Members from around the country descended on the Second City on January 28 as 62 members from 12 JCI local chambers met for the annual Inspiration Day in Birmingham.

The inspirational theme was particularly fitting as the host city prepares to re-launch its own chamber next month and we were all on hand happy to offer our support and encouragement.

The theme for this day was "Making a difference" in line with the JCI UK 2012 theme of the same name.  We were also joined by Jukka Vainionpaa- JCI Vice President 2012 to the UK from Finland, Lesley Young- 2012 JCI UN Commissioner , Julia Blakey- British Senate Chair 2012 and members of this year's JCI UK National Board.

Keynote speaker for the morning session was Noam Kostucki, an award winning speaker and co-founder of three social enterprises. Noam is no stranger to making a difference and helping others do the same. Noam talked to the group about a number of issues around taking steps to realise your goals, planning and taking the next step each time you achieve something, constantly challenging yourself and not just settling for achieving. Noam also explored the issue of why do we always write down our vision when pictures say so much more. The room was challenged to draw out the visions we all had for 2012 and show them to each other to see if we could understand them. It was surprising how many people could clearly interpret each other's vision pictures despite some abysmal drawing, mine included! Myself and Debbie each drew out JCI Barnsley's vision for 2012 and I've included it below so everyone can see where we are trying to drive JCI Barnsley this year, while also acting as a reminder throughout the year of just what aim we set ourselves in January 2012.

The afternoon session was about spreading the word about JCI Birmingham and we were tasked to take to the streets of the Second City and do exactly that. When set it did seem an easy task but as the afternoon unfolded it was easy to see that just stopping random people in the street was not as easy as we first thought. By the end of the afternoon coffee shops and pubs had been leafleted, numerous photos of JCI had been tweeted, a list of email addresses had been gathered from potential interested parties and a JCI Birmingham LinkedIn group had been created! Not bad for two hours' work. One group even spelt out JCI in human beings and used leaflets on the floor in JCI lettering to attract passers by - never let it be said JCI members are not creative!

The whole day was a fantastic chance to catch up with friends from other chambers, meet new faces, and swap ideas and success stories. It was great to hear other chambers saying how inspired they were by our start to 2012 and for me that was the highlight of the day, seeing JCI Barnsley as an inspiration to other UK chambers.

Over the next 12 months I will be revisiting my picture vision, reminding myself of the goals I have set myself as well as JCI Barnsley and when I am feeling deflated I will certainly think back to the inspirational words of Noam and my fellow JCI members.

2012 is going to be a fantastic year!!

Kirstie Barnett- 2012 JCI Barnsley President