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American Mensa Region 10

RVC Column

December 2024

As I write this column, I am preparing for the December 7^th virtual AMC Meeting. By the time you read this, the agenda will be on the website (go to Lead, Board of Directors, meetings and pull down the date) so that you can see what we are working on. Most of the work is done before the meeting, and then the motions are presented and voted on. That way we hope to accomplish more in meetings.

Mind Games registration has opened and at last check still had a few slots left. Check it out if you are interested, because it is a lot of fun. I will be attending Mind Games, and working as the Volunteer Coordinator. Hopefully, most of my work will be done before the event starts! Register at www.mensamindgames.com

Registration for the Annual Gathering (AG) has also opened. This is American Mensa's largest yearly event and I think well worth attending. We host over 1,200 Mensa members and their spouses and families at this event. What better place to meet and mingle with your people? It is being held in Chicago from July 2 -- 6, 2025, at the Chicago Hilton. https://ag.us.mensa.org

The hotel is located downtown, overlooking Lake Michigan, Grant Park, and Museum Campus. According to our magnificent AG Crew website,"It is within walking distance of State Street and Magnificent Mile shopping, Soldier Field's games and concerts, and near Pilsen neighborhood's bar and restaurant scene. Hop on the 'L' to Chinatown, absorb the arts featured in Wabash Arts Corridor or simply wonder in the sights of the Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium." There are plenty of things to do in the area, so take a few extra days at the excellent hotel rate and make it a vacation. Early registration has started so make your plans now to lock in the lowest rate!

The calendar is not yet available, but consider attending the Gala Dinner to hear the keynote speaker Ken Jennings of the legendary Jeopardy! He not only was a host but also a champion and a New York Times best-selling author. His topic is Artificial Intelligence: Are Humans in Jeopardy?, Jennings will reflect on the rise of AI -- an evolution he's witnessed firsthand, having famously faced off against IBM's Watson in a groundbreaking 2011 match.

This year's Colloquium, Human Intelligence in the Age of AI: A New Perspective, will explore the core distinctions between human and artificial intelligence. The Foundation presents on July 1^st. These events are packed with cutting edge information and give you an opportunity to learn about what is happening in the field of artificial intelligence. https://www.mensafoundation.org/what-we-do/education-and-outreach/colloquium/

I hope that you can take advantage of these marvelous opportunities presented by Mensa. These are the reasons whyso many feel that we are a great organization. With much to do and many interesting people to meet, what better way to receive value from your membership? Imagine if you paid for tickets to the opera season and only went to see Swan Lake, that would be a very expensive performance and you would miss out on Rigoletto, La Boheme, and Carmen.

November 2024

I have returned from the AMC meeting at the National Office in Hurst, Texas. It was a whirlwind weekend! I flew in late on Thursday, met on Friday and Saturday, and was home around noon on Sunday. The AMC met on Friday for a planning meeting. We reviewed the strategic plan, governance, finance, and the search for an Executive Director. We also worked to prepare for the meeting on Saturday.

Saturday was the AMC Meeting. We had 37 guests who attended either in person or through the conferencing system. I encourage you to review the session's minutes, reports, and video to see your AMC at work. They are available on the website - use the menu and select 2024 09 21 -- Hurst, TX. Here is the link for your convenience: https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/amc/meeting-reports/

Here is a summary of key points from the meeting, in no particular order. We formed a National Technology Committee to analyze and support improving our current systems. It must be realized that change will come slowly; nothing good happens overnight. We have a lot of good expertise in our membership; let's leverage it. If anyone is interested in being involved, please apply on the AML website in the Volunteer Marketplace. The post should be up when you read this.

It is time to start working on the new strategic plan, as the current plan ends in 2025. Franck Mounier will lead the team tasked with developing our 2026-2030 plan; they are already up and running, so if you are interested, let Franck know at RVC1@us.mensa.org. The upcoming Mensa Bulletin will publish an article on this SPC, its aim, and the process.

