I was staring aimlessly at all the delegates sitting at the table around me, words were being exchanged quickly while motions were being granted almost fluidly in unison from the chair. It was Cornell’s annual high school conference, and for the first time this whole season, I was at a standstill. My crisis notes weren’t being responded to, which subsequently caused my arc to ease into the process of dying, ideas of how to make my character of a genius nuclear scientist prominent into a committee taking place in the Manhattan Project slipped away while more prominent delegates who utilized their positions as FBI directors and military generals made me bitterly regret my seemingly useless character. Not going to lie, I gave up. Stopped trying to pass motions, push myself into committee and center my ideas, quite different from my often characterized competitive and assertive style I easily slip into during debate. That conference was one of the 2 out of 7 conferences I didn’t place in this season, and not going to lie, I was bitter.It was the first time I felt pangs of helplessness and defeat in a long time. It wasn’t after I came home and reflected on the conference as a whole that I could identify where I went wrong, where others went right, and how I could prevent this from happening again.

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When you’re slipping in committee, you need to take a deep breath. Sit back. Open up your binder, notebook, whatever, and analyze exactly what other delegates that are leading committee are doing in terms of content and motions. Note that down. The first step is to organize your thoughts. Make sure you’re paying attention to ideas they are pushing to see what direction committees going. And no, not just thinking “we’re in resolution writing”, what's the topic that’s splitting committee in half and driving tensions high? Are the delegates in your room trying to have fun and put random people on trial? Or, are the topics being pushed serious and stoic? To slip back into rhythm with committee you need to know where their steps are coming from and in what fashion.

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Second, give yourself 10 minutes to completely immerse yourself in potential ideas in how you can contribute to committee. Make a bulleted list, and trust me, once you start writing everything else will just flow. If you’re in general assembly, write down ideas that others haven’t even touched upon yet, send around notes to delegates you feel would like to join in on a potential resolution, and start corresponding. For example, if the topic is peacekeeping reform and the majority of the room is talking about preventing sexual assault and better management of troops, jump in and suggest the inclusion of modern military technology to the Corps. People will acknowledge you aren’t just parroting and circling the same 2 discussions over and over again,in addition bloc leaders may approach you to incorporate your ideas into a resolution. But, this is also a chance to ,if you want, from a new bloc yourself and lead it, while recruiting others.

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If you’re in crisis, redo your whole crisis arc. Scrap your old one. Throw it away. Burn it. If it’s not working, it’s not working. Make a numbered list including content of notes to send to others and the crisis team. Organization is key guys.

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This, is perhaps the most important and hard learned piece of detail I have. Do. Not. Give. Up. Reflecting back to Cornell, I did all the above, but gave up the second day as I felt i just wasn’t getting traction, my efforts aren't as effective, my notes were still failing, and overall I had a sense of defeat. I outlined the delegates, who in my head, I felt were leading committee and labeled myself as at the bottom of the pack just for doing actions that weren’t getting the same response as theirs. During the award ceremony seeing the individuals that were picked, they weren’t the ones who passed the most directives, resolutions, or drove the random criminal trials on committee members. They were the delegates who put in the most effort, every caucus spoke and defined their position strongly. I realized if I kept up the same amount of effort and motivation I was putting into the first day, throughout the whole 4 day conference, I might have had a chance at truly leading committee and be in the line up for an award, along with other talented delegates. Remember, have faith and confidence in yourself, even if you don’t really think you’ll get far, you will.