Wired & Leader

 As a result of some back and forth with a member complaining about wanting to unsubscribe from AML’s  advertising messages (specifically in Wired and Leader) without also unsubscribing to actual messages she needs to see as a LG officer, I learned something important that solidifies my on-going discomfort with those emailed “newsletters.”

They are viewed by staff as "the member benefit promotion emails” intended to  provide non-dues revenue for American Mensa.

I’ve long complained that they look like spam and get deleted, unread because they look like little more than ads. Now I know that’s the whole point of them. Actual “news” members or officers need is sparse.

Other than the Bulletin, which tends not to have much Mensa News content (by design—it’s meant to be more entertainment), there is no national-to-everyone publication that disseminates real Mensa news.

What to do?

Remember this When Frustrated by Slow Progress

 

What I Did Aug 26-Nov 18, 2022

Communications Officer

• Wrote long response to Ian’s questions about Bulletin Ad policy.
• Forwarded notice of a member’s passing to the NO.
• Zoom call with GLAAM LocSec about volunteerism and other topics.
• Discussed moderation issues with a member.
• Worked on boilerplate and indicia sections of LG Comm Guide.
• Responded to a few complains about not being able to log into MC.
• Discussed common issues with Membership Officer and advised on a LG newsletter conflict.
• Responded to concerns over privately sent word choices that was posted in the Proctors Community.
• Responded to Ruth about several frustrations.
• Asked Becky about who reads newsletters that aren’t uploaded.                            
• Sent Trevor some ideas to improve Leadership Dev efforts.
• Asked Mathew about the MC Admin Guide that he worked on two years ago.
• Discussed with Membership Officer ideas for disseminating educational info to members.
• Worked with Bulletin editor to craft shirttail and bio for new Volunteer Insights column.
• Admonished a set-promoting member who was badgering staff.
• Zoom call with Kevin Borchers re web server needs.
• Phone call with Ombudsman re Region 8 moderation issues.
• Notified IT staff of a website page update needed.
• Zoom with CB re e-newsletters, events pages & forms, and server upgrades.
• Emailed Trevor re server upgrade discussions.
• Advised membership Officer re SIG promotion in e-newsletters.
• Tidied up my to-do list for the next year.
• Asked Jean B. where the LG job descriptions can be found.
• Passed along a useful illustration to Angie & Diversity Comm.
• Pointed LD Comm Chair to sources for job descriptions.
• Wrote 3 more “articles” for Leader and Wired.
• Asked AMC about posting the Statement of Member Rights & Responsibilities separately somewhere.
• Initiated general discussion w/ Digital Media Officers on MC.
• Began crafting Nat Pubs Policy from scratch. Sent google doc invites to staff.
• A few hours of work on Nat Pubs policy crafting.
• Zoom with CB.
• Reviewed R1 websites.
• More work on Nat Pubs policy crafting.
• Reviewed R3 websites.
• Reviewed R6 websites.
• Reviewed R7 websites.
• Reviewed R10 websites.
• Discussed LG websites’ purpose with Marketing and Membership Officers.
• Read and pondered an article about 5-Whys and how to apply it to solving  Mensa problems.
• Wrote a Volunteerism column for the Bulletin.
• Checked in on a privacy tweak requested by Jean B in December 2021.
• Asked staff for process to keep Vol Marketplace up to date.
• Attended AMC planning session and meeting.
• Productive discussion with Marketing Officer and Executive Director about staff/volunteer issues and processes.
• Reviewed Oct Bulletin. 
• Reviewed Nov/Dec Bulletin.
• Read Oct newsletters.
• Read Nov newsletters.
• Filled out Sept expense form-takes much longer than you’d expect!
• Compared recent Leader and Wired content to what I’d provided (I’m not pleased).
• Nudged staff on Pubs Policy google doc—again.
• Read October LG newsletters.
• More work on Pubs Policy.
• Reviewed MC Community Admin Guide and identified next steps.
• Played around with event listing in Mensa Connect sandbox.
• Poked at adding a poll in a MC community (didn’t figure it out) then experimented successfully with Survey Monkey.
• More work on Pubs Policy.
• Sent survey to Pubs Officers re topics for next Zoom session.
• Tons of work prepping Draft 2 of Nat Pubs Policy.
• Nudged CommComm discussion.
• Advised GLAAM LocSec on several issues.
• Still more work on Nat Pubs policy.
• Reviewed SM strategy written by Staff.
• Zoom with CB.
• Attended Minnesota RG.
• Met with Linda S. to solve some MC editing issues.
• Asked staff for info about NDAs that I can pass on to editors.
• Proposed integrating high-level discussion time into AMC meetings.
• Re-read entire Governance TF Report (2010).
• Instructed Pubs Officer to carry on normally for November issues and that we’ll get the NDA forms and processes in place soon. Notified AMC of that action.
• Nudged Tabby again about SM content for LG Comm Guide.
• Prepped and sent fall letter to Pubs Officers.
• Cheered when Staff prepared and uploaded a general NDA form for LGs to use.
• Responded to many questions  re Fall Pubs Officers’ letter.
• Began discussion with Beth & Jean re benefits of volunteering (for Bulletin column).
• Checked back in with Digital Officers.
• Created spreadsheet of which newsletters are not online and asked RVCs about them.
• Answered another bazillion questions from Editors about NDAs.
• Asked Marketing Officer for fodder for Bulletin column about LG Marketing/PR Officers.
• Drafted Bulletin column about LG marketing officers.
• Zoom with CB.
• Began discussion with Marketing Officer re social media policy creation for LGs to use.
• Asked Testing Officer for fodder for Bulletin column.
• Initiated discussion on Digital Officers’ MC community about SM policy needs/wants for LGs.
• Worked on incorporating MDA/NDA info into the LG Comm Guide draft.
• Asked MN to return the LG COmm Guide draft despite not having time to give his input.
• Reviewed and tweaked a Bulletin column with Chip.
• Sought opinions from Membership and Marketing Officers about judging and turning off disappointing Lg sites in favor of a better regional one.
• Poked around with calendar feature on MC and MC app.
• Nudged Trevor about high-level governance talk necessary to get going on Pubs Policy.
• Zoom with CB.
• Wrote up list of next steps for improving volunteerism (for meeting with Lori).
• Lengthy correspondence with a webmaster about their site’s appeal to potential or new members if it’s almost all pw protected not using the AML authentication.
• Responded to an Area Cord. about FaceBook use and outreach options.
• Discussed MC community for marketing officers creation and administration with staff and Marketing Officer.
• Zoom with Pubs Officers (20 attended).
• Nudged staff again to return the LG Com Guide draft so I can work on it even without their input.
• Worked several hours on SM section of the LG Comm Guide.
• Attended HalloweeM, including the Meet the AMC session.
• Long discussion with new Chair about volunteerism next steps, strategic planning issues, and staff issues.
• Long talk with key member regarding a bylaws amendment idea.
• Created an abridged version of the Vol TF Report for sharing with LG leaders.
• Edited draft of Bulletin column about Scholarship Chairs and Judges.
• Dealt with member complaint regarding privacy and security of the auto-generated birthday messaged.
• Zoom with CB.
• Advised DVM LocSec about paper newsletter cost & solutions.
• Advised RVC7 about finding time-sensitive info about virtual events.
• Zoom with MN and Marielle about server upgrades and solutions for LG sites.
• Created slides for presentation to the AMC about next steps for improving volunteerism.
  
