Writer: Ines 

Visual: Ethan

After the speeches concluded, and everyone had the chance to rest, delegates, Student Officers, Press members, and the Secretariat of MUN LOCALs 2021 all gathered together for Social Night. The event was held not only to celebrate the halfway mark of this long-awaited event, but also to give debate participants and attendees a chance to get to know each other personally and outside an academic environment. 

As large gatherings are currently prohibited due to the COVID-19, pandemic, the MUN LOCALs team planned a completely online experience with various breakout rooms where attendees got the chance to take part in several different activities; such as Skribbl.io, Jack Box, Garctic Phone, Among Us, Codenames, Minecraft, as well as two social rooms where participants had the chance to talk and have casual conversations with one another.

A variety of dialogues were heard throughout the night, including “I saw Orange venting near the cafeteria!” from the Among Us breakout room, and “I’m the most innocent person here!” heard from inside the Mafia breakout room. Impressively detailed and several humorous drawings were also seen in multiple rounds of Garctic Phone, and a great number of guests were also able to showcase their Minecraft abilities and skills. 

Nothing, however, was more reminiscent of the pre-pandemic times and interactions than the social rooms. Inside, there was still, undoubtedly, the air of a debate as discussions flowed in a similar manner: a speaker makes a point, or poses a question, and others express their opinions and perspectives on the matter, respectfully arguing and backing up their claims with multiple pieces of evidence. However, unlike a debate that could be observed inside a class or conference room, discussion points inside these breakout rooms ranged from the responses of individuals to the question “why do we exist,” all the way to whether or not there was a correlation between one’s handwriting and physical appearance. 

Poorna C., an ISM student and the MUN LOCALs Communication Director, says “It was really amusing to see delegates, who were so formal and put-together during debate, completely lose it over a ‘dad-joke’ while playing Gartic Phone. So overall, it was a very heart-warming experience to see delegates and chairs get along so well despite their different grades, country stances, and backgrounds.” Dylan Y., one of the Secretary-Generals, discussed how “MUN social night was overall a great way to incur camaraderie between our delegates outside of their committees. Amidst the heat of debate, one of MUNs greatest aspects, the ability to meet new people and make new friends, is often overlooked, especially in competitive conferences such as MUN locals where we had over 200 delegates battling it out on the debate floor. Sid and I (co-secretary generals) made social night as a way to show our delegates that we want MUN locals to be a conference to remember, and part of this was giving our delegates the ability to make new friends by hanging out in a non-debate environment. The event I hosted was Minecraft, and personally it was really fun seeing some of the more serious delegates ease up a bit. I think at the end of the day we all really enjoyed social night, and I hope to see more of these happening in future LOCALs conferences as well!”

Social Night proved to be a wonderfully cathartic event for all delegates, giving them a chance to show off their wit and unwind after a long day of debates. It was a truly refreshing experience, one that future Locals conferences will hopefully emulate and even build upon.