I joined JCI Galway March 2020. I am a relatively new member, all the Irish JCI events that I have attended were through zoom. This allowed me to get involved with JCI, however these zoom events can make a member feel external from the main body of JCI.

The National Convention was a fantastic event. It gave me the sense of inclusion that zoom failed to provide.

For new members, the most important thing to do is attend events. You meet new people and experience friendships, that can carried on into your everyday life. A lot of the members will invite you to join them for social events outside of formal JCI gatherings.

From the National convention, I have strengthened so many National and International connections.

The JCI Malta group joined us. In October, I was one of few Irish delegates who was given an opportunity to attend the Leading Sustainable Growth programme, in Malta . Through the relationships built during that programme, the Maltese delegates wanted to visit Ireland and attend our national convention. This was a great moment for me, as I have developed a good relationship with the Maltese delegates. I was excited to experience my first Irish event with people that I knew.  

Many of the new members stayed in an Airbnb. This was the best decision, as we cooked for each other and we partied after the official events. All of the new members began to relax with each other. This also brought new opportunities to explore some ideas that we had. I proposed an idea and recruited a few members to help implement. This made me less nervous to get involved in future planning of JCI.

During the National Convention, I learned a lot from the programmes. I attended the fireside conversation. This involved 4 professionals; Annalise (JCI), Miika Kostamo, Colm Horgan and Harry (JCI Cork). They answered questions about how their companies dealt with Covid-19 and how they have adapted to a more hybrid working environment.

Another activity that I participated in was Strategy Play. 4 teams were assigned to particular regions. Each team was given 12 random samples of resources. The objective was to collect 4 samples of each set of resources. Each region had rules that were representative of their culture, language barriers and societal restrictions. Direct communication wasn’t advised. This taught us how to use strategy, innovative techniques to overcome communication issues and cultural sensitivity.

I learned a lot from all the activities organised. It was a great weekend with a lot of connection opportunities.