Overlapping Communities

The Mothers of Twins & Triplets Club is organized on a local-state-national hierarchy. For most of its 60 years, Mensa has been structured that way too: local-regional-national-international. But the Internet has changed all that and it’s time to reevaluate how we perceive the structure.

So often I hear members talk about Local Groups are the “heartblood” of Mensa. Maybe in the past, but there are many more options when it comes to choosing where one’s “family of choice” resides. There are hundreds—thousands, even— of physical and virtual Mensa gathering places, and the proclivities and expectations are as diverse as the members who create them.

I see Mensa membership as a portal to a whole world of smart-folks and the communities they create. Qualifying for Mensa gives you the key; joining turns the door knob. After that, it’s up to each member and the folks he discovers to decide where he’ll go and how he’ll fit in.

And I think it’s not a matter of finding the community that fits best, but rather the combination of groups that meet one’s needs. For example off the top of my head, I “belong” to:
• West Suburban Games and Conversation
• Smaart Girls Go to Spas
• Chicago Mensa Active Volunteers
• WeeM Team
• Monthly Meetings
• Annual Gatherings
• AMC
• Editors and Webmasters elists
• Name & Logo, Communications, Marketing, etc committees
• American Mensa Facebook group
• Several Yahoo! elists
• Brainstorm, Mensa Matters, New Members Lounge, You and Your AMC, and several other AML Forums

Some of these groups overlap and have members in common; some are worlds apart and have no intersection other than me. Some of these communities were established before I joined, some I initiated. In some, I participate actively and visibly; in others, I lurk. And you’ll notice that I didn’t even list any SIGS—that’s another huge subset of Mensa groups that many members call “home.”

Local Groups are still vital, but AML, both leaders and members, should stop expecting Local Group volunteers to meet all the wishes of all the members. Local Groups should be initial welcome stations where new members can check out the offerings and return to after exploring in the wider world of Mensa. AML should help new members find and explore the zillions of sub-communities.