JCI

The second week of October annually is Jaycee Week, it’s the week where we as Jaycees celebrate the founding of our organization in 1915 by Henry Giessenbier Jr. Ironically this month marks my 14th year as a member. So what better time of the year than now to share with you why I Jaycee? I joined the Jaycees to help make my community a better place. But I stay a Jaycee because it gives me the opportunity to be a Young Active Citizen, who can create positive change within my community. What’s the difference? Well making my community a better place is about helping my fellow-man or women with their need and creating positive change in my community is about fixing the root cause that is causing hardship to my fellow-man or women. This is one of the most important things the Jaycees have taught me and have given me the ability to do. Most of the time people tackle problems with a one-time donation or one day of volunteer work, but as Jaycees, we focus on making a sustainable impact.

We join the Jaycees so that we can grow as individuals, expand ourselves personally, and to help humanity. Part of growing ourselves is taking advantage of all the opportunities that we’re presented with in life. Your membership to our great organization allows you many opportunities to do things that you can only dreamed of. You can drive positive change in your community and around the world. You can help build a park for neighborhood kids, you help fight diseases around the world, and you can meet world leaders and discuss your thoughts on global issues. Since joining the Jaycees in 2004 I’ve had the opportunity to meet people all around the world who are members of this great organization, I’ve had the opportunity see people make these positive changes in their community. I’ve had the opportunity to save hundreds of lives. You can develop your leadership skills further beyond what any collegiate course could offer. I think about how I’ve been given this opportunity to help lead and plot the course of one the largest Jaycee organizations in the world in 2013. The Jaycees give you the tools, the training, and the knowledge to dream and achieve. But you must not limit yourself you can accomplish anything you want. Let me ask you two questions, what do you want to accomplish? & how can we do it together?

The Jaycees as you all know by now is more than just a community service organization. Since the founding in 1915 it has held true to its primary purpose of building young leaders to tackle the challenges of tomorrow. In 2013 I will be servicing you as your State Membership Development vice President; the Member Development area encompasses four key components and all them vital. First Recruit since our organization is based on membership requirements it’s important that we replace those that no longer meet our requirements to be members. One of the best ways to end the year positive is to plan on replacing the members who will not meet your chapter’s requirements for membership right away. The second component is Orientation, once a new member joins our organization it is essential that we teach them about what they just joined and how they can make their mark on your chapter and their community. Did you know your Region and state staff can provide assistance with planning and or conducting your training? The third component and my personal favorite is Activation. It’s no secret why people stay in our organization and it certainly no secret why they leave. But we can prevent a large portion of them from doing by getting them involved. On numerous times I’ve seen members for the first time get involved with our organizations at social’s, or local food drives. The fourth component is Retention; did you know the hardest thing do for most of our chapter isn’t just to retain a member it’s to show them the value of continuing their membership in our organization? Each person joined the organization for a different reason then the last. Understanding what they are looking to get out of our organization will help you understand how to retain them. A survey of your membership each year is great start. They don’t have to be lengthy just ask the most important questions. The most important part is the actions they see come out of the survey. Another way is get down and dirty with your members. When I was a local director I was assigned to a group members our chapter considered be at risk for lost during the year. These were members who we were pretty sure we would need to replace throughout the year. I regularly called every one of these members, course I left a lot of messages but I would call anyway, I would send them emails updating them on what happened at the last meeting including anything funny, I would send them birthday card during their birthday’s months and so forth. The whole point is to make them feel as if they were getting a value out of their membership. At the end of the year we were able to retain about 85% of those members. But without any effort or dedication we would have lost 100% of them. In 2013 keep on growing as young leaders, leaving your mark on your communities, and sharing the Jaycees every opportunity you can. But make sure your teaching your members too and getting them all involved in their chapters and together we can all Make Our Mark !!!

When I interviewed with Coyote a discussion came up of passion and I said my passion at work was turning data into insight for my coworkers. During my presentation about myself to our Executive team and my coworkers I realized what my true passion is… it’s to help people. Every job I’ve had involved helping people and at Coyote it’s no different I’m just using my technical skills to help our coworkers and our customers; outside work I love to volunteer with the Jaycees because we help people and make an impact with the work we do around the world. In our organization’s creed we’ve got this line that can sum it all up for me “Service to Humanity Is the Best Work of Life” so let me ask you what is your passion?

On September 8^th my campaign to serve the Illinois Jaycees members as their 2013 Membership Development Vice President came to end with me being elected. It’s true competing for the time of our members has gotten tougher each year our chapter, region, and state boards have gotten stretched too thin, burned out quickly, not adequately trained and weaker. As a result our members have suffered. Next year I want to focus on shaping the future of our organization. First increase involvement in the passports to leaders program to develop our future leaders at the chapter level, Offer new membership development opportunities across the state to grow our chapters, Strengthen our weaker chapters through education of tools, resources, new tactics on how to resolve their local problems. Develop and lead an extension task force to assist chapters and regions in their completion more than half the extension completed each failed by the end of the second year, what if we could reduce that by 2 or 3 chapters. Bring new networking opportunities to our members to further add value to their membership. In 2013 I’m bringing the right resources needed to recruit, retain, and develop our fellow Jaycees !!!!

Every wonder why some people have amazing looking Facebook profiles or 1000s of followers? In this 30 minute session we will discuss how to use facebook, google+, twitter the simple and easy way to communicate with your friends, family, and followers. This course is led me Richard Lewis a veteran user of social media sites and Chairman of the US Jaycees National Technology Advisory Committee. Come out next month on August 7^th at 7:00PM. You can RSVP on the Wheeling Jaycees Meetup site .