Rijeka Regional Selection Conference ended today, and it was my first time as a chairperson. I chaired ENVI, the environment committee. Our topic was fast fashion.
The topic
Fast fashion sounds like a light topic at first. It's not. Cheap clothes that are made fast, worn a few times and thrown away. Behind that there is a lot of waste, a lot of water and a lot of people working in bad conditions. My delegates had to find solutions for something almost everyone in the room is part of, me too. That made the discussions real.
Chair vs delegate
Being a chair is very different from being a delegate. As a delegate you mostly think about your own points and your own speech. As a chair you think about the whole room: the time, the energy, who hasn't spoken yet, who is lost, who is talking too much. You are responsible for the group, not only yourself.
It's a lot more stressful and a lot more tiring. I don't think I understood that before I did it.
The debriefing
One moment I keep thinking about. On one of the days my delegates started to lose the point. We kept going off topic and you could see everyone was getting tired. Pushing harder would not help.
So we stopped and did a debriefing together. We talked about where we were, what was still missing and how everyone was feeling. After that they were motivated again and we finished the day well. For me that was the moment I understood what a chair is really for.
General Assembly
The next day at General Assembly they were amazing. They pushed the other committees hard in the debates, and our own resolution passed with zero votes against. Watching them defend their own work on stage, after seeing them tired and lost the day before, was the best part of the whole session.
The flag
And one funny thing. Because I'm from Finland, my delegates made our committee flag look almost the same as the Finnish flag. At GA I also had my real Finnish flag with me, so it looked like I forced them to do it. I didn't, I promise. Everyone laughed about it.
Looking back
I'm really proud of my delegates, and proud of myself too. Not a bad first time. If I chair again, I will bring that debriefing with me.