1) Don’t worry about what you say – think about how you say it. In a debate, passion is key and the more convincing the way you put across your argument, the more the audience will believe you. Its not what you say, it’s the way you say it! 2) Prepare, prepare, prepare! Think about how you define the argument, how the opposition could, the pros and cons and how you would rebut them. The more prepared you are, the easier it will be to work as a team. 3) Enjoy it! Debating is unusual and it tests your skill to present a reasoned argument and perhaps on the complete opposite to your own opinion. It’s a unique experience that can be fun, so just enjoy every moment of working with your team! Mark says: 4) Get to understand the rules and scoring criteria. What you actually say is only a small part of the scoring framework. How you structure your arguments and work together as a team, how you present yourself with confidence and conviction are other areas where you can clock up those all
important marks. 5) Try and come up with a ‘sound byte’ that your team can keep repeating throughout their arguments. Charlotte is particularly good at this and they are really effective and often go down well with the judges too! 6) I often take the role of team captain, so would highly recommend using a three by two grid to jot down the main points that each member of your team and the other team make. It really does help you as captain when you do your summing up at the end of the session, to acknowledge key arguments on both sides and just as important from a scoring perspective, referring by name to each member of the teams. Rafael adds: 7) Make sure you are passionate about what you say, even if you don’t actually believe what you are saying yourself! 8) Be structured and make sure your arguments flow within what you say but also with your whole team. 9) Definitely as Mark says, get to know all the judging technicalities very well and follow them by the book! If after reading these top tips you have an urge to give it a go, get in touch with your Local President or Training Director to see when and where debating training is being held.
Public Speaking: Build the Confidence Public speaking is the most feared thing on the planet. Fact. Most people would prefer to die than take part in public speaking. That is about to change. In this article we will turn you into a great public speaker and tell you how you can fake the confidence! So what would our top 5 tips for public speaking be? 1. Plant your feet. With our neves being at an all time high when public speaking we tend to move around more than usual and 9/10 we will move our feet in unusual ways. When you take the stage stand with your feet shoulder width apart. This will give you better posture and give your legs more strength making them less likely to be moving around. 2. Breathe. Many people when public speaking try to get it over and done with as fast as they can. This means they rush out their words and eventually run out of breath and end up gasping for air. Take your time. Breathe and speak at a comfortable pace. Slow. Clear. Calm. 3. Move with purpose. If you feel like you’ve been standing there for a while like a statue or you feel you legs need to move then simply take a couple steps to the left or right. Don’t run, slowly move step by step to either side. This will keep the audiences attention and keep you comfortable. 4. Use appropriate hand gestures. If you’re like a lot of people you like to talk with you hands. This is great for pubic speaking but make sure you get the size of the gestures just right. If it’s a large audience make your gestures larger so that all of the audience can see your movements. However this won’t work for smaller audiences. Keep your hands and arms closer to your body for small audiences. This will keep them engaged and keep them safe of mind that you won’t accidentally hit them mid gesture. 5. Use your voice. Not your everyday voice. Use a tone of voice that will propel your voice to the audience so that your words come out of your mouth clear, audible and most of all confident. Don’t shout and don’t whisper.
Public speaking is a big part of JCI as we realize that it’s a major area of opportunity and development for most people. That’s why we as JCI UK run the Public Speaking Academy. This academy runs over a weekend and throughout the course you will learn all there is to know about public speaking. More information is available on the JCI UK website (www.jciuk.org.uk) There you have it our top tips on public speaking! Be sure to tell how you’ve used these tips on our Facebook, Twitter or let us know via email at info@ jciuk.org.uk!
