MWM's RG -- Matrix VI: Villainous Edition

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Easy way to contact the RG Committee? E-mail mwm2014rg@gmail.com

2014 MWM RG Registration Rate Schedule

We've finally crunched the numbers and have figured out... we can REDUCE the registration rate for next year's RG for most people. How much will it cost?

Full-Weekend (Note: New this year - this does NOT include Saturday dinner):

$70 thru September 30, 2013

$75 October 1 - December 31, 2013

$80 January 1 - April 30, 2014

$85 thereafter and walk-in

$55 youth (under 18 years old)

Single-day rates (adult or youth):

$30 Friday only

$40 Saturday only (Note: This does NOT include Saturday dinner)

$30 Sunday only

Saturday night dinner (separate purchase required): $20 (deadline for purchasing dinner: May 9, 2014)

Cancellations accepted through April 30, 2014 (8% fee retained for cancellation, same as this past year)

To be crystal clear, meals included in Hospitality with the full weekend price:

Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast and lunch, Sunday breakfast and (new this year) lunch. 

As soon as our webmaster's schedule frees up enough, you will be able to register online at mwmrg.org

Stay tuned for further updates, as we hope to get our blog up and running in the near future.

2014 RG

Jess Byron and I are reprising our roles as co-chairs of the MWM RG, taking place May 16-18, 2014, once again at the Hyatt Dulles, Herndon, VA. Over the upcoming days and weeks, the initial bare-bones details will be decided: registration rate and schedule (it may get modified compared to what's currently "out there"), theme, additional RG committee members, etc. We will start filling in some of those details at http://www.mwmrg.org.

Once we have enough information determined, and our Publicity Chair Extraordinaire has sufficient time, we will create a new blog where we will provide regular updates, like we did this past year for the Superhero Edition RG.

Stay tuned for more information regarding MWM's 2014 RG!

AMC Election results

Survey and Ballot Systems, the election house for the 2013 board election and referenda, reported the following certified results this afternoon. These results include 5,404 returned ballots from 44,101 eligible members with a final participation rate of 12.25%. It is also worth noting that 2,257 ballots were submitted via Web voting and 3,147 paper ballots were returned via regular mail.

Congratulations to all of the winners. To those who were not elected, thank you for being willing to serve Mensa. Questions regarding the election should be directed to Election Chair Megan Edwards at ElectionChair@us.mensa.org.
______________________________________________________________________

The following positions were unopposed and the candidates were declared elected: RVC 1 – Andrew Heffernan; RVC 4 – Ellen Voie; RVC 6 – Roger Durham; RVC 8 – Harold Ward; and RVC 10 – Thomas George Thomas.
______________________________________________________________________

Chair – Daniel Burg is declared elected.
Daniel Burg 3130 59.6%
Robert Salkin 2125 40.4%

1st Vice Chair – Heather Miller Poirier is declared elected.
Heather Miller Poirier 3339 64.5%
John Recht 1841 35.5%

2nd Vice Chair – LaRae Bakerink is declared elected.
Round 1
LaRae Bakerink 2162 41.7%
Debra Reiger 1649 31.8%
Kenneth Silver 1376 26.5%

Round 2
LaRae Bakerink 2752 53.9%
Debra Reiger 2353 46.1%

Secretary – Brian Reeves is declared elected.
Brian Reeves 2888 56.2%
Jared Levine 2254 43.8%

Treasurer – Nicholaus Sanford is declared elected.
Nicholaus Sanford 3569 69.6%
Cary Chilson 1558 30.4%

RVC 2 – Cam Smart is declared elected.
Cam Smart 331 50.1%
Nancy McMahan Farrar 330 49.9%

RVC 3 – Julia Ashley is declared elected.
Julia Ashley 266 55.6%
John Voymas 212 44.4%

RVC 5 – Baker Ring is declared elected.
Baker Ring 232 52.1%
Bertha Clarke 213 47.9%

RVC 7 – Gregory Kontz is declared elected.
Gregory Kontz 179 59.9%
William Jacob Winship 120 40.1%

RVC 9 – Desiree Sagray is declared elected.
Desiree Sagray 333 52.1%
Clark Jones 306 47.9%

___________________________________________________________________
The following bylaw amendments were put before the membership. They required 2/3 of the voting membership to pass. You can find full text of these amendments online athttp://www.us.mensa.org/election.

Bylaw Amendment 1 – Passes.
Yes 4589 92.1%
No 391 7.9%

Bylaw Amendment 2 – Passes.
Yes 4465 89.8%
No 506 10.2%

Let the counting begin!

For those who voted for me, thank you. Sometime in the next 1-2 weeks, we'll have the final tally on all of the contested races.

