- Act as secretary at meetings of the American Mensa Committee, and to cause records of its proceedings to be made and kept.
While that might be all that is required by the bylaws, the job entails more than that in reality.
- The agenda of each meeting needs to be compiled. Typically, while the responsibility for determining what is on the agenda frequently resides in the Chairman, I would expect that the actual compiling of the agenda into a useable format will fall upon the Secretary. (Presumably this is something that is agreed upon between the Chairman and the Secretary.) And, frankly, that should make the process of taking the minutes that much easier, as you can just page through an editable version of the agenda and insert the notes that way.
- Taking the minutes of an AMC meeting, especially one where there are 21 other people at the table (20 other AMC members and the Executive Director), can be a precarious balancing act. There are many theories about what appropriate minutes are. At one extreme are those people who would provide minimal information: the text of motions, who moved and seconded them, and the final tally and outcome of the vote; nothing else. At the other extreme would be people who want a full transcript of everything that was said and done at the meeting. I fall safely between those extremes: I believe that we owe the membership an understanding of the positions that each AMC member took, and the questions they posed and/or answered during discussion, as well as listing outright the names of the AMC members who were on the losing side of the recorded vote. (Fewer names to type that way. Anyone not listed but who was present was on the prevailing side of the vote.)
- Compiling and distributing the "mini-minutes" of AMC meetings (including teleconferences). The mini-minutes should be easily drafted within a day (let alone a week), as those should be the "minimal" version of minutes mentioned above. It's sufficient to get the big news items out to the membership quickly (for them to start asking the questions they might).
- Compile the full minutes for AMC approval and subsequent distribution. This can be a tricky process if the Secretary is summarizing AMC members' statements rather than using them verbatim in context. Dealing with the nuances of spoken language heard by one person and then possibly altered when that person writes a summary could lead to long discussions, if the parties are ineffective at communicating with each other. It's unfortunate when that happens. Ideally, though, the full minutes will get approved in relatively short order (less than a month) so that the membership can get "the rest of the story." (with apologies to the late, great Paul Harvey)
- Compile the minutes for the Annual Business Meeting. Heretofore, these minutes of one ABM have been available to attendees of the subsequent ABM only very shortly before the beginning of said subsequent ABM. There is very little time to review and make substantive changes to the minutes. And many people in attendance at the prior AG might not remember things well enough to suggest changes that rightfully should be made. I believe that the draft minutes of an ABM should be sent out (to the members in attendance, at least) within one month of the ABM, so that substantive changes/corrections may be offered up and incorporated in a timely manner so that this lapsing of memory doesn't affect the accuracy of the minutes when they are voted on the subsequent year.
- Maintain and update the list of Actions Still in Effect (ASIEs) after each AMC meeting. Having a timely and accurate list of ASIEs under which AMC is supposed to act and which also affect the local group in various and sundry ways is very important.
- Being a member of the 5-person Executive Committee (ExComm), charged with taking care of the day-to-day administration. (See ASIE 1983-074 for the full text)
Also, if the AMC continues its method of determining who the National Representatives (NatReps) to the International Board of Directors (IBD) will be, the Secretary will be one of the four (or five) NatReps to IBD. The only duties in that regard that befall the AMC Secretary are attendance at and participation in the IBD meeting.
The Secretary is not a "statutory member" of any of AMC's subcommittees, so it would be between the Secretary and the AMC Chairman (and, presumably, the Chairman of any particular committee) which committees, if any, for the Secretary to sit on. I would definitely want to remain on the Bylaws Committee.
