My friends,

We will have ‘official’ official news regarding this year’s Region 7 Conference very soon. Our very own Chief of Staff Jeff Victor is in final negotiations with the hotel we have chosen and we should have word soon (ie a contract).

Thus far, I can say this:

1. The dates of this year’s conference will be November 8-10. The bulk of programming will be on Saturday and Sunday, as it was last year. Friday evening will be the RC mixer hosted by yours truly.

2. The location will be the Embassy Suites in Hunt Valley, right across the street from the Hunt Valley Inn, home to the annual Shore Leave convention.

3. Room rates are as follows: $129 per night (sleeps 4) and $149 per night (sleeps 6). We do not have to purchase any minimum number of rooms. The meeting room(s) will be what the region is paying for.

4. I am currently working on programming alongside our very own VRC, Mr. Bob Vosseller.

5. The restaurant we wish to go to for the Saturday night dinner will be the “Silver Springs Mining Company” (fried pickles!!!).

That is what I can tell you thus far. Things are, of course, subject to change, but we wanted to let you know we had not forgotten the conference and that we were not going to spring it upon the region a couple of months before it was to be hosted.

I will keep the region up to date on this and I hope to have final word on al this very soon. I thank you for your patience and your anticipated attendance at the 2013 Region 7 Conference!

Rear Admiral Wayne L. Augustson
Commanding Officer- U.S.S. Britannic NCC-71818
Region 7 Coordinator
Region 7, STARFLEET

SUB SPACE CHATTER: The New Year’s Edition

The official R7 Command NewsBulletin

By Vice Regional Coordinator Admiral BobVosseller

Welcome to 2013. We’re about onemonth into the new year and plans are unfolding for activities of the next 12months.

As you have no doubt read, RCWayne has announced Region 7 Activities at this year’s Farpoint convention.

They include:

Saturday morning at 8 AM: Our traditional breakfast buffet in the hotelrestaurant (Northern Lights).
Saturday morning at 9 AM: The Region 7 meeting (Chesapeake Room, I believe).

Of course, we will have our recruitment table throughout the weekend.

R7 CONFERENCE BIDDING NOW OPEN

R7 Chief of Staff RAdm. JeffVictor posted the following reminder that the 2014 Region 7 Conference biddingis now open.

Bidding guidelines can be found at
http://www.region7.com/portal/index.php?option=com_jdownloads&Itemid=70&task=view.download&cid=35

The deadline for bids is May 1. Please reach out to Jeff should you have anyquestions or concerns.

HELP WANTED: POSITION OPEN
Jeff also recently announced thatR7 Command is now taking applications for the position of Awards Director.

The position will:
-Administer the Regional Awards program.
-Recruit and Coordinate Judges
-Solicit and organize Award Applications
-Promote the Annual Awards Program during Awards Season, as well as
the Year Round Regional Commendations program all year long.
-Help to continually improve and evolve the awards program.

If you’re interested in serving in this position, please send Jeff an
email outlining what you could bring to the awards program and the
position. The deadline for applications is Feb. 5.

RECRUTING REPORT
This in from R7 Asst.Recruiting Officer Karen Mitchell Carothers.
Far point’s is less than a month away, believe it or not, so it’s time to putout a request for my various recruiting department projects. Please do bring chapter fliers to Farpoint! Even though we’re not putting
them out on the table, I have a nifty bin that sits underneath with all the chapter fliers organized in folders. That way they are still available to hand out in a targeted manner to prospective members (e.g. all the correy chapter fliers, or all the fliers from NJ, or the one particular flier for the chapter that was talking to this person in the elevator, etc). If your chapter has new fliers since Shore Leave, bring me some of the new fliers. I don’t need a TON… 15 or 20 at a time is enough.

Please note that I’m not able to finance making copies for you, so I can’t just take electronic files. However, if you want to email me a file and send me the money to cover the photocopies, I’d be fine with that. I can take PDFs, Word 2007 and older, MS Publisher 2003 or older, and Open Office. CutePDF is a great little free program that converts all sorts of files into PDFs. I’ve been using it myself for years.

