The Dos and Don’ts of Crisis Notes
If it weren’t for crisis notes, General Assemblies and Crisis Committees would be virtually interchangeable. Indeed, the ability to give your Chair secret instructions during Crisis Committees adds a delicious layer of nuance and mystery to Model United Nations. But wait: there is a problem here! Crisis notes are largely subject to the opinion of the Chair. In order to see your master plans carried out to the finish, you need to write quality crisis notes while still keeping your relationship with the Chair in mind.
The Dos:
Let Your Chair Know About Your Bad Handwriting. If you have spare time before your first committee session begins, go up to the Chair and inform them of your writing inadequacy. They might say that they are proficient at reading all kinds of handwriting, or they might tragically sigh and request that you try your best. Either way, in talking to them you have built up a small social connection with the Chair. You have also proven that you have the bravery to directly talk to them. If you enter the first committee session late and are unable to converse with the Chair, write a note at the top of your first crisis note informing the Chair of your handwriting issue. The lead delegate has handwriting akin to moose dung, and knows firsthand the difficulties faced by the handwriting-challenged.
Know What Your Entity Has The Power To Do Before Committee. The disputably most important thing to research for a Crisis Committee is the scope of your entity's powers. Can they really raise a private army of feral iguanas? Do they have permission from their government to build a penal colony on Neptune? As they read your crisis notes, Chairs will be on the lookout for those who know what they have the power to do and those that do not. This will inevitably be a key scoring factor for awards. So, remember to not write that you want to manufacture six-thousand robotic warriors unless you know for certain you can.
Be Professional. A delegate who sends an assassin after another delegate merely because they dislike that delegate personally is a delegate who does not get any awards. Stay within the boundaries of your committee, don’t let your own personal biases or beliefs blur your roleplaying.
Make Sure You Have A Pencil! This one speaks for itself. It is a tragedy to see well-researched and well-spoken delegates unable to write crisis notes merely because they lack a writing utensil. Always bring a couple from home to whichever conference you are attending, and remember not to bring crayons or markers. If you are lucky, some conferences provide writing utensils for you.
Be Concise. Your Chair has countless little crisis notes to read through, make sure your notes are as quick and to-the-point as possible. Long, verbose crisis notes will do nothing but irritate your Chair and slow the Committee down.
The Don’ts:
Ignore Speakers Because You Are Too Busy Writing Crisis Notes. Too many Crisis Committees have devolved into writer’s workshops because of the never-ending deluge of Crisis Notes. Delegates just keep on writing and writing their crisis notes, and soon they stop getting up to speak or listening to other delegates. The Chair becomes overwhelmed with all of the Crisis Notes they have to approve, and the entire committee is slowed by having a lack of speakers. Sometimes, it gets so bad the committee morphs into a competition to see who can write the best crisis notes. Stay invested in what is going on around you, and both the quality of your crisis notes and the quality of the overall committee will improve.
Make The Chair’s Life Harder. Writing some wild, over-the-top plans is great for FUNMUN, but it disrupts the order of the committee and frustrates your Chair. Every Chair has a plan for the direction of their committee, and rupturing that plan with a left-field curveball crisis note won’t do either of you any good. Put yourself in their shoes and think: would I want that idea to be carried out? Would it do more harm than good? Keep your Crisis Notes considerate of the Chair and you will do spectacularly.
Milk A Dead Cow. If your Chair writes that one of your crisis note ideas is not feasible or valid, don’t milk it anymore. That idea is dead, embalmed, and buried. Bringing it up again in a future crisis note will only serve to annoy your Chair. The lead delegate has personally felt sorrow at the invalidation of their crisis notes, but they understand that continuing to push for the acceptance of their invalidated ideas wouldn’t help anyone.
Spin An Elaborate Web of Plans. Save your intricate world-domination schemes for the Mafia. Here in Model United Nations, you never know which of your crisis notes could be approved and which notes could be disproved. The invalidation of a single crisis note could destroy your entire detailed plan. Try to accomplish your goals with a single crisis note.
Questions, Comments, Concerns?
The Lead Delegate can be reached in the comments section, or, if you are an Enloe student, contact the Lead Delegate directly during a club meeting. The Enloe Model United Nations club wishes their school, and the world, the best of luck in writing crisis notes!
