RT0710- CSFO Report
From StarFleet Bureau of Information
Assembled Delegates, I have been asked to submit the CSFO's report on behalf of the current CSFO, as he is still recovering from recent surgery. Since May 1, we have received a total of 46 bio submissions through the asr-join portal at yahoogroups, individual recruiting by unit CO's, or returning veterans. Of those 46, 28 have reported to their respective units and have begun posting on some sort of regular basis. That is a 61% retention rate; this retention rate is substantially higher than our recent retention rates during ALB's operation (retention rates when ALB was in operation fluctuated anywhere between 25-35% normally). So, while we have only seen a nominal jump in bio submissions (we received 10 more than we received the previous 6 months, largely due to the efforts of Bryan Bartlett), we have retained nearly 3 times as many players. As a result of this, our vacancy situation has become far less critical; at present, only one unit has more than 2 posted vacancies, and 6 units currently are not posting any vacancies. In fact, the vacancy situation has abated enough to allow GOLD Fleet to open a new unit, ORESTES STATION, a couple of months ago. The fact that a new unit was opened such a short time after VALHALLA opened in BLUE is a direct result of our higher retention rate for applicants. At this moment, SILVER Fleet has the most posted vacancies with 7 (most from a single unit), followed by GOLD with 5, BLUE with 4 and finally GREEN with 3. As for activity, activity has slowed; 5 of the last 6 months (the exception being May) has seen a decrease in posting rate from the like month a year before, and some of those decreases have been quite dramatic. Normally, this is cause for concern; however, I believe that a large part of this reduction in activity is due to the extended absences of some of the club's more active players for various medical and real-life reasons. Several key veteran players have taken substantial time off in recent weeks and months: Sean Murphy, myself, Reggie McKamie, Lena Rose to name a few. Simply put, a greater number of veteran players have found their posting time substantially reduced for a variety of medical and personal reasons over the past 6 months. This situation bears close scrutiny, as this is often one of the tell-tale signs of impending departures. However, there has been no contact to suggest an exodus of veteran players is about to happen, so panic is not in order. My feeling is that those of us veterans who have been relatively silent as of late need to make a concerted effort to get back into the swing of things so as to spark posting on our units; such an increase in activity usually has a ripple effect within the unit, which in turn shows up as an overall increase in club activity. Activity is very important, as it is how we reinforce our advertising: nothing advertises like an ACTIVE, VIBRANT COMMUNITY. A stagnated one attracts no players...and this is bourn out by the slowing of bio submissions over the past month or two. So, if we wish to continue to build on the growth we've managed to scrape together over the past 6 months, us veterans (myself definitely included) need to be the ones at the forefront of this and start influencing activity once again. I humbly thank you for your attention. Respectfully Submitted, Scott Lusby Delegate from GOLD Fleet Reporting on behalf of BUPERS and the CSFO