Gatherings

Coming soon: Phoenix PhenoMenon 2008 Regional Gathering End of March , 2008!

Regional Gatherings (RGs) are miniatures of the nationwide Annual Gathering. An RG is hosted by a single Mensa local group instead of US Mensa as a whole, usually focuses on a single city, and are generally held over a weekend. RGs are held all over the country on a staggered schedule that, while allowing you to spend the entire year going to RGs, minimizes the number of RGs that occur at the same time. We do the same things at the RG as at the AG, but scaled for two hundred or so Mensans instead of 1500. If you're not sure whether you would like an AG, try your local RG instead.

If you.re feeling a little more adventurous, you might want to try the big national Mensa Annual Gathering 2008. If you're registered for this, here's what you need to know.

Mensa has a national convention in a different city every year early in July, called the Annual Gathering (AG). Some recent venues for the AG have been Long Beach, Philadelphia, Dallas, right here in Phoenix, St. Paul, Las Vegas, and New Orleans. Coming up in the next two years: AGs in Denver and Pittsburgh. If the idea of convening with 2000 or more of your fellow Mensans interests you, go to the 2006 link and see what the organizers of this first Mensa World Gathering are intending to offer. And...are you interested in volunteering?

What happens at an AG? Typically, an AG lasts four days. Activities center around four or more tracks of speaker presentations on a variety of subjects of interest to Mensans. Most speakers are drawn from the local area, supplemented by speakers who travel nationwide to expound on a topic. You will meet traveling authors, politicians, scientists, and artists. Since many speakers will cover aspects of local history and culture, an AG is a place where you can learn more about the place where it's being held.

There is, of course, a lot more to an AG than the speaker presentations. Every AG has a large hospitality suite where Mensans can meet, talk, and have fun. There are always tours of the hosting area. At the 2003 AG in Minnesota, Mensans got a dinner cruise on a Mississippi sternwheeler, which culminated in a view of the July 4 fireworks. The 2004 Gathering in Las Vegas featured a tour of the Nevada Test Site, where aboveground nuclear tests were conducted in the Fifties. In 2005, we were one of the last groups to see New Orleans before it was destroyed.