(Link to PDF version for printing)

November 2006
Newsletter

Contents

Coming Soon... Notes from the LocSec The Tenth Story Member News EDitorial A Message From Janice Johnson

 

Coming Soon...

• Smarti Gras (January 26-28, 2007) –- Orlando
  http://www.cfm.us.mensa.org/rg2007

• Colloquium (March 23-25 2007) -- Aspects of Humor, Oak Brook, IL
  www.colloquium2007.us.mensa.org

We are always looking for original artwork for our newsletter, submit yours to editor@palmbeach.us.mensa.org. All newsletter submissions are now due by the 10th of month.

Visit our website at www.palmbeach.us.mensa.org

 

Notes from the LocSec --

The good news first!

Any member can now go to the US Mensa URL and read our Palm – Beach Newsletter, Courtesy of our editor Ed Sorensen. The easiest way is to go to : - http://www.us.mensa.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home Then log on with your membership number. Do a search for newsletter Palm-Mensa . You will discover the Palm - Beach Newsletter in *.pdf format. Ed will update the newsletter each month.

The bad news! Electronic Communications in Mensa Chapter 10.

We have 310 Members in the Boca – Port St Lucie chapter 10 area, yet email addresses are available to your local officers from Mensa US for only 176.

Last month because the newsletter was late I had to email messages about the event at my home to the chapter membership. I would have liked to notify all the chapter members. As a result of the mailing I got back 15 undeliverable email addresses, which reduced the number I could actually inform to 161, just over 50% of our members. Most of the returned emails were unrecognized, which means the email account is invalid. Two were stopped by spam filters.

Spam is a big issue for everyone, I get two or three spam a day. I use MS Outlook which permits me to assign the sender to the JUNK EMAIL folder, thus sending all future emails from that sender to JUNK EMAIL, which I clear every day. Some clever folk are sending junk email from different senders each time to get around this way of dealing with SPAM. If you right click on the highlighted title of an email you will see a menu, the fourth from the bottom item is JUNK E-MAIL, when you hover over it you will see a second menu, the bottom item of which is JUNK EMAIL OPTIONS, right click on this. There you will be presented with 5 levels of JUNK E-MAIL rejection ranging from no rejection to Safe Senders list only. If you have a real serious problem with junk email, use this highest level of email rejection, but check your junk email every time you check your regular email because if an email you want is in the JUNK E-MAIL folder when you clear it at the end of each session of reading your email, you will lose it. You can add the sender of a desired email to the safe senders list so all future email from that sender will go to your regular IN BOX.

If you use a different email client, check out its SPAM rejection capability. This feature is becoming more and more important as commercialization of the WWW accelerates, and marketers with no ethics, use SPAM instead of permission marketing, to fill up the world's email boxes.

Judy and I have BellSouth as our ISP. BellSouth provides SPAM control, it is about 98% effective. We can go in and check SPAM for 14 days before it is deleted. Sometimes I do, but it is almost always 100% SPAM. Some use Earthlink which I have heard is very effective, but the power is also there on your desktop if you use MS OUTLOOK.

If you would like to be included in emails to members on Mensa event in Palm Beach Mensa, please send me a working email address. It will only be used for legitimate Mensa event emails. It will not be passed to anyone or any organization.

More Good news.

We have had a volunteer come forward for the Young Mensa Coordinator post also known as the Gifted Children's Coordinator. I will fill you in next month. I have had an offer of a club house for events in the Delray area. If someone in that area would like to set up a Mensa event in that area please contact me.

Boca Raton

We have 73 members in Boca Raton. That's enough to have regular boca events. Is there an enthusiastic member in Boca who would like to set up an event each month, just one to begin. Please contact me.

All the best,

Brian K Johnson
LocSec Palm Beach Mensa

 

The Tenth Story

New members. They are very important to every local group. They ensure continued growth of our local groups. They replace members who have moved away or left local groups. They can be the source of new ideas and new energy to the local groups. But many of them join, stay only briefly, and then are gone. Ever wonder why? I have been hearing comments (not necessarily from Region 10) being expressed by new members about why they don't ever attend anything or about why they may not renew. The answers are surprising and sad. Some have said that they never got brave enough to attend anything since they didn't know anybody there. Some who did attend an event or two said they weren't made to feel welcome, even felt kind of invisible.

So here are a few thoughts on ways to make new members feel more welcome. Some groups have a membership officer. In some groups, that officer sends a welcome letter to new members. That's a good thing. But perhaps following up with a phone call would be even better? In most groups, that would mean making a few phone calls per month, but it might pay off in big benefits by gaining new loyal members who attend things! Some groups have a designated welcomer at parties. This person keeps an eye out for unfamiliar faces, makes a point of introducing him/herself and others to the person, and making them feel welcome. Other groups actually have a "new member welcome" get together every few months, inviting the new members specifically to come and meet some "old" members, possibly the officers. Other groups have a brief "new member handbook" to send to new members. One handbook I heard about included a glossary of commonly used Mensa abbreviations and acronyms. How many of us knew what LocSec, RVC, or SIG was when we first joined?

If any of this gives you ideas of how to step things up a bit in how your local group welcomes new members, I am delighted! And if there is anything I as RVC can do to help you accomplish this, please don't hesitate to ask. For instance, if your local group decides to produce a new member handbook, but the budget doesn't have room for the full printing cost, perhaps I can help. Or if you need to find out how to make something work, if I don't have the answer, perhaps I can help you find the information you need. Just ask.

And if you are a new member with a good idea of how the local group could have made you feel more welcome, please let either me or your local group officers know.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Maggie Truelove

3333 Honeysuckle Lane Orlando, Florida 32812

407-855-9078 

rvc10@cfl.rr.com or  truluvs@cfl.rr.com

 

Member News

Palm Beach County Mensa ended September with 339 members. We gained 13 brand new members, renewing or moving into our area. Welcome or welcome back to: Faith Mora of Royal Palm Beach, Richard Courter of Boca Raton, Roy Douglas Hughart of WPB, Julie Joyner of WPB, William Ward of Boynton Beach, Len Woodrow of Delray Beach, Carol Pelligrenelli of Boca Raton, Gregroy Van Dam of Lake Worth, Charles 'Eddie' Lockett of Lake Worth, David Blackstone of WPB, Howard Wohlgemmuth of PBG, Jason Locker of Boca Raton and Evelyn Levy of Boca Raton. Come on out to an event or organize one yourself. We'd like to meet you!

Have you renewed your membership yet?  Have you considered a lifetime membership?

 

EDitorial

I would like to take this opportunity to say thanks and goodbye (for now) to all of my fellow Palm Mensans. Due to communication issues and time constraints, I am resigning as your Editor. I have appreciated all of the positive feedback that I have received regarding the many changes with the newsletter and look forward to seeing you out at local events. Thank you for the opportunity to serve you!

Regards, Ed Sorensen

 

A Message From Janice Johnson

The 2007 Mensa Scholarship program is underway. Any student who will be enrolled in college next year may apply. Go to http:/www.mensafoundation.org/scholarships for applications. This year there are two applications. One is just for Mensa-member only scholarships; the other is for all the rest. You can fill out both. If you have questions, write to Janice@aposner.net. Every year at least one scholarship is awarded to someone who lives in Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie or Okeechobee counties.