Collaboration
One of the biggest skills you can gain from MUN is collaboration and crisis is no exception to this. Especially in frontroom, working with your fellow delegates is critical to responding to crises and passing directives. Similar to traditional committees it is typical to form blocs, groups of delegates with aligned positions. These blocs often form early on and continue to work together throughout the length of conference to write directives. Often people might even write joint backroom notes with another delegate in their bloc. That being said blocs do not behave entirely the same as in traditional committees. Blocs in crisis tend to be much more fluid than in traditional side since committee covers a variety of topics and there will be more opportunities for the blocs to change. It is very beneficial to participate in a bloc as it will make it easier to contribute to directives and will provide you support for any directives of your own.
Beyond just blocs there often form mini alliances of two to three delegates. These tend to be more long lasting than blocs and provide their own set of benefits. Not only do these delegates cooperate in the frontroom but they usually also collaborate in the backroom, pooling their resources together to be able to accomplish more. They also often support each other in internal power struggles within committee. Be careful though if someone knows your closest secrets you run the risk of being exposed to committee. There is always the chance that someone you think is working with you is actually just trying to learn what you are doing in order to sabotage you.
Joining a bloc or creating an alliance is not difficult but for some delegates it can be kind of intimidating. There are three main ways to communicate with people in order to form working relationships with other delegates. The most obvious one is unmoderated caucuses. In unmods delegates are free to get up and mingle around and are often used to write directives, making them one of the most important times for blocs. If you are trying to find people to work with, identify someone who has expressed similar views to yours in speeches and talk to them. Groups will form naturally over time and just talking to people is the best way to be a part of this process. A second way to form blocs is fairly unique to crisis. Because there are a small number of delegates and a fast pace of debate you can use speeches to communicate with other delegates and win over allies. A good way to do this is to say during a speech, “I think that so and so had a very good idea for solving this crisis for reasons x, y, and z.” If you parrot a previous speaker in this way you can communicate to them that you share similar ideas and want to work together. This form of communication is especially effective early on before you have made connections and can be especially effective if followed up by the third form of communication. The final form of communication is notes. Notes can be passed in between delegates to communicate while speeches are being made. This can also be a good way to communicate discreetly about issues that you want to keep secret. Notes are generally very short since they are written quickly and often ask direct questions which are then responded to and returned. Above all just talking to people is the most useful thing you can do. Even chatting with the people sitting next to you while waiting for the committee to start can be a great way to start to earn someone's trust.
Congratulations! You've finished the Crisis Front Room Module.