From the Editor |
One of the best parts of being in Mensa are the speakers we attract. I am consistently impressed by the quality of our Forum speakers.
We have yet to have a loser. Our talk last night presented by Dr. Schlacter from ASU, carried forth this high standard of speakers we attract. He got into the nitty gritties of marketing and how people attempt to influence us on the things we buy.
We are bombarded on the tube, the Internet, much of what we read, that our lives will be happier if we use Brand A soap on our face rather than Brand B. I knew this already, but sex is a big factor in marketing. One of the underlying bases in selling a lot of stuff is that you will be more attractive to the opposite sex if you buy: (Take your choice here:) A certain vehicle (forget whether it gets good gas mileage or is the safest vehicle you can buy.) A certain brand or style of clothing. Why does one suit or dress sell for ten times what another one sells for? Well, quality may get in the picture, but often times because of the way it is marketed. Convince a young man that a certain suit will cause him to be more attractive, and he will gladly pony up the money to buy it. Indeed augmentations to your body irrespective of whether they may be healthy.
Point is, that Mensa provided the vehicle for this stimulating talk and there are few places you could have gone to have heard that talk. This is an area where all of you can contribute. If you know of a person who would be an interesting speaker for one of our Forums, let us know. Normally, the person you contact is the Assistant Loc Sec. Right now that position is open, but in the meantime, let Mike Johnson know. (See Masthead.) Speakers generally delight in speaking before Mensa groups. Almost without exception they are qualified to join Mensa and we always hope some of them will decide to do so after this exposure to us. In any case, we benefit from their presentation and the opportunity to learn about things we might not otherwise have the opportunity to benefit from.
I also wanted to mention that all of us have a unique opportunity to participate in the 2002 AG. Take a moment to read Carol's article and see what might be of interest to you. Getting active in an event such as this can be very rewarding and you never need to volunteer for more than you want to. I have had one call already from a person whose information in the Membership Directory was not correct. Send me any corrections and I will include them in a later issue. A quick point on the Directory information. It is obtained from National, but we supply it in hard copy form only to discourage the list from being passed around on-line. That is the reason it is not presented in the on-line version of the MAAM. That may change in the future.