Our Chicago Area in-person
Monthly Gatherings are open to the public.
The May Monthly Gathering will be held via Discord featuring audio/video channels (similar to Zoom breakout rooms); it will not be open to the public.
Anyone who has used our CAM
Discord server can simply open the Discord app. Those who haven’t can find an Invitation Link
on our Contacts page.
The gatherings are held each month, except for November.
Mensans, if you don’t have Discord already, here are the Discord setup instructions.
We recommend you sign up at least 30 minutes before the event; it’s free.
Also, check out the
CAM Discord FAQ
especially about setting your push-to-talk key(s),
a requirement to speak in the MG Speaker channel.
If you’d like to play games with your fellow Mensans, follow the setup instructions for
Board Game Arena
a few days before the MG, and checkout the FAQ for the list of other games for which you must register.
Typical Monthly Gathering
4:00 PM
Mensa Admissions Test
(for anyone who wishes to become a member) —
Preregister
to reserve a space for
this session or for a different test location/date. To
see if any of your past tests qualify for membership, see
what you need to qualify.
Cancelled for May!!
5:00 PM
Business Meeting —
Our five board members and any other interested members discuss
various topics and issues. Members are welcome to attend and voice their opinions, but only the
Board of Directors can vote.
Find us in the Business Meeting channel.
The Discord Invitation Link,
needed only by new Discord members, to be provided on Thursday, May 20th.
May Discord Event!!CAM Discord FAQ
7:00 PM
Socializing —
Join the Monthly Gathering event and experiment with interacting with other Mensans via Discord.
BYOB and
snacks .
There will be various voice channels
(aka rooms) so people can have conversations with a smaller group of
people (before and after the speaker presentation) and people can easily move themselves
from one channel to another channel and see who is in each of the channels.
Drop in any time to see how you like it. Open Discord app to join the fun. Mensans who
haven’t joined our CAM
Discord server yet will need the Invitation Link.
May Discord Event!!
7:30 PM
Speaker Presentation for May
The Need for Science Fiction in a Pandemic & Post-Pandemic World
by Russell Davis
Every era of human history is touched by the arts, and while science fiction (at least in novel form)
can trace its history back to at least Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, few people understand
the role it’s played during times of national or global unrest. Science fiction resists
concrete definition, but it’s commonly called the “literature of ideas” and in
that case, in the hopefully waning days of COVID-19 and the world that follows, a worthy question
arises: how can science fiction illuminate the present and inform the future? In this talk, I will
discuss the absolute need for science fiction now and in the days ahead, and how support for
speculative fiction broadly is more than mere escapism but a means to creating a better world for us all.
Russell Davis has written numerous novels and short stories in virtually every genre of fiction,
under at least a half-dozen pseudonyms. His writing has encompassed media tie-in work in the
Transformers universe (as David Cian), Twilight Zone, and The Librarian,
to action adventure in The Executioner series to original novels as well as short fiction
in anthology titles like Under Cover of Darkness, Law of the Gun, and In
the Shadow of Evil. In addition to his work as a writer, he has worked as an editor and book
packager, and created original anthology titles ranging from westerns like Lost Trails to
fantasy like Courts of the Fey.
Speaker Presentation —
The gathering usually begins with announcements
from our Local Secretary (LocSec), followed by a guest who speaks on an
interesting topic for about an hour.
We meet in the MG Speaker channel.
The Discord Invitation Link,
needed only by new Discord members,
to be provided on Thursday, May 20th.
May Discord Event!!
8:30 PM
More Socializing plus Games —
Converse or play games. Our customized-version of Discord
offers great flexibility to move yourself between groups, plus much more.
People can play various games including using Board Game Arena
while talking with one another in Discord .
Visit the find-a-game
channel on our CAM
server for a list of the many other games for which you have to register in advance. See the setup instructions for
Board Game Arena.
The Discord Invitation Link,
needed only by new Discord members,
to be provided on Thursday, May 20th.
May Discord Event!!
Instructions for
The MayMonthly Gathering is being held via video
conference!
Before the MG:
The CAM
Discord Invitation Link,
needed only by new CAM Discord users,
will be provided no later than the evening of Thursday, May 20th.
If you don't have Discord already, we recommend you download the app
and register at least 30 minutes before the event (see setup instructions);
it’s free. A large list of online games available can be found
here, including on which platform.
Visit our FAQ webpage to get an idea of what our
customized version of Discord offers, including a list of some of the online
game websites which require advance registration. For example, if you’re interested in
playing online games using Board Game
Arena ,
the initial
setup is a simple process; please sign up
and add the CAM game hosts a day or two before the Monthly Gathering. After the setup, allow time to
practice to familiarize yourself with Board Game Arena
.
If you plan to attend the presentation and you wish to talk in the
MG Speaker channel,
follow the instructions to define your push-to-talk key(s).
During the MG: At 7 PM you can
open the Discord app (new CAM
Discord users will need to use our
Invitation Link
to join the event) and start socializing in any of the voice channels listed under
Hospitality. At 7:30 PM join the
MG Speaker channel, listed under Events. Announcements of interest to the group will be made.
Stay to listen to this month’s presentation.
After the presentation, people
can choose to move themselves into groups to any of the
voice channels
listed under Hospitality or Games.
Anyone more interested in playing games may want to start in the
find-a-game
channel to see the list and join the Find Game Partners
channel to find people interested in playing the same game they are interested in and then agreeing to join the
voice channel corresponding to the name of
the game to converse while playing.
It’s always an interesting experience and aren’t you ready to try something fun and new?
BYOB
and snacks .
Drop in any time to see how you like it and provide feedback.
The test is administered at 4 PM at every Monthly Gathering. Get more information about taking a
proctored test to join Mensa
including different dates and locations. You must preregister to take advantage of any special offers from
American Mensa.
Or check out if any of the tests you’ve taken in the past can be used as prior evidence to
join.
Cancelled for May!!
Thanks for being our 12,860th visitor to the Monthly Gathering page.
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a few days before the MG, and checkout the 
