My first experience at a JCI international conference

27 Jun 2021
Admin Manager By Admin Manager

My name is Elisabetta and I am a “new” member of JCI Cork.


Last weekend I had the pleasure to join the JCI European Conference 2021 and to say the truth only today (3 days after the conference!) I have finally digested all the incredible information I have absorbed during the weekend! The conference was mindblowing and opened a world of what can be done and achieved with JCI.


It was my first experience at a JCI international conference as you might have understood :D. I was a bit sceptical cause I thought that online conferences are not the same as physical ones. That I would have missed all the chitchat, happy faces, and non-verbal clues, interactions and happy memories you can have when meeting face-to-face people from all over Europe (and not only, since there were also members from other areas of the world!). But I am happy to admit I was wrong. It was an outstanding experience even if virtual! Shout out to all the people involved because you did a great job! I didn’t perceive anything missing or that anything could have been better if happening physically. All the events were interactive, stimulating and fun! So, really thank you for the great job!


It is not easy to summarize everything I learnt during those 4 days but I can tell you two of my favourite moments: - 


First of all, I loved the debating competitions. After this competition, I was inspired and motivated to challenge myself and practice more and more how to debate. My brain usually goes blank while, oh boy, the guys debating were super duper good! Not only they were defending or opposing the motion with clarity and focus but they were incredibly convincing in what they were saying and putting lots of passion into it! If they were selling something, I would have bought everything from them!!


Of course, my favourite team was the Irish team composed of 3 lovely women that did an amazing job! But I do have to say all the teams were incredibly good and I wish I was that good at talking!


Another session that I think was useful for me, was the JCI International Opportunities. I do think it should become a mandatory session for all the new Jaycees. I learnt a lot about Global and European Committees I have never heard of before and how we can be part and contributed. I believe it is important to share this type of information so we newbies have a better understanding of what we can aim at if we challenge and committee ourselves.  I knew about Diversity & Inclusion but only because I am part of the JCI Ireland one; all the other committees were a pleasant surprise for me and I am happy I learnt about them. 


Those are 2 out of the numerous sessions I attended during the weekend but unfortunately, I won’t have space (nor time lol) for describing them one by one to let you understand how useful and powerful they were. 


However, I do hope I stimulated a bit of your interest and maybe, who knows, convinced you to join next year the European Conference 2022 ???? 


Thank you NP Carol Ho for suggesting to join the European Conference 2021, it has been quite an experience that I will never forget!