Mid-Year Rundown
Fall 2019 was a rigorous conference season with periods of time through October having one or more conferences running per weekend. In total, MUN01 recapped eight conferences this season and those will be the conferences reflected in this article.
For references the conferences were:
- CMUNNY XIV (9/26/19-9/29/19)
- BarMUN XII (10/3/19-10/6/19)
- NCSC XLVII (10/17/19-10/20/19)
- SCSY XLII (10/24/19-10/27/19)
- TrojanMUN 2019 (10/24/19-10/27/19)
- UPMUNC 53 (10/31/19-11/3/19)
- CIAC X (11/7/19-11/10/19)
- UNCMUNC XI (11/7/19-11/10/19)
**Please note, some conferences do not appear due to both the conference not reporting and delegates attending not reporting. All conferences listed were reported on in one or both ways.**
As typical, the majority of conferences occurred in the Eastern region, with six of the eight occuring in Washington D.C. or north. TrojanMUN was the only conference in the West to be recapped and UNCMUNC was the only conference from the South. This demonstrates the North American circuits high concentration in the Northeast and may pose difficulties for teams in different regions financially and logistically to reach.
As mentioned, from CMUNNY (starting 9/26) to the weekend of CIAC and UNCMUNC (ending 11/10) there was only one weekend without at least one conference. This weekend occurred over 10/12 and 10/13. There were even several weekends where two conferences occurred at the same time, for example SCSY and TrojanMUN from 10/24-10/27. Some teams, like Columbia University for the aforementioned weekend, sent delegations to each conference. Perhaps the number of teams sending multiple delegations in the same weekend will increase in the coming seasons.
Polling on the @mun01podcast Instagram found these conferences to be the favorites the Fall 2019 season: UPMUNC, NCSC, SCSY, CIAC, and CMUNNY. However, it should be noted that not all delegates can attend every conference of the season to effectively rank each one on enjoyability!
Delegates were also given the opportunity to shoutout their favorite committee of the Fall 2019. Some of the committees shouted out for the aforementioned conferences were: 40 Elephants at UPMUNC, Fall of the Berlin Wall at CMUNNY, and DISEC at UPMUNC.
From these eight conferences, 32 delegation awards were given out to 20 different teams. The team to win the most delegation awards from the recorded conferences was University of Chicago with four delegation awards, conferences specified below. Two teams brought home three delegation awards this semester which were American University and University of Pennsylvania.
One thing to note is that there is no official count on how many teams compete on the North American collegiate circuit of this style of Crisis and GA. However, there are many teams on the circuit with some conferences receiving over 40 unique delegations. In the future, MUN01 hopes to receive full delegation lists from every conference to try and calculate this number.
Delegation Award Winners Fall 2019
Please note, MUN01 does not “rank” or “weight” certain conferences. All conferences that received recaps in Fall 2019 are seen as equal in this analysis and schools are listed in alphabetical order. MUN01 included delegation awards from North American collegiate conferences that reported their delegation awards or from delegates on the circuit who reported the winners themselves.
American University
BarMUN Best Small Delegation
CMUNNY Best Small Delegation
UPMUNC Outstanding Large Delegation
Boston University
NCSC Outstanding Small Delegation
Claremont McKenna College
TrojanMUN Best Large Delegation
UPMUNC Best Small Delegation
College of William & Mary
UNCMUNC Outstanding Small Delegation
Colgate University
CIAC Outstanding Small Delegation
Columbia University
TrojanMUN Outstanding Small Delegation
CIAC Outstanding Large Delegation
Emory University
UNCMUNC Outstanding Large Delegation
Florida International University
BarMUN Outstanding Large Delegation
Georgetown University
CMUNNY Outstanding Large Delegation
CIAC Best Small Delegation
The George Washington University
BarMUN Outstanding Small Delegation
UNCMUNC Outstanding Small Delegation
McGill University
SCSY Best Small Delegation
Princeton University
SCSY Outstanding Small Delegation
Seton Hall University
CIAC Best Large Delegation
United States Military Academy, West Point
SCSY Outstanding Large Delegation
University of California, Berkeley
NCSC Best Small Delegation
TrojanMUN Outstanding Large Delegation
University of California, Santa Barbara
TrojanMUN Best Small Delegation
University of Chicago
BarMUN Best Large Delegation
CMUNNY Outstanding Small Delegation
NCSC Best Large Delegation
UPMUNC Best Large Delegation
University of Pennsylvania
CMUNNY Best Large Delegation
NCSC Outstanding Large Delegation
SCSY Best Large Delegation
University of Virginia
UNCMUNC Best Large Delegation
Yale University
UPMUNC Outstanding Small Delegation
Team Memories in Fall 2019
Delegates were also polled on the Instagram regarding their favorite team memories. From the responses recieved on the Instagram, “team” is an extremely important concept on the circuit. Memories included teammates cheering on award winners during closing ceremonies, big delegation wins, and bonding at conference socials.
Trends on the Circuit
One major trend on the circuit this year was Fyre Festival committees. Multiple conferences this year held committees on that topic and preliminary searches on Spring 2020 conferences show that this trend will continue into the next season. There also seemed to be a growth in fantasy or sci-fi committees. Some conferences had significantly increased the amount of this type of committee from one or two in seasons past to three or four this season. MUN01 will continue to see if this trend continues into the Spring 2020 season.
Another trend was the repetitiveness of some committee subjects with committees on Cold War, Peloponnesian War, and the aforementioned Fyre Festival appearing multiple times over Spring 2019 to Fall 2019. It is interesting how certain topics repeat with striking similarities to prior conferences. That being said, conferences often have to strike a balance between having unique, accessible, and interesting committees and it is certain that there will continue to be overlap in committee topics going into Spring 2020 and beyond.
Through our Instagram polling, delegates indicated that another strong sentiment on the circuit remains in goal of attaining the elusive Best Delegate, or gavel, award. Many top memories of Fall 2019 were winning first time gavels or gavels at particular conferences. Many other delegates in their hopes for Spring 2020 listed awarding or gaveling as their top priority.
Looking Ahead to Spring 2020
As mentioned, delegates want to keep awarding, bettering themselves, and reaching new heights in the coming season. Delegates also were polled on the conferences they were most excited for next season. The conferences on the North American collegiate circuit that are most looked forward to are: McMUN, MUNE, VICS, NYUMUN, PUNC, and UTMUN.
Delegates, get ready for an exciting Spring 2020 season and keep an eye out for our conference recaps!
MUN01 