Delegates discuss during an unmoderated caucus in their final crisis simulation at the Model United Nations Institute.
“You have to do crisis.”
When I started doing MUN, I was told this by several delegates. To me, crisis sounded like a whole different world.
Switching from general assembly to crisis can be stressful, but there are a few ways to ensure you survive your first crisis committee, while still having fun!
1. Write detailed crisis notes
The first piece of advice I received was to make my crisis notes detailed. You might feel a little silly requesting training for your agents from the CIA or drafting propaganda to recruit new soldiers (trust me, it’s a little strange at first), but your crisis notes should be detailed.
Try to answer who, what, where, when, why, and how in all of your crisis notes. For example, if you are requesting military aid from the United States, you shouldn’t say “I want soldiers to make my army bigger.” Who are you writing to? How many troops do you want, and where do you want to send them? Why do want them, and why should the United States help you? By when should the soldiers arrive, and how will they get to their destination?
The more detail you include, the more likely your personal directives will be passed.
2. Make your crisis notes interesting
The crisis directors go through more crisis notes in a day than you could imagine. Eventually, they are going to get tired of reading the same things over and over.
Your crisis notes should not only be detailed, but interesting for the crisis directors to read as well. As a fiction writer, I found it easy to make my crisis notes sound like a story. I passed every personal directive I sent back, because the crisis directors found them interesting to read.
For example, if you want to draft propaganda, don’t write “I want to spread propaganda in order to recruit more soldiers”. Write out the propaganda! Imagine that you are really there, and write what you think would be effective material for that time.
Take advantage of what crisis allows you to do. You might think it’s odd to draft your own propaganda or write a letter to the director of the CIA, but that’s what makes crisis so fun, and it will help further your crisis arc.
3. Don’t try to assassinate everyone
The main thing everyone knows about crisis is, yes, you can assassinate other delegates in the committee. However, some committees won’t allow you to, and many look down upon it.
In a joint crisis simulation I did at the MUN Institute, my committee lost, because there was an assassination attempt that took the focus away from solving the urgent matter at hand. Don’t be that delegate. While it might sound funny to try to assassinate your enemies in committee, it’s better to further your crisis arc instead.
4. Be willing to go against the committee
In crisis, your committee does not have to win in order for you to succeed. Sometimes, your portfolio power may have a completely different agenda than the committee does. Don’t be afraid to push this in your private directives.
However, you must be secretive about this, if you are planning on going against your committee. I would not recommend standing up in a committee on the containment of communism and announcing that you are a Soviet spy. Instead, ensure that you focus on building your crisis arc through your crisis notes. Who knows how you might alter the course of the crisis?
5. Multitask, multitask, multitask
It’s still important to speak during a crisis committee! Multitasking is key.
When you’re writing crisis notes, receiving crisis updates, and trying to draft directives, it’s easy to decide not to speak during moderated caucuses. If you are looking to win an award in crisis, you should learn how to multitask.
It can be tricky at first, but it doesn’t take long to get the hang of it. The best way to ensure you speak as often as possible, while still writing detailed crisis notes, is to know what you want to say in your crisis notes beforehand. You will spend less time trying to figure out what to write, which will allow you to pass as many directives as possible and still speak.
The piece of advice that saved me in crisis was “have your pen in one hand and your placard in the other”. While you are writing your directives, be ready to speak.
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Though crisis can be stressful, it’s incredibly fun. Remember these few tips, and remember to enjoy your time in committee!
