March 2003
Dear Great Lakes & Ohio Valley Mensans,
We often hear local group officers lament how many members
never show up at local activities. “How can we get these members to be active?”
is the common plaint. While I, too, would like to see more members be active, I
also realize that not all members who are active attend local activities, and I
truly appreciate our inactive members.
Why would I like to see more members be active? I’m
selfish: I joined Mensa to interact with other Mensans. To me, more active
members means more members with whom I can interact. But I realize that not
everyone who joins Mensa does so because he or she wants to interact with me.
You may be wondering what I mean when I stated that not all
active members attend local activities. We know from surveys that more members
are active through Special Interest
Groups (“SIGs”) than are active through local groups, and some of our
members are very active through SIGs. I wrote a
whole column about SIGs for your December newsletters. Members who are
active in SIGs but don’t attend local activities are active members.
Some of our members are active through the thriving network
of online groups for Mensans, but never attend local activities. These members
are active members.
Some members attend Mensa gatherings, such as the
Annual
Gathering (this year, it’s July 2-6, in St. Paul, MN),
Regional Gatherings,
Mind
Games™ (this year, April 11-13 in Houston—registration deadline is the end of
March!), or events such as last year’s Colloquium that
Southeast Michigan Mensa
hosted, but never attend any local events. These members are active members.
Some members read various Mensa publications, such as the Bulletin,
Interloc or newsletters such as the one you’re reading now. I regularly see
the names of members I’ve never met on submissions to these publications,
including
letters
to the editor, solutions to puzzles, and submissions to Bulletin columns
such as Wordplay or
The 2%
Solution. These members are active members.
But we also have members who truly are inactive, for whom
Mensa membership means simply being able to carry a membership card or hang a
membership certificate over a desk, knowing that they qualify for membership,
and for whom that is enough. If they choose to not be active, that’s fine with
me. My goal is to have happy members, and, while I can make suggestions, it’s
not my role to tell members how to make their memberships most valuable to them;
that’s an individual decision. Frankly, the inactive members are valuable
members of our society—their dues help pay for the fixed cost of running a
society, just as do those of active members. Maybe someday they’ll decide to be
active in our society (and selfishly, I hope they do!), but that’s a choice for
each member to make.
Of course, to be a member, active or inactive, you have to
pay your dues. For those of you who haven’t
prepaid your dues through a
multi-year or life dues option, your membership expires the end of March.
Prompt renewal—by
the close of business on March 31—has some immediate benefits. Your local group
will receive points towards recognition through the
Group of the Year Awards
program (“GOTYA”), and you’ll be able to vote in this year’s Mensa
elections. (The ballots this year will include six referenda, contested
elections for all four international offices, and contested elections for at
least two of the six American Mensa offices upon which members of this region
may vote.)
March ends with the first American Mensa Committee meeting
in this region in over two years, in Green Tree (suburban Pittsburgh), PA, on
March 29 (subcommittee meetings will be held the prior evening); if you’d like
to see how American Mensa decides what to do, this is your opportunity. A week
later, April 4-6, the Regional Gathering season in this region gets off to its
annual start as Dayton Area
Mensa digs up Sixteen Tons of fun, programs, and camaraderie. Details on
each are in the Bulletin (and in many of these newsletters, as well); if you
prefer, email me, and I’ll send you the details, so that you can choose to be an
active member by attending either of these functions.
Until next month, I’m—
