Mark Hutchenreuther
As I write this I am preparing for a brand new story-telling session I will be facilitating at the upcoming Los Angeles RG, my 50th RG. I just received fax confirmation on the workshop I will be conducting at the Harbor Area Mensa RG, and yesterday I exchanged e-mail concerning what I would like to present at the San Diego RG. It’s time to start working on the next issue of Channel M, and I still have not decided what to present at the Birmingham AG. OK, you ask, so what does this have to do with running for RVC9?
I know Region 9. I know it not just from reading about it in other newsletters, which I have done for over five years. I know it from the trenches, from attending and volunteering at our regional gatherings over the past six years. The Anaheim AG was my first gathering, and I volunteered to work in the hospitality prep room getting ready for the international buffet. I still know people from that night, and I have been to every AG since. It did not take me long to figure out how to gauge what was needed, and then pitch in and do it.
Sometimes it was giving a clay workshop, other times it was putting more beer in the bathtub. At another event it was cutting carrots and celery for the hungry hordes, at yet another it was offering to judge the joke-off. Between this and attending local events, I met the active 20% of Mensa, and became one of them.
Along the way, I ran for LocSec and served in that position for four years. I also coordinated a national SIG, and created another one. Currently I am Editor in my local group. In these positions, I feel I met the other 80% of Mensa, the ones who are quite content to get a local, national, and maybe a SIG newsletter in the mail. Met them? Sure, and I was one of them for several years when I first joined. I chose to move from the 80% of our membership that I prefer to call "reclusive participants" rather than "closet members", and joined the active 20%. Some of the recluses have followed me, many have preceded me. I know I can’t herd cats, but I do know how to feed them. We need to continue to cater to the needs of 100% of our members, in some cases by providing quality activities for them, in others by providing them with quality publications and SIGs.
Today, like two years ago when I ran for RVC9 for the first time, I have no real agenda. I have a few thoughts and ideas, but mostly I have an open and creative mind. I retired from 25 years of applying my analytical abilities and my creativity to solving engineering problems, and along the way I applied those same techniques to everyday problems as well. I would like to serve you as RVC9 and apply these same abilities to Mensa. I don’t all the problems are, but I will learn. I doubt I will have all the answers either, but I will roll up my sleeves and work on them.
I said I have no agenda, but I do have strong feelings on three topics. First of all, I feel strongly about advertising, not only external to get new members, but internal to retain members. I don’t believe we are effective at either, but I have some ideas. I feel strongly about publicity too. Parading as tea bags on "Amazing America" is one way to get it, but a Colloquium is a better way, and we are long overdue for one. And lastly, I am concerned about the graying of Mensa, and the America this reflects. My concern is that we ought to be exploiting it, since what I have read indicates that what Mensa has to offer is good for continued health and longevity (intellectual stimulation) in our later years.
I truly love Mensa. Mensa has been very good to me and for me. Now I would like to serve you at a higher level and help Mensa grow and continue to prosper into the next millennium.
P.S. Last election I lost by one vote. My opponent once won a tie by the toss of a coin. Your vote is very important to me and to Mensa. Please take the time to vote, which I hope will be a vote for me. If you don’t care about Mensa politics at the national level, then will you please at least vote for RVC9? Thank you!