BLOCS: The crew to consider

So you have managed to get through the first few hours of a MUN conference and by this time you may have a couple suggestions for solutions and thoughts regarding the issue that the council is trying to solve. You feel that your points that you have raised during moderated caucuses need more attention and support. Suddenly, you may hear other delegates sharing similar perspectives and points during caucuses. Well, it is time to come together with your fellow delegates and to form a team of like-minded individuals which may be considered as a bloc.

 

Blocs are useful when it comes to supporting the same idea so that it becomes recognised by the dais by a medium of working papers and draft resolutions. To start a bloc, you should observe other delegates who may raise points that are similar to yours. Look for those who bring up strong points that may attract attention of many delegates (and possibly the dais who are observing). By creating a bloc together, you and the bloc’s members would share a bond or trust that may last throughout the whole conference event. In order to achieve the best possible outcome, each delegate of the bloc should actively participate in giving suggestions for improvements whenever possible. Giving constructive criticism to the ideas of one another may help to acknowledge the weaknesses of each idea and may shed light on alternative ideas that may be considered to be better than the previous ones. 

 

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A council may have more than one bloc because they may not share the same perspective or ideas. During caucuses, they may oppose each other openly by attacking their points with surprisingly strong contradictory points. Tensions may occur by introducing surprising twists that may alter the future of the bloc and possibly the outcome of the whole council. In one case, a bloc member may betray his/her own bloc by moving to the other bloc, leaking information during discussions or even voting for the opposing group member’s draft resolution!

 

Basically, to be a good bloc member, you should be open-minded towards new ideas, be encouraging to others (especially the shy and quiet ones) and help whenever you can by providing ideas as creative and effective as possible. In the end, after the conference has finished, you might be lucky enough to be friends with your bloc members by keeping in contact with them through social media or even spend more time with them outside the conference event!

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