New Member Welcome Materials: Local Group Examples
What is a New Member Packets
Ideas of what would go in
Samples:
Tampa Bay Mensa
This is what I put together for Tampa. Needs some more work such as Connect settings that default to not being able to receive messages. . And it is a lot of information.
Hello, this is a publication from Tampa Bay Mensa in response to member requests for information on the various communication methods and sites available to members. You don’t need to use all of these communication options; any major group information will be sent to you several ways. However, some of these features might enhance your membership experience.
American Mensa Website
American Mensa’s website (https://www.us.mensa.org/) is a good place to start to learn more and connect with other Mensans. This site can be accessed by logging on with your unique member number. After logging in you can navigate to the different parts of the site by selecting options from the drop-down menu pictured below. While I am going to highlight a few uses for this site, I encourage you to get in there and explore as there are many more features than I can detail.
Attend Tab: provides a link to the Events Calendar, including Regional and National events. There’s also a filter for virtual events that are available for you to attend. This is different from our local events calendar on our local website.
Connect Tab: provides links for Mensa Connect (I will give much more information on that later), the member directory, and the Special Interest Group (SIG) listing. If you have a particular interest, then chances are that there is SIG for that. SIGs meet on Mensa Connect, Facebook, or in person depending on how the group organizer sets it up. If you don’t see a SIG for your interest, you can start one if you would like to!
Lead Tab: most folks holding group officer positions will be familiar with this section, which has links to officer reports and other tools.
Learn Tab: has an introduction for new members and gifted youth information.
Read Tab: you can access newsletters from all groups as well as National publications.
Recognize Tab: lists group and individual awards.
Volunteer Tab: gives information on how you can volunteer and provides a space for groups to share their community projects. Mensa is a completely member-driven volunteer organization from the local group up to National officers.
Shop Tab: gives you a site to purchase some Mensa swag.
Play Tab: provides some information on ways to engage with other members in games play.
My Mensa Tab: this is where you can customize some of your communication preferences and make changes to your address, email, phone, or profile. If you don’t want to miss your local group email, be sure your profile is set to ‘ok for local group to email you.’ This is also where you can elect to have the local newsletter delivered electronically or by mail. If you are ok with the electronic version, please consider updating this setting because a huge portion of our share of dues monies are used to print a newsletter for those that want it.
Mensa Connect Mensa Connect is a communication platform provided by American Mensa. As such, it is an official site unlike Facebook. Its purpose is to provide space to engage in conversation and share information. Events can be posted here also. There are numerous subgroups called communities. Current members are automatically enrolled under their local group’s community as well as the general group. After you sign in to Mensa Connect using your Mensa credentials, you can browse different communities and request to join ones that interest you. Some are private, such as officer communities, but many are not.
There are two ways to sign in to Mensa Connect, either from the American Mensa website under the Connect Tab or through the MemberCentric application. There are more features available using the web-based version versus the app. On the web-based version, you can log in and select the drop down Participate Tab to get information on using Mensa Connect. One big question folks have is how do I receive notices on postings in my communities? You can choose to have notices sent to your email in real time or daily digest, or you can also decline email and check the communities yourself. The tutorial Q and A explains how to post and reply to conversations. There is also a personal email box feature. So if you reply to a sender rather than a group on a chat, it becomes a private conversation. This is another area where just signing in and exploring will be the best way to learn what the site has to offer.
As Tampa Bay Mensa members, it might be of interest to join the Region 10 Mensa Connect group since events and information from other groups in Florida may be of interest.
If you are already a Facebook user, then odds are you are already in the Tampa Bay Mensa Facebook group. If you prefer not to use Facebook, no worries. Any important group information will be provided in multiple ways. Besides the Tampa Bay Mensa group there is also a Region 10 group, Tampa Bay Mensa Bookclub group and American Mensa on Facebook. For our Gifted Youth member parents, we also have a new group for their use, Tampa Bay Mensa Gifted Youth.
Tampa Bay Sounding
Our newsletter is now published every two months, on even months. I know folks are used to using this as their main source for information on group events, but I urge you to check our online calendar on our website (tampabaymensa.org) to be informed of the latest event information. As mentioned earlier, if you would like to change to electronic delivery it would reduce printing expenses for our group. When a new edition is published you can have a notice emailed to you that it is available. To submit an article to the newsletter, contact editor@tampa.us.mensa.org
Local Group Website
To navigate to our local group website use tampabaymensa.org. You can view the event calendar, look up local group officer listings, read the ExComm minutes or link to the newsletter.
I hope this information is helpful. Keeping our Tampa Bay Mensa members informed and connected is important!
MWM Mensa