I was absolutely thrilled to be elected as JCI UK Deputy National President 2015 at our AGM in September. I am really excited about next year. My role as deputy involves supporting National President, Drew Charman, the National Board team and local chambers in any way I can and planning the JCI UK strategy for 2016 and beyond. The thing I am looking forward to the most is working with the local deputy presidents. I can't wait to find out who the members are that I will be taking those roles. Could it be you?

Why be a deputy?

Leadership - JCI is an organisation dedicated to providing opportunities for our members to develop their skills and help others to do the same. The most important role in the organisation is local president (with preparation and support by the deputy being a big part of this). There is no better opportunity to develop your leadership skills - you will learn an incredible amount.

International experience - You get the chance to apply for one of the JCI UK places at JCI European Academy, the 5 day academy in Sweden for incoming local presidents. It is one of the most unique and brilliant experiences you can have as a JCI member. You can read about some past delegates' experiences on these blogs:

http://www.jcibarnsley.org.uk/blog/2013/08/ourdeputys-experience-of-this-years-european-academy-in-sweden/

http://www.jcilondon.org.uk/blog/2011/08/the-15th-jci-european-academy/

Local Deputies Wasim (Leeds), Soraya (London), Luke (Birmingham) and Mark (Sheffield)
at European Academy 2014

Meet great people - Those you work with as deputies and presidents are your support network. I challenge you to spend two years working with these inspiring individuals and not come out with friends for life. I certainly have, in fact many of us have gone on to work together at a national level.

Drew (National President 2015), Kate (National President 2014) and I were Deputy Presidents then Presidents together in 2010/2011 for Southampton, Sheffield and London respectively and are now all on the National Board team

Team Deputy - Isn't being a Local President hard work I hear you ask? Well, yes, I'm not going to lie, it is always a challenge (otherwise you're probably not doing it right), but it is totally worth it. Going on the leadership journey of deputy president then president of JCI London has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and something which I am unbelievably proud of. Don't believe me? Just read some of the blogs from local presidents from chambers around the country (for example: http://www.jcisheffield.org.uk/blog/presidents-blog/).

And you will not be alone! Over the past few years JCI UK has implemented a training programme for deputies and presidents. This takes place at the National Events (Inspiration Day, Presidents and Deputies Day, AGM & National Convention). I've started working on what this will cover for the deputies, including skills for preparing to be president, sharing best practice and working on ideas for how to make JCI UK the best it can be (locally and nationally). The most important thing is that we build a team and how we spend our time together will be driven by the members of that team - we will decide what we do and how we do it.

If anyone would like to have a chat about Team Deputy 2015, please drop me a line at sarah.beckwith@jciuk.org.uk and we can arrange a time to talk. Also get in touch with your chamber deputy (Local President 2015) who can take you through their experience of being deputy, plans for your chamber next year and the process for election.