First of all, I want to disclaim that the letter M in the picture on my website is actually (i.e. it is NOT) the logo of Mensa, I just needed a picture for the carousel.
Any society that has a unique charter is a valid society and by that definition Mensa is a valid society. It was organized in 1946 and was meant to bring together people in the 98th percentile of IQ or intelligence quotient. I joined Mensa about 20 years ago and I did so in the hope of meeting interesting people. But in 20 years I joined Mensa (once) and rejoined it again (twice), but each time I would go to one or two meetings, then let my membership lapse. Yet, I think in today’s world there is a need for Mensa, it just needs to become modernized and less insular.
My most recent experience with Mensa was in Alexandria, Virginia when I was working in the office at the USPTO. I went to a gathering of the Mensa SIG “Blazing Mensans”. I think “Blazing Racists” is a much better name for this Mensa SIG. The organizer of the SIG invited me to the gathering on a Saturday, and then he said he wouldn’t be there but someone else would, and would I please contribute to pay for ammunition at the shooting range, and I went to the shooting range and I paid for ammo, but I hardly got to shoot because there were other new people that day and then I found out that the other new people didn’t pay anything, so it was clear that the “Blazing Mensans” SIG cheated me. As the saying goes, “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”, so I stopped going to Mensa gatherings and I stopped paying dues.
Mensa should read what I say on this post carefully, because this is gold. If you do what I say, Mensa will grow.
Firstly:
- Any honest observer will tell you that the average age at Mensa has been climbing and it has become an organization of old people. Some may say that the young people of today don’t have anything great to say anyway, but that is neither here nor there. They ARE the young people and if they are not in Mensa, then Mensa becomes irrelevant.
- Young adults today spend an average of 3-4 hours on social media platforms every day and just for a few hours if they lose their internet connection, they become unrecognizable as people. Much more than people of my generation, the young people of today want to be active in social media groups almost continually, and it is not a joke to say that they would rather talk to each other on social media than pick up the phone and talk to the other person live, and if they did they would have nothing to say.
- So Mensa needs to go virtual. I remember when I first became a member, I was invited to a pot-luck get to know each other gathering, and I met a bunch of fat old people in somebody’s smelly house and as I sat there with a paper plate and no one to talk to, I wondered, is this really where all the smart people live ? Nowadays the smart people, the young people, in fact ALL the people are online. So Mensa needs to go National, go International, go Virtual!
- And if Mensa goes virtual, you will no longer see fat, smelly old people, but you will see everybody in their comfort zone.
- Mensa should have it’s own App on Android and Apple and people should be able to interact with other Mensa members worldwide within the Mensa ecosystem.
- And finally if Mensa goes virtual, you can support Mensa by advertising and thus get rid of the $150/year dues which is my next point
Secondly:
- Any honest observer will tell you that you have to be a moron to want to pay $150/yr dues just so you can attend two meetings a year, so the question you have to ask Mensa management is: are these really the people whom you want to attract, people who are willing to pay ?
- Just look at Netflix, after years of growth, Netflix membership stalled, so they introduced ad-supported membership and then membership numbers soared again!
- I was talking about Mensa the other day to a family member and I mentioned that the dues are $150/yr and she asked, do you get a free lunch out of it and I said, you get nothing for it ! And you know, that is the problem, if you ask people to pay dues, they have to get something for it. When I joined AAA they gave free maps and a travel bag, it just makes you feel nice even though you may never use those maps.
- So, I think that with Mensa membership you should be able to get discounts at Museums and bookstores and the like! In return Mensa can allow ads from selected companies on the Mensa App.
- If Mensa membership only has a nominal fee, you will attract a whole slew of new members and as the Mensa community grows Nationally and even Internationally, Mensa will be relevant in the world of today.
- I want Mensa to understand, the smartest people in the world are ALL over the world, Mensa cannot be racist like the “Blazing Mensans” SIG, you have to be willing to attract people worldwide and you have to be willing to accept their disparate viewpoints!