In the summer of 2001, our illustrious Admiral Maxwell had a great idea - lets get the word out on the net, and anywhere else, to expand our membership base and bring in new ideas. Forward thinking kind of guy!! - that's our Andrew J

In my usual "not paying much attention to much except the Outpost Library", I blithely boarded the big American Airlines jet to Amsterdam in July, 2001 for what I hoped would be a fun-filled adventure to my first Union. Little did I know I would be abducted by "aliens" (members of the EC, Sr. Managers and other assorted members) and sweet-talked into taking on this project.

In the course of that get-together, we also came up with what evolved into the "Vision for the Future" Plan that we have spent the past 10 months writing, designing, fussing over, implementing, and literally spending hours and days and weeks and months working on. We pulled all the ideas and suggestions into one big adventure in rebuilding a web-site from the inside out, while still maintaining our chats, entertaining our membership, and developing the best technical tools possible to make this all work!

Now that v2 is launched, and we are fast approaching the last stage of Phase III (sounds like a George Lucas movie script working title to me) the Marketing Team, which has mostly worked behind the scenes, will be taking a more visible approach to advertising our community to the rest of the Internet and the real world out there.

In addition to taking on the temporary re-design and launch of the OUT Tribune (stay tuned - September 8 is fast approaching!) we will be working closely with our research assistants as we explore other avenues of Public Relations. Amazon.com, cyber-cafes, book-stores, other like-minded web sites, fan clubs and their newsletters, flyers and publications, the Role-Playing and Publishing giant "Wizards of the Coast" and others will all become targets of opportunity for Outpost10f.

As a community, we look forward to everyones ideas, suggestions, and especially contributions. There are no "stupid" questions, so please ask us: send in your ideas, tell us what you think. OTF Marketing is here to serve Outpost10f as a vehicle to get the word out - but we NEED your help. And on that note, I will turn this page over to my esteemed Partner in Crime and Technical Whiz, Captain Tierce *waves, salutes, and poofs*

Captain Kali D'or
Director

I think the Director has covered all bases more or less, so what is left is a few comments from a my personal point of view.
As I think almost everyone can remember, my first and finest mission for two years have been to head our Engineering department. I've had two wonderful years doing that and I needed a break, the upcoming merger with R&D was the perfect time to do so. After having been on leave and without many assignments at all for a few months, I became rather bored and was itching for new challenges. Randomly viewing the updates board one day, I saw Kali needed an assistant. Having had a little amount of knowledge around the concepts of marketing and promotion, while no doubt being technically able, I thought this was the perfect time and place to jump in and I must say, running a department has its challenges and a great amount of workload, I have great respect for today's Seniors Managers, they do a helluva job

Now finding myself on the administrational level of the community, in the marketing division with a lady who's experience level with her field of work, her drive and amount of work produced each day, goes so far beyond anything I have ever experienced with managing a department for years.
I quickly came down from the pedestal I had put myself on and started learning and listening much more, as I continue to do now. While taking my bachelor degree in the marketing field in my real life, I am constantly challenged with new tasks and developing myself, while at the same time being able to to do my part for the community we all love.

Since the addition of an assistant director, the division has moved from being a small operation of two people, to include a legal advisor, Captain Tigris and a research assistant, Lieutenant Shaun. Both two highly regarded and appriciated additions. A personal thanks for your past and continuing efforts.

As mentioned by Kali above, Marketing is very dependant upon the participation of the membership in this community, that means you.
When polling for new ideas we need your opinions. When launching new projects, we need your input. When it is once again possible to vote for the outpost on various top 1/200 sites, we also very much need you. The suggestion box is no doubt also a very successful item. We constantly receive many splendid suggestions or constructive criticism, thank you!