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So it’s now August and I am currently sitting at home listening to some funky African music, feeling very excited about the Fashion Bites Back event, which will take place on Saturday the 8^th of October at Northern Ballet. The JCI Leeds Community event planning team are having so much fun organising this charity project and I am pleased to report that plans are going very well. There has been a huge interest in the event and we are already close to selling out of the VIP tickets.

I don’t really know where to start with this update as so much has happened since I last wrote about the event, but firstly we are delighted to announce that Gavin Mintus has agreed to present Fashion Bites Back, Gavin currently works for the BBC and has a whole host of presenting experience. We are also very excited that Gwenny Rose Robson will be opening the show with a contemporary dance performance, which will be inspired by African rhythms. In addition, we have recently welcomed Penny Wood to the team. Penny is an incredibly talented and experienced choreographer and will be using her expertise to help the models perfect their walk on the catwalk.

The designers are now at the stage where they have been working on their garments for a number of months and we are all so excited about seeing the finished collections. In particular, while visiting Bozena Carter’s shop at Bird’s Yard in Leeds last week, I was lucky to get a glimpse of a netted garment that she is making for the event. I am not going to spoil the surprise by telling you more about the garment, but I will say that it is stunning and you won’t want to miss out on seeing these incredible designs. Make sure you join us on the night to experience our designer’s ideas, sketches and fabrics come to life in these beautiful creative garments.

All profits from the event will go towards the United Nations Foundations Nothing But Nets campaign, which helps to protect families in Africa from malaria through the distribution of bed nets. So by attending this event you will be supporting a very important cause and helping to save lives.

To book your ticket for the event just visit the Northern Ballet website at http://northernballet.com/boxoffice/booknow3a.aspx?PerfID=153. We will look forward to seeing you there for what promises to be a night of fantastic entertainment.

See you there!

Georgie x

Georgina Abbott

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Fashion Bites Back!

This year JCI Leeds is continuing to support the United Nation Foundation’s Nothing But Nets malaria campaign.

On Saturday the 8^th of October JCI Leeds will host Fashion Bites Back, a charity fashion show that will raise awareness and funs to help eradicate malaria by sending bet nets to Africa. We have a fantastic community team working on this project and I thought I would update you on some of our progress and successes so far………

Last Saturday the community team interviewed a number of fashion designers who are interested in showcasing their designs at the show. We were all blown away by their talent and creativity and can’t wait to see the designs on the catwalk. The designers will be showcasing a collection of garments that will be modelled with African style make-up and they will also be creating a netted garment, which will fit perfectly with the theme of the event.

We will be hosting a model casting day on the 30^th of June. If you are interested in modelling at Fashion Bites Back or you would like more details about this, please contact Janita at janitakajese@googlemail.com, our model casting manager.

We will also be holding a raffle on the night and we have already secured some amazing prizes, including a little black dress donated by French Connection UK, and ESPA body massage courtesy of the Academy Spa in Harrogate and £100 of vouchers to spend in NEXT. Stay tuned for more exciting prizes to follow.

Our website will be going live shortly and if you would like to register your interest please visit http://fashionbitesback.com/

I will look forward to writing again soon with more of our community news.

Georgie x

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Another exciting month in world of JCI Leeds!

Great Bar of the Month at Mojo at the start of May! I remember when I used to live in Manchester and attending the Mojo there. Great music, beers, great nights! Attending Mojo in Leeds was a chance to relive that spend some time catching up with friends .

We had a very well attended training session on Emotional Intelligence presented by local businessman Richard Norman (of Brand Yorkshire, Recruitment 200 and The Commerce Intelligence Group to name but a few) who has been very supportive of JCI Leeds.

We also had our first business tour which was of Drax Power Station. Nearly 20 people attended what was an insightful and educational tour of the biggest coal-fired power plant in the UK and which currently provides 7% of the UK’s electricity (see! I was listening!)

There was June’s Bar of the Month at Wardrobe which was another social highlight but I had to miss it sadly...because I was at the JCI European Conference!

This was my first European Conference and it did not disappoint! 1,700 attendees flocked to Tarragona in Catalonia to hear speakers, take part in training, sight see and, most importantly, PARTY!

Considering yours truly had put himself forward as the person to help lead the UK delegates to the after parties I obviously had to partake in the various social events that happened (would be rude not too!).

The Belgians and Germans knew how to throw a party and a particular highlight was the UK being clapped in by the Germans when we arrived doing a conga!

The highlight of the trip has to be that JCI Leeds won two European Awards! Immediate Past President of JCI Leeds Claire Dempster won best local president of a medium sized chamber in Europe and our Nothing But Nets Calendar won a UN Millennium Goals award! Well, we certainly celebrated! Not only that but JCI Scotland also won two awards making it a great night for all! : ) Now for World Congress in Brussels! : )

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It’s been another busy month for JCI Leeds!

We had a great Bar of the month at Distrikt where we had huge turnout of members and non-members.

