SynRG is the annual Regional Gathering or RG for Gulf Coast Mensa. It is held each year in May over Memorial Day weekend, beginning late Friday afternoon and ending early Monday afternoon (May 27, 2022-May 30, 2022). The event is held in a large Houston area hotel and registration for the RG includes speakers, activities, meals and beverages (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic). Each year's gathering is organized around a theme with the weekend's speakers and activities being somehow related and each year's theme is different. Past themes have included literature, visions for the future, metamorphosis and palindromes.

 

 

It's that time of the century! We're rolling out the red carpet with our theme for 2022 and leaning into an age of dramatic change. Featuring a speakeasy evening, Gatsby costumes, and topics covering both the 1920s and expectations for the 2020s, we've got it all! Stay tuned...

 

Registration

If you have not yet registered, you can do so online. If you prefer, you can download this form and mail it in.

 

Registration Rates

• Through Dec. 31, 2021: $110
• Through May 15, 2022: $125
• Thereafter and at the door: $140

 

Day Rates

• Friday: $45
• Saturday: $70
• Sunday: $70
• Monday: free with a donation to the scholarship fund

 

Age Discounts

• Age 18-20: 25% off
• Age 7-17: 50% off
• Age 0-6: free

 

Registration Policies

• Minors (under 18) must be accompanied by a registered adult.
• Refunds will be issued if you need to cancel by 4/15/2022 with a 10% fee, or you can choose to transfer your registration to next year with no fee. Any cancellations between 4/16/2022 and 5/13/2022 will transfer to next year. Any cancellations after 5/13/2022 will be forfeit, as we've already spent your money!

 

Hotel

The RG will be held at the Doubletree Intercontinental, 15747 John F Kennedy Blvd, Houston, TX 77032. The Gulf Coast Mensa room rate of $109 per night includes passes for two people to enjoy the breakfast buffet in 747 Bar and Grill each morning. Make your reservation online or by calling 281-848-4000. Please note that the breakfast offer is only included if you book with the GCM block. Other rates will not include the breakfast passes.

 

Travel

Flying: You will want to book your flights through Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). There is a free courtesy shuttle from the airport to the hotel that takes only 5 minutes. Call the hotel at 281-848-4000 to request a pickup.

Hobby Airport is 27 miles from the hotel; cab fare is about $40.

Driving: From Beltway 8, Sam Houston Parkway, take JFK Blvd exit. Go north on JFK for half a mile, turn left into hotel parking lot at 15747 JFK Blvd.

 

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Games

One of the staples of SynRG is the well-stocked games room. Throughout the weekend we'll have tournaments and "learn to play" sessions hosted by various attendees. If you are interested in hosting either a tournament or learning session, please fill out our easy form.

Thanks to our friends in Chicago Area Mensa, we now have our game library fully catalogued and available online. If you're stuck and don't know what to try, head over to Game Picker to easily search the GCM games collection for what will likely become your new favorite game.

 

Schedule

The following is the tentative schedule for SynRG 2022. This will be updated as we finalized and confirm with our speakers. You can find details on the program below.

 

 

Events

 

Scotch Whisky Tasting - Ticketed Event

Jason Seiler

Slàinte Mhath! In 2019, we embarked on part 1 of a 5-part series on Scotch whisky, then learning of the subtleties of Highland whiskies. This year in part 2, we will do a deep dive into the distilleries collectively known as Speyside. Sweet. Spicy. Light and gentle. Rich and sherried. These are truly luxurious whiskies! We will sample 7 single malts in our tasting with all proceeds going to support the GCM scholarship fund and the Mensa Foundation! This is a knock-your-socks-off event that always sells out, so get your tickets early.

This will be a ticketed event in addition to your registration. All proceeds from your $60 ticket will be split evenly between the Gulf Coast Mensa scholarship fund and the Mensa Foundation. There are limited spaces available. Buy your ticket today!

Jason Seiler is a martial arts instructor, firearms instructor, and a known Scotch whisky aficionado. He has been giving private tastings from his personal collection of 80+ single malt whiskies for over a decade, providing small groups from different organizations with education and experience in the water of life.

 

Chocolate Tasting - Ticket Event

Amanda Vermillion

What do Mensans love almost as much as intellectual conversation? CHOCOLATE! Join Amanda Vermillion for a dip into the wonderful world of chocolate as we taste and evaluate six different types of chocolate. You'll also get a brief overview of the history of chocolate and the process of chocolate making from bean to bar. This will be a ticketed event in addition to your registration. Your $5 ticket goes to cover the costs of the chocolate. There are limited spaces available. Buy your ticket today!

Amanda Vermilion has been a member of Mensa since 2003 and is currently serving as Bay Area Coordinator for GCM. She is an ITMA-Certified Tea Master who owns her own retail business, The Tea Mistress LLC, specializing in tea, coffee, honey, tea accessories and teaware, and now...CHOCOLATE! One of her favorite parts of the job (aside from sampling the merchandise) is public speaking and classes. She was a speaker at the 2019 AG and has presented a total of 6 times at RGs in Houston, Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth.

