Budgeting Process

As I continue to work my way through the draft budget binder in preparation for this weekend's Finance Committee meeting, here's another little bit I can share now:

In addition to detailed (and I mean detailed down to the cost of the envelope used to send the new membership card) information about all areas of income and expenses, we also get copies of articles about trends in banking fees, investment environments and advice, salary comparisons in the area and nationwide, changes in IRS 1099 requirements, and concrete plans and goals for each National Office department.

My point is that the budgeting development process is anything but "look at last year and add 5%."

If I Were Tsar of Mensa

While sipping morning coffee and nagging kids to get ready for school, I was surfing a bit— using Flipboard on my iPad.  And I ran across a link to this article "The Daily vs. Flipboard".


Fascinating, and what really caught my eye and fired my imagination was:

... the future of the newspaper is about increased personalization, interactivity, social features, more choice of niche content. It's no longer about serving up a selection of middle-of-the-road fare every day and hoping that satisfies a large chunk of the newspaper-reading population (which is of course in decline, too).

This got me thinking about the Bulletin. I hear from members who want less Mensa politics and more fun reading. I know of members who want fewer book reviews and more details about how much AMC members' dinners cost. There are members who want puzzles and art, members who want content for children, and members who want high-level debates. There are members who want descriptions of gatherings and members who want biographies of other members.

If I were Tsar of Mensa, I'd find a way to let each member identify and bundle the content he wants. Imagine the Bulletin as a Flipboardesque publication! Or, even better, if we could somehow expand the concept to the Mensa experience in general!

Budget Factoid

So I'm all comfy on my sofa under a faux fur blanket, watching the snow fall and going over the first draft of the proposed 2011-2012 budget and scribbling notes and questions.

And at the same time, there is angry accusatory discussion about AMC travel expenses on both the LocSec elist and the Yahoo groups. Here's and interesting budget factoid that should but probably won't put things into a different perspective:

The cost of banking and credit card fees for AML is higher than for four meetings' worth of AMC travel, lodging, and meals.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

AMC's Luxury Junkets

I have been reading on the Yahoo groups complaints bout how the AMC members eat fancy expensive dinners and stay in 5-star luxury hotels. This motivated me to dig out an old blog post on this topic.

By the way, the room rate at the Hyatt  where I'll be staying for the Finance Committee meeting is $89 a night. Meals are generally continental breakfast at hotel, some sort of boxed lunch at the office, and a hearty good dinner at a restaurant.

Goals for the Next Couple Months

Haven't posted in a while, sorry. For those of you who wonder what I do, here are my goals for between now and March ( assuming I ever get over this nasty cold I've got— two weeks and I'm still coughing up a lung a few times a day):

• Nudge the LG Service & Funding Task Force back into working mode and get that project done, including having a concrete list of what members most need and want from LGs and how much those things cost.

• Finish guiding the AMC through the process of prioritizing and big-picture vetting of the GTF recommendations.

• Choose a few more members for the new project, the Governance Blueprint TF, and get that set up and moving.

• Finalize and explain the menu of options to present to LG editors and circulation managers regarding newsletter distribution as the USPS tightens it's regulations.

• Tidy up the N&L presentation, including translating the whole thing into PowerPoint (I made it in Keynote) so it can be a turnkey LDW resource.

• Develop a flowchart for dealing with N&L violations.

• Get working on modern policy to cover N&L use in social media.

• Put  few more finishing touches on my campaign Web site.

• Review the preliminary budget and write up my standard 3 or 4 pages of questions and comments before the Finance Comm meeting.

• Write motions for the March AMC meeting to smooth the newsletter distribution changes.

• Attend the budget meeting.

Not a goal, just something I'm doing for my own enjoyment ( and on my own dime, if you care):
attending the Electronic Gaming Colloquium!

Governance Concepts Being Discussed

The AMC is discussing general preferences regarding the many GTF suggestions, in preparation for directing the Governance Blue Print task Force on what to move forward on. I figure I can share this, since I'm the one initiating the discussions.

Currently we're beginning to grapple with two huge conceptual areas:

Representation
What is the  best way to define the segments represented on the BoD? Currently we base it on geography, but are there other ways of categorizing the membership that would serve the organization better?

Specialized Voting BoD Members
Is Mensa best served by having skill-specific, non-representative, voting BoD members? And if "yes," should the general membership elect those specialized voting BoD members or should there be a method of appointment removed from the direct voice of the general membership?