The weather was not kind for the delegates from Jakarta at the dawn of silver anniversary of Mensa Indonesia, 22 October 2016. Heavy rain poured one hour before the departure time and many were anxious whether they would not make the meet on time. Fortunately, the rain soon subsided and from then on, everything just kept getting better.
The anniversary was meant for all the Indonesian members, scattered from the east to the west of the country with the largest archipelago in the world. However, members from Jakarta have always been the biggest in number. The bus which carried 29 mensans from Jakarta departed at 5.30 am just as scheduled.
Meanwhile, in Aryaduta Hotel, Bandung, some activities had been started. Before the silver anniversary was officially opened, a Mensa admission test was held as an attempt to recruit new members from Bandung. There were in total 19 people participated in the test. Once the test was done, the delegates from Jakarta had finally arrived just in time to join the coffee break which then led to the first session of the trilogy seminars.
Trilogy Seminars – Think, Feel, Act
There were three seminars held on the first day of the anniversary event. These seminars were open to the public as well as attended by all mensa members. Taking the theme “Together in One Mind”, the committee broke down the theme into three subthemes, THINK – FEEL – ACT.
The seminar was opened by a speech from Mr. Sahat Simarmata, the chairman of Mensa Indonesia. Following the speech, there were heartwarming birthday messages and videos from mensans all over the world. The celebration became even more special with the presence of a Malaysian mensan, Audrey Choo, who came especially to celebrate the anniversary with us.
The first session presented Anthony Gio Martin. Mr. Martin is dubbed as the best EQ trainer in Indonesia. Titled “Selling by EQ”, he gave an impressive elaboration of how to manage our EQ to play a big role in our daily success. He claimed that we should be able to make IQ and EQ work together instead of accepting the stereotype that they would eventually negate each other.
Next in the schedule was a seminar in graphology. The topic itself had been eagerly anticipated by all the audience once the event poster was published. Bayu Ludvianto, an expert in graphology presented “Grapho for Success” to the audience in a very intriguing manner. Mr. Ludvianto gave a brief introduction and background history on graphology and, due to time limitation, proceeded straight away with hand writing reading of some of the volunteers. The result was overwhelming. Due to unexpected towering interest, even after Mr Ludvianto’s session had finished, there were still many participants who wanted to have personal reading sessions. It was not long that Mr. Ludvianto’s appointment schedule was full for that day and the next day.
The first day of seminars trilogy was closed with a remarkable and motivating presentation from James Gwee, indonesia’s most favorite motivator, and seminar speaker. He gave a captivating presentation and pointed out that this was the era of open information and
Gala Dinner and Leisure Time
The first day celebration was wrapped up with an elegant yet casual gala dinner. The gala dinner was attended for Mensa Indonesia members and some people from sponsorship and media partner. The Taruma Café, the restaurant where the gala dinner was held, successfully served the best of delicacies which received compliments from diners.
There were two themes available to be chosen for the gala dinner, “Sparkling Silver”, and “Together in Harmony”. Two mensans with the best concept of wardrobe will get present. The committee went around to interview participants during dinner time and catwalks of nominees were held at the end of the dinner. With all gathered in a corner of Taruma Café, three ladies and three gentlemen took them – probably the first and the last – catwalk cheered by other Mensans. After an enthusiastic vote, two winners were chosen. Ms. Anne Adijuwono with her stunning silver dress which combined both of the themes, and the chairman Mr. Sahat Simarmata himself who donned a formal suit.
The night continued with an unofficial karaoke night joined by our young mensans who proved to be very versatile in singing all kinds of songs available in the playlist. What a way to celebrate!
Mensalympics XXV
The second day was the time for Mensalympics XXV. The event was exclusively set only for members. Again, the weather was not really promising and rain was pouring during breakfast time. Fortunately, our committee had been very considerate to prepare a second indoor venue so that it could be carried out smoothly.
The Mensalympics was done in a tournament format with three games to be played. Participants are divided into four groups – spade, heart, diamond, and clover – after the card they receive. The first, second, third winning group of each game get gold, silver, and bronze respectively while the fourth group gets nothing. The group which finishes the first wins.
The first game was Race of the Brace. The main point of this game is cooperation. Each group had two members who were blindfolded, two were tied on their calves, and two were not allowed to speak. Together as a team, they had to navigate a pencil which was tied to all of their waists into a bottle across the room.
The second game was dodge ball. Not an ordinary dodge ball since the contestants are allowed to deflect balls thrown to them using their arms up to the elbows and legs up to the knees. The objective of the game is still the same though. Each team must race to eliminate the members of their opponent group by throwing balls to them. Since there were four groups, there were four matches done to get the first, second, third, and fourth winners.
The last game, Fourteen Fifteen, was the one that represented Mensa’s character. This was the game where each group needed to put the best of their minds to solve the puzzle and win.
After a series of games full of enthusiasm, the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Mensa Indonesia was officially closed with the winner announcement and candle blowing of Mensa’s birthday cake. Last but not least, a picture of happy faces was taken as a token of this joyful and memorable celebration. See you next year, Indonesian Mensan!
Bandung, 22-23 October 2016
