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

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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.