Thursday’s Fantasy Sports Trade Association conference sessions began with the presentation of the association’s official definition of “fantasy sports.”

Presented by Jeff Thomas — my boss, FSTA board member and former president — the FSTA defines “fantasy sports” as …

1. A skill-based competition involving the selection of a team of real-life performers or athletes that will produce the best future statistics based on a defined scoring system, and

2. The scoring system awards points based on real-life performances and statistical results of the performers or athletes, and

3. The competition encompasses multiple, real-life events or games.

Why is this important? As “fantasy” continues to grow in popularity, more sites, businesses, etc., will seek to leverage the term to draw users to concepts that may reside on fantasy’s fringes or not even in the fantasy realm at all. Particularly in light of the UIGEA, which outlaws sports gambling online but specifically carves out fantasy sports as acceptable, differentiation matters.

Others, of course, might just genuinely not know what “fantasy” technically encompasses. For them, such a definition can be helpful.

The main question in the room at the conference, though, is whether the definition and other practices limit the industry. What about pick ‘em or bracket games, for instance? Well, they’re not fantasy. Whether you want to lump them in so that you can report a larger consumer base kind of depends on what you want.

The larger audience that could be claimed if you count NCAA pool participants could certainly look more attractive to advertisers, but it would also be a bit disingenuous. Rick Wolf, NBC Sports director of business development and Fantasy Sports Association chairman, pointed out that it would also present a less attractive consumer — one without the large average income and consumption stats that have been revealed in fantasy sports consumer research.

Beyond that, what about non-sports fantasy games? It’s a growing market and an issue that will bear further discussion among the board and the association. On one hand, it would be unwise to cut out a group of potential FSTA members (and dues payers). On the other, “sports” is part of the association’s name. How much do they need to stick to that?

Thomas did present a “fantasy model” to accompany the “fantasy sports” definition, but it’s clear that plenty remains to discuss.

As we all know, fantasy sports are solely for nerdy middle-aged men who unfailingly reside in their parents’ basements. Apparently, though, no one has shared this info with Caitlin Morrall.

If that name or the corresponding picture seem familiar, then you might know her from her days as a beauty queen. And that’s not opinion coming across. Among Morrall’s actual accomplishments was being named Miss Wisconsin USA for 2007 and then becoming the state’s only rep in the past 30 years to place among the top 15 nationally.

Now, however, folks can find her at World Fantasy Games headquarters or, more easily, as the main real face on RapidDraft.

“I was substitute teaching to make ends meet and met (WFG CEO) Jeff Thomas,” Morrall tells FSB.com. “He was aware of my freelance work with Fox Sports Wisconsin and my time as a blogger and weekly co-host on ESPN Milwaukee’s midday show The D-List. We sat down and chatted about my future goals, and he thought I would be a good fit for a plethora of opportunities within his company, including the production and launch of RapidDraft Fantasy Football.”

Thomas says that Morrall brings much more than a pretty face to the company and the product.

“It was obvious to me immediately that Caitlin can become a talented sports journalist,” he says. “She knows fantasy sports, and she can mix it up with any fantasy sports crowd. She will bring a perfect mix of class, sports knowledge and entertainment to RapidDraft. She’s real, she’s beautiful and she knows sports — a mix that works for her and will work for the real people that play RapidDraft.”

Although Morrall is new to the fantasy industry, sports are certainly not new to her.

“I come from a sports fan family,” she says. “My dad lives and dies with the Packers, and my mom loves just about any sport there is because she grew up being mostly around her dad and brothers. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t watch football on a Sunday or go to as many Milwaukee Bucks games as possible.”

Morrall proclaims herself a “football girl” and says she’s about as useless on fall Sundays as most of the folks who read this site. She proved to be more than just a fan, though, by earning an internship with ESPN Milwaukee radio in 2007 following a guest appearance on the station’s The D-List.

Come football season, Morrall did a weekly segment called “Beauty and the Geeks” in which she talked football and picked games against the two D-List hosts and the producer (ranking second at season’s end). The segment was successful enough to earn her a spot as a blogger and more time on the air.

She’ll be doing many of those same things for RapidDraft. Morrall will be among the football bloggers who will provide material throughout the week and will co-host a daily show on BlogTalkRadio with Pat Hegewald. Although she is also involved in the production of the game, Morrall says she favors the on-air stuff.

“I love my job with World Fantasy Games because it gives me that opportunity to do various things,” she says. “But my favorite part of being involved with RapidDraft is the on-camera work I get to do. I am the host of ‘RDTV,’ which consists of hosting the ‘How to Play’ videos, video blogging, hosting a radio show and writing.”

(World Fantasy Games also owns this site.)

Something new is about to hit the fantasy market, but it’s tough to tell just what that is. The teaser video challenges you to “Beat the Pros” and “Experience the Future of Fantasy Football!”

Is it fantasy football? Is it new entrance music for your favorite WWE wrestler? Do I know more than I’m letting on … ?

“Lots of effort over the past 12 months from the World Fantasy Games team went into this launch,” World Fantasy Games CEO Jeff Thomas says. “I hope consumers enjoy our new product.”

Check it out — www.RapidDraft.com

This year’s election is complete, and CBS Sports and XML Team Solutions will now gain representation on the Fantasy Sports Trade Association’s board of directors.

CBS’ Danielle MacLean and XML’s Alan Karben joined incumbents Brett Baker (Fantasy Coverage), Jeff Thomas (World Fantasy Games) and Whitney Walters (The Huddle) as the five members voted to a new three-year term on the board.

“I think I may be the first person to run for a slot on the FSTA board on a geek platform,” Karben says. “I hope to help FSTA members discover ways to cooperate technically that make everyone’s work a bit easier. In a manner that doesn’t affect competitive advantage.”

Karben says he sees potential for greater enhancements to fantasy game features, especially by the smaller outfits, if companies can work together on some of the more mundane tasks involved in hosting the contests.

“Most of the innovations in our industry have come from companies that don’t have the luxury of large engineering staffs,” he says. “If you clear the product development process of some of the drudgery that most every firms faces — exchanging data with partners, wrestling with terminology and identification codes — then you free them up to spend more energy building the features that bring new players in and keep them coming back.”

MacLean, meanwhile, hails from the most mainstream of companies now represented on the FSTA’s board. She could tap into CBS’ larger audience to gleen the kind of information that could help member companies better understand their consumers.

“As a board member, I intend to help facilitate insights as it pertains to research and marketplace analysis,” she says. “I am excited to help the organization grow and to aid in positioning the industry to media, partners and advertisers.”

The CBS connection could also help to open doors to bigger-budget sponsors for fantasy providers.

Finally, quite frankly, it can’t hurt to add a woman to the mix, especially in an industry that seems to be playing to a growing female audience.

Should any of the five not be able to fulfill their duties, Mock Draft Central’s Geoff Stein was chosen as the first alternate.

The chosen five will join the board in the new term that begins April 1. As we reported earlier, the group will then be charged with selecting a new president. FSB.com will have more on that process when the time comes.