THE C.E.O.'S MESSAGE

Updated 10/16/07

United Federated Planets Growing In Every Way!!

UNITED FEDERATED PLANETS, INC.®

The United Federated Planets, Inc. is an international Star Trek fan club that actively promotes community service by both its individual members and chapters. We believe that the vision of Gene Roddenberry was for the human race to wake up and start helping each other rather than trying to destroy each other. We also believe that any fan club should be established so that every fan, regardless of their economic situation, can belong to and enjoy the benefits of being a member of a fan club. At this time we have over 1296 members in the United States, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Australia, The United Kingdom, Denmark, Brazil, Indonesia and New Zealand along with 47 active chapters in the United States, in Belgium, in Germany and in The United Kingdom. I consider that to be a good growth since January of 1994 with most of our advertising being word of mouth. We were also very successful in assisting our fellow Star Trek fans in the Czech Republic in obtaining televised episodes of the Classic Star Trek.

Due to increasing postal rates in the United States, we were forced to increase our one-time life-time membership fees and the one-time life-time chapter charter fees. The following link will take you to the new rates, CLICK HERE.

New On-Line Submit Forms Added

As a way of keeping pace with the times, the UFP has added several new on-line submit forms for the following: UFP Membership Application, UFP Monthly Chapter Report Forms, UFP Merchandise Order Form, Personal Data Change, UFP Member Survey Form and we added a new Guest Book. This is a beginning of the technological growth of the UFP in finding newer ways to better serve our valuable UFP members.

Q&A of the CEO United Federated Planets, Inc.

Chief Executive Officer Mike Ferguson obtained a Bachelors Degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1981 in administration and management. He joined the UFP just after it began in January of 1989, being the 3rd original member. In January of 1994 Peter Lutz, the founder, asked Mike to take over the UFP since it wasn’t doing too well. In August of 1994 the UFP was incorporated in Oklahoma as a not for profit community service oriented Star Trek fan club.

Q. The realm of Star Trek is loaded with fan clubs. How do you compete?

A. Our mission statement is a little different than our competitors. We believe that the universe of Star Trek is big enough to handle all types of science fiction, fantasy and Japanese animation fandom so we encourage all fans to come and join us in the UFP Star Trek universe.

Q. How do you see the club conditions moving as we continue into 1997?

A. We are growing much stronger than we were in 1996 in that our membership is higher and we have more active membership programs for the members to enjoy. It has been the members who have initiated most of the active programs for the other members and I highly encourage that kind of participation.

Q. What new programs are growing fastest?

A. I’ve seen a growth in the subscriptions to the UFP newsletter “SubSpace” but not as much as I would like to see. The UFP schools are beginning to get more organized and the different people responsible for this has done a lot to help in that development. There has been a lot of work on the merchandising program by Richard Hinckley, Vice President of Merchandising, and I think we will see a lot more merchandise sales in 1997 and 1998. We have also been chartering a lot of chapters this year and I feel this will continue as the general membership continues to grow.

Q. Why do fans join the UFP?

A. I believe it is because we keep our membership fees affordable and life- time for that low fee.

QUESTIONS ASKED OF THE C.E.O. IN FLORIDA NOV. 1-2, 1997

Q. What can the UFP offer me that other fan clubs can’t offer me?

A. The UFP offers you a life-time membership for as little as $1.00 along with the freedom to mix all of your fan interests into one fan club.

Q. Is membership in the UFP free if I don’t want a life-time membership?

A. The UFP offers only a life-time membership and the small fee of $3.00 covers the expense of the membership packet materials which includes a laminated membership card, a membership certificate, the UFP Membership Handbook, a UFP Schools Information Application, a Personal Data Change form and a current UFP membership application along with the cost of the envelope and postage. The $1.00 fee covers the cost of the laminated membership card, the membership certificate, the envelope and postage.

Q. What can I do in the UFP?

A. Due to the unique way the UFP is set up, the UFP member can be as active or inactive as they desire, There are over 50 ways for the UFP member to be active which does not include the UFP member’s own choices they can bring into the UFP.

Q. Does the UFP have any schools?

A. Yes, there are several correspondence schools available for the UFP members in the Starfleet Command Academy, the UFP University, the UFP Starfleet Marine Corps Academy and the Alien Fleet schools. New schools are being developed and added all of the time.

Q. What does the UFP offer me?

A. Besides a life-time membership, the UFP offers the members the opportunity to become involved in the fan club in an active way by serving as a Chapter President, a UFP Assembly Ambassador, a member of the UFP Security Council, a member of the UFP Economic and Social Council, a Secretariat Secretary or staff member, a member of the Starfleet Command staff, a member of the UFP Marine Corps staff and many more official UFP positions. There are community service programs for the UFP member to be an active part of and even earn certificates of appreciation. The most important thing the UFP offers is the chance for the UFP member to use their imaginations to their fullest.

Q. Does the UFP have T-shirts and stuff like that?

A. The UFP does have T-shirts, buttons, magnets, patches, UFP ID badges, UFP parking permits and business cards. We are currently working on a new contract for the T-shirts and a contract for polo-shirts and ball caps which will be embroidered. We are looking into UFP watches, too. We are always adding to the UFP merchandise list and input from the UFP members gives us constant direction on where to go with new items.

Q. What activities does the UFP offer its members?

A. Being just a little over 3 years old the UFP is working on programs to develop activities for the members. We are looking into community service programs which can benefit society which will be fun and rewarding for the UFP members. The corporate staff is working on a major international conference to be held once a year to be both entertaining and educational with the first one being scheduled for 1999 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

As Star Trek continues to grow in the future and in so many diversified ways so shall the need for Star Trek fan clubs grow as well. However, most Star Trek fan clubs limit their area of interest to Star Trek and they overlook the other science fiction, fantasy and Japanese animation outlets that can be incorporated into the Star Trek era. I firmly believe that Gene Roddenberry set Star Trek up to incorporate these other fan interests and all one has to do is watch some of the original Star Trek episodes to see them there. Also, as the cost of being a member of these other clubs increases the cost of being a UFP member will not be altered to the point of being too expensive for anyone to join.!

OUTLOOK

As the interest in Star Trek and other fan interests grow and new fan clubs come into existence, the UFP, Inc. plans to continue doing what we have done all along and that is to work to improve services to our members while keeping the costs of these services low. We plan to expand greatly in UFP merchandise and to prepare for another UFP Intergalactic Conference in the near future.

THE UFP BY THE NUMBERS

Here are a few statistics for your information, as of this report:

REGISTERED MEMBERS: 1296

CHARTERED CHAPTERS: 47

FINANCIAL STATUS:-$ 180.54

Much better than 2001 year end balance of -$ 235.20! We are catching up!

THE WEB SITE

I am quite pleased with the growth of the UFP since we entered the computer age by going on-line on the internet. Our web site receives literally thousands of hits each month from over 88 different countries of the world. It was this knowledge that made me take a very close look at our web site and then I decided to make this change in it's appearance.

FAN CLUB SECTOR DEVELOPMENT GREAT!

I am very pleased with the way the fan club Sector Heads have organized their sectors and have them up and running very smoothly. This comes at a time when we are experiencing a very good growth rate in both new members and new chapters. Keep up the great work!