Vote Kane Aston for FRA Chairman

Many of you already know me quite well, but for those of you that dont here is a short introduction.

I have been involved with the robots since the early days (somewhere around 1998 I believe) and have seen most of the events in one form or another.Over the last 10 year I have gained a wide ranging technical knowledge and great deal of experience on all things robots.I have not only competed in Robot Wars, but also Mechanoids, Technogames, Mechannibals and have served my time as a BBC expert roboteer around local schools and colleges.

Personnally I like to think of myself as a good listener who can think things through.Always hearing both sides of a discussion.Ideal for chairing a bunch of the most argumentative people of differing opinions I have ever met!

Going forward in 2009/2010 there are a number of goals I would like to see achieved.

Upgrade of forum/ website:
The website and forum have become an essential part of the community and the forum particularly is long overdue an update.I will ensure that this does not get pushed back any longer due to technical requirements or time.This will ensure the community can stay in touch easily and also provide some members only areas that can be abused by some of the more vocal roboteers.

Communication
Sometimes it is not possible to check the forum everyday for updates and people loose touch.I will encourage the use of email for keeping in contact.Hopefully everyone already knows I can be contacted quite easily by email but I am also quite happy to talk on the phone if need.I would also like to see a newsletter available for all members to collate recent news and events.This should also be available at events for the public to take away and help promote the association.

Meetings
Meetings are often called at short notice due to the requirement to discuss urgent matters.This is sometimes unavoidable.There are also a large number of events at present making finding a suitable weekend difficult.Hopefully through an increased use of the forum we can minimise the use of meetings.Instead I propose that we can have several days put aside every year that can be used for training and a general get-together without the pressure of an event.Any important issues can be then discussed in an open manner.

After that it is up to you, the community.You all have a say and you all have great ideas (even if some of them are quite crazy) that are and will be listened to.

So vote Kane Aston for FRA Chairman.

If you have any questions or comments, please post them below.

Hi Kane, welcome to the fray! Mike.

I was wondering when youd post this :P

Anyway, Id like to ask of you the same questions I asked of Mike:

1) What would you do to further promote the FRA at events, to raise awareness that this website and forum exists? (I have to say I quite like Mikes idea that there be an information stand at events to promote the organisation, would you be interested in doing something along similar lines?)

2: Would you continue to tolerate the fanfic communitys presence on these boards? I know we can be difficult at times but given that some of us (myself included) are attempting to get further involved in robots and building our own, in my opinion its a mutually beneficial relationship in the end. :)
Id also like to know what you think of the idea of a fanfic rep as suggested by Shane and Leo.

(hope these are somewhat relevant, I do plan on joining the FRA once I have something moving under its own power - probably this summer or later on this year)

Hi Joey,

1) This will mainly depend on a) finding someone to man such a stall and b) having the paperwork to hand out. This has already been through the committee once before and fell by the wayside because a) no-one would man the stall all day and b) no-one produced the leaflets. By having a regular newsletter it ensures there is upto date information available to be taken to events and furthermore its something that will draw interest rather than just promotional material. What needs to happen is people need to be handed a newsletter at the end of the event (subject to event organiser permission) as they leave so they have something to take home.

2) The fanfic community. Great imagination and a very active portion of the forum. We do need to be careful about who we have as our representative and this was discussed at the last meeting. I personally would welcome one of the FRA members representing the FanFic community on our forum. Hopefully this can become reality in the near future.

well Kane you have my vote
John
Teambeast

Kane, I wonder what your thoughts are on bringing the community back together. There are lots of people that have robots that dont do events, people who will go to 1 event but not the other, and people in the middle who just want to play robots and have a good time. We all know there is a split which i hope can be repaired and the whole community brought back together. I know its a mountain to climb but can you tell me what you would do to try and build bridges.

I have made it quite clear i will vote for you anyway and i look forward to working with you if i get voted on as a robotees rep.

You will always get divides in any community. This is the nature of differing opinions. Unfortunately it is not possible to please everyone all of the time.

I hope with better communication we can eliminate the culture of rumours that has done so much damage to the community.

I appreciate that some people just dont get on but unfortunately we cannot change those people. What we can do is continue to provide an environment in the form of meetings where people can at least discuss their problems. I also hope with some fresh reps that we can see some new input and feedback to help guide the governing body.