Electronic Newsletters

As you should know by now, MWM offers up its newsletter in electronic form every month. It's in full color and looks even better that way than the hard copy's black-and-white version, not to mention the fact that it is usually available over a week before the end of the month and you needn't worry about the Post Office holding up delivery until the calendar is half-useless. Not only can any MWM member download CapM from the national AML website, but so can any other AML member.

In terms of the expenses that the chapter incurs, the ideal situation would be for every MWM member to update their Personal Data Questionnaire (PDQ, aka profile) to select the option whereby they would receive electronic publications and forego the print version of the local group newsletter. (See below for instructions on just how to go about updating your profile accordingly.) Right now, near the end of the membership year, we have over 2100 members in the chapter, and more than 1600 of you have decided not to select the electronic publication. When you do the math of approximately $0.82 per member per month that we get in stipend from National (most, though not all, of which goes towards printing and mailing the newsletter), that's $12-15k we could use for other things that we haven't even contemplated yet.

This coming weekend, the AMC is going to vote on a motion that, if passed, would, as of July 1, change the current default setting for local group newsletter delivery from “hard copy/print” to “electronic” for anyone who doesn't either actively choose “electronic” or, once the option is made available, choose “hard copy/print.” While we will surely be putting prominent notices in the newsletter to alert the membership of this change, if enacted, and how inaction on the member's part would affect them, there will be many members who either still won't realize the upcoming change is occurring or won't take the steps they need to retain their specific preference for delivery. While I receive electronic versions of our newsletter and would encourage everyone else to do likewise, I oppose the motion before the AMC for the simple reason that it forces the members to take an action to retain their status quo where none need be taken. Not to mention the lack of transparency regarding the issue, the lack of solicitation of member input, and the ineffective communication of precisely how this will be implemented and how it will impact the local group (especially those members responsible for the preparation of the labels).

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Instructions for Updating Your Profile/PDQ on the AML Website:

• Proceed to www.us.mensa.org, select Member Login, and enter your Member #/Email Address and Password
• Using the Left Menu, select Profile Update
• Scroll down to “ePublications Information”, enter your email address, select BOTH the checkbox that says “Release the above email address...” and the one requesting receipt of the local newsletter electronically, if you want the newsletter electronically. (NOTE: Currently, there is no checkbox for you to actively select if you want to receive the newsletter in hardcopy. Supposedly, if the current motion passes, a third checkbox will be added so that you will be able to actively choose to retain hard copy of the newsletter.)
• Scroll down further, into the “Contact Information” section and update your snail mail address, e-mail address, and phone number so that we can actually get you the newsletter and other information to the correct location that we need to get to you.
• Scroll down further. Just above the yellow-highlighted section, there is another checkbox related to receiving publications electronically. This box deals with NATIONAL mailings, not CapM or anything else sent by the local group. (It's rather poorly phrased to seem redundant, don't you think?) Your checking or not checking this box will not affect how you receive CapM. Oddly enough, even though the Bulletin is online (even current-month issues, now), your selecting this checkbox will NOT have you opting out of hard copy versions of the Bulletin – that's actually not an option right now, for some unexplained reason.
• Scroll down to the yellow-highlighted section and check/uncheck the checkboxes as you see fit. None of these options should affect how you receive CapM.

For those who can't/won't go online to update your PDQ preferences, you can call the National Office and do this over the phone. (And if you have your membership renewal form still -- MAIL IT IN, but make sure to update your PDQ information appropriately.)

(Note: depending on the time of month you update your PDQ, how long it takes to replicate in the system, and when local group officers' reports are generated, this may not go into actual effect for you until the subsequent month.)