Collecting Sherlock Holmes - My Mensa Talk

In January I was contacted by the American Mensa Society and asked if I would speak at their Annual Gathering to be convened in Fort Worth, TX. I agreed and picked Friday, July 5 at 4:30 to give my talk. Then the sweating began. I had nearly six months to work on my talk; six months to worry about how it would be accepted or rejected; six months to practice, practice, practice.


This was the announcement outside the Magnolia Room

Well July 5th arrived and it was time to step up to the plate. Joyce and I drove over to Fort Worth and made it to the Norris Convention Center where we registered. I was assigned a 'Speaker Sheppard', Gene, who was the volunteer delegated to help me. At the designated time we entered the Magnolia Room where many of the Mensa members were already waiting. The magic of the moment melted anyway any last minute case of nerves. The room's capacity of 100 was filled to about three-quarters, roughly seventy-five people. 


Addressing the Mensa Crowd on July 5, 2013. 

The attendees could not have been more responsive. They laughed in all of the right places, asked intelligent (pun intended) questions and showed genuine interest. My allotted time of seventy-five minutes flew by so fast that I actually skipped over a few of the paragraphs of my talk. Afterwards, one of the attendees told me that it was the best and most interesting talk he had heard so far at this meeting. Considering that some of the talks included "Have the Unions Outlived Their Usefulness?"; "Spiritual Exercise Light"; and "Friendly Delicate Bridge"  I am not sure if this was a compliment or an insult. Another one said that when a room full of Mensa Member all clap, that is a great accomplishment. I was pleased.

Mensa people must be a lot like Sherlockians when it come to collecting because when the talk was over, we asked if we could keep the sign outside the room that introduced me. Well, all of the signs from all of the talks in the Magnolia Room were still there except the one for my talk. Ah, collectors.



The most interesting thing for one of the Mensa members was my orange Toms!

 Happy Blogging!