One day last year, I decided to test my IQ. I had previously taken the bogus online tests but I wanted to see how I would do on an official test. I found an organization called Mensa which proctors tests across the country. Upon receiving my results a week later, they also offered admission into their exclusive group in exchange for membership fees. Mensa calls itself the high IQ society so I was quite curious to see what goes on in these secret "Bilderberg" type meetings.
Coincidentally, their 2017 Annual Gathering (AG) would be taking place the following month in South Florida, my backyard. The AG usually has close to 2000 members gathering from around the country. My first AG turned out to be one of my favorite events ever attended. I really enjoyed being around a bunch of quirky and strange geniuses. There is also a convention center size game room with hundreds of different board games open 24 hours.
After the AG I wanted to continue to participate in the local monthly Mensa events. Unfortunately, I stopped going after about 3 meetings. My expectations for the "High IQ" society were that they would collectively utilize their intelligence to do something productive. In actuality, it turned out to be more of a social club. I resigned to only attending the AGs going forward.
The 2018 AG took place in Indianapolis. The blog picture is from a Toga party in the Gen X special interest group (SIG). I enjoyed the event, but again found myself disappointed in the lack of productive use of the collective intelligence. I decided I would create and coordinate a SIG within Mensa for professional networking. My primary involvement within Mensa will now revolve around this SIG.