Why Wouldn’t You LEAP? Unless you’re from another planet, you have probably heard at least one fellow JCI member talk about colours ‘red, blue, yellow and green’ in some shape or form and may have thought ‘what on earth are they talking about?’ Well its very likely, you would have been hearing one of the hundred or more graduates from the JCI UK flagship Leadership Academy ‘LEAP’, Leadership Excellence in Action Program. Now in its fifth year, the highly regarded Leadership Academy LEAP is going from strength to strength. Without giving too much away so as not to spoil it for LEAP virgins, the Academy this year runs from the evening of 19th August until the late afternoon of 21st August in Birmingham and promises to be a jam packed weekend of high quality training, including areas such as: understanding yourself and others; motivation and leadership of a team; tips and tools for effective leaders; leadership opportunities and challenges in JCI. But don’t just take our word for it – here are just a few of the endless list of gushing testimonials, tweets and comments from graduates of LEAP that literally talk about it as a life changing experience. “Do it! You will never have done an academy like it. Learn so much about yourself and others!” (Tracy Anderson, 2014 LEAP graduate and 2015 President JCI Barnsley). “When anybody asks me what is the one thing that you have learned the most through JCI, I always say how LEAP taught me how to work better with others who are similar and who are completely different to you” (Mark Smith, 2012 LEAP graduate and 2015 President JCI Sheffield; 2016 National Board member; 2014 most outstanding JCI member in the World).
“LEAP is simply the process where enthusiam, energy and great people turn good people into great people and future leaders” (Andy Hessey, 2015 LEAP graduate and 2016 President JCI Canary Wharf). Book your place today by heading to: www.jciuk.co.uk/events
4 Weeks with JCI Southampton Thursday morning. Cup of tea and laptop. Open emails: 2 from JCI Southampton President Celestine Onomo, one email from the day before (to remind me to actually do it) from National Finance Director Mark Smith, and one from a member of the JCI Southampton council with an interview for a blog post. 9.00am. Start content writing. I’m Ruthie, and I’m interning for JCI Southampton as a Marketing Coordinator for the next month. Despite appearances, being a JCI intern is not just “filing, photocopying, and stapling” (thanks Mum). Really, it’s everything but. My focus changes from week to week, and in a 4 week internship that’s a lot, but at the moment it’s all about market research and content writing. Effectively, it’s a crash course in marketing and coding, and I’ve learned more in 3 days here than I would have done from 3 days of lectures that I *definitely wouldn’t have* missed as an undergrad. So far, I’ve learnt how to format blog posts in HTML, write marketing plans and conduct proper market research, how to write social media posts that don’t say “lol” or “smh” at least 4 times in 140 characters...the list goes on. And while it might not seem like the most exciting thing in the world (I mean really, who would rather spend a whole day coding if they have the option to do... Well anything else really), I’m actually having a lot of fun. I like to learn, and it turns out I’m actually quite good at it. Who would have thought? I’m also getting to meet some of the most fantastic people I have ever met. I’m only here for a month and I’m already set to attend a meeting of the Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, join the British Senate for an evening during their trip to Southampton, and head over to a social for the new Winchester Chambers. I might only be sat at the back, but when you’ve just graduated from a Philosophy and Politics degree even a seat in the room is a privilege. Not only this, but the guys in
the office (who aren’t Jaycees themselves) have been incredibly welcoming, and I’ve been able to perfect my tea making skills: they’re mainly teachers, so its just another lesson in supply and demand. Even though I wasn’t hugely aware of JCI before I started, it certainly seems as though I’m not going to be able to walk away by the end of the month. Talking to Celestine and emailing different National Directors has lit a real fire in me. The training, the socials, and even just the general atmosphere is just so infectious that I don’t really want to let go. With one more year of student life ahead of me, membership might have to wait till my student loan comes in, but believe you me it’s on the way! Those of you who are London-based, keep an eye out for me come September, I’ll be heading your way soon. It’s going to be an exciting month working here and I can’t wait for all the challenges and opportunities I’ll be facing over the next four weeks. If there’s one thing for sure, it’s that I imagine JCI is going to become a big part of my life from now on! Ruthie Pinion