Tuesday, November 15, 2022

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.




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