Demystifying Mensa – what happens at a board meeting?

Board member Hannah Eisenberg continues her series of articles about how Mensa works. This month, she looks at board meetings

According to Mensa’s memorandum and articles (rules by which Mensa is governed), the board must meet at least every 90 days. All board members, and the Chief Executive are required to attend these meetings, where we discuss the ongoing state of the organisation, agree plans going forward, and share ideas.

We have around 8 meetings a year, and currently we hold these in Birmingham, as this is quite central for most of us. The meeting lasts all day, and we also prepare reports in advance for anything that needs to be discussed in detail.

The meeting itself is quite formal, we wear business dress, follow a strict agenda, and it is minuted (recorded) formally by a representative from the Mensa office. Following the meeting, any actions required are also recorded and added to an action tracker. Updates on actions are reported at each meeting.

The board chairman, currently Chris Leek, will chair the meeting and arbitrate discussions. We usually start off by reviewing and approving the minutes (record) from the last meeting. Near the start of the meeting we will also talk about the membership numbers, finances, and any urgent business.

Then, we run through each board position and discuss the reports that were submitted, making changes and suggestions as needed. This part takes up the bulk of the meeting. At the moment, a lot of our work is focussed on social media improvements. Other things that are discussed include feedback from Regional Officers, any issues the organisation is facing, news from international Mensas, and proposals for services we can offer members.

We end the meeting with a small ‘in camera’ session, where we will discuss private matters such as commercial proposals, staff salaries, and testing programmes.

Once approved, the minutes of all meetings, and the reports, are available for any member to access and can be found on the Mensa website A-Z, under Board of British Mensa – Approved Minutes.

All members are welcome to attend board meetings, but to observe only. However, we will encourage any feedback and ideas after the meeting. If this is something you’d be interested in doing, you can contact the board secretary, Jo Sidebottom, for more information at jo.sidebottom@mensaboard.co.uk