March AMC meeting minutes released

The minutes for the March 23, 2013 AMC meeting are now online. Visit www.us.mensa.org/meetingreports and select "2013-03-23 -- Washington DC"  from the pulldown box on that page.

If you have trouble accessing this or any part of our Web site, please contact WebServices@americanmensa.org.

Comments on AMC Teleconference Agenda

My comments in italics. Text of many of the motions, explanations, etc., have been snipped so as to keep the size of this from being crazy-long.

A1a.  Moved BECKER, MARK, and REIGER:  

<snip> 

The resulting section will then read:

"(3) No later than one month before the deadline for submitting candidate petitions, the Nominating Committee shall nominate one or more candidates for each of the elective offices of American Mensa Ltd., …..The Nominating Committee shall submit a list of the nominated candidates to the American Mensa Committee and to the Election Committee, and the list shall be published."

While the length of time for the election process is on the overly long side, this proposed amendment would disadvantage anyone who, for whatever reason, wants to wait until after the NomComm-nominated candidates are known – whether it be a decision for them to run themselves or to convince someone else to run.

As written, the list of nominated candidates could be submitted as late as one month prior to candidate petitions being due. While it states that the list shall be published, it does not contemplate the necessary lead time to get the information into the Mensa Bulletin and printed there. With this timeline, the list of nominees potentially wouldn't be visible in print until after the deadline for candidate petitions. This is unacceptable.

Furthermore, if the proposal is that putting the information on the website and/or in some of the blast e-mails (such as AML NewsFlash) is sufficient, the simple fact of the matter is that it is not; there are many people who do not get such blast e-mails, who do not go on the website, and get their communications via hardcopy. These members should not be disadvantaged for the possibility of shortening the election time window; it's not like having a long period for the election is harmful or any more costly than having a shortened window.

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A1b.  Moved BECKER, MARK, and REIGER:  ASIE 1996-116 is amended as follows:

<snip>

According to the ASIEs that currently appear on the AML website, there is no such ASIE as 1996-116. Rather, it would appear the appropriately referenced ASIE would be 1999-116.

The same objection applies as above as to the too-short period of time between publishing the list of nominated candidates and the deadline for candidate petitions.

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A2.  Moved BECKER, MARK, and REIGER:

<snip>

The resulting section will then read:

(3) …The Nominating Committee shall nominate one or more candidates for each of the elective offices of American Mensa Ltd., of whom all nominees for Executive Committee positions shall (unless no individuals with the requisite qualifications are willing to run for that office) be members of the American Mensa Committee then in office, or have served at least one year on a prior American Mensa Committee.

As I have said on several occasions, this is going in the wrong direction – the exact opposite direction as the way MIL went a few years ago.

This precludes people who have relevant outside experience from even being considered by the Nominating Committee. This also assumes that the only way to have good knowledge of AML is to have served (or be serving) on the AMC itself. While it certainly gives you *more* insight than you would have otherwise, it isn't necessary to have that, in my opinion.

Furthermore, I don't understand what part of the proposal is being referenced by the portion of the official explanation that states “[i]t also makes clear that nominees for the position of Treasurer must have appropriate financial expertise and experience, leaving the Nominating Committee the ability to consider various combinations of education and experience.” The proposal as listed in this agenda makes no reference to anything specific to the Treasurer's expertise and experience. (That is included only in motion A3 related the the relevant ASIE.)

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A3.  Moved BECKER, MARK, and REIGER:  ASIE 2010-010 is amended as follows:

In section a, sixth paragraph, third sentence,

<snip>

is changed to

"each nominee for AMC Executive Committee positions must either be a member of the current American Mensa Committee or have served at least one year on a former American Mensa Committee (unless no individuals with the requisite qualifications are willing to run for that office); and each candidate for the office of Treasurer must have appropriate financial skills and experience".

The same objection applies as above with respect to mandating current or 1-year's prior time served on the AMC to run for one of the Executive Committee positions. Also, as noted above, the last clause re: the Treasurer's financial skills and experience is included in this ASIE but *not* in the proposed bylaw amendment at the moment, though the bylaw explanation states otherwise.

I would strongly urge the AMC to make this ASIE amendment contingent on passage of the related bylaw amendment, just as in motions 1a and 1b. If the membership votes against something that is appropriately bylaws-related, why should the AMC feel free to institute it anyway by fiat?

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A4.  Moved BECKER, MARK, and REIGER:  In ASIE 1999-114, two new sections are added

<snip>

This seems reasonable to me.

