As we are approaching the beginning of May, I wonder, where has the time gone? The last two months as President of JCI Portsmouth have just flown by for me, both personally and professionally, so I have amalgamated March and April's Blogs.
On the personal side, the last two months have been very emotional, I have a very sick relative, whose condition is constantly going up and down, so a lot of my spare time has been spent at the hospital!!! The positive thing is that it is moments like this when we are reminded of how lucky we really are and I have been incredibly touched by the support, understanding and concern from all the JCI Members.

Looking at my last two months within JCI Portsmouth, it really has been busy; in March, our members and guests were treated to a really informative presentation from 7 Accounts on how to set up a new business or improve your existing business by better using cloud technology. The event was a great success and it was really positive to see such enthusiastic people starting up new business ventures, despite all the doom and gloom about the economy. David Jones from 7 Accounts made the session really interesting, fun and forward thinking and whether you were thinking about starting a business or you already had one, we all left with some great tips!

In April, we ran our first Public Speaking Workshop of the year which went down absolutely fantastically. There was a good mix of attendees, some regular and more confident public speakers, looking to brush up on their skills, along with complete novices who were terrified at the very thought of getting up and speaking in public. The workshop was run by our Immediate Past President, Paul Thwaite. He gave the group a few tips on public speaking, focusing on your projection, breathing and body language and then after the tips, it was time to put talking into action! Everyone was taken out of their comfort zones and were asked to take part in two public speaking exercises, both challenges were designed to be fun and informal, whilst testing everyone's ability to get up in front of a room full of people and TALK!

Everyone really got involved and did fantastically in the challenges and there was time to also give everyone useful and constructive feedback, so they can improve their skills in the future. The attendees all had really positive feedback about the event and it makes me really proud to be part of an organisation which helps transform people's confidence and skills.

At the end of April I am heading off to JCI Southampton for the weekend who are hosting the JCI UK President and Deputy's weekend. I'm really looking forward to sharing ideas and meeting up with all the other local president in JCI throughout the UK. I'm sure I will come back full of inspiration and ideas to help move JCI Portsmouth forward in 2012.

Kindest Regards
Jasmine Blofield
President, JCI Portsmouth
http://www.jciportsmouth.org.uk/