An Interview with Robert Atkins
Article by Paulie
I sat down with my fellow CL5 officer Robert Atkins, to find out how he came to the Outpost, and what his plans are for the future of Unions.
BR: I found out that you started chatting in Outpost 10F in 1999. But when did you start watching Star Trek?
RA: I grew up watching Trek in the 80's. My parents were fans, and it was in syndication. I was 7 when TNG first came out, and I particularly loved DS9...because of it's overarching themes and parallels to our current world.
BR: Could you briefly trace your history for our readers your history through OTF?
RA: I joined in '99, and met various people, from Admiral Maxwell, to Henri, to TeeKay, and a whole host of others. I worked hard to become a Lieutenant. I joined one of the "C-families". I was a member of the Trivia team for awhile. I was with Simming for about a year. I was promoted to Lt. Commander while I was in Trivia. I've been in Unions for a couple of years, and the Blue Report for about a year.
BR: How did you acquire the position in Unions?
RA: I was ATL for a couple of months, and was elevated to TL. Simply, Numbahs stepped down to take a position in the Archives. I have a lot of experience in RL planning conferences, so Unions seemed like a good fit. My experience is in large scale event planing, so I have the ability to see a larger piece of the overal picture.
BR: What are your plans for the Unions Team going forward?
RA: I want to get people to major events - Star Trek conventions, Doctor Who conventions, Comic Cons, and other sci-fi conventions. It just makes sense. These are the events that draw people in.
BR: How would you like to see Unions evolve from this point?
RA: Why not do something to not only promote fun and meet other OTF members, but perhaps market OTF and grow our community at the same time? I think these types of events bring in a large amount of potential to draw, as well as travel savings.
BR: That sounds great. But what if our members don't have the money to throw around at official conventions?
RA: I also want to do some smaller, regional Unions. Eventually, I want people to be able to plan "official" (OTF) get togethers through the Unions team. I think doing that can ensure that we have consistency in the planning and execution of Unions. 'Cause let's face it. We don't want Unions to suck.
BR: I think our readers would be in complete agreement. So to sum up your mission statement, you'd say...
RA: Overall, this is about our OTF community, and while I'm assigned in this billet, I will do my best to make sure that people have fun and take strides to grow our community (but at the same time), make us a little more tight knit.
BR: Thanks for your time, Robert. You've got a lot of work to do, I'm sure, so I'll let you get to it.
RA: It was my pleasure.