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A5.  Moved BECKER, MARK, and REIGER:  In ASIE 1999-114, a new section is added at the end of the ASIE as follows:

<snip>

I think that it is unnecessary and inappropriate to specifically seek out former AMC members. There are enough people (approx. 30, at its maximum). If the necessary qualifications are written clearly enough, prior AMC experience should be unnecessary to gauge if a potential candidate's history/experience corresponds appropriately with those qualifications. Furthermore, this change would give the appearance of conflict of interest (just as if a current AMC member or someone running for AMC were on the committee).

What's more, if we were to actually put forward a full list of recommended knowledge, skills, and abilities for each of the offices (and refresh it, say, each term) and publish that at the same time as the ballot materials, the voting membership can make the informed choices for themselves, rather than having a comparatively small group of members substitute their own collective judgment in place of the membership's.

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A6.  Moved BECKER, MARK, and REIGER: ASIEs 1999-118 and 1999-119(b) are deleted; and ASIE 1999-119(a) is changed to:

"An informal session shall be held during the Annual Gathering for candidates and members.  This session shall be scheduled so as not to conflict with any AMC meeting and shall be included in the written schedule of AG programs.  The purpose of this session is to allow the candidates to speak to all interested Mensans about their views and agendas."

“[A]ny AMC meeting” should be changed to “any AMC meeting or the Annual Business Meeting” - as the ABM is not an AMC meeting, per se. While it is unlikely that such a session would be scheduled opposite the ABM anyway, this helps guarantee that. Otherwise, this is a good change.

---

A7.  Moved BECKER, MARK, and REIGER:  ASIE 2010-010 is amended as follows:

<snip>

This seems reasonable to me.

----

A8. Moved BECKER, MARK, and REIGER:  ASIE 2010-010 is amended as follows:

In section a, sixth paragraph, add a new final sentence:

"If the Nominating Committee feels an applicant would be better suited to a position other than the one(s) applied for, they are encouraged to recommend that to the applicant."

While understandable in the context of the current theory that the NomComm should be a subjective body in making its determinations of who to nominate, I think the NomComm should be completely objective in determining if a potential candidate meets a minimum set of requirements. If so, it shouldn't matter if the NomComm thinks the candidate would be even better qualified seeking a different office – the candidate should be nominated for the office sought. Let the members decide if the candidate was the best choice for the office sought.

------

A9.  Moved BECKER, MARK, and REIGER:  ASIE 2010-010 is amended as follows:  In section a, remove the last sentence in the current sixth paragraph "The Nominating Committee is to nominate those candidates it finds well-qualified for the various offices."  Add a new paragraph between the current sixth and seventh paragraph that says:

<snip>

This is 100% wrong, IMO. The NomComm *should* be a mere rubber stamp of thos who are at least minimally qualified. It is the VOTING MEMBERS who should make the ultimate decision as to whether they think someone is qualified enough, against the full field of candidates who are minimally qualified, for the office sought. What this ASIE change does is lay out the ideal of how the full voting membership should be considering all the candidates before them on the ballot. Stop treating the members like we're incapable of making such decisions.

Also, it seems ludicrous to me that only ONE candidate should be deemed acceptable to the NomComm (and rarely two). It is insulting to the members that the NomComm should substitute ITS judgment and assessment of the candidates over that of the membership writ large.

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A10.  Moved BECKER, MARK, and REIGER:  It is the sense of the AMC that the job descriptions for all AMC positions should be reviewed and updated as necessary by current AMC members, but at least every two years, during the final quarter of each two-year term.

I agree with the theory that the job descriptions should be updated each term. It should be noted that the current phrasing has the update done during the balloting phase of each election, and that such updated material should be used for the subsequent election's materials.

Rather than making it merely a sense of the AMC, though, why not write this in as a requirement within the job description of all AMC positions?

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A11.  Moved BECKER, MARK, and REIGER:  It is the sense of the AMC that the Nominating Committee and the Election Committee should ask candidates to submit the same statements, in the same order.

This seems unnecessary but harmless.

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A12. Moved BECKER, MARK, and REIGER:  The Nominating Committee Process Review Task Force is thanked and dismissed.

Appropriate.

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Item A13                Change to mailing and membership list policies

Moved Finance Committee: Eliminate ASIE 1994-053 and amend two ASIEs as follows.

1981-077                        29-Aug-1981

<snip>

This is a big change. Currently, phone numbers and e-mails are forbidden from being released outside of Mensa. (There's rather a prominent disclaimer to that effect inside the PDQ section of the profiles on the AML website.) This would necessitate another option being implemented. Currently, a member can opt in to permitting their snail mail address on such a list. E-mail should be a SEPARATE option. There are plenty of people who are willing to accept one of those options, but not both. They should not be lumped in together, as would be the effect with the current phrasing of this ASIE and as explained further in the official explanation.

1997-092                        06-Dec-1997

<snip>

This seems reasonable to me.