The July Monthly Gathering scheduled for July 31st will be a video conference event held via Discord.
Monthly Gathering
The July Monthly Gathering scheduled for July 31st will be a video conference event held via Discord.
Our Chicago Area in-person
Monthly Gatherings are open to the public.
The July 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.
Discord
FAQ
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 July!!
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, July 29th.
July Discord Event!!
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.
July Discord Event!!
The Indefinable Haiku
Jim Kacian has spent nearly 4 decades studying, reading and writing haiku, and he still doesn’t know what it is. He’s looking forward to spending the better part of an hour with you in hopes that you might help him figure it out. He will supply examples of the quizzical, not to say protean, genre and will make arguments for why some poems are considered haiku, and why some are not, and will welcome your thoughts on the matter. He will supply a bit of history of the genre, especially as it has made its way into western culture, and suggest some of the places where it might be heading next. Most of all he will argue for why haiku is, in many ways, the most vital aspect of poetry in present times, and draw some tentative conclusions about what that might suggest about contemporary culture. He looks forward to your good thoughts on these and related matters.”
Jim Kacian is founder and president of The Haiku Foundation, founder and owner of Red Moon Press, editor-in-chief of Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years, the definitive work on the subject (W. W. Norton, 2013), and author of more than a score of books of poetry, primarily haiku after/image being his most recent). He will release the first volume (of three) of a potted history of international haiku in 2022. He and Maureen, his life partner of more than 30 years, reside in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
7:30 PM
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, July 29th.
July 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, July 29th.
July Discord Event!!
Venue Info for
The December Monthly Gathering will be held at the Rolling Meadows Community Center at 3705 Pheasant Drive in Rolling Meadows. The Community Center is located just east of IL-53, just north of the Algonquin exit and south of the Euclid exit. Use the map on the right for directions.
We will have games and hospitality in their spacious auditorium with overflow space in the lobby. The speaker event will be in the Card Room. There will be a Parents-Kids Play Room available. Please note that we have this venue only until midnight — plan accordingly.
Parking is plentiful and free.
- Heading north on IL-53 north through the Northwest Suburbs, look for the Kirchoff Road exit.
- Exit right (east) onto Kirchoff Road.
- Continue east on Kirchoff Road for ~1 mile to Meadow Drive.
- Turn south (right) onto Meadow Drive.
- Continue south on Meadow Drive for two blocks to Martin Lane.
- Turn west (right) onto Martin Lane.
- Continue west on Martin Lane as it curves south into Pheasant Drive.
- Continue south on Pheasant Drive to the Community Center which is on the west (right) side of Pheasant Drive.
- Pull into the first (northern-most) driveway and head for the rear lot.
- Park near Entrance K (shown above).
- Exit at the Euclid Ave East exit.
- Continue east on Euclid Avenue a short distance to Rohlwing Road.
- Turn south (right) onto Rohlwing Road and continue south for a ½ mile to Kirchoff Road.
- Turn east (left) onto Kirchoff Road and continue east for 0.7 miles to Meadow Drive.
- Turn south (right) onto Meadow Drive and continue south for a ½ mile to Grouse Lane.
- Turn west (right) onto Grouse Lane and continue for 0.2 miles to Pheasant Drive.
- Turn north (right) onto Pheasant Drive and continue northwest for 295 ft. to the Community Center which is on the west side (left) of Pheasant Drive.
- Pull into the first (northern-most) driveway and head for the rear lot.
- Park near Entrance K (shown above).
Attention, city-dwelling Chicago Area Ms! Until further notice, there will be a taxi service
for our suburban Monthly Gatherings, between the closest Metra station and the meeting
site. For the Rolling Meadows site, we will have a taxi pick you up at the
Arlington Park station
at 6:30 PM
(Union Pacific–Northwest line
— it leaves
Ogilvie Station at 5:40 PM).
A taxi will then leave the Park District building by 10 PM to return you to the Arlington
Park station for the 10:29 PM train, which is the
final train
of the evening. Use of this service must be requested in advance by e‑mailing
Greg three days prior to the MG.
Note: CAM will cover the cost of the taxi, but you are responsible for your own train ticket.
Double check the Metra Train schedule which has changed due to
Coronavirus
The July Monthly 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, July 29th.
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. View the
large list of online games
available, 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.
There is no Monthly Gathering in October nor in November. Instead, CAM hosts HalloweeM, the largest Regional Gathering (RG) in the country. It's a wonderful, fun, and informative event that runs Thursday, October 28th through Sunday, October 31st. Expect games, dances, programs, costume parades, and excursions. Get the most up-to-date information about WeeM by visiting our website. Our great RG will be held at the Westin-Chicago North Shore Hotel at 601 North Milwaukee Avenue in Wheeling. The hotel is located on the east side of Milwaukee and the main entrance is at the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Wolf Road (just south of Lake-Cook and north of Dundee Road).
Book your room today! The hotel is offering a WeeM room rate of $119 through October 7th. The rooms facing east enjoy a great view of the Forest Preserves. The hotel is located just west of the Des Plaines River and is steps away from the Des Plaines River Trail leading into the Potawatomi Woods Forest Preserve.
There’s plenty of free parking both on the north and the south side of the hotel. The south lot is closer to the meeting rooms.
The hotel offers a shuttle service from the nearby METRA stations . Please call them well in advance to arrange a pickup.
Monthly Gathering Schedule
2021
HalloweeM
Mensa Testing
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 July!!