 

SynRG Poolside Mixer

Be sure to arrive in time on Friday night to mix it up with your fellow Mensans for a lovely, informal, night time poolside get together. Some light snacks will be available, beverages can be brought from hospitality (no glass please) and bring your swimsuit to take a dip!

 

Mensa Admission Test

The Mensa Admission Test is offered for the convenience of those individuals interested in joining Mensa who either: 1) do not have a qualifying intelligence test score on a previously-taken exam (see partial list), or 2) prefer to take the admission test.

This test is intended for individuals 14 years of age or older, so if you are between 14 and 17, you must have parental permission to take the test.

The Mensa test has two parts, so you'll have two chances to qualify for Mensa membership! Allow 2 hours total for the two tests. The standard Mensa Admission Test features "fill in the blank," "which item comes next," and "which one doesn't belong" sorts of questions, as well as some math and vocabulary.

As an added bonus, anyone who sits for the test is invited to stay and enjoy Saturday at the RG at no cost..

To sign up, please contact our This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

Name That Movie!

John & Geri Neemidge

Name That Movie consists of short clips from about 40 movies. Each movie clip presents one or more themes. We ask that you identify each movie and the themes. Play as individuals or as a team of up to 6 members. We try to make each clip interesting on its own, so even if you don't know movies very well we hope the game will be entertaining. Clips (not the movies themselves) are chosen to be PG or G rated. We'll provide a key with information about each movie and themes at the end.

 

Taboo Trivia

Jason Seiler

Hello trivia lovers! We have a great trivia match ready for you. But this year there’s a twist: it’s TABOO TRIVIA! Can you answer questions in forbidden topics? Will you know the right responses to questions on Sex, Drugs, & Rock ‘n Roll? And it only gets worse from there. Join trivia master Jason Seiler as he journeys all the way from the nation’s capital to host Taboo Trivia at SynRG.

 

Murder Mystery Game

Roaring 20s Murder: Death by Bathtub Gin

It’s 1923, and the speakeasy is packed for the birthday party of Al Spumoni, the world-famous bootlegger and ice cream tycoon. A waiter dims the lights for Al to blow out the candles on his cake. When the lights come back up, Al toasts the crowd, takes one sip of his special drink, then chokes and dies. Who poisoned Al’s bathtub gin while the lights were out? Was it one of the gangsters in the room? A high-kicking flapper? A visiting silent film star? Or could it have been—YOU?

Whether you want to play a character or work as a detective to uncover whodunnit, this is your excuse to pull out your favorite Roaring 20s outfit. Costumes are encouraged!

 

Keynote Speaker

Blasting the Door Open: Houston Suffragist Hortense Ward's Legal Gambit to Break Texas' Poll Tax Law

Rae Bryant

Learn about the untold stories of Hortense Ward, Black Suffragists and Harris County women voters. The battle continued on AFTER August 26, 1920.

In 2019, Rae Bryant and four other members of the Houston Genealogical Forum created the Houston Suffragist Project to learn about the Houston suffragist story. They hoped to identify the newly enfranchised women in 1920 beyond recognizable family names, or names that predictably appear in articles about early Houston. Their efforts over the last 3 years have provided invaluable context to this relatively unknown history of Houston.

 

Speakers

As we schedule speakers, we will provide updates. Check back regularly!

If you have suggestions for speakers or would like to speak at SynRG, please fill out our easy form!

 

An Archaeology of the Cosmos: Evidence of Advanced Astronomical Knowledge Encoded in Ancient Art and Myth

Chris Kilgore

For millennia before the development of abstract numbers or writing, ancient cultures watched the night skies and preserved their observations as myths and as artistic motifs on monuments and handicrafts. This system was effective at preserving astronomical knowledge as metaphor, but civilizational upheavals and precession severed these insights from their genesis in celestial events. Fortunately, many of these narrative and visual traditions survived as cryptic cultural vestiges. However, recognizing the profound knowledge they contain has been challenging for modern scholars. In this presentation, Christopher Kilgore will present novel insights based on a new analytical approach that allows obscure mythological and artistic themes to be decoded to reveal the sophisticated knowledge of cosmic cycles held by ancient cultures in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. This presentation will avoid familiar exemplars of ancient astronomical knowledge to concentrate on new research.

Christopher Kilgore, Mr. Mensa 2018, is a cognitive archaeologist, art historian, and raconteur from Houston. Chris has a Master's Degree in Art History from the University of Houston and he has presented his original research at institutions in the US, France, Britain, Spain, and Belgium. He is a featured lecturer in the École Doctorale of France’s National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

 

Meet the RVC

John Neemidge

Join RVC-6 John Neemidge and other members of the Southwest Region to talk about what is going on in Mensa as a whole and in our region in particular, as well as get to know one another.

