How to survive your first crisis

Tips and Tricks from the Delegate Snapshots Team

Disclaimer - Author’s Note

In my experience in both the national international MUN circuits, I have had the pleasure and honour to take part in and chair several crisis committees. Be they General Assembly committees that were turned into crises, full-fledged crisis committees or mass crisis socials, I can say that, as far as crisis goes, I’ve pretty much seen it all. This guide has the sole purpose of being a “helping hand” for all crisis beginners, offering a general direction towards the new notions and the general procedure of the committee sessions.

Introduction to Crisis

A crisis committee is a fast-paced, often chaotic MUN committee that has the purpose of emulating organizations or boards in order to engage the delegates into more dynamic debate. Crises can tackle topics from the 2020 US Elections (BYMUN 2020), the Greek Titan War (MUNAH 4.0), the USSR Occupation of Romania (ISOMUN 2021), Maduro’s Cabinet (QMUN 4.0), the French Revolution of 1792 (MUNAH 6.0), Genetically Enhanced Soldiers (SHMUN 8.0) or more common topics, such as the Cold War (with topics ranging from the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin Wall, the Suez Canal Crisis or the Dissolution of the USSR), the US-Iran Nuclear Deal, the Opium Wars or the distribution of the COVID vaccine worldwide (a WHO committee tackling this subject might, for instance, evolve into a such crisis).

Crisis committees are fun and they enable you to think on your feet and see how your strategies can play out. You can shape the outcome of the crisis, build strong alliances and destroy your enemies - maybe even break the United States up into 50 different states! The best part about a crisis is that it’s unexpected; its charm is that you’ll never know what comes next!

What makes a crisis committee different?

There are several concepts that make a crisis committee stand out from the crowd: out-of-room tactics, crisis notes, directives, crisis updates, crisis director and crisis staff.

Out-of-room means what happens behind the scenes of the committee, as opposed to in-room, which refers to a delegate’s performance during the GSL, moderated and unmoderated caucuses. In a crisis, delegates are evaluated in both forums.

The out-of-room forum consists of crisis notes and directives. Crisis notes are multifaceted notes that drive the flow of the committee; each delegate can submit crisis notes in order to achieve a beneficial outcome for their delegation - their crisis arc. In order to be passed, a crisis note has to be anchored in reality and be remotely possible at least in theory. A crisis note has to contain the purpose of the action(s)/what is hoped to be achieved if passed, a detailed account of how this will work, the submitter and whether it is overt (public) or covert (private). Directives are the equivalent of working papers and resolutions for a crisis committee - they have to have sponsors and signatories and they are made up of operative clauses; they have to be written in-room.

The crisis director and the crisis staff are the personnel that is in charge of moderating the out-of-room forum. They go through all of the crisis notes and choose what to pass and what not to pass - in some cases, the chairs can have these roles too. They will give crisis updates, the equivalent of news - what has happened in the backroom and how the actions taken to impact the delegates. A crisis update will be made up only of the passed crisis notes and will shape the flow of the committee.

Tips

My most important tips for how to survive during a crisis committee as a first-timer are the following:

1. Don’t panic!

This one sounds pretty obvious, but it’s vital to keep in mind that no one expects you to be the best from the beginning. There aren’t any stakes and stressing out too much over the crisis won’t do you any good.

2. Don’t focus too much on either of the forums.

However good you are in-room or out-of-room, focusing on only one of those forums will lose you some points - try to split your energy between both speeches and crisis note-writing, as this will help you a lot throughout the committee sessions.

3. Do your research!

Some say that crisis committees are only for fun and that no research is required - personally, I’ve found that doing your research beforehand (especially for historical committees) saves you a lot of time and effort during the sessions. If you know your delegation’s stance and the means that it can employ to achieve its preferred outcome, it’s much easier for you to write crisis notes that have a high chance of being passed. In terms of historical committees, it’s a huge help knowing what actually happened before you start changing the narrative - learn from the mistakes of the past!

4. Try to make allies - and fast!

This one is on the obvious side - it’s better to have as many allies as possible, as this helps you haul more resources into your grandiose plans of conquering the world, rather than having to fend off for yourself and risk being a target in someone else’s megalomaniac crisis arc.

5. Enjoy the committee and have fun!

The most important thing in a crisis is to take everything lightly - don’t take it personally if someone decides to nuke your country :)) Having fun is the main point of a crisis in the first place, and you can make friends much more easily during a crisis!

Bibliography

Wyszynski, C.. “Everything You Need to Know About Crisis Committees”. Best Delegate. March 31, 2020. https://bestdelegate.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-crisis-committees/.