I then attended JCI Cambridge’s Business Skills Day which was followed by President’s and Deputies Day. At the National Council Meeting, JCI Yorkshire’s bid to host the JCI National Conference was approved and Solveig Mlvik was also voted in as Deputy National President of JCI UK.

The following weekend the JCI Scotland National Conference in Aberdeen. Fantastic event with a great turnout from the Yorkshire regions. As always, the Scottish hospitality was amazing.

The training session for the month was Extempore (off the cuff public speaking) where Emma Eastwood (Past of JCI Leeds) delivered the training. A great deal of fun was had by all!

24 April was Global Malaria Day and you should have received our save the date email for our “Fashion Bites Back” Charity Fashion Show which aims to raise funds for Nothing But Nets. 

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This evening JCI Leeds members Alex Byers, Peter Barnes, Hazel Kajase and myself (Claire Dempster!) who recently attended JCI UK's Marketing Academy shared with Ryan Webster (Marketing Director), Brandina Kajase (Membership Director) and Michael Best (Membership team) what we learnt with respect to membership engagement with a view to developing further information that chambers throughout the UK could use locally.

Over many cups of tea and the odd chocolate chip cookie we looking at some of the excellent examples of new member packs already being used by local chambers, including JCI Sheffield and JCI Manchester, and the new member welcome letter sent by JCI UK National President, Allison Cowell.

We thought a useful starting point for this project would be to map out the journey that a potential member takes from first hearing about JCI to joining and then becoming a full member. This then helped us to identify when and how we should communicate with our members to help them to get the most out of their membership.

We've all taken away tasks to follow-up on and we look forward to sharing our findings back with JCI UK and other chambers - wouldn't it be great to produce something that all chambers could use, so we can concentrate on getting out there to engage with our members!!

Finally.....JCI is run by its members, for its members so if you're reading this and have any good ideas about how we could engage with our members then get in touch (membership@jcileeds.org.uk) or post a comment below.

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Social directors Louise French and Dan Taylor organised another fabulous 'Bar of the Month' last night in Distrikt bar. Members and a hand full of new faces turned up after a hard day in the office to meet friends and do a bit of informal networking....it had nothing to do with the 2-4-1 cocktails, honest!

It was great to meet first timers from one of our corporate partners KPMG, Morgans City Living, Lucy Walker Recruitment and HSBC - they seemed to really enjoy the event and we hope to see them again soon.

A great night was had by all, including Debbie Tills and Gemma Fletcher, past presidents of JCI Barnsley (and members of JCI UK National Board), who also popped in say hello!

Rumour has it that we'll be bringing back the cocktail making at the next 'Bar of the Month' so watch this space for more information!

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It’s been another busy month for JCI Leeds this month.

So what’s been happening?

First, there was Bar of the Month at BRB. Great turnout with a private room. The cocktails and the pizza were flowing!

Next there was JCI Presenter at The Mint Hotel. For those who do not know, Presenter is a course to help develop your public speaking skills and we had 10 JCI members taking including Sheffield’s Deputy President and a new member of JCI London. A great day was had by all with everyone delivering a great presentation at the end. Thanks again to Emma Eastwood and Adam Woodhall for their excellent training.

We then had our second training event of the year which was Top of The Tree Leadership Training delivered by David Marsh of The Blue Water Partnership. Wrigleys Solicitors very kindly providing the venue for the event. Insightful session which generated a lot of discussion.

I attend Regional Forum in Bradford which is the gathering of the local presidents from Yorkshire to discuss their chambers, events and regional events. A large part of the evening was spent working on JCI Yorkshire’s bid for JCI UK National Convention which will be submitted this weekend. If any JCI Leeds members are interested in being on the committee, please do get in touch.

The JCI UK Marketing Academy is taking place this weekend. Sadly, I could not attend but JCI Leeds are being very well presented by member Hazel Kajese. I will be attending JCI Barnsley President Vicky Savage’s birthday celebrations this evening though.

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Great first planning meeting for the business lecture tonight led my Michael Best, JCI Leeds Secretary. 

Lots of ideas (which are top secret fror now!) but it promises to be a great event!

Also good to see two very new members wanting to get involved which is fantastic. 

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Myself and some of my fellow directors attended the Past Presidents’ Dinner last night at Moortown Golf Club.

We’re very lucky in Leeds as we are probably the only chamber in the UK where the current President gets to meet the Past Presidents to update them about the running of organisation.

Yesterday was a unique dinner as it open to my whole council team and we had a great turnout.

It was a fun night but very educational too as we heard some great stories about the history of JCI Leeds.

A good time was had by all!

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Hi all

Just finished my speech for the Past Presidents’ Dinner tomorrow.

JCI Leeds has a great tradition where every year, once a quarter, the president of JCI Leeds is invited to a dinner to speak to the Past Presidents of JCI Leeds about what is happening with the organisation.

It’s a great means to maintain a relationship and contact with presidents past and allows you to really appreciate the history behind JCI Leeds. The past presidents are very supportive and I’m looking forward to it!

This particular dinner is quite special because, for the first time, the dinner has been opened up so that my respective directors can also attend.

Wish me luck!

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