We approved a motion to put the local groups' subsidy back into the ASIEs so members can find the amount. Currently, it is $0.96 per member per month. To be consistent with our budget documents, the word "subsidy" will be replaced with "stipend."

The First Vice Chair, Ian Randall Strock, resigned and was replaced by Jon Gruebele, as our governing documents stipulate. This leaves the Second Vice Chair position vacant. That position will be posted in the Volunteer Marketplace for interested members to apply.

On an interesting note, according to Becky Folger, Associate Director of Membership, more than 2/3 of the monthly mail received is from candidates, who want to join, sending prior evidence documents. Remember that we have local group and private testing also available as an avenue for membership; please encourage candidates to use what best suits them.

October 2024

I announced the Jewel Awards for Region 10 on Connect. Congratulations go out to the groups that worked hard and earned recognition. Ruby Awards go to Broward Mensa, Palm Beach County Mensa, and Tallahassee Area Mensa. An Emerald Award goes to Manasota Mensa. The awards recognize the work a group does to encourage membership and retention which helps to make a group active and viable for its members.

Speaking of members, October is Mensa Membership Month. Testing promotions are available so make sure you schedule a test. You will also earn Jewel points. Advertise the date with the information regarding promotions that you can find on the calendar: https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/localgroupresources/marketing-and-public-relations/national-promotions-calendar/

As you read this report, I will be returning from the September 21st AMC meeting. As I write this, I am getting ready for that meeting. The agenda is on the website at https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/amc/meeting-reports/ Just click on the date in the drop-down menu.

I have not received the agenda yet but have been working on items for the meeting for the last couple of weeks. One of the items is a motion, that I am supporting to create a Technology Committee to look at our computer systems in regard to Industry Standards and Best Practices. We are also working on a motion to put the local group stipend back into the ASIE's. It was removed by the last AMC. The current feeling is that buried in the budget is not where people will go to find the number. A discussion about live-streaming continues, and I have to ask how many of you, who cannot make the meetings watch the live-stream when it is posted? Look at the Region 10 Connect site next month for a survey about items of interest to our members.

This brings to mind a discussion I had at the AG, with various members, regarding attending the AMC meetings. Many find it boring and since much of the work is done before and finalized at the meetings, they do not understand our processes or reasoning. We, as RVC's, have been trying to figure out how to convey our thoughts and concerns to the members. The short answer is in our columns, but this is not an ideal solution. Only Region 10 members receive my column. Other groups get their RVCs column, and even at that, not all will get the same explanation.

Mensa Connect is one of the places to communicate your ideas, interests, wants, and desires to your region's members and leadership. It is the perfect place to create dialogue about the issues we all face. Is that to say that members will listen and use the tool that has been provided? No, but it is one of the best ways for us to communicate amongst ourselves since we all cannot be in the same room, at the same time! Let's all keep the lines of communication open! "When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." ―Ernest Hemingway

September 2024

The Margot Award is the highest award given to an American Mensan who is being recognized for extraordinary service. This award, which is not given every year, was named after our first Executive Director. Elissa Rudolph was awarded the Margot this year at the Annual Gathering for her years of service to Mensa. Not only has she held many local offices and hosted local events she chaired the World Gathering in Orlando in 2006 and with me co-chaired our Long Time Member Event in 2020. She also served as the American Mensa Chair and followed that with the role of Mensa International Chair. She just finished a stint as LocSec in her group and is currently the Vice LocSec. Congratulations to Elissa who has always worked tirelessly for Mensa, this is a well-deserved award.

We are coming into fall and October is Mensa's Membership Month with the 19th being the nationally advertised Testing Day. This would be a good time to send your local press notice about your testing for this month. Testing not only brings in new members but it gives the proctor a chance to interact with possible members to encourage their interest and act as a welcoming committee. New members will bring new energy to your group along with some financial benefit in the stipends you receive for testing. Local groups also earn Jewel Points for the number of tests throughout the year. Tests would be scheduled in advance and added to the national calendar for wider advertising coverage. The Membership and Testing Promotion Tool Kit in your Local Group Resources will give you information, guidelines, and ads you can use to promote your test.

