The American Mensa Committee (AMC) held a teleconference on August 22 to elect Greg Kontz as our new Secretary following the resignation of our previous Secretary Lisa Maxwell, per the procedure set forth by Article III.(12) of the American Mensa Bylaws. We also used the opportunity to approve the minutes of the July 5, 2018 AMC meeting. The full minutes are now available for review at http://us.mensa.org/meetingreports by selecting 2018-07-05 – Indianapolis from the dropdown.
Also available at the meetingreports link, you will be able to find the agenda for the upcoming September 2018 AMC meeting. Agenda items include appointment of the 2019 Election Committee, as well as changes to the membership of existing committees. There will be discussion regarding Event Safety, and a report from the Risk Management Committee. In New Business, there is a motion to create an AML History Task Force to collect historical information about American Mensa and format it so it is accessible to the membership. This will leverage volunteer efforts, and if approved, I will serve on this Task Force. There are also four separate motions proposing changes to the ASIE regarding “Responsibility To Control Offending Parties”. I have no sense of how these will play out, since between the AMC meetings an Event Safety Task Force was created, and I have also been appointed to that Task Force.
The AMC has many committees, and although there are several others I find very interesting, as the saying goes, “You can do anything, but not everything.” For this reason, we all trust that our colleagues who serve on the AMC will provide due diligence on the committees the rest of us don’t have time for, and we also make use of the expertise provided by member volunteers from outside the AMC as much as feasible. This extends beyond the AMC, however, and also applies to the Local Groups. There’s a lot to do, and I’ve heard from some of the local leaders that the most frustrating parts of their roles is the assumption that if things are going well that they don’t need help. But help is always needed. For instance, the annual Scholarship Program has just launched (https://www.mensafoundation.org/what-we-do/scholarships/), and our local scholarship chairs will be looking for volunteers to help judge essays. All local groups need proctors for admission tests to find new members. All local groups need event organizers to provide stimulation for other members (and all event organizers need members to attend!). All local groups need members who promote Mensa to new prospective members, through social media or community service projects (https://www.us.mensa.org/volunteer/community-service/). And so forth. The local group officers can’t do it all themselves. Bottom line, all local groups need YOU. They can’t do it without you.
Until next month (or until I see you online),
Thomas George Thomas
Email: RVC10@us.mensa.org
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