Mayo native helps secure JCI European Conference for Ireland

Derek Reilly, originally from Belmullet and now based in Dublin, is leading a team of volunteers who are hosting the largest gathering of JCI (Junior Chamber International) members in Europe next year.

Derek, who is currently a UK and Ireland Sales Team Lead at the jobs website Indeed, is leading this team of volunteers to run the JCI European Conference in Dublin next May, all because JCI members want to be better and provide development opportunities that empower young people to create positive change.

JCI is a world-wide personal development organisation for young leaders and professionals and its 2020 event will host 1,500 delegates, with a value of €2.4m to the Irish economy, as they visit Dublin and other parts of Ireland for at least four days.

Derek Reilly, past Local and National President within JCI, stated: “I am delighted to be able to lead this team of volunteers to run this conference.

“It will be held in Dublin but we will have pre and post tours spreading some of the economic benefits around the country.

“Running an international conference is not something I do from day to day and because of JCI, it has given me this great opportunity to showcase our amazing country.

“We are working with a PCO (Professional Conference Organiser) based in Dublin called Conference Partners International. It’s great because they can help us with running everything from start to finish.

“This has been an interesting journey since it was first mooted in 2015. We’ve had to lobby, bid and start speaking with potential partners who are interested in working with the conference. We are in the thick of that now.

“We are bringing so many young professionals from around Europe to Ireland and a lot of companies are interested in them as potential customers or multilingual staff who may relocate here.

“I really want to showcase the world class products and produce from all around the Island of Ireland so delegates can get a real flavour of what we have to offer. With this conference, I am now a Failte Ireland Conference Ambassador, it’s part of my remit.”