According to best practices, Local Groups should have 1 qualified and active proctor for every 100 active members. Although this is a suggestion it shows a solid investment in group development. Starting early if you do not have enough proctors gives you time to get them trained and certified. Prospective members, who for whatever reason, cannot make it to your proctored test can also use our new partner Prometric to test, they have 21 different locations throughout Florida. Prior evidence is another way to gain membership and remember to take advantage of the discounts offered this month. In September Prior Evidence Review is free and if you qualify membership is only $50.

Another good point to remember is Mind Games has been revamped to allow more Mensa members to participate. We have had members join just to attend Mind Games, This year it will be held in Portland, OR, April 24 -- 27, 2025. Registration will open in the fall to current members only. Guests will only be allowed to register after the initial registration ends, only one guest per member will be allowed. Start advertising your testing dates now, get moving to increase your group so you will have fresh ideas and new energy going into the fall and holiday season!

August 2024

Greetings to all the members of Region 10. I am excited to be here and to be working with other leaders to make your experience in Mensa a fulfilling one. I have been committed to Mensa for the last 35 years and have worked my way through many local positions to now stepping up as your Region Vice Chair. (RVC) I am interested in creating lasting relationships with you, the members, learning what you need and what you want this group to be, then taking your ideas to the board for consideration. Communication is the cornerstone to good relationships and I plan to keep communicating with you as our previous RVC Thomas G. Thomas did.

I cannot thank Thomas enough for the good work he has been doing as our RVC, leaving this group in such good shape. He is moving on to work on other national committees and I know he will continue to do wonderful things for this organization. I also thank him for the time he has spent with me helping me learn what has been happening in our region. His knowledge has been invaluable and he will continue to help me as we transition.

I started my tenure at the American Mensa Committee (AMC) meeting on July 4, in Kansas City, when the new board was seated. We have 9 new Regional Vice Chairs (RVC) and 6 members of the previous board staying on in mostly new positions. We spent the first half of the day in orientation for the new members then took a break for lunch. When we came back in the afternoon we conducted the business for this quarter.

It was different and exciting to sit on the other side of the table. Lori Norris, Chair, welcomed us and set the tone for the meeting. The AMC went into Executive Session to decide on the appointments of chairs and members for the various action and advisory committees. That was concluded and reported to the membership attending the meeting, we continued with the Report of Actions Taken including: The resignation of Trevor Mitchell was accepted by Lori Norris, we are sad to see him go, but wish him much luck. The approval of the Philadelphia Marriott, Philadelphia, PA, for the 2028 AG from 6/29 to 7/3. The boundaries between Region 3 & 4 were realigned due to some redistribution of zip codes.

Then the Additions to Reports (Mind Games 2025, Portland Oregon) and we moved on to Motions: with a quorum we approved the minutes for previous meetings. We adopted the Consent Agenda, the Audit, and the Banking Relationship motions. Steve Welch was selected to join the committee working on replacement of the Executive Director. I was selected by vote as the RVC to serve on the Executive Committee. I graciously accepted. I will also be serving on the Events Committee and the Name & Logo Committee. The motion to appoint 2026 AG Chair Austin Horowitz was adopted. The motion to revise ASIE Appendix 20 was rejected. It was felt this motion took away the oversight and input from board members. The proposed By-Laws motion was recommitted to Rick Magnus, the mover, as there is much work to be done on it before it should be presented to the AMC. We recessed this meeting for the Foundations annual meeting of voting members.

As a sitting member of the Mensa Foundations Board we heard to the outgoing president's report and we appointed three new Trustees for three-year terms, and Nguyen Pham as the new President. This meeting was then adjourned. We went back into session with the AMC to complete our meeting. Reports were presented by Beth Anne Demeter, Treasurer and Trevor Mitchell, Executive Director. Meeting was then adjourned and we set the next date for 9/2124 at the national office in Hurst, Texas. It is my understanding that this will be our strategic planning meeting.

