I’ve got a convention coming up, but I won’t have a dealer table, and I won’t be on any panels. American Mensa’s Annual Gathering will be in Kansas City, Missouri, July 3–7, and I’ll be there and busy.

Of course I’ll be at the AMC meeting all day Thursday, and the Annual Business Meeting Friday morning [in Sheraton Chicago A/B], as well as the Misster Mensa Pageant rooting for my sister Friday evening [Westin Century Ballroom], and smaller committee meetings and one-on-one sessions (this is where the governance of Mensa happens). And in my new guise as First Vice Chairman of the organization, I’ll be hosting the LocSecs Meet & Greet at noon on Saturday in Westin Pershing Place East.

But I’ll also be at various more enjoyable events, and I’m inviting everyone who’s going to join me. Events I’m planning to be at (subject, as always, to conversational stoppages in the halls, last-minute business meetings, and all the other vagaries that keep schedules from surviving contact with reality) include:

Wednesday: 1:30 pm, “L. Frank Baum: The Wizard Behind Oz” [in Sheraton New York B]. 4:30pm, “Gen X SIG Meet & Greet [Westin Pershing Place North/South]

Thursday: 6:00pm, the Joke-Off [Sheraton Atlanta]. 9:00pm, the Dance [Westin Century Ballroom]. I’ll probably step out of the dance for a while to watch the fireworks, too.

Friday: 12:00n, “Region 1 Meet & Greet” [Westin Liberty]. 1:30pm, “Editors Roundtable” [Westin Mission/Shawnee]. 3:00, “Come On Down” (game-show panel) [Sheraton Chicago A/B]. 4:30pm, either “Firehouse Meet & Greet” [Westin Pershing Place North/South] or “Presentation Karaoke” [Sheraton Chicago C].

Saturday: 9:00am, “Attracting Members” [Westin Mission/Shawnee]. 10:30am “Iran Hostage Barry Rosen” [Sheraton Atlanta]. 1:30pm “Mensa International Meet & Greet” [Westin Pershing Place East]. 4:30pm, “Webb Space Telescope” [Sheraton Atlanta].

Somewhere in there, I’m going to have to find time to get out of the hotels and cross the river into Kansas, probably for a meal, because I’ve never been in Kansas (it’s one of the last 15 states on my list to visit). Also, either Sunday or Monday morning, I’ll be going to the Harry S Truman Presidential Library and Museum, and trying to take it all in in the few hours I can spend there.

So in short, it’s going to be a busy week (leaving New York early Wednesday, coming home late Monday). And that’s just the wind-up for a month on the road: I’ll follow up the AG with three straight weekends of science fiction conventions (of which, more anon). Hope to see all you Mensans there!