“Everyone fights. No one quits. You don’t do your job, I’ll shoot you myself.”
Jean Rasczak in “Starship Troopers”
From last Thursday to last Sunday was the MinD-Akademie [Mensa in Germany Academy] 2013. If you never heard about it, don’t worry, you are unlikely to, unless you a) live in Germany and b) are a member of Mensa. It’s a spin-off of the German branch of Mensa (the “high IQ society”) but not limited to members of Mensa. Which is a good thing.
Seriously, if I would have to name a few things that would serve as proof that mankind has a future and not all is bad in life, the MinD-Akademie would be among them. It’s just incredible what a group of highly motivated and smart young people can accomplish. They organize a whole conference (well, more than one, it was the 12th MinD-Akademie if I remember correctly), they rent a youth hostel, organize presentations and workshops (and more).
It’s just incredible. Everyone helps and the conference … well, it just works — thanks to the help of the organizers and many, many helping hands. In contrast the the usual conferences in Academia, the attendees do a lot. The attendees sit at the check-in, the organize the social program, they act as support for the presenters, they staff the bar and much, much more. It’s fun to attend, it’s fun to present.
This year the topic was relations (in the physical, metaphorical and social sense) and I did two presentations, one about “Scientific Community” and the other about writing. I just loved it. What can a presenter wish for beyond having an attentive and critical audience which asks smart questions. 🙂
BTW, if you have attended the conference, I’m going to write a posting or more about the “Scientific Community” presentation soon. The script for the writing presentation is here — unfortunately, in German. And as usual (and without ego), I think that I already covered a lot of information in my book.
Looking back, I just wished I had used the time there better (just too many interesting people to talk to), but I’ve got a lot on my mind at the moment. Still, as always, I’m deeply impressed.
Kudos … and thank you very much. 🙂