To gain more insight into the workings of the board, please review the Mini Minutes on the American Mensa Website. (Go to Lead, Board of Directors, Meeting Reports and chose July 4, 2024, Kansas City, MO.) Once the minutes are completed and approved, they will be loaded onto the web site in the same area. These will give more details regarding our actions.

I attended the business meeting on the next day and those minutes will also be on the web site for your review. With the business concluded I spent time meeting members of my region. I held a well-attended Meet & Greet Session where the discussion centered around retention and what everyone was working on. I reminded members that the Finding and Supporting Volunteers of All Generations Report was on the national website and had a large section giving ideas of things to do to recruit and retain volunteers. Please check it out for ideas. The AG was and always is a wonderful blur of events, meetings and games. I hope many of you will be able to join us in Chicago next year.

Kay Klasen
RVC 10
rvc10@us.mensa.org
Phone: 954-227-8188

July 2024

At the American Mensa Committee (AMC) Special Meeting on May 15, a Search Committee was established to identify options for replacing outgoing Executive Director Trevor Mitchell. The Search Committee, consisting of Lori Norris, Ian Randal Strock and Taz Criss, reported back to the AMC on June 18 to provide a status report and recommendations. Because this is a personnel issue, both the May 15 and June 18 meetings were held in Executive Session. No details are available beyond the post-meeting statements, which can be found in the mini-minutes at https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/amc/meeting-reports/ under the Teleconference dropdowns for 2024-05-15 and 2024-06-18.

This is my final report as RVC 10. Kay Klasen will take it from here, assuming the role at the AMC meeting at the Annual Gathering on July 3-7 in Kansas City, MO. I will continue to be active nationally with the Bylaws and AML History Committees, as well as other projects to be determined, but no more monthly reports! I will, assuming Kay approves, continue to provide discussion items on the Region 10 Members Community on Mensa Connect at https://connect.us.mensa.org/communities/local-groups/region-10, since it is the only official online resource available for member discussions for our region. There are other forums, such as Facebook, but those are unofficial because they are neither secured nor controlled by Mensa.

It has been a pleasure serving as your RVC for the past 11 years, and I look forward to seeing many of you in the future.

Thomas George Thomas, past RVC 10 (2013-2024)

My name is Kay Klasen, you can call me Kay and I hope you will. As your new Regional Vice Chair, I would like to continue the legacy of open communications that has been fostered by Thomas Thomas. I am hoping that Thomas will continue his presence on the Connect board and advising me as I get up to speed. I am going to need some time to get used to both the Connect platform and

Facebook since I have not been using either one lately. I am looking forward to meeting and working with all of you!

Communication is the lifeblood of our groups. Local chapters need to be communicating through "Mensa Connect" with me and each other so they can leverage best practices and work together to achieve our goals. As long as we can communicate with each other, things will always happen! As older ideas are refined and new ideas are allowed to flourish, through communications, we will have active and engaging groups. Every member of this region is a valuable resource with ideas and plans for what they want to see happen, so let your leadership know what that is and volunteer to help. Volunteering is what makes this organization what it is. We all have a stake in where we are going so, we all are responsible for participating.

Looking forward to an amazing journey!

Katharine Klasen

Email: RVC10@us.mensa.org

Mensa Connect https://connect.us.mensa.org/communities/local-groups/region-10

June 2024

On April 30, AML's Executive Director Trevor Mitchell announced that he has resigned effective July 12, 2024. He started working for American Mensa in 2015, became our Executive Director in 2018, and is now moving on to other career opportunities. He will remain with us for the transition to the next American Mensa Committee (AMC) at their meeting on July 4 and Annual Business Meeting on July 5.

