Barbara Kryvko
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Making Mensa Relevant

11/23/2014

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From a comment on M-Leaders about Mensa's lack of relevance to society today:

For Mensa to have cultural relevance, our members have to feel like Mensa has relevance to them -- and I think that the best way to achieve this for this organization is to help Mensa members become relevant themselves. 

We try to achieve relevance by encouraging people to join who are already doing OK in that area - we try to recruit successful scientists, actors, children, business people, to pay their money and carry the card, so we can promote them....we try to put our references into Dancing With the Stars, or Big Bang Theory, or anything else we feel is already successful for being smart...when we are already sitting on the biggest PR goldmine every -- members who are already here who high intelligence and also have dreams and goals and desires that Mensa could, if we wanted, help them learn to achieve. We could be instrumental in some great things - some relevant things. 

Our purposes are "to identify and to foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity; to encourage research into the nature, characteristics, and uses of intelligence; and to provide a stimulating intellectual and social environment for its members." What better way to do that than to take people who come into our organization wanting to achieve more, find an intelligent mate, write a book, plan a career, or find a place where their ideas and opinions can be turned into action. I know I'm not alone in coming into Mensa knowing that I was really smart, but underachieving - I looked to Mensa to find out how I could turn that into something relevant to me, to my family, to my career, to the world. 

What would Smithsonian Magazine think if, instead of coming to them and saying, "Hey, do an article about us because we have existed for 50 years and we talked a few successful people into putting their pocket change down to be members," we said, "Hey, do an article about us because we helped hundreds of people become authors, advance in their career, find love, start businesses, join think tanks, invent items on the market today, become artists, actors, viral web superstars?" 

So, in short, the best way for Mensa to be relevant to people today, is to BE RELEVANT TO PEOPLE TODAY!

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One Thought on Attracting Younger Members - Keep Mobility in Mind

11/10/2014

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From M-Leaders, in a discussion about attracting volunteers of all generations:

I think there's a theme in some of the posts here that I have experienced as well - events where you *do* thinigs - active moving games, crafts, tours, etc. - seem to attract a wide range of ages of people who like to *do* things. Events where people just sit and listen or sit around and eat seem to attract people who like to - or can - do that, and that may be mostly older people who are not very mobile. Even in volunteering - I did volunteer scheduling for several AGs, and you'll see registration fill up first, with older people. 


Personally, I have a hard time sitting for hour-long lectures unless I'm super interested in the topic. Last weekend at WeeM, I volunteered for registration for the first time in my 25+ years of being a member - I am a Hospitality volunteer by nature because it's constant moving. 

Society now is very mobile - we eat on the run, text on the run, volunteer on the run, change jobs, change our minds, change where we live, and where we spend our time. 

Be conscious of how planning meetings are scheduled. We often have retired people who schedule meetings at big sit-down venues that start at 6PM on a work night and last for hours, or a former LocSec who had board meetings at his home that started at 4PM on Sunday and included a potluck, and could go until 7-8 PM. Working people, especially those with children, don't always have time for that.

For young people on the go, or people who have to arrange for rides or sitters - always make sure your events have an end time. Scheduling a lunch from "noon to whenever we get done" may intimidate people who only have an hour. New people may not care to go to a games night that starts at 7, and has no end time. They might be afraid that they'll be stuck there if they don't like it. You can always invite people to stay later if they are having a good time.

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It's all about the Benjamins...an opinion on dues increases

11/3/2014

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From the American Mensa Firehouse, a question regarding dues increases:
Answer: I think we've already raised the dues too much in recent years. Count me as one more person who agrees with Mary Lee's statement, "I do not believe that our budget has received the proper cutting of fat that is due."

In addition, I think that the "Financial Impact" statements on most motions are sorely lacking in visibility and specifics. I would like to see actual numbers rather than just indicating that there will be costs, or that costs will be "negligible." 

I am also a firm believer that any financial impact statement with numbers must also include a statement as to where that money will come from. Where can we cut expenses to support the motion? If a dues increase is required to support the motion, or money is to be borrowed, or if it will be included in a current budget bucket, that should be known before any votes on the motion are cast.

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    About 
    Barbara's Blog

    I write a lot online - Facebook, Twitter, YahooGroups, Slack, Discord. I have a lot of interested to write about: team and organizaional management, creativity, trust and psychological safety, movies, public speaking, Mensa, my career, and my hometown of St. Charles, MO. 

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