Preparing for the Conference

Background guides are designed to provide all delegates with a primer on the political or legal topic that will drive the discussion of your committee. Reading this guide will give you a broad overview of the topics you will be discussing in more detail and it’s critical to understand the broad takeaways from a guide so you can most effectively participate in your committee.

If an aspect of the guide was unclear, or if you have an important question more generally related to the topic, let your HMCE staffers know! It is better to clear up any ambiguities before arriving at the conference so these ambiguities don’t serve as barriers to participation throughout the conference.

The only way you’ll become more effective at articulating your positions and persuading others to agree with your favored policy solutions is by practicing! HMC Europe is a great way to practice, but practicing before the conference might allow you to take the conference as an opportunity to hone your skills instead of build your skills for the first time.

If there’s something you’d like to improve upon when it comes to your skills in writing and debating policy solutions, identify that as an area of growth you can work on at the conference. It might even be helpful to talk with your chair and communicate what area you’d like to improve in so that they can give you valuable feedback and look for a particular skill when they’re assessing you and your strengths in committee.

This is the most challenging aspect of the conference and something that takes time, but don’t worry, you’ve got it! Often times in HMC Europe and in other settings where you’ll be discussing pressing political issues, a lot of the same topics come up over and over again. Having familiarity with a broad range of very current political issues will make you a more effective delegate, debater, thinker, and a more informed citizen. At first, it might seem as if some delegates just have more information than you do, but fear not, through doing things like reading the newspaper, listening to podcasts, and following current events, you too can become a highly informed contributor to these critical discussions about policy and how government systems should work.