As a result, the current AMC met on May 15 to discuss next steps. Because this is considered a staff-and-personnel discussion, it was held in Executive Session, so no recording was created. However, if any actions that can be reported are taken during the meeting (which has not occurred as of this writing), they will be available in the mini-minutes at https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/amc/meeting-reports/ under the dropdown "2024-05-15 -- Teleconference".

In last month's column, I mentioned that I would be posting information about Region 10 membership on the Region 10 Member Community on Mensa Connect at https://connect.us.mensa.org/communities/local-groups/region-10. I provided details on the changes in Generation demographics, along with information on what those numbers are in Region 10. I also posted about the most common interests that members have shared through their Member Profiles (formerly called "PDQs", or Personal Data Questionnaires), and began a discussion about communication methods used by members of Region 10. I will be elaborating on some of these topics in future postings, so if you're interested, please check them out at the link provided.

On that last note, when I started as RVC back in 2013, my primary concern was improving communication, having already been a member of the AML Communication Committee. I was looking forward to getting members connected through Facebook, which we had successfully implemented with Tampa Bay Mensa, as well as looking for other avenues for discussion.

Generally speaking, we engage in three types of com

munication: Organizational (inward-facing), which is information passed down from leadership to the membership about what is happening in the groups and nationally through newsletters, emails, and the Mensa Bulletin; External (outward-facing), in order to reach out to the general public about what Mensa is, what we do and why/how to join, and Internal (interactive), which is how members communicate with each other.

Organizational communication has become more challenging as time has passed, since monthly newsletters were traditionally how this was passed to the members. In 2013, 11 of the 12 groups in Region 10 issued newsletters every month with one producing bi-monthly issues. Since then, most groups have reduced the frequency and/or decreased the size of their newsletters to reduce the cost of printing and postage, since half our members still opt for print delivery in lieu of online notification.

Internal communication has lagged due to backlash among a significant number of members against using Facebook, and slow adoption of Mensa Connect. While Mensa Connect is controlled internally, many members find it difficult to adjust, while others find it lacking in features that they now take for granted from larger externally-controlled infrastructures such as Facebook or X.

External communication is a much bigger topic, since it is more volunteer-intensive with questions about how to get volunteers involved and activated.

All these topics and more can be found in the Mensa Connect discussions, but there just isn't enough space to get into them in more detail here.

Until next month (or until I see you online),

Thomas George Thomas
Email: RVC10@us.mensa.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thomas.g.thomas
Mensa Connect https://connect.us.mensa.org/communities/local-groups/region-10
Region 10 Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MensaRegion10/

May 2024

I've still been getting questions about the dues increase, even though I posted about it in previous columns. Rather than reiterate the various pros and cons, I pulled the timestamps of the discussion so you can listen for yourselves. The recording has been posted at https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/amc/meeting-reports/ under the dropdown "2024-03-09 -- Dallas, TX". The most relevant sections are:

Treasurer's report: 08:25 -- 16:15 (less than 8 minutes)
Motion to increase Membership Dues: 39:00 -- 1:13:15 (a little over 33 minutes)
Education by the Treasurer: 1:35:00 -- 1:51:00 (16 minutes)

I posted the full recording breakdown on the Region 10 Members Community in Mensa Connect under the discussion header "AMC Meeting recording from March 9, 2024 has been posted online", dated March 24.

Once you've listened, let me know if you have any questions regarding the points discussed, and I will answer what I can.

Despite (or perhaps because of) the dues increase, the member retention rate for Region 10 was higher this year than in past years. More members took the advice to renew before the dues went up on April 1, which helped.

One misunderstanding I heard was "It's unfair that local group support only went up 13% when the dues went up 35%". The biggest driver there is timing, and the discrepancy is not as jarring when this is taken into consideration. First, for the 2024-2025 membership year, the increase in revenue from member dues starts out at 0%, since only new members starting in April will be paying the increased dues. So even though local groups will be getting more support, there isn't an increase in dues to pay for it in the first year. In the second year, it gets more complicated. There will be no increase in revenue in 2025-2026 for members who have a Life Membership, or have opted for multiple-year memberships. Only those whose memberships expire on April 1, 2025 would pay the new rate, and in Region 10, that would be at most 52% of the members. Assuming a retention rate next year of 80% (slightly lower than this year), the total per-member revenue increase for April 1, 2024 through March 31 2026 would be less than 7.5%, versus the 13% increase in local group support for the same period.

