Valentine's Day is almost upon us which I think gives us a licence to be a little more vocal about our love than usual. And as you may have guessed, one of my main loves is JCI!

There so many reasons why that I could never hope to list them all. Instead I thought I would share with you just a few instances from the last couple of weeks that have made me even prouder than usual to be a part of this organisation.

Your Council Team

Easily the best in the UK (and yes, I may be a little biased). They ALL turned up bright and early on Sunday 2 February for Council team training and, more importantly, immediately started putting everything they learned into action. Read Ashleigh's blog to find out more.

We followed that up with our Council meeting on Wednesday which, as usual ended up being a tad longer than planned. You may expect a few complaints but instead our International Director Matthew summed it up like this... "Time really does fly when you're having fun and changing the world! When 3 hour meetings feel like 20 mins, you know you're still passionate!"

Yorkshire (Yorkshire, YORKSHIRE!)

I warned you in my last blog that Katie Ogley and my fellow local presidents were determined to reignite the passion for Yorkshire and ensure we really are better together. This determination is now very visible as Katie presented us all with flat caps at Inspiration Day! (More importantly she also comes to events with bags full of vegan goodies for me... amazing.)

Even more excitingly, we are starting to see more local members attending events around the region. A few of us visited JCI Barnsley for their open mic training night which was a really innovative way to improve public speaking and find out a little - or a LOT - more about each other. We have also welcomed Barnsley and Doncaster members to Sheffield, and they have been among the first to sign up for future events. 

YOU!

I am so lucky to be running a chamber full of incredible members. When I challenged you all to be better this year, I never dared to hope for such an overwhelming response, and certainly not so quickly! I'm just going to highlight one example here, from February's Star Member, but there are so many stories like this across the Chamber. Keep up the good work - and keep sharing your experiences with us!

Ryan Pilkington's goal is to become more confident and step one was to attend his first ever Networking Wednesday - read his wonderful blog to find out how it went. I can confirm he has kept up the good work. Not only has he now attended his first national event but also joined the Council team for extra training the morning after!

Finally, our Membership & Engagement Director, Gareth, has a fantastic new scheme to ensure everyone gets the most from JCI Sheffield. If you haven't yet received an email from your dedicated JCI buddy, please email him (gareth.carson@jcisheffield.org.uk) and we'll put you in touch!