And remember that while we do have all chapters listed on some of the current R7 recruiting materials, your individual chapter materials are your chance to showcase your chapter. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback on the cards I did for the Richthofen with Vistaprint (and they ALWAYS run sales!). Plus, you’re not limited to just leaving chapter materials with the recruiting table. I personally really enjoy bookmarks… I’m STILL using the ones I picked up at IC 2011 that the Academy whipped up!

Also, I’ve got the USB photo frame display. I still have all the photos that folks sent me when I asked prior to Shore Leave. If you’ve got any cool new pics of chapter events between Shore Leave and now, send them along. The larger the file, the better. I’m only limited to the size of the SD card or thumb drive I shove into the frame, and larger photos have better pixel density. If your chapter has a new logo, or you’re a new chapter since Shore Leave, please send me your logo as well! I’m going to redesign that display so the logos and pictures are in one file and are mixedtogether. If your chapter has artwork of your ship, that would be REALLY awesome, too! People love that stuff.

Finally… COs, PLEASE go into the SFI DB and double-check that your chapter contact information is correct. Mike utilizes this info to generate a spreadsheet flier that we run off to give to prospective members. You’ll want to take special care with website URLs and email addresses.

Prospective members aren’t going to take a second look at broken URLs, out-of-date websites, or email addresses that bounce. If your chapter doesn’t have a website yet, it’s easy to get a free one set up on Google Sites, or Webs.com, or even WordPress or Tumblr. Don’t depend on Facebook for your PR.

Questions, comments, etc, I’ll be in the Staff Coffee Mess, hiding behind the extra-large trough of raktajino and working on SFA stuff. I hear the new subspace wifi gets great signal in there.

Karen can be reached at co@ussredbaron.org or trekkieturtle@gmail.com

FINALLY … A WORD FROM THE R7 VRC

Your friendly neighborhood VRCmay seem a bit quiet as of late although our lists have been rather quiet so itmay not have actually been noticeable but between family issues, work schedule changesand efforts to recover from superstorm Sandy, my Starfleet time (actually anyreal fun time) has been at a minimum as of the last few months but I appreciateall the kind words and the understanding provided by Wayne, Jeff and the restof the R7 staff.

I’m trying to keep upon everything and this bulletin while not technically late, was originally plannedfor a few weeks ago. I think it worked out better as it is now chock full ofinfo from my fellow staffers. I’d like to think 2013 will be a better year butalready it has presented some new challenges and a few obstacles and not justfor me.

That said though, we’re all in this together and I’ve seen a lot ofpeople helping to support those who need it the most and in many ways that is what Starfleet boilsdown, to supporting each other during bad times and sharing in the fun times.

I’ll catch you next month withmore news around the region.

By Adm. Bob Vosseller, Vice Regional Coordinator, Region 7

Welcome to another edition of Sub Space Chatter, the official news bulletin of the staff of Region 7 Command.

Yes, I am behind by a month but it has been a busy month and our recent regionalcommand vote of confidence came in and Wayne Augustson easily won that VOC. He and his staff are happy to have received your support and we will continue todo what we can to make this region better.

We are looking at areas that need further attention in this new two year term and we’re coordinating this year’s R7 conference (see details further down).

Thanks again for your confidence in us and please let us know what you feel is needed and for those few who opted to vote in the negative, let us know why and what we can do to address your concerns. Wayne and staff coordinate the region through input from the chapters we serve and without that input, we can’t know what you are thinking.

MORE NEWS FROM STARBASE 7
Looking for R7 Conference information? Well here it is. Our R7 Chief of Staff post some information earlier but it certainly warrants repeating. First of all, as a reminder, the dates are October 19-21, 2012 and it will be held at the Crowne Plaza in Cherry Hill NJ. Rooms are at the rate of $118 per night. To make reservations, please use the
following booking link:
https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=9666815&utm_source=55412&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=13456615

The best way to support the conference, if you are attending, is to utilize the Crowne Plaza. The more rooms we have booked, the more money can go to the region’s coffers to support the Awards Program, support charities and do some other great things we’d like to try over the next year.