What happens with the national budget next year will be up to a new Finance Committee (and the new AMC), but the change for this year, at least, is more than equitable when multiple factors are taken into account.

On a completely different note, after about 20 years, some changes were made last year in the way that American Mensa delineates its membership generations. It was decided to realign the generations with the Pew Research Center and USC, with adjustments to the age ranges for several groups, the renaming of "Generation Y" and "Homeland Generation" to "Millennials" and "Generation Z", and the addition of "Generation Alpha".

I've broken down some of how that shakes out for Region 10, but it's too long to add here. I'll post that analysis, as well as other membership data such as member interest categories and other topics, on the Region 10 Members Community at https://connect.us.mensa.org/communities/local-groups/region-10. You can view and participate in these discussions there using the same login as your American Mensa website ID and password.

Until next month (or until I see you online),

April 2024

It's official! Because she was the only person to submit a petition, Katharine (Kay) Klasen has been declared elected as Regional Vice Chair 10 (RVC10) beginning July 1, 2024. If you are attending the Annual Gathering in Kansas City, make sure to come to the Meet and Greet and offer your congratulations in person!

Others who have been declared elected are Lori Norris as AMC Chair, Ian Randal Strock as First Vice Chair (moving over from his current position as AMC Secretary), Franck Mounier as Regional Vice Chair 1, Steve Welch as Regional Vice Chair 2, Richard Magnus as Regional Vice Chair 3, Matt Crawford as Regional Vice Chair 4, Curt Krambeck as Regional Vice Chair 7, and Kelly-Marie Jones as Regional Vice Chair 9. It is possible that there will be a complete turnover for RVCs this year, since only Region 5 has an incumbent running; the remaining three contested elections are between new candidates as well. Of this group, only Richard Magnus has served as RVC in the past, and that was over 20 years ago (2001-2003). Aside from the Chair and First Vice Chair, only the Secretary position is guaranteed to be a carry-over from this term since both candidates are current RVCs. So, the next term will be a very fresh start with between 9-12 new members out of 15 positions.

Just because Region 10 is already decided doesn't mean you should skip the election (which begins on April 15). Aside from the three national positions to be decided, there are also five Bylaws referenda on the ballot, and a concurrent Mensa International Ltd. (MIL) election for Chairman, Director of Administration, Director of Development, and Treasurer. There are three candidates from American Mensa on the International ballot this year: LaRae Bakerink (Chairman), Robin Crawford (Director-Administration), and John Recht (Director-Development). You can find all the candidate statements for the MIL Election in the March 2024 Mensa Bulletin.

Please vote! American Mensa needs your voice, since we are a large part of the international body, but have had the lowest representation in elections.

The American Mensa Committee (AMC) met in Dallas, TX on Saturday, March 9, 2024. All motions on the agenda passed (see my column last month for the list).

Because the motion to Increase the Membership Dues passed, we were also able to pass the 2024-2025 AML (American Mensa Ltd.) Budget. This will allow an increase to the monthly allotment to Local Groups from $0.85 to $0.96 per member per month, as well as an increase from $1 to $2 for each new member who joins a local group (transfers and reinstatements excluded).

The Budget webinar I mentioned last month has been posted on the American Mensa website at https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/amc/amc-webinars/2024-25-amc-budget-webinar/. This provides more detail on how the budget is broken out among the various projects and initiatives.

The full minutes of the meeting must be approved by the AMC before they can be posted, but the mini-minutes for the March meeting have been posted at https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/amc/meeting-reports/ under the dropdown "2024-03-09 -- Dallas, TX".