John has been RVC for Region 6 since 2019, representing the Southwest Region, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. A member of Central Texas Mensa, he’s been a Mensan since 1983, originally as a member of Gulf Coast Mensa. He and his wife, Geri (also a Mensan), moved to Central Texas in 1996 and have been highly active since, including co-founding LonestaRG.

 

Poetry and Parody

Bob Hrncir

An irreverent romp through the reading list. No great master will be left unscathed, no sacred cow left unmilked [if not barbecued]!

Bob Hrncir, after studying for two years in the seminary, completed his B.A. and M.Ed. at Sam Houston State U. He taught High school English & theatre for 35 years [3 as Language Arts Chair of one of the largest high schools in Houston], and was a 4 time laureate in Who’s Who among America’s Teachers, as well as a semifinalist for the Excellence in Teaching Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also taught college English for 36 years. Bob has won GCM’s Punkin Award. He is a past board member, coordinator, RG & Holiday Party chair, Voice of Mensa [calendar-phone], & columnist for Informensa.

 

Our Supply Chain Touches Everything—The Supply

Dietrich von Biedenfeld

This talk will briefly re-introduce concepts such as resilience, blockchain, smart contracts, and the supply cycle. Building on these popular topics, the conversation will move to examine trends and concepts in several industries, while exploring international commerce, technology, and governmental developments with forecasts. As the discussion continues, the speaker will engage the audience in critical thinking and best practices review for an interactive assessment of policies, practices, and the future of our supply cycle.

The Honorable Dietrich von Biedenfeld is a frequently consulted business, legal, and supply cycle subject matter expert. He serves as an Assistant Professor of Business Law and Supply Chain Management at the University of Houston-Downtown and provides pro bono legal representation for veterans. He also serves as the Mayor Pro Tem of West Columbia, Texas, Governor Abbott’s representative on the Public Transportation Advisory Committee and on the boards of several organizations, including the Australian American Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Biedenfeld holds numerous legal and procurement licenses and certifications. When he isn’t reading, researching, or teaching, Dr. Biedenfeld can be seen on local, state, and national news, or at local breweries.

 

Gulf Coast Mensa Town Hall Meeting

Ron Freeman, GCM LocSec

Not sure if you're getting everything you can out of your Mensa membership? Have no idea who your local board members are? Do you have questions about where GCM is headed in 2022? Well then you need to come to the GCM Town Hall Meeting!! Your local board members will be there to listen to your comments and answer your questions. We'll also discuss how to translate your feedback into a better member experience for all!

 

Yoga! By! Ron!

Ron Freeman

Start your Saturday night recovery with a Sunday morning simple yoga class.

 

Physical Therapy: From Polio and WWI to COVID-19 and the War Against Aging

Arthur G Mazuca, PT, DPT

It was during the devastating polio epidemic and subsequent “War to End All Wars” that physical therapy (PT) began to emerge as the profession it is today. Over the past century, physical therapists have become known as movement experts and evidence-based practitioners. Most recently, a topic of interest has been pain neuroscience education (PNE). Is pain a good thing? Is it an illusion altogether? What is the one exercise that has helped decrease pain in over 85% of my patients in the past year?

Dr. Mazuca has nearly two decades of experience working as a licensed outpatient orthopedic and sports physical therapist (PT) in the greater Houston area. He is passionate about helping diverse individuals improve their daily function or athleticism. Having worked at over 30 different locations, Arthur has an abundance of clinical experience including clinic director and independent consultant. His latest endeavor is improving the current medical model of physical health and wellness through improved societal education.

 

Contemporary Art in Houston

Pete Gershon

Why would someone cover a house with flattened beer cans? Who would spend twenty years building a shrine to the health benefits of the orange? Can a man find redemption by turning discarded objects into livable art? Pete Gershon will describe the surreal estates handmade by self-trained artists and championed by the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art in Houston, as well as the organizations’ work in looking for artistic talent in unexpected places and celebrating the artist in everyone.

Pete Gershon is a writer, researcher, and the curator of programs at the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art in Houston, Texas. He is the author of “Painting the Town Orange: The Stories Behind Houston’s Visionary Art Environments” (Arcadia, 2014) and “Collision: The Contemporary Art Scene in Houston, 1972-1985” (Texas A&M University Press), the 2018 winner of the Texas State Historical Association’s Ron Tyler Award for Best Book on Texas History and Culture.

 

Refining 101: Getting From the Oil Wells to the Gas Pumps

Bruce Poppe

Learn how crude oil is turned into refined fuels. A typical refinery has more than a dozen individual units. What do each of those units do? How do they work together to create gasoline, jet fuel, and heating oil? (Hint: It’s not just distillation.) After we’re done, you’ll know the difference between a reformer and a cat cracker and how a refinery uses both of them to make gasoline. This presentation does not require any knowledge of chemistry.

Bruce Poppe is the coordinator of the Songwriting SIG and also a long-time volunteer at Kerrville Folk Festival. He currently serves on the Gulf Coast Mensa Board as a Director-at-Large.