I’d like to take a moment to recognize the hard work of our Local Groups during the Lapsed Member renewal program this year. As an incentive, the top group in each class size won a free CultureQuest entry for 2020, and two Region 10 groups took top honors: Northwest Florida Mensa and Tallahassee Area Mensa, each with a 28.5% renewal rate. This was compared to a national renewal rate of 13%. Congratulations to both groups!
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As a member organization run by its volunteers, American Mensa is dependent on you to be its best. This is true at both the local and national level. At the local level, the most visible volunteers are your Executive Committees, primarily via your Local Secretaries/Presidents and your Local Group Newsletter Editors, but there are many other volunteers who move things along, from the Proctors who provide testing opportunities for new members to join, to those who run social events on your local calendars, to those who provide content on your local group social media groups, and those who volunteer to read essays to provide scholarships for worthy students, and more. Some groups have had trouble recruiting new volunteers, however, because the leaders haven’t met you yet and don’t know that you might be interested.
The same is true of National Committees. Committee Chairs often reach out to the people we already know, because we know they are interested, but so many others we don’t know could have a lot to offer and we just don’t know it.
To help with this, American Mensa has launched the Volunteer Marketplace (visit https://connect.us.mensa.org/volunteeropportunities/volunteeroverview). From here you can see what roles are available, and complete a profile letting us know what your skill sets and interests are, what level of participation you would be willing to commit to, and other key information. Because the program has just started the choices are limited as of this writing, mostly for national committees, but local groups may also take advantage of the program to seek out Proctors, RG Committee volunteers, ExComm candidates, and others. Please check this out and see whether it is something you would be interested in.
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The next scheduled American Mensa Committee (AMC) meeting will be on September 7, 2019 in Arlington, TX. At this time I do not have the agenda, but you will be able to find it at https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/amc/meeting-reports/. Select the dropdown for the 2019-09-07 meeting and the agenda should be available by the time this column finds its way to your newsletter. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns that you would like me to bring before the AMC.
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On a personal note, I will be retiring from my current full-time job at the end of August. This will offer me a chance to get to some of your local group events that are held during weeknights, something I simply haven’t been able to manage over the past couple of years. I hope that I’ll be able to meet more of you in the next few months.
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Until next month (or until I see you online),
Thomas George Thomas
Email: RVC10@us.mensa.org
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