Until next month (or until I see you online),

March 2024

On January 27, Angie Christie resigned as First Vice Chair of the American Mensa Committee (AMC), and withdrew from the upcoming election. As a result, Baker Ring moved from his position as Second Vice Chair to First Vice Chair, and Second Vice Chair position is again vacant. Other adjustments regarding voting members on various action committees will be discussed at the March AMC meeting.

Speaking of which, the next meeting of the AMC will be held in Dallas, TX on March 9, 2024. The full agenda has been posted at https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/amc/meeting-reports/ under the dropdown "2024-03-09 -- Dallas, TX".

There are six motions on the agenda:

A. Motion to Increase Membership Dues

B. Motion to Adopt the 2024-2025 Budget

C. Motion to Update the AMC Job Descriptions

D. Motion to Update Minimum Standard Bylaws for Local Groups

E. Motion to Update the Model Bylaws for Local Groups

F. Motion to Delete ASIE Defining Annual Gathering White Hats

There will be a webinar to present the budget (Motion B) to the membership before the AMC meeting, but the date has not yet been set. An announcement will be sent out once this has been determined.

The other motions (C, D, and E) are too lengthy to include here, but they are included in the appendices of the agenda. There are also details regarding two sections of the Consent Agenda, the repeal of 19 Actions Still In Effect (ASIEs) and modification of 6 other ASIEs, which were undertaken as part of the Governance Task Force project.

The calendar on the national website was updated in February, and now there is a search function to allow members to search for events by Local Group, Region, Event Type, SIG (Special Interest Group), Date range, and more. The new calendar can be found at https://www.us.mensa.org/attend/calendar/.

For this to succeed, local groups will need to add their events to the calendar, but this is easily done by clicking the "Add an Event" link at https://www.us.mensa.org/attend/gatheringslisting/. Since not every local group has a functioning online calendar, this will allow those groups to take advantage of a new resource to serve their members (you!).

Don't forget - March is your last chance to renew before the anticipated dues increase takes effect on April 1! If you are late, your renewal will be at the new rate, so don't delay - renew today!

The petition period for the American Mensa election has now ended, and barring the possibility of a candidate submitting written petitions, Kay Klasen, current Local Secretary of Broward Mensa, will be the new Region 10 Vice Chair (RVC 10) starting in July. But don't bother her just yet -- I'm still responsible through the end of June, so if you have any questions or comments, you should still reach out to me.

Until next month (or until I see you online),

February 2024

I am writing this column from the Central Florida Mensa's "Sun ‘n' Games" Regional Gathering (RG), which is the only regular RG remaining in Florida. When I moved here from New York in 2000, there were several RGs to choose from: Tampa Bay Mensa over Memorial Day weekend, Northwest Florida Mensa's "ValenTime" in mid-February, Central Florida Mensa's "SmartiGras" in mid-January, and Broward Mensa's "FLoRanGe" and Space Coast Area Mensa's "SCAM-o-Ween" trading off every other autumn for their biannual RGs. There was even a Micro-G in the Florida Keys in November. But unfortunately, with the loss of affordable hotel venues, retirement of many long-serving volunteers, and general burnout, we're now down to this last hurrah in Orlando. Fortunately, Event Chair Debbie Freeland continues to display boundless energy, and with her excellent crew including Jen Keating, Bill Keevan, Tiffany Patterson, Stephen Stull and more, put on an excellent weekend of speakers, games, tournaments and special events. I hope this may help inspire others to relaunch some of the other Gatherings, as they are among the best opportunities for members to have full immersion in the Mensa Experience. (If you're feeling adventurous, other Gatherings are held all year ‘round throughout the country, and you can find them in every issue of the Mensa Bulletin or by viewing the National Events Calendar at https://www.us.mensa.org/attend/calendar/entries/.)

