The Mistakes That We Did in Conferences by İnci BAKIRLI

We have all been a first-timer. We have all done something that we regret. So, here are some common mistakes that especially the delegates do in conferences. I hope you might relate and think about your experiences while reading this article.

Overpreparing

I think some of us that had joined conferences via their school club was pressured to work harder than other people because they were representing their school. And sometimes that can be beneficial or unnecessary. You’ll realize that is unnecessary when you try to find good quotes about the topic that you know you’re never going to use because they are not that relevant or when you print detailed statistics and only use them in one sentence that everyone will forget after 2 seconds. I know there is a lot of guides on how to prepare but the only advice I can give is to try to find the solutions and main points but not write an entire speech on a paper.

Insufficient Preparing

This is a far easier topic. A well-prepared first-timer can and will pass you if you spend no time on preparing but still try to get awards. This may be different in crisis because they don’t usually let you write directives at your home before the committee so the only thing you can do is practice before and be creative. But if you’re in a historical crisis you still need a lot of research about the topic. So, it really depends, you can use your common sense about it after joining a couple of conferences.

Thinking Too Much About Your Outfit

So, you don’t have to sort through your entire closet and spent hours to find an outfit to wear. Or go to a long shopping just to buy more than a lot of white shirts that you won’t really wear. A suggestion is that do not overthink and just go with a formal shirt and pants for the first day and figure out what you can and can’t wear later when you see a lot of examples. Finding a nice formal style for yourself can actually be really fun if you like doing that, but if you don’t, no one will judge you for just going with a simple outfit.

Following The Formal Dress Code

The second problem is that if you forget about formality or just be careless about your outfit you can get a dress code. And this is important because you can actually not get in or kicked out because of your outfit and not get a certificate. Some events or crisis committees might have different dress codes so it is always useful to check social media for their announcement, but the rest is very simple once you understand what you can or cannot wear in your closet. For example, I will just tell you about things that I or my friends got a warning for short skirts, casual shoes, tights, hats, non-formal boots, black jeans… Some of them weren’t serious as it was just one warning but if you can’t get in because you have a short skirt that would be a bigger problem so be careful about dress code.

Missing Out The Fun

Missing out can be explained as not having enough fun for an event to be worth it. If you went home exhausted and not wanting to go again, you’re doing something wrong. The conferences are usually organized by students like you and they want you to have fun while participating. Try something new and join the fashion walk or the game that you’re too afraid to join because people will look. People are going to judge everything no matter what, so you might as well have fun.

This can also happen in crisis committees when you can create a crisis, solve it or make alliances but all you do is just look at your notebook the whole time. If you cannot do anything; tell your chair, try to make a different plan to enhance the economy, plan a secret mission etc. You can do anything!

Caring Too Much About Awards

When you work hard enough and try your best you expect to get the award that you deserve and that’s completely normal. But you have to remember that the academic team are human and they do not always see the same things that you see. As some of you might know, they do not always have the same opinions either. People get really upset over these things and can create huge disagreements when sometimes it is just that you’re a little bit upset.

In the end, you realize that if you have academic goals you will reach them anyway. The only things that are important to learn from your mistakes and not give up.

İnci Bakırlı