General Assembly is the day that the entire EYP session leads up to, but it is something that most of you won’t have experienced before.
Whilst your chairs will have given you an in-depth rundown of what exactly to expect from the procedure of GA, there is more you can do to ensure you get the most out of General Assembly, and EYP as a whole.
1.Sleep
Want to avoid looking like the girl in this photo who did not get enough sleep before GA so literally fell asleep sitting upright? Top tip from the girl herself, just go to bed earlier.
Seriously, sleep. You will never know how important sleep is to you until you experience a sleep deprived GA. Getting a good amount of sleep the night before GA will make the debates so much better; you’ll understand them more and will be far more involved. Also means the media team can’t catch you out with pictures of you yawning or drifting off mid-debate.
2. Read resolutions when the reso booklet comes out
Your chairs spend hours in resolution typing to perfect your resolutions and then your orgas spend an entire sleepless night printing them for you. Those booklets aren’t just a few resolutions on European Affairs, they are the official team's children. Take them in, admire them, shed some tears over them (the chairs and orgas most definitely have), and think of points you have to say about each resolution during the debate.
The resolution is there to inform others of what exactly the problems are and your way of solving them, so take the chance to understand what your friends have been talking about in their committees and gain a wider understanding of the topic before the debate begins.
3. Prepare speeches
Once you have completed step 2, you can start to think about writing and preparing speeches for your own resolution or an attack speech for another. Being prepared for GA will make the entire day run smoothly, and you will gain so much more from it than if you were to go in not understanding the topics and therefore having no opinion on them. Don’t be scared of the speeches, they are really not as intimidating as you may think, and every single person is in the exact same position.
4. Make points
GA cannot exist without points. Especially direct response cards which make the debate much more exciting, fast paced, and give you the chance to immediately respond to a point that has challenged your opinion. Also the board love Direct Responses, loves them, a lot, and encourage the committee to use to as much as possible within the debates. Keep the board happy, make points.
5. Sleep
I wasn’t joking.
So there you go, an explanation into GA and how to make your experience the best it can be. Get excited, get some sleep and most importantly get involved!
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