The next regular meeting of the American Mensa Committee (AMC) will be held on March 9, 2024, at the national headquarters in Hurst, TX. Currently we don't have a draft of the agenda for the meeting, but because there will be a second motion regarding the membership dues change, our bylaws specify that the agenda must be posted 30 days prior to the meeting. This can be found at the link https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/amc/meeting-reports/ under the dropdown "2024-03-09 -- Hurst, TX".

I mentioned this last month but it's worth mentioning again: The American Mensa Elections are coming up in April. To vote in this election, your membership must be current as of March 31, so be certain that you remember to renew, if this applies to you. This is especially important because if the dues motion passes at the March meeting, renewing after the deadline will be at the new rate.

At this writing, there are just over two weeks left for petitions to be completed for AMC candidates, including RVC 10. Only four Regions have candidates who have qualified, and no candidates have yet qualified for Secretary or Treasurer. Any position that does not have a candidate receiving sufficient signatures to appear on the ballot will revert to the current officeholder. I sincerely hope it doesn't come to that. If the national positions are not filled by election, they can be filled by a vote of the incoming AMC, but if any RVC defaults to an officeholder who chooses to resign the position, their role would be filled by a Regional Coordinator (RC) chosen by the Local Secretaries in their Region, who would have all the rights and responsibilities of an RVC, but no vote on the national board.

Until next month (or until I see you online),

January 2024

The American Mensa Committee (AMC) met via teleconference on Saturday, December 9, 2023. Both motions that I noted in my column last month passed. The Principles of Conduct motion stated that AMC members could not concurrently serve in certain Local Group positions for which they were responsible for financial decisions. There was discussion about removing the Ombuds section from the motion, but motions to amend the initial motion failed.

The motion to increase the annual membership dues rate to $107 passed the first vote, but per the American Mensa Bylaws it will not take effect unless it passes a second vote at the March AMC meeting. If it passes, the new rate will be effective April 1, 2024. This would also be effective for late renewals, so if it applies to you, make sure to renew your membership before March 31. (Side note: Local Groups get Jewel Points for early renewals prior to February 1, and also for prompt renewals prior to March 31.)

Because this motion passed, there will be two different budgets presented at the March meeting, which is when the budget for the following year is traditionally presented. One motion will be derived from revenues without the dues increase, and the second will take the new dues rate into account. The main impact of the dues increase will not be seen until the 2025-2026 fiscal year, since the 2024-2025 revenues will still be based on the current dues, with only incremental increases in revenue from new members, reinstatements and late renewals.

If the increases are approved, it is hoped that the next Budget and Finance Committee will consider long-standing requests which were not feasible with the current budget, including increasing local group funding support. These suggestions will be documented and shared with the next AMC for their consideration.

Additional actions from the meeting included the appointment of Tommy Ryan as the interim Communications Officer to complete the remainder of the 2023-2024 term. Tommy had previously served as Communications Officer during the 2017-2019 term. The AMC also chose Atlanta, GA as the location for the 2027 Annual Gathering pending approval of the contract by the AMC Executive Committee. Both of these actions took place in executive session, the

former because discussions of individuals and appointments are not held in open session, and the latter because contract terms had not yet been approved and could not be discussed publicly without compromising the negotiations with the hotel.

The mini-minutes from the meeting can be found by clicking the dropdown item "2023-12-09 -- Teleconference" at https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/amc/meeting-reports/. A recording of the meeting will also be posted for those who wish to hear the details of the discussions.

Petitions are currently available for candidates for the 2024-27 AMC term, and I encourage you to visit https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/amc/elections/candidate-petitions to sign petitions for the national candidates and Region 10. National candidates require 250 signatures to qualify, and Regional Vice Chairs (RVCs) require 100 signatures. While this doesn't sound like a high threshold, in the last election one of the Regions did not have any candidates qualify with 100 petition signatures, and their RVC continued from the previous term without election. Since I am not running this time, I ask for RVC 10 candidates to get as many signatures as possible so I won't be in the same position as that other RVC.

Until next month (or until I see you online),

Inquiries: Dan Tobias, Webmaster - webmaster@palmbeach.us.mensa.org

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