What is the Pre-conference?

And, the countdown for LOCALs first online pre-conference begins!

We hope that all of you are just as excited as we are for this precursor to the official conference. If you'd like to learn more about what the pre-conference is and what it hopes to achieve, then please continue reading to hear what your Secretaries General have to say about it.

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1. How did you come up with the idea of having a pre-conference?

Kim: We came up with the idea for a pre-conference during a Zoom call with our LOCALs leadership team (me, Conroy, our advisor Miss Mouquet, the logistics heads, and the communications director). After learning that we wouldn’t be permitted to host the October conference in person, we began to brainstorm alternatives that would still enable us to host it in real life. Though we love the innovative idea of online conferences, MUN is, at heart, a collaborative and interactive activity, so the experience of doing it virtually just isn’t the same. Because of this, we planned to have the conference at a later date hoping that lockdown restrictions would have ended by then, but we also wanted to do something additional during the normal LOCALs season of October. During the call, I casually suggested the offhanded idea of having an online event before the main conference—which would hopefully be in person in January. The idea of an online event in October was very spur-of-the-moment, but everyone agreed on it and so we eventually developed it into what is now– the pre-conference.

2. What is the main focus of the pre-conference?

Conroy: The main focus of the pre-conference is resolution writing. Our team thought that since the main conference will be pushed back by 4 months, it would be best if we can maximize the extra time by producing quality resolutions. Previously, although we incorporated online lobbying via Discord in LOCALs 2018, most resolutions were a result of merging clauses that were written a night before the conference. This time, with thorough preparation and hands-on guidance and feedback provided by expert chairs, we hope to produce original and highly contentious resolutions which will allow for a thrilling debate experience in the main conference.

Kim: Furthermore, by giving delegates the opportunity to gain feedback from their chairs and multiple months of editing, the resolutions that end up being debated in the main conference will be well-developed, in-depth, and hopefully a repository of our delegates’ best efforts. The standards of these resolutions will be greater which will improve the quality of debate and also make the MUN conference more realistic - seeing as real United Nations committees definitely do not write their resolutions overnight. In addition to this, we hope that the pre-conference will warm up new delegates, and familiarise the members of the committee with each other so that they will all be more comfortable and interactive with each other by the time of the main conference.

1. How is the pre-conference organized?

Kim: We’ve organised the pre-conference into three types of activities: resolution writing, debate skills and practise debate. We’ve also split the pre-conference into two days so that delegates have the time to revise their resolutions overnight before getting feedback from their chairs and continuing to improve them during the second day. The rest of the pre-conference is mostly seminars on resolution writing and debate skills, as well as a practise debate at the end. We’re hoping that beginner delegates can become more comfortable with the MUN debate style, and that advanced delegates can help new ones, or even learn new skills.

Conroy: In our quick 40-minute seminars, we will be catering to beginner delegates by discussing the basic details of debating and writing resolutions in MUN. This includes the parts and format of a resolution or the points and motions that delegates may use during debate. At the same time, we will also be teaching advanced skills to the more seasoned delegates by analysing the different aspects of good/bad clauses and examining strategies to cope with certain “unexpected” situations.

1. Do you plan to continue hosting pre-conferences in the future?

Conroy: We truly hope that this pre-conference will not be a one-off event due to the pandemic. It was purposely designed to be “short yet sweet” such that it may provide a necessary boost to the quality of debated resolutions in the main conference. We also hope that both beginner and advanced delegates may learn a new thing or two from this experience despite only investing a fraction of their time. The resources created for the pre-conference will always be available through our MUN LOCALs 2020 website; however, we acknowledge that there are many aspects of MUN that may still be tackled. It would be great to see more innovation and creativity from future MUN conference organisers. Good luck!

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If you have any further questions about the online pre-conference, then please reach out to our secretariat team through any of the following: the contact form located on the homepage of the website, our email (bsmmun@britishschoolmanila.org), the question forum, or through our instagram (@munlocals2020).

Also, a gentle reminder that the LOCALs Discord is now live for online lobbying. If you haven't already joined the server, then please do so right away!- important announcements from your secretariat and committee discussions will be taking place on the server.