When I was first asked to go to Marketing Academy I wasn't sure if I was all that bothered about going, but having gone I can say I had a great time learning about marketing and meeting new people from around the country. I even surprised myself with how much I got involved with the activities and generating new ideas for my group in the main challenge. The location was amazing, the room was so modern and had cool quotes on the wall, like ‘If you do it right it will last forever' and ‘create your own path'. You could feel the buzz in the room when everyone arrived hungry to learn and start the weekend.


Jenny getting involved with group work at the Marketing Academy

We had some really amazing speakers across the weekend. On the first day we listened to talks from Amanda Fitzsimmons who talked to us about stakeholder engagement and the marketing mix, Kate Senter who told us about PR and Dave from Planet 9 who explained to us about social media. We did a couple of activities with Kate, the first was to get into groups and pick out an article from a newspaper that stood out and then explain why. My group got a Birmingham paper so we picked the top 10 pubs article, social on the brain I think! In reality it stood out a lot. The second was to discuss in a group how to shout about our chamber winning an award for doing a community project, I got a gold star from Kate for mentioning the JCI magazine. After lunch we got the big challenge of the weekend which was to map out six months of a marketing plan, each group got a different challenge, my group got Little Town and had to increase membership as well as re-engage members that were inactive. I enjoyed working with my team and we all came up with some really great ideas, I was nervous about presenting it to the rest of group at the end of the weekend, but I survived. The social on Saturday was really good fun as well.

If I wasn't passionate about JCI before I went I am now, the whole weekend my mind was buzzing with ideas and things I could take back to my chamber to help grow membership and to keep the members that we have engaged.

I would recommend the course to anyone, not just those who do marketing for JCI or as a career. The weekend is not just about learning, it's about meeting and making new friends. At the end of the weekend everyone got feedback to take away from others in the group. I received some really great feedback which I have stuck on my wall to keep me inspired. I enjoyed seeing just how enthusiastic everyone was about JCI and everyone was really friendly and warm. I had a fantastic weekend. So thanks to my council team for letting me go. If you get the chance to go, you should jump at the chance, you will not regret it!

Jenny Storey
JCI Barnsley Member