• Shared copy of Oct Bulletin Vol column with TJ.
• Advised an editor about how to handle electronic distribution.
• Several hours' work on LG Comm Guide.

Communications Committee

• Began prepping a persuasive justification for including funds to upgrade AML servers in the 23-24 budget. Hours and hours.
• More discussion about how to approach helping LGs do electronic elections.
• Initiated creation of a list of newsletters that are not available on the AML website.
• Finalized and sent email to editors about uploading virtual events to the national calendar.
• Created spreadsheet and began reviewing all LG websites.
• Discussed a 5 Whys Analysis of LG websites.
• Long Zoom with Marielle about website solutions and approaches.
• Added RVCs’ rankings of LGs’ volunteerism health to website spreadsheet to look for patterns.
• Began discussing if it’s time to require LGs create and upload PDFs.
• Added membership counts to website spreadsheet.
• Found some LG’s Health/size and website quality correlations.
• Discussed definition of “National Publications.”
• Productive in-person talk about how to get the virtual events promotion project going again.
• Shared a catch up status summary of all our projects.

Strategic Planning Committee

• Wrote clear communications priorities and concerns for Strategic Planning Chair to use in his presentation to the AMC in December. 
• Discussed how to take the rambling list of Mensa in the Future visions and align the Strat Plan in a way to enable progress towards that future. 

Marketing Committee

• Solicited input for justifying the cost of a server upgrade.
• Attended October committee zoom meeting.
• Reviewed and commented extensively on draft of “Intro to Social Media and Local Chapters”

Name & Logo Committee

• 
  

SIGs Advisory Committee

• Weighed in on discussion of a Sudoko SIG.

National Awards Committee

• Reminded Jean about Q reports due Nov 18.

MIL News Team

• Initial conference call to get started.
• Began brainstorming list of resources and topics to write articles about.
• Set up Google Docs of storing content ready to be posted.

IYK,YK

 

Shower Thoughts: Resources and Strategic Priorities

It occurs to me that we spend ~50% of our staff resources on services that benefit maybe 5% of our membership.

Why does the AMC spend so much time pondering

What's the best term—Ombudsman, Ombuds, or Ombudsperson?

instead of

What percentage of our resources should be allocated to which of our strategic priorities?

Getting Members & Putting on Big Events—that's all

I have several projects in progress, and every single one grinds to a halt when I get to the point of needing staff input. I’ve nagged and kvetched and nagged, to no avail. At last I’ve discovered why I can’t get anything to the finish line.

It’s not that staff disapproves of my initiatives. It’s not that they don’t like me personally. 

 

The problem is that the staff has been given other priorities that take up all their time all year long:

 

January to April — Renewal season. 

April to July — AG preparation and implementation. It’s the big event and every year more and more has to be done by staff.

July to September — Post AG catch up and perhaps a vacation or two.

September to November — All the tech work for the next AG, MindGames, and Colloquium.

November to December — More AG/MindGames, & Colloquium work.

December to January —Holidays, vacations, and prepping for renewal season.

 

In other words, we’ve only hired enough staff to tend to getting members and making the big national events happen. That’s it.

 

There are no man-hours available for improving websites, creating new this or that, or even having thick discussions about how current processes and policies could be improved.

 

The solution is to either allocate more money to hire more staff OR to reassign some of the work to volunteers. Unfortunately, the first option doesn’t sit well with the members or the AMC, and the second option doesn’t sit well with the staff.

 

And we wonder why AML seems so clunky and behind the times.