Registration will be $15 per person for the weekend. To register, you can visit Region7.com and click on the Region 7 Conference Registration link located on the menu bar on the left hand side. Payment is via PayPal. You must be registered for Region7.com to register for the conference.

On Friday Night, RC Wayne will be hosting a mixer in his room and you’ll be able to pick up your registration packets. We’ll run events starting at 9am on Saturday and end at about 3pm on Sunday.

On Saturday Night, we will be having a conference dinner for those who would like to attend at a private room at the Red Hot and Blue restaurant located up the street from the hotel at the Holiday Inn. The restaurant selection is tentative at this time. No matter where we go, however, it will be ordering off the menu and individually
paying on your own.

For programming, we’re planning on two days of great stuff. Of course, we’ll have our opening session and marine muster, as well as our closingsession plus the RC Q & A session. We’re also planning on panels like “So you want to be a CO?”, a Star Trek Online Roundtable, a panel on chapter fictional timelines and other great events. If you
have a panel idea, we’d love to hear your ideas and help you put it on! Programming will run from 9:00am to 4:30pm, with a 1.5 hour break for lunch on Saturday, and from 10:00am to 3:00pm on Sunday. This is your conference, so we want to fill the agenda with panels you want and information you need. Let Jeff, Wayne or I know as we’d love to hear from you.

So far we’re looking at a forum for the new Star Trek film, a discussion of whatwe know, rumors and what we’d like to see. Another panel concerns “What are you reading?” Not strictly ST or even Sci- Fi, an open forum on what you are finding enjoyable in print and audio novels count too. Another panel is “FavoriteFlicks” with another possibly being “What is good on TV these days?” Favorite flicks will be what films you enjoyed in the Sci-Fi, Horror, and Fantasy genre. From Snow White and The Huntsman to The Avengers what worked for you on the bigscreen.

TV would expand beyond the sci-fi, horror, genre and will include the period ofJan. 2012 up to Oct. 18.

Other panels of a more serious nature include “So you want to be a CO” featuring a frank discussion on the SF requirements and the things Starfleet doesn’t tell you about when you decide you want to command a chapter in Starfleet.

So what are you waiting for…register today!

SEND US YOUR PHOTOS
We love seeing interesting stuff online. Visit our Facebook page and post of a photo or two of your latest chapter event.

Commodore Karen Mitchell Carothers is a member of our R7 recruiting staff and she is looking for photos from you to help in a recruitment project set for Shore Leave in August so e-mail her some of your best chapter event pics showing thefun you are having to her at trekkieturtle@gmail.com

SUMMER PICNICS/BBQS

The USS Challenger is among those holding BBQs this year. The Avenger is holding their’s on June 23 and the Challenger will break with tradition and hold its annual anniversary bash on Saturday July 14 rather than the 4th of July weekend. This is the weekend that normally, the region would assemble at Shore Leave but as we know, SL moved to August this year. We decided to hold our BBQ at its usual location of 202 8th Avenue in Ortley Beachon that weekend so as to avoid at least some of the usual holiday traffic to make it easier for our guests. Cost of event this year is $10 to cover food costs. Contact me at 856-495-6476 for your RSVP.

TREKOLYMPICS
Forget the London Olympics next month, the Spring Trek Olympics was a blast according to RC Wayne and he was even on the winning team. The Maryland based event had a lot of participation, good weather and demonstrated a true account of the kind of athletic prowess our members have…(not saying that is great prowess but prowess none theless and whoever said SF members are the most physically fit in the galaxy) Fun was the true name of the game and it worked out well.

R7AWARDS PROGRAM

The R7 Awards program concluded and participation was about what it was last year and awards will be presented at Shore Leave in August.

SUMMERFLICKS
I am planning to see either Prometheus or Snow White & The Huntsman later today. Amazing Spider-Man is coming up and the third installment of the Batman trilogy is coming up next month as well. It has been a pretty good year for bigscreen blockbusters. Again, share your thoughts on our R7 listserv and on ourFacebook page.

Summer is definitely here and I know many of us are very busy. Have a great summerseason and we look forward to seeing you at a future BBQ, convention or otherevent in the near future.

Keepin touch!